2 Kings 1:9

_THEN THE KING SENT UNTO HIM A CAPTAIN OF FIFTY WITH HIS FIFTY. AND HE WENT UP TO HIM: AND, BEHOLD, HE SAT ON THE TOP OF AN HILL. AND HE SPAKE UNTO HIM, THOU MAN OF GOD, THE KING HATH SAID, COME DOWN._ Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty - i:e., an officer with a body of 50 soldiers at his command. Any appearance of cruelty that there is in the fate of the two captains and their men will be removed on a full consideration of the circumstances. God being the king of Israel, Ahaziah was bound to govern the kingdom according to the divine law: to apprehend the Lord's prophet, for discharging a commanded duty, was the act of an impious and notorious rebel. The captains abetted the king in his rebellion; and they exceeded their military duty by contemptuous insults. MAN OF GOD. In using this term they either spoke derisively, believing him to be no true prophet, or, if they regar...

9-18 Elijah called for fire from heaven, to consume the haughty, daring sinners; not to secure himself, but to prove his mission, and to reveal the wrath of God from heaven, against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Elijah did this by a Divine impulse, yet our Saviour would not allow the disciples to do the like, Luke 9:54. The dispensation of the Spirit and of grace by no means allowed it. Elijah was concerned for God's glory, those for their own reputation. The Lord judges men's practices by their principles, and his judgment is according to truth. The third captain humbled himself, and cast himself upon the mercy of God and Elijah. There is nothing to be got by contending with God; and those are wise for themselves, who learn submission from the fatal end of obstinacy in others. The courage of faith has often struck terror into the heart of the proudest sinner. So thunderst...

Verse 2 Kings 1:9. _A CAPTAIN OF FIFTY WITH HIS FIFTY._] It is impossible that such a man as Ahaziah, in such circumstances, could have had any _friendly_ designs in sending a _captain and fifty soldiers_ for the prophet; and the manner in which they are treated shows plainly that they went with a _hostile_ intent. _AND HE SPAKE UNTO HIM, THOU MAN OF GOD_] Thou prophet of the Most High....

THEN THE KING SENT UNTO HIM - i. e., in order to seize and punish him. Compare 1 Kings 18:10; 1 Kings 22:27....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 1:1 THE REVOLT OF MOAB. THE ILLNESS, IMPIETY, AND DEATH OF AHAZIAH The narrative of the Second Book of Kings follows on that of the First Book in the closest possible sequence. The history of Ahaziah's reign begins in 1 Kings 22:51, and is carried on, without any real break or pause in the sense, to 2 Kings 1:18. How the two books came to be divided at this point is quite inexplicable. The division is most unhappy. Not only does it, without apparent reason, draw a strong line of dem

THEN THE KING SENT UNTO HIM A CAPTAIN OF FIFTY WITH HIS FIFTY,.... Not in honour to him, but to bring him by force if he refused to come willingly: AND HE WENT UP TO HIM, AND, BEHOLD, HE SAT ON THE TOP OF AN HILL; generally supposed to be Mount Carmel; AND HE SPAKE UNTO HIM; at the bottom of the hill, so loud that he might hear him: THOU MAN OF GOD; or the prophet of the Lord, as the Targum, as thou callest thyself; for this was said in a sneering, flouting, manner: THE KING HATH SAID, COME DOWN; and in the king's name he ordered him to come down, signifying, if he would not, he would send his men to fetch him down....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. ELIJAH's FINAL MINISTRY AND TRANSLATION 1. Elijah and Ahaziah CHAPTER 1 _ 1. Moab's rebellion (2 Kings 1:1)_ 2. The illness of Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:2) 3. Elijah's message (2 Kings 1:3) 4. Ahaziah's messengers and their fate (2 Kings 1:9) 5. Elijah before the king and Ahaziah's Death (2 Kings 1:16) 6. Jehoram becomes king (2 Kings 1:18) The rebellion of Moab is here briefly mentioned. B

2 KINGS 1:1 TO 2 KINGS 2:25. LAST DAYS AND ASCENSION OF ELIJAH: ELISHA ESTABLISHED AS HIS SUCCESSOR. Here we have perhaps a third Elijah narrative, in which the prophet is represented as playing a part scarcely worthy of the Elijah of 1 Kings 17-19 or 21, who in the first section represents Yahweh against the Tyrian Baal, whereas in the latter he stands for righteousness opposed to legalised violence. Here the king's offence is that he sent to a Philistine oracle instead of inquiring of Yahweh, and his soldiers are punished by fire for summoning the prophet to surrender. The spelling of the prophet's name in Hebrew differs from that in the rest of the OT. The story is mentioned in the Gospel (Luke 9:54)....

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos_. App-6. MAN OF GOD. The people's name for. prophet. See App-49....

_Then the king sent unto him_ Clearly Ahaziah's design was to arrest and punish Elijah, but considering that the prophet had appeared alone, the number of men sent out against him seems excessive. It may be, however, that in the brevity of the narrative we are not told of Elijah's movements, and that he had already retired to some centre of the prophetic body; and if so, the king may have apprehended that resistance would be offered to his arrest. _a captain of fifty_ One of the subdivisions of the Jewish army was into -fifties". See 1 Samuel 8:12. Greater bodies were -hundreds" and -thousands" (Numbers 31:14). _he sat on the top of a_[R.V. THE] _hill_ The word rendered -sat" may also be translated -dwelt" (see marg. of R.V.) and the definite article indicates that some part