With God's help we now open Sefer Melachim II. As we have already mentioned, the division between Melachim I and Melachim II is an arbitrary one: according to Judaism there are not two books here but a single Sefer Melachim, and it was the Christians who split it in two. The chapter before us opens a new chapter in the punishment of the house of Achav: after the death of Achav the Holy One, blessed be He, begins to collect the debt, and we see how matters unfold upon his son Achazyah.
וַיִּפְשַׁע מוֹאָב בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אַחֲרֵי מוֹת אַחְאָב׃ - And Moav rebelled against Israel after the death of Achav.
Until now Moav had been paying tribute to the king of Israel. With the death of Achav it rebels, that is, it casts off the yoke of Israel and ceases to pay the tribute. This is the first sign that the punishment is beginning to descend upon the house of Achav.
וַיִּפֹּל אֲחַזְיָה בְּעַד הַשְּׂבָכָה בַּעֲלִיָּתוֹ אֲשֶׁר בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן וַיָּחַל וַיִּשְׁלַח מַלְאָכִים וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם לְכוּ דִרְשׁוּ בְּבַעַל זְבוּב אֱלֹהֵי עֶקְרוֹן אִם אֶחְיֶה מֵחֳלִי זֶה׃ - And Achazyah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Shomron, and he took ill. And he sent messengers and said to them: Go, inquire of Baal Zevuv the god of Ekron whether I will recover from this illness.
Note two things. First, the place from which he fell is not a place from which a person falls in the natural course of things: it was an upper chamber, a second story, and yet he fell through the lattice. Second, he took ill, and even so he did not repent. Usually when a person receives such a slap it is meant to wake him up; here not only did he fail to wake up, but he immediately chose new gods for himself and sent to inquire of Baal Zevuv, as if there were no God in Israel and as if there were no other way to know what was going to happen.
And why specifically Baal Zevuv? The Malbim explains: the fly (zevuv) was a sign of death, as it says, "dead flies make the perfumer's oil stink." It is well known that when there is a carcass or a corpse, the flies gather around it. The priests of Baal Zevuv dealt in death: they supposedly knew when a person was about to die, and would prophesy who would live and who would die. This also settles the question of why he did not send to inquire of Baal himself, for his mother Izevel, daughter of Etbaal of the Tzidonim, was among the worshippers of Baal. The answer: he wanted specifically to know the time of his death, and that was the field of expertise of Baal Zevuv.
וּמַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה דִּבֶּר אֶל אֵלִיָּה הַתִּשְׁבִּי קוּם עֲלֵה לִקְרַאת מַלְאֲכֵי מֶלֶךְ שֹׁמְרוֹן וְדַבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם הֲמִבְּלִי אֵין אֱלֹהִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אַתֶּם הֹלְכִים לִדְרֹשׁ בְּבַעַל זְבוּב אֱלֹהֵי עֶקְרוֹן׃ - And an angel of God spoke to Eliyahu the Tishbi: Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Shomron, and say to them: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal Zevuv the god of Ekron?
The Holy One, blessed be He, sends Eliyahu to go up to meet the messengers who were sent to Baal Zevuv, and to speak with them, and not to Achazyah himself. In this very fact there is a slap in the face to the king: the prophet has a message, and he does not even bother to come to you, but rather delivers the words through the messengers. Moreover, Eliyahu rebukes the messengers themselves: how can you go? Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal Zevuv?
וְלָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הַמִּטָּה אֲשֶׁר עָלִיתָ שָּׁם לֹא תֵרֵד מִמֶּנָּה כִּי מוֹת תָּמוּת וַיֵּלֶךְ אֵלִיָּה׃ - Therefore thus says God: The bed upon which you have gone up, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die. And Eliyahu went.
The verdict came because of the inquiry to Baal Zevuv. This was a test: to see whether there was reason to grant him length of days. As we saw with Achav, who in the wake of Eliyahu's rebuke humbled his heart and gained another three years, so too here Achazya was given an opportunity to humble himself. He did not humble himself, and therefore "the bed on which you have gone up, you shall not come down from it."
וַיָּשׁוּבוּ הַמַּלְאָכִים אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם מַה זֶּה שַׁבְתֶּם׃ - And the messengers returned to him, and he said to them: Why is it that you have returned?
