2 Kings 1:2 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

In his upper chamber; in which the lattice might be left to convey light into the lower room; which if it now seem to be absurd in a king's palace, we must not think it was so then, when the world was not arrived to that height of curiosity and art in which now it is. But the words may be, and are by some, rendered, through the battlements (or through the lattice in the battlements) of the roof of the house; where being first walking, after the manner, and then standing and looking through, and leaning upon this lattice, which was grown infirm, it broke, and he fell into the court or garden belonging to the house. Baal-zebub; properly, the god of flies; an idol so called, because it was falsely supposed to deliver those people from flies, which were both vexatious and hurtful to them; as Jupiter and Hercules were called by a like name among the Grecians for thee same reason. And it is evident, both from sacred and profane histories, that the idol gods, being consulted by the heathens, did sometimes through God's permission and just judgment give them answers, though they were generally observed, even by the heathens themselves to be dark and doubtful.

2 Kings 1:2

2 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.