2 Kings 1:9

AHAZIAH'S ARMED MEN TRY IN VAIN TO ARREST ELIJAH

"Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and, behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he spake unto him, O man of God, the king hath said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. And again he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of god, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto him, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty."

We find no agreement whatever with a great many writers who deplore this act of God's destruction of "innocent men," who it is said, "were only obeying orders." Nonsense! William Whiston explained exactly why these men deserved to die. They knew that Elijah was a true prophet of God, and that they were sent to bring that holy man to Ahab for the sole purpose of Ahab's murdering him, and yet they knew that God was the Supreme King in Israel, and that Elijah was doing the will of the True King. "They certainly knew that they were under the theocracy. Therefore, when they sought to capture Elijah and bring him to Ahab, their doing so was nothing less than the grossest impiety, rebellion against God, and treason in the highest degree. It was sin of the worst nature that they had consented to obey the orders of the apostate reprobate Ahaziah.

"What should they have done? They should have acted after the manner of Saul's guards who, when ordered to slay the priests of Nob, knowing the order to be contrary to the will of God, refused to obey it!

"Officers and soldiers alike must learn that the commands of their leaders and rulers cannot justify them in doing that which is wicked and sinful in the eyes of God."[11]

Hitler's soldiers who ran the death camps were "obeying orders," of course, but that never justified what they did.

In addition, these first two captains of fifty with their fifties were grossly disrespectful of Elijah, ordering him to "get a move on," to "come down quickly," "the king has commanded," etc. Even the words, "O man of God," were apparently spoken in contempt and derision, a conclusion supported by Elijah's repeated statement that, "IF I am a man of God, etc."

This writer is aware that many scholars take a radically different view. Montgomery called the commands for fire to come down from heaven and to consume the men, "Preposterous."[12] Honeycutt wrote that, "Few persons would defend the morality of calling down fire from heaven upon groups of fifty as in this narrative."[13]

Dentan believed that, "When Elijah twice called down fire from heaven upon soldiers who were innocent executors of the king's will, we must sense an inadequate understanding of God's justice and mercy."[14]

We could cite other similar opinions, but there are grave errors in all of them. The executors of Ahab's evil command were not "innocent." Elijah did not destroy the men, God did it! As Keil said, "Ahaziah's sin was punished not by the prophet, but by the Lord himself, who fulfilled the word of his servant."[15] If God had not approved of Elijah's request, he would not have honored it; and when Elijah, along with Moses, stood with the Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have the Divine endorsement of what was done here.

One other thing about this. Several have pointed out that Jesus refused the suggestion of the apostles to call down fire out of heaven upon the Samaritans (Luke 9:51-55) as their alleged "proof" that what Elijah did here was wrong. The situations were not in any sense parallel. Samaria would soon receive and obey Christ (John 4), but there was utterly no possibility whatever that the evil offspring of Ahab and Jezebel would ever be anything except an inveterate enemy of God. Besides that, a great wonder from heaven was particularly needed at the time of Elijah's action in order to prevent enemies like Ahaziah from stamping out the true religion altogether. The salvation of all the redeemed of all ages was at stake!

Not only that! With the monarchy of Israel already a lost cause, it was required absolutely of God that his prophets should be respected and honored; and if Ahab had been allowed to kill Elijah, it would have been the precedent for the evil kings of the apostate people to kill all of the prophets continually, and all would have been lost. As Martin said, "This gruesome incident" served notice on all of the wicked rulers of Israel and also of Judah that, "The person of the prophet was inviolate."[16]