And Elijah answered and said unto them ,.... The same as he had to the first captain, and made the same request of fire from heaven; which accordingly came down, and destroyed this captain and his fifty also. read more
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... read more
The short reign of Ahaziah: his sins, and their punishment. For homiletic purposes we must attach to this chapter the last three verses of the First Book of the Kings. We find in that passage a short but very complete account of the general character of Ahaziah's sins; we find in this chapter a tolerably full account of one great act of sin, and a clear declaration of the manner in which that act and his other sins were punished. It will be well to consider separately I. THE SINS .... read more
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
The spirit we are of-the old dispensation and the new. I. THE SPIRIT OF THE OLD DISPENSATION . The spirit of the Law was strict, stern, inexorable justice. "Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image …. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother …. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark," etc. ( Deuteronomy 27:15-26 ); "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death" ( Exodus 21:17 ); " Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,... read more
The prophet of fire. The act of Elijah, in calling down fire from heaven on his enemies, is thus remarked upon by Dean Stanley, with reference to Christ's allusion to it in the gospel ( Luke 9:51-56 ). "When the two apostles appealed to the example of Elijah 'to call down fire from heaven,' he to whom they spoke turned away with indignation from the remembrance of this act, even of the greatest of his prophetic predecessors". We cannot endorse this remark. Jesus, indeed, gently rebuked his... read more
Man in three aspects. "Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty," etc. In this paragraph we have man in three aspects. I. MAN RUINED THROUGH THE CONDUCT OF OTHERS . The messengers which the king sent to Elijah—fifty each time on three different occasions—were all, except the last fifty, destroyed by lightning. This awful judgment came upon them, not merely on their own account—although, like all sinners, they had forfeited their lives to eternal justice—but as... read more
1:1-8:15 MINISTRY OF ELISHAElijah succeeded by Elisha (1:1-2:25)Ahab’s son Ahaziah had not reigned long when he was injured in a fall. When he sent messengers to ask foreign gods whether he would recover, Elijah met them along the way. He sent them back with a message that the king would die, because he had forsaken the true God for foreign gods (1:1-10). Ahaziah sent soldiers to arrest Elijah, apparently with the intention of killing him because of his bold words. The ungodly king lost a... read more
unto them. Some codices, with Septuagint and Syriac, read "unto him". fire of God. Occurs only here and Job 1:16 . Some codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, and Vulgate, omit "of God", as in 2 Kings 1:10 . read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 1:9-18
Here, I. The king issues out a warrant for the apprehending of Elijah. If the God of Ekron had told him he should die, it is probable he would have taken it quietly; but now that a prophet of the Lord tells him so, reproving him for his sin and reminding him of the God of Israel, he cannot bear it. So far is he from making any good improvement of the warning given him that he is enraged against the prophet; neither his sickness, nor the thoughts of death, made any good impressions upon him,... read more