The king is surprised: you set out only a short while ago, and you have already returned? You reached Baal Zevuv so quickly? Did you sprout wings? Did you come back like a fly?
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו אִישׁ עָלָה לִקְרָאתֵנוּ וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֵינוּ לְכוּ שׁוּבוּ אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח אֶתְכֶם וְדִבַּרְתֶּם אֵלָיו כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הֲמִבְּלִי אֵין אֱלֹהִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אַתָּה שֹׁלֵחַ לִדְרֹשׁ בְּבַעַל זְבוּב אֱלֹהֵי עֶקְרוֹן לָכֵן הַמִּטָּה אֲשֶׁר עָלִיתָ שָּׁם לֹא תֵרֵד מִמֶּנָּה כִּי מוֹת תָּמוּת׃ - And they said to him: A man came up to meet us, and he said to us: Go, return to the king who sent you, and speak to him: Thus says Hashem, is it because there is no God in Israel that you send to inquire of Baal Zevuv, god of Ekron? Therefore the bed on which you have gone up, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.
There are two striking changes here. First, they changed the order. Second, they conveyed the rebuke in the name of Hashem, whereas Eliyahu had not rebuked them in Hashem's name. The Malbim explains: Eliyahu rebuked them regarding themselves, why do you listen to the king to go and inquire of Baal Zevuv, and they did not want to tell the king that the prophet had said to them "why do you listen to him," for that would be an insult to the king. Therefore they omitted this detail. On the other hand, out of fear that the king would wonder why they had returned and would punish them, they reversed the matter and said: we have a message for you, my lord the king, and not merely a message, but Hashem said to tell you. This too is not accurate: the verse only says "arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Shomron and speak to them," and it did not say that he was sent to the king. But they did this so that there would be no anger against them from the king and he would not kill them.
וַיְדַבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם מֶה מִשְׁפַּט הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר עָלָה לִקְרַאתְכֶם וַיְדַבֵּר אֲלֵיכֶם אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה׃ - And he said to them: What manner of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke to you these words?
"What manner of man" means what was his appearance. The Targum renders "what was the manner of the man," meaning his conduct. But why all this elaboration? The Malbim says: the king was greatly puzzled. If the prophet has a message, why did he not come to me directly? After all, the main complaint is not against the messengers but against the king. Therefore Achazya doubted whether perhaps this was not a man established as a prophet, or perhaps the prophet feared to come in unfitting garb, for one does not come before the king in sackcloth. "What manner of man" therefore includes his character, his appearance, and his clothing: perhaps his clothing caused him not to see himself fit to come in such garments to the king's court.
And beyond this there is also anger here: the very fact that he came to you and not to me shows contempt for the honor of the monarchy. And if the prophecy truly was meant for him to come to me directly, then he transgressed his mission and his prophecy and is liable to death. The Malbim says that this too is included in "what manner of man": I want to know what judgment is due to this man for what he did. And this is precisely the point that Hashem wanted to trouble him.
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו אִישׁ בַּעַל שֵׂעָר וְאֵזוֹר עוֹר אָזוּר בְּמָתְנָיו וַיֹּאמַר אֵלִיָּה הַתִּשְׁבִּי הוּא׃ - And they said to him: A hairy man, with a leather belt girded on his loins. And he said: It is Eliyahu the Tishbi.
"A hairy man" - his hair is long, he grows his hair like a nazir. "With a leather belt girded on his loins" - this was Eliyahu the prophet's distinguishing mark. The messengers are in fact trying to judge him favorably: this is why he did not come himself, because he does not appear to be one fit to stand before the king, wild hair and a leather belt are not dignified attire and are not befitting the honor of the monarchy. But Achazya, who knew Eliyahu from his father's house, immediately declares: "It is Eliyahu the Tishbi." That is: I know him, this is not a man who has inhibitions or fears about standing before a king and princes in unfitting garb. This is a man utterly fearless, who, if he had something to say to me, would come and say it to me directly to my face, without fear and without considering how he looks. From this Achazya concluded that there was contempt here, and this was sufficient reason to go and take vengeance on Eliyahu.
