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2 Kings 1:1-2:18

A Chariot of Fire

Lyrics · 2 Kings

A Chariot of Fire

2 Kings 1:1-2:18

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About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the 2 Kings collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
2 Kings
Collection
2 Kings
Musical styles
World Music
[Verse 1] Moab rebels against Israel after Ahab's death. The king sends messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub at Ekron. Elijah announces death because the king sought a foreign god. Their description of a hairy man with a leather girdle identifies Elijah. [Pre-Chorus] The word was rare until the silence broke, Then truth stood upright in the words God spoke. [Chorus] A Chariot of Fire, the word came like a flame, Kings could resist but could not silence the name. The prophet stood where fear had drawn the line, And heaven answered in appointed time. [Verse 2] Elijah goes safely with him and repeats the death sentence before Ahaziah. Ahaziah dies without a son, and Jehoram succeeds him. Elijah and Elisha leave Gilgal as the elder prophet repeatedly urges separation. Elijah strikes Jordan with his mantle, and the two cross on dry ground. [Bridge] A chariot and horses of fire separate them as Elijah rises in a whirlwind. Elisha cries after his father, tears his clothes. He strikes Jordan, the waters divide, and the prophets acknowledge the transferred spirit. Fifty men search three days for Elijah but find no trace. [Final Chorus] A Chariot of Fire, the word came like a flame, Kings could resist but could not silence the name. The prophet stood where fear had drawn the line, And heaven answered in the final time. [Outro] The word went out and did not fall in vain. The prophet left the truth upon the plain.

Named in this songAhabElijahElishaGilgalJordan

About the passage

2 Kings 1: A king sends orders up a hill

Ahaziah begins his reign with two losses of control: Moab has rebelled, and an injury has confined him to bed. His attempt to seek an answer from Baalzebub never reaches Ekron because Elijah intercepts the messengers with a question sharper than the king's medical concern: why has Israel's king gone elsewhere as though there were no God in Israel? The rest of the chapter tests whether royal force can alter that word. Two captains call Elijah a man of God while ordering him down the hill, and fire answers both commands. The third captain kneels and asks for life, after which Elijah descends because the angel of the LORD tells him to go. Standing before Ahaziah changes nothing. The same sentence is repeated, and the king dies "according to the word of the LORD." A successor takes the throne, but no revised verdict ever arrives.

Study 2 Kings 1 in depth

2 Kings 2: The mantle falls, and the work continues

Elijah's departure begins as a journey Elisha refuses to abandon. At Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho he is invited to stay behind, yet he follows to the Jordan, crosses on dry ground, and asks for the double portion associated with an heir. The fiery chariot separates the men, but Elijah goes up by the whirlwind, leaving Elisha grieving and the mantle behind. What follows is not a costume change mistaken for succession. The Jordan divides again when Elisha appeals to the LORD God of Elijah, and the sons of the prophets recognize that Elijah's spirit rests on him. Their three-day search for the departed prophet finds nothing. Elisha's first public acts then pull the extraordinary into ordinary life: Jericho's dangerous water is healed at its source, while the severe episode at Bethel shows that the authority now resting on Elisha cannot be reduced to a harmless badge of office.

Study 2 Kings 2 in depth