Then he said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekrom - is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? - therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"First off, I find the name of the god he was going to inquire of interesting: Ball-zebub. I can't see any way that isn't what the New Testament names Beelzebub. So essentially, he was going to inquire of Satan himself. That certainly explains why God was angered.
Then there are the consequences of the king's actions. He is named a dead man, because he did not even try to ask God for his fate. Would that mean he would have lived if he had called for Elijah or another prophet instead? Or would God still have condemned him for his past sins? I realize it's a rhetorical question, because it never would have happened. But it's interesting to wonder if, had he sought God, he would have survived?
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