Ahaziah, king of Israel

(sustained by the Lord).

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, the vassal king of Moab refused his yearly tribute; comp. (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)

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