And he sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he sat on the top of the mount. And he spoke to him Man of God, the king says, Come down!
Elijah has just told King Ahaziah that he will not leave his sickbed alive. The king does not repent. He sends a captain with fifty soldiers up a hill to bring the prophet down, and the meeting ends in fire.
The size of the squad says something about the king. He knew what had happened at Elijah's word before.
Not ashamed of his godlessness, and in no way humbled, Ahaziah ordered the arrest of the prophet. But why send a captain with fifty men (presumably armed) against a helpless old man! Conscience told the king that a mysterious power went with Elijah, and that he had to reckon with it. But what could soldiers do against the power of God!
The captain's order is short and rude. It is the state ordering God's servant to submit.
From his messengers' description King Ahaziah knew who had spoken. It was Elijah who had told them that he would not recover from his injury, but would die. The king now sent a detachment of soldiers to arrest him. Their captain rudely demanded, "The king says, Come down!" Down through the years many men of God, male and female, have faced a "Come down" from the authorities. Even today, in many lands, the militia or police still harass Christians. They haul them off to torture, fines, and imprisonment.
Notice how the captain addresses him. The title he uses undercuts the order he gives.
Both captains called Elijah "man of God." That proves they had some idea that they were contending with God. It was one thing to reject his testimony; it was quite another to try to destroy the man himself.
Elijah gave God's message of death and then withdrew. Where he went matters as much as what he said.
The mission of an Elijah is to announce this deeply-solemn truth, and then to depart from the guilty scene. That is what this honoured servant did. He withdrew and sat on the top of a hill, out of reach, consciously standing apart from the evil and above it. Is this the same man who had fled for his life into the wilderness? Captains and their hosts are as nothing to him now.
Many readers stumble at the fire. But Israel was not an ordinary kingdom. The king held his throne under God, so an order against God carried no authority.
The government of the kingdom of Israel was a theocracy. No doubt the king was the representative of God's power, but it was still a throne of Jehovah. So when a king set himself in defiance of Jehovah he had to take the consequences. Nobody holding the Queen's commission, for instance, may order his men against the Queen. And the Queen has every right to punish them. Their pleading the order of the officer has nothing to do with the matter. The officer has no commission against the Queen.
The same logic reaches down to the fifty men who obeyed. Following orders was no defence then, and it is no defence now.
Military discipline is doubtless important. Officers and men must normally obey their superiors. But every person, in every land, soldier or civilian, is first of all a servant of God. He should never surrender his conscience. It will be no answer in the day of judgement that the king or government commanded this or that. "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).
Elijah had called fire down once before, on Mount Carmel. Set the two scenes side by side, and the difference shows.
What a contrast between Mount Carmel and the unnamed hill! At Carmel the fire of God consumed the sacrifice but spared the people. At this hill there was no sacrifice, and the fire consumed the ungodly. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is a safe shelter for sinners. Apart from that sacrifice, nothing but judgement is possible for any of us. Our Lord's disciples once referred to the destruction of Ahaziah's men. They were near the place where it happened, and they were angry that a Samaritan village would not welcome the Lord: "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elijah did?" (Luke 9:51-56). The Lord rebuked their mistaken zeal.
So the passage is not a licence to call down judgment on opponents. The power is still there; the calling now is different.
What he did was right — wicked Ahaziah was really challenging God. God is no less able to act to protect His own today. But we live in a day of grace. We are to show the spirit of our Lord Jesus, who endured grief, insult, and injury, and suffered though He had done no wrong. "When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly" (1 Pet. 2:23).
- Defiance. Ahaziah hears that he will die, and sends fifty armed men instead of repenting. The size of the guard shows his conscience knew what Elijah's word could do.
- Demand. "Come down" is the state ordering God's servant to submit. Hostile authorities still make the same demand of believers.
- Distance. Elijah does not come down. Sitting on the hill, out of reach, he shows the moral separation of a man whose fleeing days are over.
