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.
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- 2 Kings
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- 2 Kings
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- World Music
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 depth2 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


