Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 1:15
And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.
15. be not afraid of him ] Some have taken the pronoun here to refer to the captain. This can hardly be correct. The third messenger was all humility and entreaty, and the only person to be feared was the king Ahaziah, irate because of the destruction of his soldiers and the defiance of his authority.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Ki 1:15-16
Go down with him, be not afraid.
The old courage again
The age of the Mosaic Law, which shed its empire over the times of Elijah, was preeminently the era in which those awful and splendid attributes of the Divine character–Gods holiness, justice, righteousness, and severity against sin–stood out in massive prominence; as some of us, from the ancient capital of Switzerland, have seen the long line of Bernese Alps, rising above the plain in distant and majestic splendour; cold in the grey dawn; or flushed with the light of morn and eve. It was only when those lessons had been completely learnt, that mankind was able to appreciate the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. That there was no malice in Elijah is clear from his willingness to go with the third captain, who spoke with reverence and humility. And the angel of the Lord said, Go down with him; be not afraid of him. And Elijab went down with him unto the king.
I. The meekness and gentleness of Christ. The only fire He sought was the fire of the Holy Ghost. I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I if it is already kindled. He strove not to avenge Himself, or vindicate the majesty of His nature. He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself.
II. The impossibility of God ever condoning defiant and blasphemous sin. We have fallen on soft and degenerate days when, under false notions of charity and liberality, men are paring down their conceptions of the evil of sin, and of the holy wrath of God, which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
III. Elijahs full restoration to the exercise of a glorious faith. In a former time the message of Jezebel was enough to make him flee. But in this ease he stood his ground, though an armed band came to capture him. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. And the angel of the Lord said – Go down with him] This is an additional proof that Elijah was then acting under particular inspirations: he had neither will nor design of his own. He waited to know the counsel, declare the will, and obey the command, of his God.
And he arose, and went down] He did not even regard his personal safety or his life; he goes without the least hesitation to the king, though he had reason to suppose he would be doubly irritated by his prediction, and the death of one hundred of his men. But with all these consequences he had nothing to do; he was the ambassador of the King eternal, and his honour and life were in the hands of his Master.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Not fearing the rage of the king, nor of Jezebel, nor of all their forces; wherein he gives an eminent example of his faith and obedience; and withal, of his growth in grace since that time that he fled for fear of Jezebel, 1Ki 19:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15, 16. he arose, and went down withhima marvellous instance of faith and obedience. Though hewell knew how obnoxious his presence was to the king, yet, onreceiving God’s command, he goes unhesitatingly, and repeats, withhis own lips, the unwelcome tidings conveyed by the messengers.
2Ki 1:17;2Ki 1:18. AHAZIAHDIES, AND ISSUCCEEDED BY JEHORAM.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, e.] The same as in 2Ki 1:3 or “had said” g, as some render it, before this captain came:
go down with him the captain and his men:
and be not afraid of him; of King Ahaziah, whom he might fear, because of the message he had sent him, that he should die of that sickness, and for turning back his messengers to the god of Ekron, and for destroying his two captains and their fifties; nor of his mother Jezebel, who had threatened his life for killing her prophets:
and he arose, and went down with him unto the king; boldly and courageously, not fearing his wrath; so that the captain not only had his life and the life of his men spared, but answered the end of his message also.
g “edixerat autem”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Then Elijah followed him to the king ( , before him, i.e., before the king, not before the captain; and for ?????? , see Ewald, 264, b.), having been directed to do so by the angel of the Lord, and repeated to him the word of the Lord, which he had also conveyed to him through his messengers (see 2Ki 1:4 and 2Ki 1:6).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(15) Said.So LXX. (). Heb., spake. Vulgate and Arabic add saying. (See Note on 2Ki. 1:3.)
Go down.From the mountain top into the city.
With him.Oth, later form for itt, which some MSS. read here.
