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What\u2019s with all the up-down talk in 2 Kings 1? The Angel of Yahweh sends Elijah to \u201cascend to call\u201d the messengers\/angels of Ahaziah (v. 3), and Elijah\u2019s message is that Ahaziah will never \u201ccome down\u201d from the bed where he \u201cascended\u201d (v. 3). That oracle, including the \u201ccome down\u201d and \u201cgo up\u201d is repeated in verses 6 and 16, and in between you have two captains with their fifty soldiers \u201cgo up\u201d to the hill of Elijah (vv. 9) to command him to \u201ccome down\u201d (vv. 9, 11). Instead of Elijah, fire \u201ccame down\u201d from above, as ELijah had predicted (vv. 10, 12). The third captain \u201cwent up\u201d (v. 13), and because of his humility, Yahweh tells Elijah to \u201cgo down\u201d to the king, which he does (vv. 15). And all this is precipitated by Ahaziah\u2019s \u201cfall\u201d from an upper chamber (v. 2). <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the obvious. Elijah is high up, exalted like Yahweh on a mountain. He will come down to deliver a message, but only on Yahweh\u2019s terms. The prophet is a man who has \u201cgone up\u201d to the presence of God, and therefore can \u201ccome down\u201d to deliver Yahweh\u2019s word. Further, of course, this up-down pattern underscores the parallels between Elijah and the fire of God. As noted in an earlier post, there is a pun on \u201cman of God\u201d and \u201cfire of God\u201d (v. 12). God sends the fire of judgment on the soldier of Ahaziah, and sends the firey man. Finally, with regard to Elijah, he is soon going to \u201cascend\u201d permanently (2:11) and never descend again. Elisha takes the mantle that Elijah leaves behind; by his \u201cspirit,\u201d of which Elisha receives a double portion, Elijah \u201ccomes down\u201d again to carry on the work. Divine power is not merely shown in exaltation, being high, but in the power of descent, in the ministry of \u201ccoming down.\u201d Ascension is a demonstration of divine power; but so is, perhaps more, incarnation. <\/p>\n
There is also an evident contrast between Elijah and Ahaziah. Ahaziah goes up, and never comes down. He dies in a \u201chigh place,\u201d ironcally so since he became ill by falling from a high place. Likewise, as Greyfriar student Peter Roise pointed out to me, the first two contingents of soliders \u201cgo up\u201d to Elijah and never come back down because the fire of God comes down and destroys them. This is unusual, it seems: Usually the wicked are pictured as being destroyed by falling, by being lowered into something, by going down to the pit. But here, though Ahaziah falls from a height at the beginning of the story, he dies in a \u201chigh place\u201d from which he never comes down. There\u2019s some kind of profound reversal here, but its precise character eludes. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What\u2019s with all the up-down talk in 2 Kings 1? The Angel of Yahweh sends Elijah to \u201cascend to call\u201d the messengers\/angels of Ahaziah (v. 3), and Elijah\u2019s message is that Ahaziah will never \u201ccome down\u201d from the bed where he \u201cascended\u201d (v. 3). That oracle, including the \u201ccome down\u201d and \u201cgo up\u201d is repeated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-kings"],"yoast_head":"\n