וַיִּשְׁלַח אֵלָיו שַׂר חֲמִשִּׁים וַחֲמִשָּׁיו וַיַּעַל אֵלָיו וְהִנֵּה יֹשֵׁב עַל רֹאשׁ הָהָר וַיְדַבֵּר אֵלָיו אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים הַמֶּלֶךְ דִּבֶּר רֵדָה׃ - So he sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men, and he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him: Man of God, the king has said, come down.
The king sends a captain of a company along with his fifty men. Note the details, for the matter will be repeated here three times with variations in wording, and the Malbim, as is his way, is precise with every word. Concerning the first it is written "and he went up to him": he was not afraid at all and did not hesitate, and in his great insolence and brazenness he went up to Eliyahu at the top of the hill.
And in his wording: "the king has said (dibber) come down." What is the difference between dibbur (speaking) and amirah (saying)? It is known that dibbur denotes harsh speech and amirah denotes gentle speech, but there is another explanation: dibbur is at length and amirah is brief. So too in our own language: a person says to his friend "I have a dibbur with you" when it is a long conversation, but when giving a short instruction one says "I said (amarti) to him." If so, it should have said "the king said (amar) come down," for this is a short instruction. Rather, says the Malbim, this is what he told him: the king spoke at length a royal matter, and I am telling you briefly - come down. This was insolence: the short command issues from himself, as though he is the one giving the order: do not defy the king's word, come down now and at once.
וַיַּעֲנֶה אֵלִיָּהוּ וַיְדַבֵּר אֶל שַׂר הַחֲמִשִּׁים וְאִם אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים אָנִי תֵּרֶד אֵשׁ מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וְתֹאכַל אֹתְךָ וְאֶת חֲמִשֶּׁיךָ וַתֵּרֶד אֵשׁ מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וַתֹּאכַל אֹתוֹ וְאֶת חֲמִשָּׁיו׃ - And Eliyahu answered and spoke to the captain of fifty: If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
Eliyahu speaks to the captain of fifty himself, personally, because he is the one who went up and stands near him; the rest of the fifty are far off and did not go up the hill. And his argument is: how did you dare to come and do such a thing? And the fifty, in that they all went along, became partners in the crime. He should have said: I am going to take the man of God by force, if you wish kill me - but to do such a thing? And yet they went, and yet they were burned. A sign that they indeed deserved it.
וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁלַח אֵלָיו שַׂר חֲמִשִּׁים אַחֵר וַחֲמִשָּׁיו וַיַּעַן וַיְדַבֵּר אֵלָיו אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים כֹּה אָמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ מְהֵרָה רֵדָה׃ - Again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and spoke to him: Man of God, thus said the king, come down quickly.
There are three changes here. First, "and he answered and spoke to him." Second, there is no "and he went up" - he does not go up to him. Third, "thus said (amar) the king" and not "the king spoke (dibber)." The second one was already apprehensive, and for that reason he did not go up but remained at a distance. When one speaks from afar one must raise one's voice, and wherever the expression of answering (aniyah) is used it means raising the voice, as in "and you shall answer and say," which Rashi explains regarding the first fruits to mean that he raises his voice, and likewise "and Miriam answered them." He thought that the power of Eliyahu's fire was limited to a certain range, and therefore he kept his distance and shouted to him from afar.
Furthermore: he does not command in his own name but in the name of the king, and therefore this is a brief saying - "thus said the king, come down quickly." A brief speech is amirah. This is unlike the previous verse, where the king spoke at length and the captain added a short command of his own. The second one did not act with the same insolence, and his situation was relatively better.
וַיַּעַן אֵלִיָּה וַיְדַבֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם אִם אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אָנִי תֵּרֶד אֵשׁ מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וְתֹאכַל אֹתְךָ וְאֶת חֲמִשֶּׁיךָ וַתֵּרֶד אֵשׁ אֱלֹהִים מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וַתֹּאכַל אֹתוֹ וְאֶת חֲמִשָּׁיו׃ - And Eliyahu answered and spoke to them: If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And a fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
Eliyahu too needed to speak in a raised voice because of the distance, and therefore "and Eliyahu answered." And his argument is: you yourself call me a man of God, and how did you not fear to come to a man of God and give him commands in the name of the king? And note the change: "and a fire of God came down from heaven." Wherever a thing is attached to the name of God, says Rashi, its meaning is that the thing is great, as in "a city great to God." Here too a great fire came down, because it needed to reach far off. The first ones were near and no great fire was needed, but these stood at a distance, and a fire was needed that would go forth and burn all the way there.