- Defence. In Israel the king held his commission from God. An order against God had no force, so neither the captain nor his fifty could shelter behind "the king said."
- Deliverance. On Carmel the fire fell on a sacrifice and the people lived; on this hill there was no sacrifice. Christ's sacrifice is the shelter. That is why the Lord rebuked His disciples for wanting Elijah's fire.
And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, And if I be a man of God, let fire come down from the heavens and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from the heavens, and consumed him and his fifty.
A king of Israel asked a foreign god whether he would recover, and Elijah announced that he would die. Now fifty soldiers climb the hill to arrest the prophet, and the hard questions start: why fire, and why these men?
Elijah does not defend himself. He puts his own title on trial.
"If I am a man of God, let fire come down," says the prophet. This one phrase, "a man of God," holds his whole mission to Israel. "Is it because there is not a God in Israel?" he had said to Ahaziah. God was vindicating His character in the presence of apostasy and had chosen His prophet to be the powerful witness to this.
The king answers a prophet's word with a show of force.
The military parade and display of numbers leave Elijah completely unmoved. He calmly replies: "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." If Elijah is a man of God, then God is with Elijah. Ahaziah has to learn that kings, with all their armies, have no power against one man if God is with him.
Many readers feel this punishment was unfair. The answer lies in how Israel was governed: the king held office under God, not over Him.
The kingdom of Israel was a theocracy. The king did represent God's power, but the throne was still Jehovah's. So when a king set himself against Jehovah, he had to take the consequences. For example, no one holding the Queen's commission has the right to order his men against the Queen, and the Queen has every right to punish them. Their plea that they were following the officer's order makes no difference.
The soldiers thought they were arresting a man. A rule that runs through the whole Bible says otherwise.
So the Lord God of Israel was a wall of fire around His servant to protect him, and "fiery indignation" to devour his enemies. A principle runs through both the Old and New Testaments: God always identifies Himself with His messengers. So Ahaziah, without knowing it, was attacking Jehovah Himself in the person of His servant.
Elijah once ran for his life from Jezebel's threat. Now he faces a company of soldiers without flinching. What changed?
It would be a strange mistake to think that Elijah called fire down from heaven on the captain and his fifty out of fear for his own life, or from a wish to save himself. The man who had fled at Jezebel's threat now stood fearless before the king's soldiers. He had been restored to fellowship with Jehovah's mind, and so he was the willing vessel of Jehovah's power.
Fire fell twice in Elijah's life, and the two occasions could not be more different.
At Carmel "the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice." The fire fell on the victim as an atonement for the sins of the guilty people, and the people go free. That fire touched no Israelite... Years have passed since then, and the grace of God that provided a sacrifice and sheltered the guilty people from the fire of judgment has been forgotten. The sacrifice has been despised, and now the fire falls on the hilltop once again... But this time there is no victim between a holy God and a sinful people.
The disciples later asked for this same fire on a Samaritan village. They got a rebuke. So was Elijah wrong?
So when Elijah asked for fire from heaven to consume the men sent to arrest him, the fire came. God put His seal on that prayer, terrible as it was. Yet when the disciples asked about the Samaritans, "Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven to consume them, as Elijah did?" they met with a rebuke, not approval... But why should what was right in Elijah be wrong in them? For this reason: "the Son of Man did not come to destroy people's lives, but to save them."
The refusal is a delay, not a cancellation.
Elijah "must come" in the witnesses of Revelation. Of them it is said: "If anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes" (Rev. 11:5)... Then death and judgment must glorify God, when every resource of grace is exhausted and the apostasy is complete.
- Fire tests a title. Elijah stakes everything on one phrase: if he is "a man of God," God will answer. The fire settles it.
- Fire defends a servant. God identifies Himself with His messengers. The soldiers were attacking Jehovah without knowing it.
