Comedown

2 Kings 1

Bad luck for king Ahaziah. An accident cost him his health, he felt down (!) through a lattice. To complete his unfortunates, he made an inquiry about his future not to the God of Israel but send messengers to the at that time most famous idol in the heathen neighborhood.
This called to action Elijah, who received word from God through a messenger (!), an Angel, to “Arise, go up (!)”. Elijah delivered the message from God, it was a message of doom: “You shall not come down (!) from the bed where you have gone up(!), but you shall surely die. “
That in the following events (verses 9 to 13) we have continuously someone going up (three times a captain of fifty with his men) and something coming down (two times fire from heaven) doesn’t really come as surprise.
In the second scene of the triplet the ‘going up’ is skipped as ellipsis (verse 11). This adds some enforcement to the whole course of events. The culmination of the third scene is prepared; will the third captain die the same way as his forerunners? No – he falls on his knees and asks for mercy.
As consequence again a messenger came to Elijah and commanded “Go down(!) with him” (verse 15). Elijah went with them to the king, only to repeat his message of doom. Verse 17 closes the story, the king died according to the word of the LORD.
So what is this story about? It is a story about going up and down, it is a story about sending messengers back and forth. A story that has more traffic than a capital city at rush hour. But in midst all these hustle and bustle, this climbing up and coming down, this sending messengers to all ends, in midst all of this, did someone turn to God and ask him?
And the clou of the story: Many men died during these events, and at the source of all this misery a king who made a wrong decision, finally and he, the king died. But one man survived. The wheel of events came hard on him, but he managed to escape. The fate of the third captain was almost predictable. Then he humbled himself and found salvation.
At the end of the day we are left with two ordinary fates. A king who went up and died, and a captain who got down on his knees and survived.