How does the third captain’s approach to Elias differ from the first two?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The first two order Elias to come down and are consumed with their fifty men by fire from heaven. The third kneels and pleads for his life and his men’s lives. An angel tells Elias to go with him without fear, and Elias goes to the king.

Chapter breakdown

Moab rebels against Israel after Achab’s death. Ochozias falls through the lattices of his upper chamber in Samaria and becomes sick. He sends messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, about whether he will recover from his illness.

An angel of the Lord tells Elias the Thesbite to rise and meet the king of Samaria’s messengers. He is to ask whether there is no God in Israel that they go to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron. The Lord’s word is that the king will not come down from the bed he has gone up to, but will surely die. Elias goes away.

The messengers return to Ochozias, who asks why they have come back. They say a man met them and told them to return to their king with the Lord’s word. He asked whether the king had sent to Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, because there was no God in Israel, and said the king would not leave his bed but would surely die. Ochozias asks what manner of man met them and spoke this way. They describe a hairy man with a leather girdle about his loins. Ochozias identifies him as Elias the Thesbite.

The king sends a captain of fifty and the fifty men under him. The captain goes up to Elias, who is sitting on a hilltop, and addresses him as a man of God, saying the king has commanded him to come down. Elias answers that if he is a man of God, fire should come down from heaven and consume the captain and his fifty. Fire comes down and consumes him and all fifty men with him.

Challoner’s separate note says Elias was inspired to call for fire upon these captains, who came to apprehend him. It says he did not do so to gratify private passion, but to punish the insult to religion, confirm his mission and show the vanity of human efforts against God and the servants he wills to protect.

The king sends another captain of fifty with his fifty men. He addresses Elias as a man of God and tells him the king orders him to make haste and come down. Elias again says that if he is a man of God, fire should come down from heaven and consume the captain and his fifty. Fire comes down and consumes them.

The king sends a third captain with fifty men. He kneels before Elias and asks him not to despise his life or the lives of the servants with him. He recalls that fire consumed the first two captains and their fifties, and again asks that his life be spared. The Lord’s angel tells Elias to go down with him and not fear. Elias rises and goes down with him to the king.

Elias tells the king the Lord’s word: because he sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as though there were no God in Israel whose word he could inquire of, he will not come down from his bed, but will surely die. Ochozias dies according to the Lord’s word spoken by Elias. Because he has no son, his brother Joram reigns in his place, in the second year of Joram son of Josaphat, king of Juda.

Challoner’s separate note says the second year of Joram is counted from when his father Josaphat associated him to the throne. The chapter then asks whether Ochozias’s remaining acts are written in the book of the words of the days of Israel’s kings.

The story inside

Ochozias’s consultation request after his fall meets an angelic instruction to Elias. The returning messengers repeat the question about God in Israel and the death sentence; their description lets the king identify Elias. Two successive captains give commands to come down, the second adding haste. Each receives Elias’s conditional answer and is consumed with his fifty by fire. Challoner separately explains the inspiration, purposes and protection involved. The third captain kneels, remembers the earlier deaths and pleads for life. The angel then directs Elias to accompany him without fear. Elias gives the same stated reason and sentence to Ochozias himself. The king’s death and lack of a son lead to his brother’s succession, dated by the reign of the other Joram; Challoner explains the date separately.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The consultation’s object and purpose matter to the repeated message. Ochozias asks Beelzebub of Accaron whether he will recover. The angelic instruction, messengers’ report and Elias’s words to the king each connect the sentence to his seeking that god as though there were no God in Israel. The chapter gives this particular reason without requiring invented motives.
2
The captains’ words and actions differ in concrete ways. The first orders descent, the second orders haste, and the third kneels and asks for his life and his men’s lives, remembering the earlier fire. The angel tells Elias to go with the third. Challoner’s separate explanation rejects private passion and gives particular purposes; it must not be replaced by a general rule about all armed authority.
3
The closing succession names two different men called Joram. Ochozias has no son, so his brother reigns in his place. The date is the second year of Joram son of Josaphat, king of Juda; Challoner counts it from association to the throne. Keeping both relationships and the note prevents the two kings from being confused.

Test your recall

How do the messengers’ return and description lead to the king’s sending the captains, and how does the third captain’s plea precede Elias’s visit to the king?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 37971–37982
4 Kings Chapter 1 Ochozias sendeth to consult Beelzebub: Elias foretelleth his death: and causeth fire to come down from heaven, upon two captains and their companies. 1:1. And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab. 1:2. And Ochozias fell through the lattices of his upper chamber, which he had in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, saying to them: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness.
Lines 37984–37991
1:3. And an angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, the Thesbite, saying: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron? 1:4. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord: From the bed, on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. And Elias went away.
Lines 37993–38006
1:5. And the messengers turned back to Ochozias. And he said to them: Why are you come back? 1:6. But they answered him: A man met us, and said to us: Go, and return to the king, that sent you, and you shall say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel, that thou sendest to Beelzebub, the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou art gone up, but thou shalt surely die. 1:7. And he said to them: What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words? 1:8. But they said: A hairy man, with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said: It is Elias, the Thesbite.
Lines 38008–38016
1:9. And he sent to him a captain of fifty, and the fifty men that were under him. And he went up to him, and as he was sitting on the top of a hill, he said to him: Man of God, the king hath commanded that thou come down. 1:10. And Elias answering, said to the captain of fifty: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee, and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.
Lines 38018–38022
Let fire, etc.... Elias was inspired to call for fire from heaven upon these captains, who came to apprehend him; not out of a desire to gratify any private passion; but to punish the insult offered to religion, to confirm his mission, and to shew how vain are the efforts of men against God, and his servants, whom he willeth to protect.
Lines 38024–38030
1:11. And he again sent to him another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him. And he said to him: Man of God: Thus saith the king: Make haste and come down. 1:12. Elias answering, said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty. And fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
Lines 38032–38042
1:13. Again he sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him. And when he was come, he fell upon his knees before Elias, and besought him, and said: Man of God, despise not my life, and the lives of thy servants that are with me. 1:14. Behold fire came down from heaven, and consumed the two first captains of fifty men, and the fifties that were with them: but now I beseech thee to spare my life. 1:15. And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not. He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king,
Lines 38044–38052
1:16. And said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, as though there were not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightest inquire the word; therefore, from the bed on which thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die. 1:17. So he died, according to the word of the Lord, which Elias spoke; and Joram, his brother, reigned in his stead, in the second year of Joram, the son of Josaphat, king of Juda, because he had no son.
Lines 38054–38060
The second year of Joram, etc.... Counted from the time that he was associated to the throne by his father Josaphat. 1:18. But the rest of the acts of Ochozias, which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?