THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS, commonly called, THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS Ch. 2 Kings 1:1-18. Sickness of Ahaziah, King of Israel. His messengers sent to enquire of Baalzebub are destroyed by Elijah. Ahaziah dying is succeeded by his brother Jehoram (Not in Chronicles) 1. _Then_[R.V. AND] _Mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Ahaziah fell down through a_[R.V. THE] _lattice_ From the use of the word rendered -lattice" elsewhere (cf. Job 18:8), it must mean some kind of net or trellis-work put in front of an open space, a window or a balcony. As it is said the king fell _through_it, we may most probably conclude that... [ Continue Reading ]
_Elijah the Tishbite_ See on 1 Kings 17:1. For a similar message to the prophet cf. 1 Kings 21:17. We know from 2 Kings 4:25 that Elisha was often to be found on Mt Carmel where there was most likely a school of the prophets (see 2 Kings 2:25). It may be that Elijah also made his most settled dwelli... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Elijah departed_ i.e. to fulfil the command which had been given him by the angel. The LXX. adds -and spake unto them". The compiler of the Kings leaves out here any mention of the first meeting of the messengers by the prophet, because it may be assumed that what the prophet was bidden to do,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said_ More literally with R.V., AND THE MESSENGERS RETURNED UNTO HIM AND HE SAID. The pronoun refers to the sick king in Samaria. They could only have gone a little way on their journey, and their early reappearance caused him some surprise. -The er... [ Continue Reading ]
_There came a man up to meet_ The R.V. puts -up" before -a man", because the Hebrew verb signifies -to come up". So in A.V. in the next verse. It would appear as though the prophet had met the messengers very early in their journey while they were going down from the hill on which Samaria was built.... [ Continue Reading ]
_What manner of man_was he?] The Hebrew noun which is usually rendered -judgement" is applied sometimes to external appearances of things. Thus Exodus 26:30, -Thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the _fashion_thereof which was shewed thee". From the answer of the messengers it is clear tha... [ Continue Reading ]
He was _a hairy man_ Literally, -lord, i.e. possessor, of hair". This might equally be used of the long hair of the head and beard, or of the shaggy cloak of hair worn as a garment. But when we know of him who came -in the spirit and power of Elijah" that -his _raiment_was of camel's hair and a leat... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I_be _a man of God_ The spirit of the Law differs from that of the Gospel, and our Lord forbad (Luke 9:55) his disciples the wish to imitate Elijah. But in the light which he had, Elijah felt that the majesty of Jehovah was outraged, when the name -man of God", which should have signified revere... [ Continue Reading ]
_Again also_[R.V. AND AGAIN] _he sent_ Ahaziah has no regard for the lives that have been sacrificed. Josephus pictures him as -exceedingly angry when the destruction of these fifty was made known to him" (_Ant._IX. 2. 1). Probably also his fierceness was aggravated by his hopeless sickness. _And h... [ Continue Reading ]
_a captain of the_[R.V. A] _third fifty_ The LXX. omits the number -third", and the grammar in the Hebrew is not quite regular. _came and fell on his knees_ He utters no command, but as a suppliant recognises the power of which Elijah was the representative. Josephus makes him admit that he has onl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, there came fire down from heaven_ Here is another point in which the brevity of the narrative leaves much for conjecture. How was the news of the first and second destruction brought, and its nature described? The sending out of an armed band would no doubt attract attention, and persons wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_be not afraid of him_ Some have taken the pronoun here to refer to the captain. This can hardly be correct. The third messenger was all humility and entreaty, and the only person to be feared was the king Ahaziah, irate because of the destruction of his soldiers and the defiance of his authority.... [ Continue Reading ]
_So he died_ The whole narrative bears marks of extreme simplicity. Nothing but the barest facts are given, and no attempt made to explain or account for any part of the history. The touches which Josephus adds to the story mark the difference between the early and the later record. He describes the... [ Continue Reading ]