Was it unusual for the Lord to communicate His purposes through angels (1:3)?
Yes. In the over 2000 years of Old Testament history from Abraham to Christ, there are proportionately few angelic conversations recorded. Those that are documented tend to be bunched up in eras, with long episodes of silence between (the same holds true for the New Testament). That doesn t mean there couldn t have been unrecorded conversations, but clearly an angelic visit was meant to mark something extraordinary about to happen not the typical form of divine communication. In the Old Testament, the Lord usually spoke directly to the consciousness of the prophet (1 Kings 17:2, 8; 18:1; 19:9; 21:17). Perhaps the means of revelation was changed in this instance to heighten the contrast between the messengers of Ahaziah (vv. 23, 5) and the angel (which means messenger) of the Lord. Don Porter, Judson Poling and NIV Bible Footnotes What did Elisha really want (2:9)? Undoubtedly Elisha did not ask this simply for the privilege of being Elijah s successor in terms of the Deuteronomic legis