וַיָּשָׁב וַיִּשְׁלַח שַׂר חֲמִשִּׁים שְׁלִשִׁים וַחֲמִשָּׁיו וַיַּעַל וַיָּבֹא שַׂר הַחֲמִשִּׁים הַשְּׁלִישִׁי וַיִּכְרַע עַל בִּרְכָּיו לְנֶגֶד אֵלִיָּהוּ וַיִּתְחַנֵּן אֵלָיו וַיְדַבֵּר אֵלָיו אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים תִּיקַר נָא נַפְשִׁי וְנֶפֶשׁ עֲבָדֶיךָ אֵלֶּה חֲמִשִּׁים בְּעֵינֶיךָ׃ - And again he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Eliyahu and pleaded with him and said to him: Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your eyes.
A third time. Achazyah does not give up. The third captain also goes up the mountain, but not like the first, who came to bring Eliyahu down like a policeman coming to put him in chains, but as one pleading. He falls on his knees and says: Man of God, I truly believe that you are a man of God, and the fact that I have come to take you is not my fault. Please let my life and the life of your servants be precious in your eyes.
הִנֵּה יָרְדָה אֵשׁ מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וַתֹּאכַל אֶת שְׁנֵי שָׂרֵי הַחֲמִשִּׁים הָרִאשֹׁנִים וְאֶת חֲמִשֵּׁיהֶם וְעַתָּה תִּיקַר נַפְשִׁי בְּעֵינֶיךָ׃ - Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties, and now let my life be precious in your eyes.
Why was it necessary to say "Behold, fire came down"? Do we not already know that it came down? Rather, he is saying to Eliyahu: If you wanted to display your strength and greatness as a man of God, you have already shown it in the first two instances. Now everyone knows what your strength and might are, and it is clear that Achazyah treats you accordingly. And if you punished them for speaking insolently, here I come speaking with humility and supplication.
And why does he repeat "let my life be precious" twice? The plain commentators would say that a person who pleads repeats his words several times, but the Malbim, in his way, explains the repetition. In the first instance he asked that Eliyahu not burn them. But suppose he does not burn them, what then? He would tell them to go home, and then the king would kill him. Therefore the first request is: Do not burn me, and the second: Let my life be precious in your eyes and come along with me, for if you do not come with me the king will burn me. According to this, the difference in wording is also precise: in the first he asked for "my life and the life of these fifty servants," because the danger from the fire threatened them all; whereas in the second the request concerns only himself, for the king would punish the commander who gave the order to turn back, and not all the soldiers.
וַיְדַבֵּר מַלְאַךְ יְהֹוָה אֶל אֵלִיָּהוּ רֵד אוֹתוֹ אַל תִּירָא מִפָּנָיו וַיָּקָם וַיֵּרֶד אוֹתוֹ אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ - And the angel of Hashem spoke to Eliyahu: Go down with him, do not be afraid of him. And he arose and went down with him to the king.
At first Eliyahu was afraid, because he had not been commanded to go to the king; and when a person is not commanded, there is room for the concern "perhaps Shaul will kill me." One who has free choice has the power to harm even someone upon whom no harm was decreed, and so it appears from several verses. The opinion of the Gra is not so, and the accepted view, as Rav Friedlander brings, is that one who has free choice, though he possesses free will, cannot harm someone upon whom nothing was decreed from heaven. Many verses seemingly prove the first view, and whoever wishes may look in Rav Friedlander's book "Yediah U'Bechirah," where he reconciles the two approaches and finds a middle path. In any case, according to the view that one with free choice can cause harm, the concern is understandable: as long as there is no promise, Eliyahu does not go, lest they kill him. Only after Hashem commands him, since those on a mission of a mitzvah are not harmed, does he arise and go.
And I will add my own thought: Eliyahu was very exacting. The Gemara tells of one of the sages to whom Eliyahu used to appear, and that sage said of him that Eliyahu is exacting, and Eliyahu did not appear to him for three days. When Eliyahu appeared to him again, he said to him: You said of me that I am exacting? The sage said to him: Now you have proven that you are exacting, for you did not appear to me for three days because I said you are exacting. Eliyahu embodied the attribute of strict justice, zealous, "let the law pierce the mountain." It is possible, then, that Hashem was concerned that these too were facing being burned, and so He hastened to tell Eliyahu: Go down with these, before you burn them too.
