2 Kings 1:9

9 Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”

2 Kings 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 1:9

Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty,
&c.] Not in honour to him, but to bring him by force if he refused to come willingly: and he went up to him, and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill;
generally supposed to be Mount Carmel; and he spake unto him;
at the bottom of the hill, so loud that he might hear him: thou man of God;
or the prophet of the Lord, as the Targum, as thou callest thyself; for this was said in a sneering, flouting, manner: the king hath said, come down;
and in the king's name he ordered him to come down, signifying, if he would not, he would send his men to fetch him down.

2 Kings 1:9 In-Context

7 The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”

8 “He was a hairy man, ” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.

9 Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”

10 Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.

11 So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’”