2 Kings 1:2

2 ceciditque Ohozias per cancellos cenaculi sui quod habebat in Samaria et aegrotavit misitque nuntios dicens ad eos ite consulite Beelzebub deum Accaron utrum vivere queam de infirmitate mea hac

2 Kings 1:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 1:2

And Ahaziah fell down a lattice in his upper chamber that was
in Samaria
Which was either a window or lattice in the form of network, to let in light; or rather were the rails of a balcony or battlement on the roof of his palace, in this form, on which leaning, it broke down, and he fell into the garden or court yard; or walking on the roof of his house, and treading unawares on a sky light, which let in light into a room underneath, he fell through it into it:

and was sick;
the fall perhaps threw him into a fever, and which seemed threatening, being violent:

and he sent messengers, and said unto them, go inquire of Baalzebub,
the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease;
not to heal him of it, but to know the issue of it; a vain curiosity this! Ekron was one of the principalities of the Philistines, and this idol was the god they worshipped, which signifies a master fly: which some think was a large metallic fly; made under a planet that rules over flies; and the Heathens had deities they called Myiodes, Myagros, and (apomuiov) , which signifies a driver away of flies; as Jupiter and Hercules were called by the Eleans and Romans, and worshipped and sacrificed to by them on that account F1; and so the Cyreneans, a people of Lybia, worshipped the god Achor, which seems to be a corruption of the word Ekron, because he freed them from flies, after they had been infested with a pestilence through them F2; and Ekron being a place near the sea, and both hot and moist, might be much infested with those creatures. Within the haven of Ptolemais, or Acco, was formerly a temple of Baalzebub, called in later times "the tower of flies", and used as a Pharus F3.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Pausan. Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 313. & Arcadica, sive, l. 8. p. 491. Clement. Alex. Admon. ad Gentes, p. 24.
F2 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 27. Vid. Chartarii Imagines Deorum, p. 151. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 26.
F3 Adrichom. Theatrum Ter. Sanct. fol. 6. 1.

2 Kings 1:2 In-Context

1 praevaricatus est autem Moab in Israhel postquam mortuus est Ahab
2 ceciditque Ohozias per cancellos cenaculi sui quod habebat in Samaria et aegrotavit misitque nuntios dicens ad eos ite consulite Beelzebub deum Accaron utrum vivere queam de infirmitate mea hac
3 angelus autem Domini locutus est ad Heliam Thesbiten surge ascende in occursum nuntiorum regis Samariae et dices ad eos numquid non est Deus in Israhel ut eatis ad consulendum Beelzebub deum Accaron
4 quam ob rem haec dicit Dominus de lectulo super quem ascendisti non descendes sed morte morieris et abiit Helias
5 reversique sunt nuntii ad Ohoziam qui dixit eis quare reversi estis
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.