Be not afraid of himi.e., the captain. The former two, as being the willing tools of the king, might have shown their zeal by instantly slaying the prophet. (Comp. the case of the knights who murdered St. Thomas of Canterbury.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Be not afraid of him Notwithstanding all the wonders wrought by God through the ministry of Elijah, he ever continued a man of like passions with ourselves, and in this case needed the assuring voice of the angel in order to go with firmness and utter his message to the king himself.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 1:15. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king This is a great instance of Elijah’s faith and obedience to God, in whom he trusted, that he would deliver him from the wrath of the king, and the malice of Jezebel. He had ordered, not long before, all the prophets of Baal to be slain; had sent a very unwelcome message to the king, and made a very terrible execution upon two of his captains and their companies: so that he had all the reason in the world to apprehend the utmost expressions of the king’s displeasure; and yet, when God commands him, he makes no manner of hesitation, but goes boldly to Ahaziah, and confirms with his own mouth the unpleasant truth which he had declared to his messengers.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
We are not told who this angel was. But may we not conjecture? When we recollect how much our Almighty Jesus, who is expressly called the angel of the covenant, delighted to manifest himself, in those early ages of his church, as if thereby, he meant to teach the faithful, that he longed for the fulness of time to come, when he would openly tabernacle among them; and when we consider, that this Angel of Jehovah’s presence saved them, and in his love, and in his pity he redeemed them, and bare them, and carried them all the days of old: I confess I am inclined to imagine that I see Jesus, in all such sweet moments of communion with his servants. Isa 63:9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 1:15 And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.
Ver. 15. Be not afraid of him. ] See 2Ki 1:9 . Cur timeat hominem homo in sinu Dei positus?
2Ki 1:15-16
2Ki 1:15-16
ELIJAH WENT TO AHAZIAH AND REPEATED HIS PROPHECY
“And the angel of Jehovah said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shall surely die.”
“Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king” (2Ki 1:15). The word him which occurs three times in these sentences is a reference to the captain. The angel of Jehovah assured Elijah in these words that the captain would be Elijah’s ally! From this we may believe that even if Ahaziah had ordered him and his fifty men to slay Elijah, this captain would not have done it, but would have refused as the soldiers of Saul had refused to slay the priests of Nob. Thus assured, Elijah went with him and delivered the same prophetic message as before.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ki 1:15. The angel gave Elijah assurance of his life, and on that he went to the king of Israel.
2Ki 1:16. We still do not know what might have been the natural outcome of Ahaziah’s injury. The prophet of God could have healed him with divine help regardless of the severity of the case. But the edict that the king was to die was due to his attempt to consult an idolatrous god. This conclusion is based on the fact that, after referring to the matter of consultation with the idolatrous god, Elijah said therefore.
angel
(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
be not afraid of him: Gen 15:1, 1Ki 18:15, Psa 27:1, Isa 51:12, Jer 1:17, Jer 15:20, Eze 2:6, Mat 10:28, Heb 11:27
Reciprocal: 1Ki 21:17 – General 2Ki 1:3 – angel
ELIJAHS DEFIANCE OF AHAZIAH
And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him.
2Ki 1:15
I. Ahab was succeeded by his son Ahaziah, and Ahaziah is one of those shadowy monarchs who make little impression upon history. In Jewish history the name of Ahaziah has little charm or brightness for the student. There are bad kings who impress us terribly; they are so full of daring and resource. And there are good kings, whose goodness is fragrant after many centuries. But Ahaziah is a shadowy and an impotent figure. His reign hardly lasted for two years. For much of that time he was a helpless cripple. He sent out a fleet, and shipwreck overtook it. His army was beaten back at every point by Moab. We might have said he was unlucky and unfortunate, if we did not remember that there was a doom upon his house. Then think what a mother Ahaziah had. Think what the home of his childhood must have been under the influence and spirit of Jezebel.
