Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.
Elijah's times, and the events concerning him, are as little dated as those of any great man in scripture; we are not told of his age, nor in what year of Ahab's reign he first appeared, nor in what year of Joram's he disappeared, and therefore cannot conjecture how long he flourished; it is supposed about twenty years in all. Here we are told, I.
Commenting on 2 Kings 2:1-8
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together,.... Folded it up close together, in a position to smite with it; this is thought to be not his hairy garment, but a shorter robe, that was worn upon his shoulders; but the Greek version renders it by "melotes", and so in Kg2 2:14, which, according to Isidore (l), was a goat's skin, hanging down from...
Fifty men of the sons of the prophets - They fully expected this extraordinary event, and they could have known it only from Elijah himself, or by a direct revelation from God.