וַיְדַבֵּר אֵלָיו כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה יַעַן אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַחְתָּ מַלְאָכִים לִדְרֹשׁ בְּבַעַל זְבוּב אֱלֹהֵי עֶקְרוֹן הֲמִבְּלִי אֵין אֱלֹהִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל לִדְרֹשׁ בִּדְבָרוֹ לָכֵן הַמִּטָּה אֲשֶׁר עָלִיתָ שָּׁם לֹא תֵרֵד מִמֶּנָּה כִּי מוֹת תָּמוּת׃ - And he spoke to him: Thus says Hashem, because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zevuv the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore the bed upon which you have gone up, you shall not come down from it, for you shall surely die.
Now, once he was commanded "go down with him," Eliyahu has a directive to speak the words to the king himself, and therefore he opens "So says Hashem" - unlike the first time, when the directive was only to speak to the messengers.
Only here the order is reversed: first "because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zevuv," and only afterward "is it because there is no God in Israel." The Malbim explains: Eliyahu knew that Achazyahu could excuse himself and say that he did not know where the prophet was. And indeed, if we pay attention, Eliyahu had disappeared during that period. Who was the prophet they sent for when Achav and Yehoshafat went out to war? Michayhu. And where was Eliyahu? The assumption is that Eliyahu had vanished, was living in seclusion, and apparently also feared Izevel, and therefore went underground. There is proof for this from within the chapter itself: the king asks the messengers what the man looked like, and they describe to him his hair and leather belt; if they had known it was Eliyahu, why would they have needed the descriptions? Rather, the younger generation no longer knew who Eliyahu was, and only Achazyahu, who knew from his father's house and had had several conversations with Eliyahu in the past, recognized him by his description. This is not the era of the weeklies where every sage has seven hundred photographs from every possible angle; in their time a person could be great and few had seen his face.
If so, Achazyahu could claim: I did not know where Eliyahu was, how could I go and inquire of Hashem? Therefore Eliyahu opens precisely with the essence of the sin, for which there is no excuse whatsoever: what did you see fit in going and turning to idolatry, to inquire of Baal Zevuv.
וַיָּמָת כִּדְבַר יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלִיָּהוּ וַיִּמְלֹךְ יְהוֹרָם תַּחְתָּיו בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתַּיִם לִיהוֹרָם בֶּן יְהוֹשָׁפָט מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה כִּי לֹא הָיָה לוֹ בֵּן׃ - And he died according to the word of Hashem that Eliyahu had spoken, and Yehoram reigned in his place in the second year of Yehoram son of Yehoshafat king of Yehudah, because he had no son.
Achazyahu died according to the word of Hashem that Eliyahu had spoken, and Yehoram his brother reigned in his place. Note that there are two Yehorams here: Yehoram brother of Achazyahu, son of Achav, king of Israel, and Yehoram son of Yehoshafat, king of Yehudah. And this is an example of a king who reigned and whose brother reigned after him, because the king had no sons.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי אֲחַזְיָהוּ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה הֲלוֹא הֵמָּה כְתוּבִים עַל סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And the rest of the deeds of Achazyahu that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
The chapter opens the retribution of the house of Achav: Moav rebels, Achazyahu suffers an unnatural fall and falls ill, and instead of repenting he sends to inquire of Baal Zevuv, whose priests dealt with knowledge of death. Eliyahu is sent specifically to the messengers and not to the king, as a humiliation and as an attempt to subdue his heart, and the messengers for their part alter the words out of fear of the king. Achazyahu, who recognizes Eliyahu by his description, knows that this is not a man who shrinks from standing before kings, and decides to take vengeance on him. The three captains of fifty teach through their precise differences in language how a person's attitude toward the word of Hashem determines his fate: the first with insolence and crudeness, the second from a distance and with apprehension, and both were burned; and the third, who knelt and pleaded, was saved. Finally Eliyahu goes down by Hashem's command and delivers the prophecy face to face, and Achazyahu dies according to the word of Hashem, and his brother Yehoram reigns in his place since he had no son.