22:8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.
1:9 The king 4 sent a captain and his fifty soldiers 5 to retrieve Elijah. 6 The captain 7 went up to him, while he was sitting on the top of a hill. 8 He told him, “Prophet, 9 the king says, ‘Come down!’”
1 tc The MT has וְיַתֵּם (vÿyattem), “and let them add up” (Hiphil of תָּמָם [tammam], “be complete”), but the appearance of הִתִּיכוּ (hitikhu), “they melted down” (Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh], “pour out”) in v. 9 suggests that the verb form should be emended to וְיַתֵּךְ (vÿyattekh), “and let him melt down” (a Hiphil of נָתַךְ [natakh]). For a discussion of this and other options see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 281.
2 tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the
3 tn Heb “and walked in all the way of David his father.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “officer of fifty and his fifty.”
6 tn Heb “to him.”
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the captain) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 sn The prophet Elijah’s position on the top of the hill symbolizes his superiority to the king and his messengers.
9 tn Heb “man of God” (also in vv. 10, 11, 12, 13).
10 sn In this third panel the verb “come down” (יָרַד, yarad) occurs again, this time describing Elijah’s descent from the hill at the Lord’s command. The moral of the story seems clear: Those who act as if they have authority over God and his servants just may pay for their arrogance with their lives; those who, like the third commander, humble themselves and show the proper respect for God’s authority and for his servants will be spared and find God quite cooperative.