2 Kings 1:14
Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.
This plea belongs to the history of the fall of the house of Ahab, a history that lays bare Ahab as naturally covetous, strengthened and sustained in wrongdoing by Jezebel until he was fully controlled by selfishness. He could brook no refusal of his wishes and felt that whatever he desired should by right be his. Within that larger downfall, the plea belongs to Elijah's protest when Ahaziah turned from the living God to Baal-zebub, a direct confrontation of the king's apostasy.
Fire from heaven had consumed the two earlier captains with their companies of fifty, and only then did the third captain come pleading for life to be spared. He humbly asked that his own life and the lives of his fifty men be counted precious and spared, in contrast to the first two companies which had come under God's judgment. Because of that humility Elijah went with him without fear.
The history of Ahaziah's sin and punishment to which this plea belongs stands as a warning that none can disregard with impunity. Though people today do not pay homage to heathen gods, thousands worship at Satan's shrine as truly as the king of Israel did. The very spirit of heathen idolatry is rife today, only in more refined and attractive form, working under the cover of science and education. While faith in the sure word of prophecy is fast decreasing, superstition and satanic witchery are captivating minds. All who do not earnestly search the Scriptures and submit every desire and purpose of life to that unerring test, and who do not seek God in prayer for knowledge of His will, will surely wander from the right path and fall under Satan's deception.