The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:9
The king sent unto him a captain of fifty. "Captains of fifties" were first instituted in the wilderness by the advice of Jethro ( Exodus 18:21-25 ). Though not expressly mentioned in the military organization of David, they probably formed a part of it, and so passed into the institutions of the kingdom of Israel. With his fifty. Some recognition of Elijah's superhuman power would seem to have led Ahaziah to send so large a body. His doing so was a sort of challenge to the prophet to... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Kings 1:5-16
Fire from heaven. Ahaziah's messengers were intercepted by Elijah. They brought back to Ahaziah the fearless prophet's announcement of his doom. Elijah's message was God's message. He began it by "Thus saith the Lord." The statement that Ahaziah would surely die was in reality the sentence of him who knows the future of every life, and in whose band is the breath of every human being, be he peasant or be he king. But such a terrible sentence had not brought Ahaziah to his senses. He does not... read more