As part of my Scripture reading today, I finished 1 Kings and made a start on 2 Kings. In 2 Kgs 1:9-17, we read the following about Elijah and his confrontation with Ahaziah’s forces:
Then he sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. He climbed up to him, and found him sitting at the top of a hill. "Man of God," he said to him, "by order of the king, come down!" Elijah replied to the captain of the fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you with your fifty men!" And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. The king then sent to him another captain with his fifty men; and he addressed him as follows: "Man of God, by order of the king, come down at once!" But Elijah answered him, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you with your fifty men!" And fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. Then he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. The third captain of fifty climbed to the top, knelt before Elijah, and implored him, saying, "Oh, man of God, please have regard for my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours! Already fire has come from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty and their men; I beg you, have regard for my life!" Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him, do not be afraid of him." So he rose and went down with him to the king. He said to him, "Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron -- as if there were no God in Israel whose word you could seek -- assuredly, you shall not rise from the bed which you are lying on; but you shall die." And Ahaziah died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram succeeded him as king, in the second year of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat of Judah, for he had no son. (1985 JPS Tanakh)
Now, imagine if Elijah was actually killed during this confrontation. I am sure some Jewish and Christian interpreters would use the term “martyr” of Elijah, while many critics of the Old Testament would denounce such an ascription to Elijah due to his using self-defence to get out of this dangerous incident!
And yet, critics of the Church harp on the fact that Latter-day Saints use the term “martyr” of the Prophet Joseph Smith, notwithstanding his use of a six-shot pistol in Carthage Jail in a futile attempt to save his life and those of his closest friends, including Hyrum, his older brother. The Evangelical Protestants within that body of critics would, of course, not bat an eye at the inconsistency they would engage in while acknowledging that Elijah was a martyr, his use of self-defence notwithstanding, as he was in a “kill or be killed” situation.
For more on Joseph’s use of a gun in Carthage, see, for instance:
