Teks -- 2 Kings 2:11 (NET)

2:11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. They went between Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: 2Ki 2:11 - A chariot of fire

In this form the angels appeared. The souls of all the faithful, are carried by an invisible guard of angels, into the bosom of Abraham. But Elijah being to carry his body with him, this heavenly guard appeared visibly: Not in an human shape, tho' so they might have borne him in their arms, but in the form of a chariot and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror. See the readiness of the angels to do the will of God, even in the meanest services for the heirs of salvation! Thus he who had burned with holy zeal for God and his honour, was now conveyed in fire into his immediate presence.

JFB: 2Ki 2:11 - behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire

Some bright effulgence, which, in the eyes of the spectators, resembled those objects.

JFB: 2Ki 2:11 - went up by a whirlwind

A tempest or storm wind accompanied with vivid flashes of fire, figuratively used for the divine judgments (Isa 29:6).

Clarke: 2Ki 2:11 - Elijah went up - into heaven

Elijah went up - into heaven - He was truly translated; and the words here leave us no room to indulge the conjecture of Dr. Priestley, who supposes that as "Enoch, (probably Moses), Elijah, and Christ, had no relation to any other world or planet, they are no doubt in this;"for we are told that Elijah went up into heaven; and we know, from the sure testimony of the Scripture, that our blessed Lord is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for us.

Defender: 2Ki 2:11 - Elijah went up

This was a unique event in history, and was altogether miraculous. Enoch, who had also served as God's prophet in a time of deep apostasy, had likewise been taken into heaven (the "third heaven" where God's throne is located) without dying, but evidently no one had actually observed his translation (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5) as did Elisha at the translation of Elijah. Enoch's ministry had been to the whole world, essentially at the mid-point of the period from Adam to Abraham. Elijah's ministry had been to Israel, essentially at the midpoint of the period from Abraham to Christ. Elijah was taken up in a fiery tornado that seemed to surround a fiery horse-drawn chariot as he went up until he was out of Elisha's sight. It has been assumed that Elijah and Enoch have both been supernaturally preserved alive in heaven ever since that time in their natural bodies.

When the Lord Jesus returns, both dead and living believers will be translated into His presence, their bodies supernaturally changed into immortal bodies (1Th 4:16, 1Th 4:17; 1Co 15:51-54; Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21). If Elijah and Enoch are presently in natural bodies, then it is possible that they will also return at this time to serve as His "two witnesses" on the earth during the 1260 days of great plagues that will quickly follow Jesus' return (see notes on Rev 11:2-12). They will continue to be preserved alive to finish their unfinished testimony to both Israel and the Gentile world during that period. Finally, they will be slain and then they also will be raptured into heaven with immortalized bodies."

TSK: 2Ki 2:11 - by a whirlwind // into heaven

2Ki 6:17; Psa 68:17, Psa 104:3, Psa 104:4; Ezek. 1:4-28, Eze 10:9-22; Hab 3:8; Zec 3:8; Zec 6:1-8; Heb 1:14

by a whirlwind : 2Ki 2:1

into heaven : Mar 16:19

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: 2Ki 2:11 - A chariot of fire, and horses of fire // Into heaven

A chariot of fire, and horses of fire a bright cloud formed into such a likeness, managed by holy and blessed angels sent from heaven to conduct him thither.

Into heaven into the third heaven being in the way so transformed and changed, as might make him meet to be admitted into those blessed mansions.

Haydock: 2Ki 2:11 - Horses // Quos in pectore habent, quos ore & naribus efflant

Horses. Angels assumed these forms, (Grotius) or a cloud, resembling a fiery chariot and horses, was impelled by a strong wind, under their guidance. (Tostat) (Menochius) (Salien, the year before Christ 914.) ---

As the name of Elias is very like Helios, "the sun," some have supposed that hey have the same meaning: (Sedulius, pasc. 1.) but the Hebrew term signifies, "He is my God." The pagans have taken occasion from this history to represent the sun drawn in a fiery chariot, by horses composed of the same element. Animosos ignibus illis,

Quos in pectore habent, quos ore & naribus efflant. (Ovid, Metam. xii.) (Calmet)

--- Heaven; (see ver. 1.) where he lives free from all disturbance. (Tirinus) ---

It is a constant, that he will come again before the last judgment; as his representative, John the Baptist, announced the first appearance of our Redeemer. (St. Gregory, hom. 7. in Ev.) Of this the Jews were convinced. (St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho) See Malachias iv. 5.

Gill: 2Ki 2:11 - And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked // that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire // and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven

And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked,.... About the donation of the gifts of the Spirit requested, about the state of religion in Israel, and about the training up of prophets in the colleges, and about Elisha's succession as a prophet in his room, and his discharge of that office, and such like things, as may be supposed, in which he gave him instruction and advice:

that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire; either angels in this form, see Psa 104:4, in which they appeared for the glory and honour of the prophet, and as emblems of his flaming love and zeal for the purity of religion, and that his assumption might be conspicuous to Elisha; and perhaps by this means might be seen by the fifty men on the other side Jordan: this chariot, drawn with these horses, was not seen in the heaven, but as running on the earth, and came between the two prophets, and separated them from each other, taking up Elijah into it by means of a wind whirling about him, and which was no other than the ministry of angels; or these might be a conflux of exhalations or clouds, formed in this likeness by a supernatural power, and, by the solar rays striking on them, might appear fiery or red; and so his assumption was much in such like manner as our Lord was taken up in a cloud, Act 1:9,

and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven; body and soul; such a change passing on him, as he went through the region of the air, which divested him of his mortality and corruption, and fitted him for the invisible world.