(4) Now therefore.—For this act of faithlessness, and to prove by the event that there is a God in Israel, whose oracle is unerring. (Comp. 1Kings 18:24, seq.)

Thus saith.—Or, hath said. After these words the prophetic announcement comes in rather abruptly. Perhaps the verse has been abridged by the compiler, and in the original account from which he drew, the words of 2Kings 1:6 may have followed here, “Go, return to the king . . . Ekron.”

And Eijah departed.—On the Lord’s errand. The LXX. adds, “and said unto them,” or “told them,” which is perhaps due to a copyist’s eye having wandered to the words “unto him,” or “unto them,” in next verse (Thenius).

1:1-8 When Ahaziah rebelled against the Lord, Moab revolted from him. Sin weakens and impoverishes us. Man's revolt from God is often punished by the rebellion of those who owe subjection to him. Ahaziah fell through a lattice, or railing. Wherever we go, there is but a step between us and death. A man's house is his castle, but not to secure him against God's judgments. The whole creation, which groans under the burden of man's sin, will, at length, sink and break under the weight like this lattice. He is never safe that has God for his enemy. Those that will not inquire of the word of God for their comfort, shall hear it to their terror, whether they will or no.Therefore ... - As a punishment for this insult to Yahweh. 4. Thou shalt not come down from that bed—On being taken up, he had probably been laid on the divan—a raised frame, about three feet broad, extended along the sides of a room, covered with cushions and mattresses—serving, in short, as a sofa by day and a bed by night, and ascended by steps.

Elijah departed—to his ordinary abode, which was then at Mount Carmel (2Ki 2:25; 1Ki 18:42).

Now therefore; for this was a very heinous crime, to deny the perfections of God, and to transfer them to an idol. See Leviticus 19:31 20:6,27 Deu 18:10.

Elijah departed; the messengers not daring to apprehend him, as suspecting him to be more than man, because he knew the secret message which the king delivered to them in his bedchamber.

Now therefore thus saith the Lord,.... Jehovah, the only true God:

thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shall surely die; this sickness should be unto death, and the bed he had betaken himself to should be his deathbed. The phrases of going up to bed, and coming down, are used with great propriety; for in the eastern countries, in their bedchambers, they had a gallery raised four or five feet above the floor, with a balustrade on the front (d), and steps leading up to it; or ladders, which had more or fewer rounds, according as the beds were higher or lower (e):

and Elijah departed; having met the messengers, and delivered his message from the Lord unto them.

(d) See Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 209. Ed. 2.((e) Vid. Isidor. Origin. l. 20. c. 11. & Alstorph. de Lect. Vet. c. 2.

Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.