2 Kings 1:9

9 The king sent a captain with fifty men to Elijah. Meanwhile Elijah was sitting, big as life, on top of a hill. The captain said, "O Holy Man! King's orders: 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 said, "Tell me more about this man who met you and said these things to you. What was he like?"

8 "Shaggy," they said, "and wearing a leather belt." He said, "That has to be Elijah the Tishbite!"

9 The king sent a captain with fifty men to Elijah. Meanwhile Elijah was sitting, big as life, on top of a hill. The captain said, "O Holy Man! King's orders: Come down!"

10 Elijah answered the captain of the fifty, "If it's true that I'm a 'holy man,' lightning strike you and your fifty men!" Out of the blue lightning struck and incinerated the captain and his fifty.

11 The king sent another captain with his fifty men, "O Holy Man! King's orders: Come down. And right now!"