Tarry here - Elijah’s motive in making this request is not clear. Perhaps he thought that so awful and sacred a scene as that which he was led to expect 2 Kings 2:9, should be kept as secret as possible.
The Lord hath sent me to Bethel - Elijah may have been directed to Bethel, because of the “School of the prophets” there, that the sight of him - if not his words - might console and encourage them before they lost him forever.
As the Lord liveth ... - This double oath, repeated three times 2 Kings 2:4, 2 Kings 2:6, is very remarkable. The two clauses of it are separately used with some frequency (see Judges 8:19; Ruth 3:13; 1 Samuel 1:26, etc.), but it is comparatively seldom that they are united (see the marginal references).