- Fire falls where no sacrifice stands. At Carmel it consumed the victim, and the people went free. Here the sacrifice had been despised, so it fell on the guilty.
- Fire waits in this age. The disciples asked for the same fire and met a rebuke: the Son of Man came to save lives, not destroy them.
- Fire returns at the end. The same fire appears in the witnesses of Revelation, when every resource of grace is spent and the apostasy is complete.
And again he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he spoke and said to him, Man of God, thus says the king Come down quickly!
Fire from heaven has already destroyed fifty soldiers sent to arrest Elijah, and King Ahaziah's answer is to send fifty more. His one change is the word "quickly," which shows what a warning from God does to a hard heart.
Only one word separates the second captain's demand from the first. Commentators read that word as a window into the king's heart.
The king's unrepentant state shows clearly in what he did next. Even after such a warning, he sent a second captain with his fifty to the prophet. The added word "quickly" in the second captain's address to Elijah implies greater urgency: "O man of God, this is the king's order, 'Come down quickly!'" It is as if the king could bear no further delay.
The king thought his quarrel was with Elijah.
It is a principle running through both the Old and New Testaments that God always identifies Himself with His messengers. So Ahaziah, even if he did not know it, was attacking the Lord Himself in the person of His servant — and at a time when he was already under the just judgment of God.
Both captains called Elijah "man of God." Their orders from the king gave them no cover.
The second captain was irritable: "O man of God, this is the king's order, 'Come down quickly!'" Military discipline is doubtless important. Officers and men must usually obey their superiors. But every man, in every land, soldier or civilian, is first of all a servant of God. He should never surrender his conscience. It will be no answer in the day of judgement that the king or government commanded this or that. "We ought to obey God rather than man" (Acts 5:29). Both captains addressed Elijah as "man of God." That proves they had some idea they were contending with God.
Elijah's refusal was not rebellion against government. Commentators draw a careful line here.
It is true that believers are to be subject to the governing authorities. To resist that authority is to resist what God has ordained (Rom. 13), as long as it acts within its own appointed area. But sometimes that authority tries to enter the sphere God has kept for Himself. Then it must always be resisted. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to obey the commands they were given, and so did Peter and John.
The king kept sending numbers because numbers were all he had.
The king knows he is dealing with a man of no small power. So he sends his captains well equipped, to force one man to obey his command. Elijah is completely unmoved by this military parade and show of numbers. He calmly replies, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." If Elijah is a man of God, then God is with Elijah. Ahaziah has to learn that kings, with all their armies, have no power against one man if God is with him.
Fire had fallen from heaven once before in Elijah's story. The difference between the two occasions carries the lesson.
At Carmel "the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice." The fire fell on the victim as an atonement for the sins of the guilty people, and the people go free. Not one Israelite was touched by that fire… Now the sacrifice has been despised, and once again the fire falls on the hill top. God will again vindicate His glory by the consuming fire. But this time there is no victim between a holy God and a sinful people.
Later, some of Jesus' followers asked to do exactly what Elijah did here. He stopped them.
Elijah could rightly call down fire from heaven to consume those who dishonored him, and in him despised the prophet and servant of God. But the disciples of Jesus wanted to copy that example in a similar case (Luke 9:54-56). The Lord held them back and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of." Elijah acted here as the representative of the law, which showed no leniency. The disciples of Christ represented the gospel, which proclaims the forgiveness of sins.
- Warning. Fire had already destroyed the first fifty. Verse 11 shows a king who saw the warning and sent again.
- Hardening. His only change was to add "quickly." That is pressure instead of repentance — the mark of an unrepentant heart.
- Knowing. The captain called Elijah "man of God," so ignorance was not the problem. Orders from a king are no excuse before God.
- Powerlessness. God identifies Himself with His messengers, so Ahaziah was fighting God, not just Elijah. Kings with all their armies have no power against one man if God is with him.
