(2) Through a lattice.--Rather, the lattice, i.e., the latticed window of the chamber on the palace roof, looking into the court below. The word rendered "through" (b?'ad) implies that Ahaziah was leaning out over the window-sill. (Comp. 2Kings 9:30; Psalm 14:2.) He perhaps fell into a gallery underneath, as the palace would be several storeys high, and he was not killed by his fall. The word s?b?kh?h means "net" in Job 18:8, and decorative "network" in metal in 1Kings 7:18; 2Chronicles 4:12. The Rabbis explain it here as a sort of skylight to the chamber beneath the upper chamber, or a spiral stairway; both improbable.

He sent messengers.--By Jezebe?s advice. (S Ephrem.)

Baal-zebub.--Here only in the Old Testament. "Lord of Flies" is generally compared with the Greek ???? ????????, or ????????, the "fly-averting Zeus" of the Eleans (Paus., viii. 26, 4), and it is no doubt true that flies are an extraordinary pest in the East. But when we remember that "myiomancy," or divination by watching the movements of flies, is an ancient Babylonian practice, we can hardly doubt that this is the true significance of the title "Baal-zebub." In the Assyrian deluge tablet the gods are said to have gathered over Izdubar's sacrifice "like flies" (kima zumbie). The later Jewish spelling (??????????) probably contains an allusive reference to the Talmudic woras zebel ("dung"), zibb-l ("dunging").

Ekron.--Akir (Joshua 13:3). Of the five Philistine cities it lay farthest north, and so nearest to Samaria.

Recover.--Literally, live from, or after.

Disease.--Sickness, viz., that occasioned by his fall. The LXX. adds, "and they went to inquire of him."

Verse 2. - Ahaziah fell down through a lattice; rather, through the lattice. It is implied that the upper chamber had a single window, which was closed by a single lattice, or shutter of interlaced woodwork. The shutter may have been insufficiently secured; or the woodwork may have been too weak to bear his weight, Compare the fall of Eutychus (Acts 20:9), where, however, there is no mention of a "lattice." Was sick; i.e. "was so injured that he had to take to his bed." Inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron. As a worshipper of Baal, bent on walking in the evil way of his father and of his mother (1 Kings 22:52), Ahaziah would naturally inquire of some form of the Baal divinity. Why he chose "Baal-zebub the god of Ekron," it is impossible to say. Perhaps Baal-zebub had at the time a special reputation for giving oracular responses. Perhaps the Ekron temple was, of all the ancient sites of the Baal-worship, the one with which he could most readily communicate. Philistia lay nearer to Samaria than Phoenicia did, and of the Philistine towns Ekron (now Akir) was the most northern, and so the nearest. "Baal-zebub" has been thought by some to be equivalent to "Beel-samen," "the lord of heaven" - a divine title well known to the Phoenicians; but this view is etymologically unsound, since zebub cannot possibly mean "heaven." "Baal-zebub" is "the lord of flies " - either the god who sends them as a plague on any nation that offends him (setup. Exodus 8:21-31), or the god who averts them from his votaries and favorites, an equivalent of the Greek Ζεὺς ἀπόμυιος, or the Roman "Jupiter Myiagrus," flies being in the East not infrequently a terrible plague. The Septuagint translation, Βάαλ μυι'αν, though inaccurate, shows an appreciation of the true etymology. Of this disease; rather, of this illness (ἐκ τῆς ἀρρωστίας μου ταύτης, LXX.).

1:1-8 When Ahaziah rebelled against the Lord, Moab revolted from him. Sin weakens and impoverishes us. Man's revolt from God is often punished by the rebellion of those who owe subjection to him. Ahaziah fell through a lattice, or railing. Wherever we go, there is but a step between us and death. A man's house is his castle, but not to secure him against God's judgments. The whole creation, which groans under the burden of man's sin, will, at length, sink and break under the weight like this lattice. He is never safe that has God for his enemy. Those that will not inquire of the word of God for their comfort, shall hear it to their terror, whether they will or no.And Ahaziah fell down a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria,.... Which was either a window or lattice in the form of network, to let in light; or rather were the rails of a balcony or battlement on the roof of his palace, in this form, on which leaning, it broke down, and he fell into the garden or court yard; or walking on the roof of his house, and treading unawares on a sky light, which let in light into a room underneath, he fell through it into it:

and was sick; the fall perhaps threw him into a fever, and which seemed threatening, being violent:

and he sent messengers, and said unto them, go inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease; not to heal him of it, but to know the issue of it; a vain curiosity this! Ekron was one of the principalities of the Philistines, and this idol was the god they worshipped, which signifies a master fly: which some think was a large metallic fly; made under a planet that rules over flies; and the Heathens had deities they called Myiodes, Myagros, and which signifies a driver away of flies; as Jupiter and Hercules were called by the Eleans and Romans, and worshipped and sacrificed to by them on that account (a); and so the Cyreneans, a people of Lybia, worshipped the god Achor, which seems to be a corruption of the word Ekron, because he freed them from flies, after they had been infested with a pestilence through them (b); and Ekron being a place near the sea, and both hot and moist, might be much infested with those creatures. Within the haven of Ptolemais, or Acco, was formerly a temple of Baalzebub, called in later times "the tower of flies", and used as a Pharus (c).

(a) Pausan. Eliac. 1. sive, l. 5. p. 313. & Arcadica, sive, l. 8. p. 491. Clement. Alex. Admon. ad Gentes, p. 24. (b) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 27. Vid. Chartarii Imagines Deorum, p. 151. & Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 26. (c) Adrichom. Theatrum Ter. Sanct. fol. 6. 1.