II. When Ahaziah was king, he was walking one day in an upper chamber of his palace, when he chanced to stop and lean against a window that looked inward on the palace-court. The windows in the East were not like ours. There was no glass in them, only a shady lattice-work, somewhat like our venetian blinds. It must have been pleasant to halt in the cool shadow while whatever breeze there was came stealing in. Here then Ahaziah halted, as he had done a hundred times before; but to-day the fastenings were insecurethe window opened outward on the courtand the king, grasping wildly at the walls, fell backward and heavily to the ground. Can you conceive the tumult in the palace? The cries and the hurrying of feet, and then the quiet? Can you imagine how the rumour would spread, till every street in the capital rang with it? Meanwhile Ahaziah was lying between life and death; the wonder was he had not been killed outright. Now our times of sickness often show what we are. We sometimes reveal our hearts when we are ill. So Ahaziah, helpless and weak and weary, gave up the secret of his poor, worthless heart. That secret was disbelief of God. He might have cast his burden on the God of Jacob, but he chose to send and consult the god of flies. It might seem so stupid as to indicate madness, if men were not making such choices every day. Did you never ask counsel of some foolish creature before you ever thought of praying about it? Have you not taken the advice of silly books, and quite neglected the teaching of the Bible? It is in such ways that we consult Baal-zebub, when the best of friends is waiting to be inquired of. So Ahaziah sent to Ekron, a city where once the ark of God had rested. And with not a little pomp and solemn show the embassy rode out of Samaria.
III. But they were destined never to get to Ekron.For once there was a lion in the way. They were met by a strange figure, whom there was no mistaking. It was Elijah, like a voice from the dead. Where had he been, and what doing, these past four years? It was in Naboths vineyard, four summers ago, that these courtiers of Israel had last seen the prophet. God forbid that he was here on a like errand! But a like errand it was, as they soon found. Ahaziah, for his idolatry, was to die. He would have been healed had he looked to the great Healer; but the wages of his sin was to be death. Do you think that Ahaziah believed the message? All men think all men mortal but themselves. He despatched a captain with fifty soldiers to arrest the prophet. At Elijahs bidding fire from heaven consumed them. Another band met with the same fate. A third was sent and would have shared it too, but the captain, in terror, pleaded with the prophet to spare them. And Elijah was now moved of God to go with them. He went to Samaria, entered the sick-chamberdid his heart smite him, I wonder, as he stood by the sick-bed, and gazed on this weak and worthless child of Jezebel? But the word of the Lord was as a fire in his bones. He was a voice; the will was the will of God. So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken.
IV. Let us remember a New Testament scene when this incident appears again.Our Lord is on His way up to Jerusalem. He sends on disciples to the next Samaritan village. But the Samaritans refused to give a welcome to the Saviour. St. James and St. John were indignant at this churlishness. They recalled Elijah and these bands of Ahaziah. Would they command fire from heaven to punish the inhospitable villagers? Then Jesus turned to them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. The spirit of Elijah was one thing. It was needed in those rough and restless days. There was a call for swift and signal judgment if the nation was not to become apostate. But Jesus says these times have passed away. A new and a nobler spirit is shed abroad. God had spoken in the tempest by Elijah; now He was speaking in the still small voice. When we think of Elijah, we think of scorching fire. But a wise saint says this of Jesus Christ, He wrought miracles in every element save fire.
Illustration
It is impossible to understand this incident in the life of Elijah without bearing in mind two facts. The first is the infinite importance to Elijah of the struggle between Jehovah and the Baals, a struggle for life and death, beside which nothing else was of value. The second fact is the comparatively low value that was placed on human life in those days. The lives of a hundred men were of little consequence compared with the subduing of a man who was working the ruin of the people; just as to-day, in many minds, the lives of thousands of soldiers are of little consequence compared with the subduing of a rebellious chief. Until we have purged our souls of the spirit of war, we cannot condemn the methods of warfare in Elijahs time.
2Ki 1:15-16. He arose and went down with him Not fearing the rage of the king, nor that of Jezebel, or all their forces: wherein he gives an eminent example of his faith in Gods protection, and obedience to his commands. And he said To his very face: nor durst the king lay hands on him, being daunted with his presence, and great courage and confidence; and affrighted with the late dreadful evidence of his power with God. Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch, &c. Probably more discourse passed between them than is here recorded. But this was the conclusion of all, that the sentence which God had pronounced against him was irreversible; and therefore, that he must not expect to live much longer, but make use of the time remaining, to repent of his sins and make his peace with God.
1:15 And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be {m} not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.
(m) Thus the Lord gives boldness to his, that they fear not the threatenings of tyrants, who otherwise of themselves are afraid to do God’s message.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes