But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?
The angel of the Lord - not an angel, but the angel who carried on all communications between the invisible God and His chosen people. This angel commissioned Elijah to meet the kings' messengers, to stop them peremptorily on the idolatrous errand, and convey by them to the king information of his approaching death. This consultation of an idol being a breach of the fundamental law of the kingdom (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7), was a daring and deliberate rejection of the national religion. The Lord, in making this announcement of his death, designed that he should see in that event a judgment for his idolatry.