What is the significance of Ekron in the Bible?

The most northerly of the five cities of the Philistines. It fell to the lot of Judah, and then passed to Dan. It was taken by Judah, but the Philistines kept or gained possession. The ark of God was carried there from Ashdod, and from thence was returned to Israel. It was to Ekron that king Ahaziah sent to inquire of the god Baal-zebub if he should recover from his accident. 2 Kings 1:2-3, 16. The city is denounced in the prophets. Joshua 15:11, 45, 46; Joshua 19:43; Judges 1:18; 1 Sam. 5:10; 1 Sam. 6:16-17; 1 Sam. 7:14; 1 Sam. 17:52; Jer. 25:20; Amos 1:8; Zeph. 2:4; Zech. 9:5, 7. Identified with Akir, 31 52' N, 34 49' E.

Inhabitants of Ekron. Joshua 13:3.

"And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber, that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub [lord of flies] the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease." Ekron was the northernmost of the five chief Philistine cities, and contained the shrine and oracle of the vile abomination called Baal-zebub (the Beelzebub of the New Testament). Men love the gods that are most like unto themselves, so it is not surprising to see Ahaziah sending to this miserable Philistine god. But the sick king's messengers never reached the oracle. The God of Israel Himself, sending His prophet to intercept the king's messengers, answered His question. "But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them: Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die."

Ahaziah, the wicked son of a wicked father, had an accident and sent his messenger to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron. Baal-zebub means "lord of flies." According to rabbinical tradition, he was worshipped in the form of a fly; and so addicted were the Jews to this cult that they carried a small image in their pockets, kissing it from time to time. Vile practices were also connected with its worship. What awful blasphemy the Pharisees uttered when they accused our Lord of using Beelzebub, the prince of demons! (Matt. 12:24. Beelzebub is given in the Greek as Beelzebul, which means "lord of idolatrous sacrificing.")

Name of Baal as the god of Ekron, signifying 'lord of the fly.' Josephus says with reference to king Ahaziah sending to this god, "Now it happened that Ahaziah, as he was coming down from the top of his house, fell down from it, and in his sickness sent to the Fly, which was the god of Ekron, for that was this god's name." Ant. ix: 2, 1. It was regarded as a preserver from poisonous flies, and hence as a healer of diseases. 2 Kings 1:2-3, 6, 16. In the N.T. there is the similar name of BEELZEBUB (q.v.) to whom the miracles of the Lord in casting out demons were blasphemously attributed.

A second judgement falls upon the king himself. "Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber which was in Samaria, and was sick." But repentance was foreign to the heart of the king of Israel, and Jehovah had no place either in his thoughts or in his life. He was indifferent to the judgment of God; he saw but an ordinary accident in the blow that had struck him. "He sent messengers and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this disease." His own Baal, before whom he bowed (1 Kings 22:54), was not enough for him; he sends to the Baal of the Philistines to learn his fate. Baal-zebub, the lord of flies, was much more valuable in his eyes than Jehovah. This god was doubtless invoked by this idolatrous nation to secure themselves from this plague of the lands of the East, flies. He was a powerful god to his votaries, for bowing down before him in their blindness they were worshipping or supplicating Satan himself, the Beelzebub so often mentioned in the New Testament.

That which happened to Ahaziah still happens today to every follower of a false religion. His religion can no more satisfy his heart, calm his soul's fears, or make known the future than the Baal of Jezebel and Ahab, who Ahaziah worshipped, could satisfy him. Therefore every new superstition is welcome, provided it gives us hope of escaping the fate by which we feel threatened.

Finding himself a sick man through his fall out of a window, Ahaziah sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron whether he should recover (2 Kings 1). This was flagrant, for the recognition of Baal had been discouraged in the land, and Jehovah was (at least nominally) Israel's God. When Ahab's false prophets encouraged him to go to war with the Syrians, it was not Baal's name that they used, but the name of Jehovah (1 Kings 22:6). Baal-zebub means "lord of flies." The belief that flies carried disease led blind heathen to turn to this particular god for help: but Ahaziah should have known better. To enquire at Ekron was really to enquire of demons. Idols are nothing in themselves, but there are demons behind them, as 1 Cor. 10 teaches us. Traffic with demons is painfully common in our day. Men call it Spiritualism; "demonism" would be a more correct name for this great sin. This is unpardonable where Bibles abound, and where the Gospel of Christ is freely proclaimed. The moral and spiritual consequences of this unholy traffic are very serious.

