• Jacob Chanikuzhy

Anglican priest and well-known poet John Donne considers sickness as one of the agents God sends to communicate his message. He writes: “God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice.” Unfortunately, some do not get God’s message, even when God is very serious about it. King Ahab ruled Israel for 22 years. However, he had an ignominious death. He was killed by the unaimed arrow of an ordinary soldier. His chariot was smeared with his blood. His corpse was licked by dogs and pigs (according to different translations). This shocking death of Ahab and its aftermaths, by which God executed justice for his idolatry and for bringing moral decline in Israel, should have been an eye-opener for his son King Ahaziah. But Ahaziah failed to learn the lesson from the experience of his father.

Then Ahaziah himself had an accident. He fell from the roof-gallery of his palace – a very strange incident. We hear about the workers engaged in hazardous jobs facing such fates. But, something like this happening to a king is unusual. When one turns away from God, even one’s own palace is not a safe haven for him! The fall was so fatal that the king wanted to know whether he would survive it or not. He sent messengers, supposedly to the priests of pagan god Baal-Zebub to know his future. The bewildering fact is that even at the face of death, Ahaziah does not turn to Yahweh, rather, he continues in his idolatry. It is a stark reminder that the last-minute conversion is just a wishful dream – A tree falls in the way it leans!

Before the messengers of Ahaziah met the priests of Baal-Zebub, Prophet Elijah confronted them on the way according to the instruction of Yahweh and rebuked the apostatic action of Ahaziah and predicted his impending death. This was yet another chance for Ahaziah to repent and declare his allegiance to Yahweh and plead for his mercy. But, instead of repenting of his sin of idolatry, the king became angry at the prophet of Yahweh, and sent a group of fifty soldiers to capture Prophet Elijah. The captain of the group, apparently keeping in mind the imminent death of Eliajah and daunting Elijah as “man of God,” solemnly conveyed to the prophet the royal order to come down. Elijah, perhaps provoked at the audacity of the king and his captain, brought fire from heaven to burn them alive.

The death of his captain and 50 soldiers only hardened the heart of wicked and oppressive king Ahaziah. The outrageous king sent a second batch of 50 soldiers, who were also burned to ashes. Unfazed by the terrible outcome of the previous attempts, the king sent a third consignment to bring Elijah, although he was pretty sure what would befall them. It indicates how insensitive the king is about what happens to his servants. The rulers often consider their subjects and servants expendables! These rulers will go any far, and commit any atrocities to safeguard their egoistic and vested interests. They can be prevented only by those who take matters responsibly in their own hands, rather than blindly obeying the destructive commands of the wicked authorities. This is what the captain of the third group did. Instead of ordering Elijah to come down, as the King had asked him to do, he begged Elijah to save his life and those of his soldiers. This new strategy of responsible disobedience to the wicked order of the king, saved their lives.

Elijah was a lone fighter. Neither the wickedness of the king nor his power nor his hosts could terrorize the prophet. His unwavering faithfulness to Yahweh made him bold enough to face the kings all alone, and to pass the death threat to the kings in unequivocal terms. He was sustained in his fight by the power of his conviction. Elijah thus shines as the epitome of defiance to the brutal, oppressive, and immoral use of power by rulers and kings. One might wonder whether the response of Elijah in bringing fire to annihilate the soldiers was becoming for a prophet. The fact that fire really consumed the opponents of Elijah confirms that the prophetic response had divine approval. Sometimes evil can be eliminated only through righteous fire and fury.