Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 1

Introduction

2 Kings 1:1 to 2 Kings 2:25 . Last Days and Ascension of Elijah: Elisha Established as his Successor.— Here we have perhaps a third Elijah narrative, in which the prophet is represented as playing a part scarcely worthy of the Elijah of 1 Kings 17-19 or 21, who in the first section represents Yahweh against the Tyrian Baal, whereas in the latter he stands for righteousness opposed to legalised violence. Here the king’ s offence is that he sent to a Philistine oracle instead of inquiring of Yahweh, and his soldiers are punished by fire for summoning the prophet to surrender. The spelling of the prophet’ s name in Hebrew differs from that in the rest of the OT. The story is mentioned in the Gospel ( Luke 9:54).

Verses 1-18

2 Kings 1:1 to 2 Kings 2:25 . Last Days and Ascension of Elijah: Elisha Established as his Successor.— Here we have perhaps a third Elijah narrative, in which the prophet is represented as playing a part scarcely worthy of the Elijah of 1 Kings 17-19 or 21, who in the first section represents Yahweh against the Tyrian Baal, whereas in the latter he stands for righteousness opposed to legalised violence. Here the king’ s offence is that he sent to a Philistine oracle instead of inquiring of Yahweh, and his soldiers are punished by fire for summoning the prophet to surrender. The spelling of the prophet’ s name in Hebrew differs from that in the rest of the OT. The story is mentioned in the Gospel ( Luke 9:54).

2 Kings 1:2 . Baal-zebub the God of Ekron.— Ekron is the most northern Philistine city, and therefore the nearest to Samaria. This is the only mention of the god in the OT. In the NT he is the prince of demons. The word means “ lord of flies” ; Beelzebul, the alternative reading in NT, would mean “ lord of the house” ( Mark 3:22 *).

2 Kings 1:8 . The description of Elijah as an hairy man, lit. “ a possessor ( baal) of hair,” is repeated in Mark 1:6 of the Baptist. The hairy garment ( cf. mg.) was the dress of the ancient prophet ( Zechariah 13:4).

2 Kings 1:18 naturally stands before 2 Kings 1:17, and the date, the second year of Jehoram, is misleading. There have evidently been some sweeping editorial revisions at this point (see Cent. B.).