- Shelter. At Carmel the fire fell on the sacrifice, and the people went free. On this hill there was no victim between a holy God and guilty men. That is why Christ's servants now carry the gospel instead of calling down fire.
And Elijah answered and said to them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from the heavens and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from the heavens, and consumed him and his fifty.
A second captain climbs the hill with the same order and one added word: "quickly." He gets the same answer as the first. Why does God defend His servant with fire? And why did Jesus later stop His disciples from asking for it?
Fifty men had already died. The king sends fifty more, and adds a word to the order.
The king shows he has not repented: even after such a warning, he sent a second captain with his fifty to the prophet. The added word "quickly" in the second captain's address to Elijah shows greater urgency: "O man of God, the king has said, Come down quickly." It is as if the king could allow no further delay. The same result followed. The fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Notice that it is now called the fire of God.
Ahaziah answered one prophet with fifty armed men. Elijah's reply makes everything hang on one claim.
Set apart from the evil around him, Elijah is not only beyond his enemies' reach; the fire of God is at his disposal to destroy them... The king realizes he is dealing with a man of no small power. So he sends his captains well equipped to force one man to obey his blunt command. Elijah is unmoved by this military parade and display of numbers. He replies: "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." If Elijah is a man of God, then God is with Elijah. Ahaziah has to learn that kings, with all their armies, have no power against one man if God is with him.
The second officer was only carrying out royal orders. That did not save him.
Military discipline is no doubt important. As a rule, officers and men must obey their superiors. But every person, in every land, soldier or civilian, is first of all a servant of God. He should never hand over his conscience. On the day of judgment it will be no excuse that the king or the government ordered it. "We ought to obey God rather than man" (Acts 5:29). Both captains called Elijah "man of God." That proves they had some idea they were fighting against God.
Fire had fallen once before at Elijah's word, on Mount Carmel. There it did the opposite.
At Carmel "the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice." The fire fell on the victim as an atonement for the sins of the guilty people, and the people go free. Not one Israelite was touched by that fire... Years have passed since the fire fell on the victim at Carmel. God's grace provided a sacrifice and sheltered the guilty people from the fire of judgment, and all of it has been forgotten. They have despised the sacrifice, and now, once again, the fire falls on the hilltop... But this time there is no victim between a holy God and a sinful people. They have neglected the sacrifice. So the fire does not fall on a victim. It falls on the guilty people and destroys them.
One writer reads this scene forward, from Elijah on the hill to Christ on the throne.
Elijah, the man of God, is here a representative of Christ. Does he have less power now that He is seated in heaven than when He walked on earth, despised and hated by all?... If God judges the world for rejecting Jesus in His humiliation, what will become of it when it makes war on Him who sits on His throne? "He who sits in the heavens laughs," it says in the second Psalm.
Later, Jesus' disciples wanted to call down the same fire, and He refused them.
In Luke 9, when the Lord Jesus was refused entry into a Samaritan village, His disciples wanted to act as Elijah did toward Ahaziah's captains, but the Lord forbade them. They did not know what spirit they were of. That is, they did not discern the time. They did not understand the Lord and His work in this world. They mistook the period they were living in, and would have treated it as a time of judgment... Their affections were right. Their purpose and design will be answered in due time, when the day of vengeance comes.
- Warning ignored. The first fifty died as a warning. Sending fifty more, and adding "quickly," proved the king would not bend.
- Fire refused. Ahaziah forgot the fire that fell on the sacrifice at Carmel and spared every Israelite. Where the sacrifice is despised, the fire falls on people instead.
- Fire vindicating. "If I am a man of God" put God's own name on the outcome. Fifty armed men are nothing against one man God is with.
- Fire and conscience. Both captains called Elijah "man of God," so both had some idea. Royal orders will excuse no one at the judgment.
- Fire delayed. Judgment will come on the world that fights the exalted Christ. But the disciples who asked to call it down had misread the hour.