the Fourth Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Ahaziah
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Ahazi'ah. (sustained by the Lord).
1. Son of Ahab and Jezebel, eighth king of Israel, reigned B.C. 896-895. After the battle of Ramoth in Gilead, in which Ahab perished, see Ahab, the vassal king of Moab refused his yearly tribute; compare Isaiah 16:1.
Before Ahaziah could take measures for enforcing his claim, he was seriously injured by a fall through a lattice in his palace at Samaria. Being an idolater, he sent to inquire of the oracle of Baalzebub in the Philistine city of Ekron whether he should recover his health.
But Elijah, who now, for the last time, exercised the prophetic office, rebuked him for this impiety, and announced to him his approaching death. The only other recorded transaction of his reign, his endeavor to join the king of Judah in trading to Ophir, is related under Jehoshaphat. 1 Kings 22:49-53; 2 Kings 1:1; 2 Chronicles 20:35-37.
2. Fifth king of Judah, son of Jehoram and Athaliah (daughter of Ahab), and therefore, nephew of the preceding Ahaziah, reigned one year, B.C. 884. He is called Azariah, 2 Chronicles 22:2, probably by a copyist's error, and Jehoahaz. 2 Chronicles 21:17.
He was 22 years old at his accession; 2 Kings 8:26; (his age 42, in 2 Chronicles 22:2, is a copyist's error). Ahaziah was an idolater, and he allied himself with his uncle Jehoram, king of Israel, against Hazael, the new king of Syria. The two kings were, however, defeated at Ramoth, where Jehoram was severely wounded.
The revolution, carried out in Israel by Jehu under the guidance of Elisha, broke out while Ahaziah was visiting his uncle at Jezreel. As Jehu approached the town, Jehoram and Ahaziah went out to meet him; the former was shot through the heart by Jehu, and Ahaziah was pursued and mortally wounded. He died when he reached Megiddo.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Ahaziah'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/a/ahaziah.html. 1901.