Son of Ahab and Jezebel. He reigned over Israel two years (B.C. 897-6) and did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, it being remarked of him that he walked in the way of his mother as well as of his father and of Jeroboam. He was a worshipper of Baal; and having injured himself by falling through a lattice he sent to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron. Elijah met the messengers on their road, and turned them back with a message to Ahaziah, reproaching him with his impiety, and telling him he should not recover from his sickness. Ahaziah, on finding by the description the messengers gave that it was Elijah, sent a captain and fifty men to seize him. Elijah called down fire from heaven and they were consumed. Another fifty were sent and they also were consumed. The captain of the third fifty begged Elijah to spare their lives, which he did, and he went with them and delivered the message to Ahaziah. The prediction was verified and he died. The history of this king presents a sad picture of the state of idolatry and wickedness into which Israel had fallen, while professing to be God's people. 1 Kings 22:49, 51-53; 2 Kings 1:1-18; 2 Chr. 20:35.

A haziah, Ahab's son and successor, quickly showed that he had no regard for the Lord. Of him we read that he "did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin" (1 Ki. 22:52). The main focus God gives us on this king's life relates to what he did about an injury he suffered in a fall, an injury that was to prove fatal. God often tests us in seemingly little things, but these things reveal the true condition of our hearts. Totally ignoring the painful lessons his father Ahab had had to learn, Ahaziah left Jehovah completely out of his thinking - something both foolish and dangerous to do. He sent his messengers to inquire of the "lord of flies," Baal-Zebub, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron associated with healing. Jehovah had Elijah intercept the messengers and send word by them of the king's impending doom. Where do we place our confidence when we are sick or injured? We can truly be thankful for doctors and other practitioners of the healing arts, for medicines, medical equipment and tests of all kinds. We are free before God to make full use of them. But our trust must not be in things or in people, but in the Lord alone!

It is, however, impossible to harden oneself against God and prosper. Troubles gather around the wicked king. Moab rebels, and he himself is prostrated by a fall from an upper chamber in his palace. Will this sickness sober the king and turn his thoughts to the Lord God of Israel? Alas! in prosperity he had lived without God, and in trouble he despises the chastening of the Lord. In health he had served idols with all the fanatical zeal of his mother, and in sickness his depraved mind is unable to escape from their demoniacal power. Instead of turning in contrition to the Lord God of Israel, he inquires of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he will recover.

Ekron was the great heathen oracle of that day — the shrine of the Sidonian god Baal-zebub, literally the god of flies. By his devotees he was reputed to possess power to heal diseases and to cast out demons. Hence, in New Testament times, the Pharisees accuse the Lord of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Generations before, Saul, in his extremity, had turned to demons, only to hear his immediate doom pronounced by the prophet Samuel. Ahaziah, in his day, repeats the awful sin of King Saul. Overwhelmed by troubles, he too, in the most blatant and public way, affronts the living God by craving the help of demons, and in like manner hears his doom pronounced by the prophet Elijah.

These undisposed enemies may well be taken as the types of our spiritual enemies. The Philistines, who were not Canaanites, stand in the foreground. Their origin may be traced in Genesis. They were sons of Ham and sprang from Egypt. The name " Palestine " is derived from "Philistine." They typify the power of corruption to the people of God. The Philistines today, which keep God's people back from the enjoyment of their inheritance, are the corrupt forms of Christianity, Rome and her daughters. Note the five princes of the Philistines and their residence. Gaza (strong); Ashdod (I will spoil); Ashkelon (the fire of infamy); Gath (wine-press, a type of wrath); Ekron (uprooting). These names describe the character of these powerful enemies of Israel. We leave it with the reader to apply them to that powerful ecclesiastical world-system, Rome. The Avites belonged to the gigantic races, which dwelt in the land. The name means "perverters." Satan with his powerful agencies perverts the truth and keeps God's people in bondage.