habitus of the man in reply to his question, that it was Elijah the Tishbite. האישׁ משׁפּט מה: “what was the manner of the man?” משׁפּט is used here to denote the peculiarity of a person, that which in a certain sense constitutes the vital law and right of the individual personality; figura et habitus (Vulg.). The servants described the prophet according to his outward appearance, which in a man of character is a reflection of his inner man, as שׂער בּעל אישׁ, vir pilosus, hirsutus. This does not mean a man with a luxuriant growth of hair, but refers to the hairy dress, i.e., the garment made of sheep-skin or goat-skin or coarse camel-hair, which was wrapped round his body; the אדּרת (2Ki 2:8; 1Ki 19:13), or שׂער אדּרת (Zec 13:4, cf. Mat 3:4; Heb 11:37), which was worn by the prophets, not as mere ascetics, but as preachers of repentance, the rough garment denoting the severity of the divine judgments upon the effeminate nation, which revelled in luxuriance and worldly lust. And this was also in keeping with “the leather girdle,” עור אזור, ζώνη δερματίνη (Mat 3:4), whereas the ordinary girdle was of cotton or linen, and often very costly.
Verses 9-10
After having executed the divine command, Elijah returned to the summit of the mountain, on which he dwelt. Most of the commentators suppose it to have been one of the peaks of Carmel, from 2Ki 2:25 and 1Ki 18:42, which is no doubt very probable, though it cannot be raised into certainty. Elijah’s place of abode was known to the king; he therefore sent a captain with fifty men to fetch the prophet. To the demand of the captain, “Man of God, the king has said, Come down,” Elijah replied, “And if I am a man of God, let fire fall from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty.” (The expression ואם, and if, shows that Elijah’s words followed immediately upon those of the captain.) This judicial miracle was immediately fulfilled.
Verses 11-12
The same fate befell a second captain, whom the king sent after the death of the first. He was more insolent than the first, “both because he was not brought to his senses by hearing of his punishment, and because he increased his impudence by adding make haste (מהרה).” - C. a Lap. For וידבּר ויּען the lxx (Cod. Alex.) have καὶ ἀνέβη καὶ ἐλάλησε, so that they read ויּעל. The correctness of this reading, according to which ויּען would be an error of the pen, is favoured not only by ויּעל in 2Ki 1:9 and 2Ki 1:13, but also by וידבּר which follows; for, as a general rule, ויּען would be followed by ויּאמר.
