2 Kings 1:10-18

10 Elijah answered the officer, "If I'm a man of God, fire will come from heaven and burn up you and your 50 men." Then fire came from heaven and burned up the officer and his 50 men.

11 The king sent another officer with 50 men to Elijah. The officer said, "Man of God, this is what the king says: Come here right away!"

12 Elijah answered the officer, "If I'm a man of God, fire will come from heaven and burn up you and your 50 men." Then God's fire came from heaven and burned up the officer and his 50 men.

13 The king sent a third officer with 50 men. The officer of the third group went up the hill and knelt in front of Elijah. The officer begged him, "Man of God, please treat my life and the lives of these 50 servants of yours as something precious.

14 Fire has come from heaven and burned up the first two officers and their 100 men. But treat my life as something precious."

15 The angel of the LORD told Elijah, "Go with him. Don't be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went with him to the king.

16 Elijah told the king, "This is what the LORD says: You sent messengers to seek advice from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron. Is this because [you think] there is no God in Israel whose word you can seek? You will not get up from the bed you are lying on. Instead, you will die there."

17 So Ahaziah died as the LORD had predicted through Elijah. Joram succeeded him as king because Ahaziah had no son.

18 Isn't everything else about Ahaziah--the things he did--written in the official records of the kings of Israel?

2 Kings 1:10-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

\\COMMONLY CALLED THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS\\

This, and the preceding book, are properly but one book divided into two parts, because of the size of it, as the book of Samuel; it is a continuation of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah; and for a further account of it the reader is referred to the title of the preceding book.

\\INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 1\\

This chapter begins with the rebellion of Moab against Israel, 2Ki 1:1, relates a fall of the king of Israel in his house, which brought on him a sickness, about which he sent messengers to inquire of the god of Ekron, who were stopped by Elijah, and bid to return, as they did; and upon the king's examination of them about the cause of their return, he perceived it was Elijah that forbad them, 2Ki 1:2-8, upon which the king sent to him two captains, with fifty men each, one after another, to bring him to him, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 2Ki 1:9-12, but a third with fifty men sent to him were spared, and he is bid to go along with them with a message to the king, as he did, 2Ki 1:13-16 and the chapter is closed with the death of Ahaziah, 2Ki 1:17,18.