2 Kings 1 · a question people ask
Fire on two captains and their fifties (1:10-12). What does the Bible say about it?
The king sends a captain with his fifty; he finds Elijah "sitting on the top of the hill" and says, "Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’" (1:9). Elijah answers, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky and consume you and your fifty!" (1:10), and it happens as he said (1:10). It happens again with a second captain (1:11-12), and this time the text calls it "God’s fire" (1:12). The third captain kneels and begs for his life (1:13-14), and the LORD's angel tells Elijah, "Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him" (1:15). The chapter tells it in those verses and gives no verdict on what Elijah said. In the New Testament, when a village of the Samaritans "didn’t receive him" (Luke 9:53), James and John asked Jesus, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky and destroy them, just as Elijah did?" (Luke 9:54). "But he turned and rebuked them" (Luke 9:55), and "They went to another village" (Luke 9:56). Luke doesn't name 2 Kings, and 2 Kings 1 doesn't judge Elijah's words. These notes set the two side by side and add no verdict on either.
The verses
“They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky and destroy them, just as Elijah did?” But he turned and rebuked them, “You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are. For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” They went to another village.”