2 Kings 1:2
Context1:2 Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria 1 and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, 2 “Go, ask 3 Baal Zebub, 4 the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”
2 Kings 3:2
Context3:2 He did evil in the sight of 5 the Lord, but not to the same degree as his father and mother. He did remove the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.
2 Kings 17:16
Context17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God; they made two metal calves and an Asherah pole, bowed down to all the stars in the sky, 6 and worshiped 7 Baal.
1 map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.
2 tn Heb “and he sent messengers and said to them.”
3 tn That is, “seek an oracle from.”
4 sn Apparently Baal Zebub refers to a local manifestation of the god Baal at the Philistine city of Ekron. The name appears to mean “Lord of the Flies,” but it may be a deliberate scribal corruption of Baal Zebul, “Baal, the Prince,” a title known from the Ugaritic texts. For further discussion and bibliography, see HALOT 261 s.v. זְבוּב בַּעַל and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 25.
5 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
6 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
7 tn Or “served.”