Was the king involved in Satan worship (1:2)?
No, but he did worship idols, which could be considered a form of Satanism. Baal-Zebub, a popular pagan deity, was actually Baal-Zebul (meaning lord or master, the prince). But the Lord s people ridiculed him as Baal-Zebub (meaning lord of the flies). Since this term implied both false worship and moral filth, a variation of it was used for Satan in New Testament times. The Quest Study Bible Was it unusual for the Lord to communicate His purposes through angels (1:3)? Yes. In the over 2000 years of Old Testament history from Abraham to Christ, there are proportionately few angelic conversations recorded. Those that are documented tend to be bunched up in eras, with long episodes of silence between (the same holds true for the New Testament). That doesn t mean there couldn t have been unrecorded conversations, but clearly an angelic visit was meant to mark something extraordinary about to happen not the typical form of divine communication. In the Old Testament, the Lord usually spoke d
