Who was King Ahaziah in the Bible?

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.

Son of Jehoram and Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, therefore nephew of the above. He succeeded his father as king of Judah, and reigned one year (B.C. 885). He did wickedly, his mother being his counsellor to his destruction. He formed an alliance with Joram king of Israel and went with him against Hazael king of Syria. Joram was wounded and went to Jezreel to be healed. Ahaziah afterwards went to visit Joram, and God caused his death by Jehu when he cut off the house of Ahab. 2 Kings 8:24-29; 2 Kings 9:16-29; 2 Chr. 22:1-9. He is called AZARIAH in 2 Chr. 22:6, and JEHOAHAZ in 2 Chr. 21:17. "In proper names," says Fürst, "those of cognate senses were often interchanged." In 2 Kings 8:26 he is said to be 22 years old when he began to reign; but in 2 Chr. 22:2 it says he was 42. The latter is doubtless a mistake of some copyist, for his father was only 40 years old when he died. 2 Chr. 21:5, 20. The Syriac and Arabic copies read 22 in both passages.

Since all Jehoram's sons had been killed except Ahaziah, the youngest, he was made king by the people. Taking the throne at the age of 22 (not 42), he reigned only one year. Sadly, the Lord's judgment on his father did not affect him to turn to the Lord, but he followed the ways of the house of Ahab. His mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and he accepted the wicked advice of his mother (v. 3). How different to Asa, who removed his mother from the place of queen mother because she had made an idol, an image of Asherah (2 Chron. 15:16).One who deliberately ignores the Lord leaves himself open to being led into every form of evil.

Ahaziah therefore accepted advise from the house of Ahab and joined himself to Jehoram the son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Syria. His grandfather had mistakenly united with Ahab in going to battle and was seriously reproved by God for doing so, but Ahaziah was so friendly with Joram king of Israel that, after Joram was wounded in battle, Ahaziah went to visit him (v. 6). But the time had come when God had sent Jehu the son of Nimshi to cut off the house

AHAZIAH must have reigned as his father's viceroy during the last year of the latter's sickness. This is evident from a comparison of 2 Kings 8:25 with 9:29. He was the youngest and only remaining son of Jehoram (2 Chron. 21:17). "Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign." ("Forty and two" in 2 Chron. 22:2 is doubtless a transcriber's error. His father was only forty at his death.) "And he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter (or granddaughter) of Omri king of Israel. And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab; for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab." His mother, in some way or other, escaped the fate of the rest of Jehoram's wives (who were carried away captive at the time of the Philistine-Arabian invasion), and "was his counsellor to do wickedly." 2 Chron. 22:4 seems to give a slight hint that his father Jehoram repented during his last sufferings, and had broken away somewhat, from the house of Ahab; "for they were his (Ahaziah's) counsellors after the death of his father, to his destruction." His father's death removed the check, and he at once united himself with his mother's relatives in their sins and warfare. "He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead."

Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, took the throne of Judah when his father died (v.25). His age was only 22 years, and he reigned only one year in Jerusalem. His mother, Athaliah, had come from Israel, not Judah, and Ahaziah followed the wicked ways of his mother and her parents (v.27).

He allied himself with Joram, king of Israel, to fight against Hazael, king of Syria. In that battle Joram was wounded and returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds (v.28). Ahaziah was so friendly with him that he went down to visit him. But Chapter 9 shows us that God was intervening with some serious results for these two kings.

Ahaziah the son of Jehoram of Judah, began to reign in the twelfth year of Jehoram of Israel (2 Kings 8:25). His mother was Athaliah, daughter of Omri, a common way of speaking among the Jews; for she was in fact the granddaughter of the head of this dynasty, Omri, the daughter of Ahab, and the wife of Jehoram of Judah (v. 18). She was thus the sister of Jehoram of Israel. Ahaziah himself was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. As Jehoshaphat his grandfather had made an alliance with Ahab in order to retake Ramoth-Gilead, which had fallen under the power of the king of Syria, so Ahaziah the son of Jehoram of Judah made an alliance with Jehoram of Israel, son of Ahab, to make war against Hazael, the king of Syria, at Ramoth-Gilead, which was a city of refuge (Deut. 4:43). This was done according to the advice of his counsellors of the house of Ahab and of Athaliah his mother (2 Chr. 22:4-5). This alliance with the kings of Israel was an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Jehoram of Israel suffered the same fate at Ramoth as Ahab, who had earlier been wounded by the Syrians at the same place (1 Kings 22:34). He retired to Jizreel to be healed of his wounds. It was there that his ally Ahaziah, king of Judah, came to him to express his sympathy. By the world's standards this was an act of simple courtesy, but after having opposed Hazael, God's rod against Israel, Ahaziah subjects himself to the blows of Jehu, the second of God's rods against his ally. These judgments upon Israel neither move him nor restrain him in his pathway, and lo, these judgments will reach his very own person!

