1 THEN Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

2 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.

3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?

4 Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.

5 ¶ And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?

6 And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.

7 And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?

8 And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.

9 Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, [ Interesting how they great him with what appears to be an honorary title. ] the king hath said, [ Suggesting that there is little respect for him, suggesting that he should report to the king who is more powerful than God. ] Come down. [ Note number 1: Elijah is on higher ground than they were. Note 2: they want him to come down they do not want to go up. Is that not the way of the world, come down to our level (symbolically), or come down, get iff your repentance high horse and tell the king what he wants to hear. Note 3 this is issued as a direct command. ]

10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, [ Elijah is talking smack again. Kust like on Mount Carmel. They should be aware of what usually happens next after he makes such a declaration. The heavens usually respond with the answer. ] then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. [ When will they learn, they should already know that he is a man of God. Why push the envelop. ]

11  Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty [ So the King sends another 50 men to go and get Elijah to come with them to tell the king what he wants to hear. I don't know what the king thinks will be different with this group. How would you like to be charged with this mission, knowing what happened to the first group. ] with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. [ Elijah has to almost want to say, "Are you kidding me? You are going to use that line again." Now you are demanding that I do it now. Seriously. ]

12 And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, [ Elijah has to be thinking wil they never learn. So he repeats the same thing that he did before. ] , let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

13 ¶ And he [ King Ahaziah. This gives us more detail about the King as well. He does not care about his men they are expendable to him, he only wants for himself to get better. ] sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. [ Is the King just trying to wear Elijah down with asking? And how would you like to be the leader of the third group? ] And the third captain of fifty went up, and came [ Suggesting to me that he took the time to climb up the mountain, he did not just stand at the bottom and yell. So climbing up to meet face to face showed respect. ] and fell on his knees before Elijah, [ Again he shows respect to Elijah. ] and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, [ Same words, but do you think tha they came across differently? ] I pray thee, [ Does this suggest that he might feel that he really s a man of God? As a result he is humble, and asks God as well as Elijah for the blessing. ] let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.

14 Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. [ Please don't let the same thing happen to us, we beg of you. How they learned what happened to the ones before them we do not know. But it appears that they did know what happened to the previous groups. ]

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. [ This time Elijah returns with the captain of fifty to the King. ]

16 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. [ Just because I am here in person does not mean that the message is going to change. You have not changed so why would God change you? You are still going to did. ]

17 ¶ So he died [ Gods word was fulfilled. ] according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. [ Because he was speaking for and in behalf of God. ] And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?