2 Raja-raja 1:13-16

1:13 The king ¹  sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers. This third captain went up and fell ²  on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these fifty servants of yours. 1:14 Indeed, ³  fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. ⁴  So now, please have respect for my life.” 1:15 The Lord’s angelic messenger said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down ⁵  with him to the king.

1:16 Elijah ⁶  said to the king, ⁷  “This is what the Lord says, ‘You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! ⁸  Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.’” ⁹ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “went up and approached and kneeled.”

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “look.”

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “their fifty.”

[1:15]  ⁵ sn In this third panel the verb “come down” (יָרַד, yarad) occurs again, this time describing Elijah’s descent from the hill at the Lord’s command. The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is there no God in Israel to inquire of his word?”

[1:16]  ⁹ sn For the third time in this chapter we read the Lord’s sarcastic question to king and the accompanying announcement of judgment. The repetition emphasizes one of the chapter’s main themes. Israel’s leaders should seek guidance from their own God, not a pagan deity, for Israel’s sovereign God is the one who controls life and death.