The record of the kings of Judah and Israel is now briefly given. All is fast ripening for the long threatened judgment. After the death of Jehoshaphat, his son Jehoram became sole ruler over Judah. He walked in the evil ways of the kings of Israel and the record tells the reason, "for the daughter of Ahab was his wife." After him came his son Ahaziah. Again wicked Athaliah, his mother, is mentioned. (The marginal reading "grand-daughter" is correct. She was Ahab's daughter and Omri's grand-daughter.) His connection with Ahab is made prominent. He did evil also in the sight of the Lord and made an alliance with the son of Ahab, Joram (or Jehoram), who was still king in Israel. Joram was wounded by the Syrians and Ahaziah, King of Judah, visited him in Jezreel. Alas! the unholy alliance of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, with the wicked murderer, Ahab, King of Israel (1 Kings 22) had resulted in the marriage of his son with Athaliah, the wicked daughter of a wicked father. And Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son, was dragged down by her and she became the ruination of her son Ahaziah. A dreadful harvest!

When the Philistines and Arabians invaded Judah they carried away the treasures of Jehoram, and slew his sons. Only Jehoahaz the youngest son was left (21:17). He is also known as Ahaziah and Azariah. These names in Hebrew have the same meaning "upheld by Jehovah." Poor, young Ahaziah still reaps the harvest of the unfortunate alliance of his grandfather Jehoshaphat. The leaven is doing its dreadful work. His mother Athaliah, granddaughter of the wicked Omri and daughter of Ahab, was his counsellor to do wickedly. He therefore did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for they were his counsellors, after the death of his father, to his destruction. What might have been if his grandfather Jehoshaphat had not made affinity with Ahab and his house and marrying his son Jehoram to Athaliah! Ahaziah's end, after he went with his uncle Jehoram, the son of Ahab, and the circumstances connected with it we have already annotated in Second Kings. Athaliah's awful crime in slaying the seed royal and the miraculous preservation of Joash, the reader will also find explained in 2 Kings.

Ahaziah. All of the eldest sons of Jehoram had been slain by a band of Arabians, and the youngest Ahaziah, was made king by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In his wickedness, Jehoram had slain all his brethren; in His government, God had allowed all his sons, save one, to be slain. With such a mother as Athalia it is hardly surprising that we read, “He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly” (2 Chr. 22:3).

Ahaziah’s association and close friendship with the king of Israel proved his undoing, for he visited the wounded king of Israel when Jehu, at God’s bidding, executed His vengeance upon the idolatrous and wicked house of Ahab. Along with the princes of Judah and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, the king was slain by Jehu in Samaria. The divine commentary on this is, “And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram” (verse 7).

Now Ahaziah walked in the way of his father, and openly confessed Baal to be his god by sending to consult Baal-zebub at Ekron. Sent to meet the king's messengers, Elijah pronounces his sentence from the Lord. Incensed at being opposed in his iniquity, Ahaziah sends men of his army to take him.

"And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead" (2 Chronicles 22). And "he reigned, … he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab." His mother was that infamous Athaliah, the daughter of Omri. "His mother was his counsellor to do wickedly." "He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel to war." That is, the first evil begun by a pious king continues. The practice of his son is far from pious, for the bad example of a good man has immense influence, especially with those who are not good. It hardens them, and therefore works deep and ineradicable mischief. "The destruction of Ahaziah was of God," as we are told, "by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu." And thus he came under the same judgment.