“I will send fire
On Magog,
On those who live securely
In the coastlands.
They shall know
That I am Yahweh.”
For no apparent reason, Yahweh set a fire in Magog, the homeland of Gog. Why he also sent fire to the coastland towns was not clear. The main reason given was that they would know that he was Yahweh God.
Gimel
“He has cut down,
In fierce anger,
All the might
Of Israel.
He has withdrawn
His right hand
From them
In the face
Of the enemy.
He has burned
Like a flaming fire
In Jacob,
Consuming all around.”
Yahweh was so angry that he cut down the might of Israel. He withdrew his supporting hand so that the enemy was able to succeed. He destroyed everything that belonged to Jacob by burning it up. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Gimel. Each verse after this will use the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet in this acrostic poem.
“Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain of fifty with his fifty men. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill. He said to him. ‘O man of God, the king says. ‘Come down.’ But Elijah answered the captain of the fifty. ‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.’ Then fire came down from heaven. This fire consumed him and his fifty men.”
King Ahaziah sent a troop of 50 men with its captain to have Elijah come down to Samaria. However, Elijah had a response. If I am a man of God, then let fire from heaven come down and consume you and your men. Right on cue, the fire from heaven came down and consumed him and his 50 men.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 