2 Kings 1:2

2. A lattice in his upper chamber That is, the latticed window of an upper room. Compare Song of Solomon 2:9. The windows of ancient Eastern houses had no glass. “They were only latticed, and thus gave free passage to the air and admitted light, while birds and bats were excluded. In winter the cold air was kept out by vails over the windows, or by shutters, with openings in them sufficient to admit light.” Kitto.

And was sick The consequence of his fall is thus told, but the particulars of his fall are not stated, and conjecture is here useless.

Baal-zebub the god of Ekron The Fly-god was worshipped by the Philistines at Ekron, and the plague of flies in hot climates serves to account for the worship of a deity of this name. The word Baal in the composition of this idol’s name, taken in connexion with the fact that the king of Israel, who had adopted the Baal worship of Tyre, sends to Ekron to inquire, shows that there was a close relationship between the idolatry of Phenicia and Philistia; and on a silver coin of the Phenician town Aradus (Ezekiel 27:8, Arvad) is engraved the figure of a fly a device having, probably, some reference to this same idol Baal-zebub. 1 Samuel 6:5, shows how the Philistines of Ekron hastened, in time of suffering, to make images of the things that plagued them. On Ekron, see at 1 Samuel 5:20. It was the chief seat of the worship of this god. The probable reason of Ahaziah’s sending to inquire of the god of Ekron was because of some special fame of this oracle.