2 Kings 1:12

Hebrew Bible

9 The king sent a captain and his 50 soldiers to retrieve Elijah. The captain went up to him while he was sitting on the top of a hill. He told him, “Prophet, the king says, ‘Come down!’” 10 Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your 50 soldiers!” Fire then came down from the sky and consumed him and his 50 soldiers. 11 The king sent another captain and his 50 soldiers to retrieve Elijah. He went up and told him, “Prophet, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’” 12 Elijah replied to them, “If I am indeed a prophet, may fire come down from the sky and consume you and your 50 soldiers!” Fire from God came down from the sky and consumed him and his 50 soldiers. 13 The king sent a third captain and his 50 soldiers. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. He begged for mercy, “Prophet, please have respect for my life and for the lives of these 50 servants of yours. 14 Indeed, fire came down from the sky and consumed the two captains who came before me, along with their men. So now, please have respect for my life.”

Revelation 20:9

New Testament

7 Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. 9 They went up on the broad plain of the earth and encircled the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.

 Notes and References

"... Next in John’s prophetic vision he sees that the enemy nations “surrounded the camp of the saints and the holy city.” In the OT the “camp” referred often to the wilderness encampment of Israelite tribes around the tabernacle. Those remaining in the camp had to be ritually clean because of God’s presence residing in its midst (e.g., Numbers 9:18–23; 2 Chronicles 31:2). Most comparable among OT texts is Deuteronomy 23:14: “Because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy” (compare 1QM III, 5–9; 1QM X). The attacking nations will be destroyed by God before they can annihilate the saints: “fire descended from heaven and consumed them.” This follows the pattern of Ezekiel’s prophecy where the demise of Israel’s enemy is by fire, which is also reflected upon in Judaism (see Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Numbers 11:26, where the destruction of Magog by fire is noted, also in allusion to Ezekiel 39; similarly, in 1QM XI, 16–17 God “will battle against them. The actual wording of the fiery defeat is drawn from 2 Kings 1:10–14, which describes God’s deliverance of Elijah from the armies of the ungodly king Ahaziah ..."

Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (p. 2582) Baker Academic, 2007

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.