Bible Chariots of Fire - tumbling ash or racing lava from volcanoes

Were the chariots of fire mentioned in the Bible in fact tumbling ash or racing lava from volcanoes?

Isaiah 66:15-6 says  "The Lord will come with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all men, and many will be those slain by the Lord."

2 Kings 2:11  And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

2 Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Zechariah 6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

Jeremiah 4:13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined


There are several theories going around for all the smoke and fire in the Bible. I've come across one that says the plumes of smoke and fire indicate a nuclear war and another that says the chariots of the lord indicate an alien invasion. Why oh why do people not put themselves in the shoes of the Hebrews with a basic knowledge of their environment? Why do they think of these things in terms of what's happening now or what we are afraid of now?

This puzzle requires empathy....an ability to transport yourself into whatever time or place and imagine what could have been happening and what could the people have been thinking. We need to wonder what the people were afraid of then and not what we would be afraid of now. It's important to note that any prophecies in the Bible will be based on previous events and not anything that might occur in the future that had not occurred by the time of writing. That means the revelations, or scare tactics, were based on things the people already knew of or had already experienced to their terror. Of course, some prophecies will have been exaggerated for dramatic effect but will have been based on previous events.

This puzzle's key is far less exciting than aliens or nuclear explosions. It's very natural, very normal and far less frightening to children so I really hope it gets the audience it needs to put a stop to fear mongering.

The chariots were, my empathic mind tells me, tumbling or billowing fiery ash, racing lava or fiery gas explosions around volcanic fields. The 'Lord's chariot' just being his mode of armored transport. Added to everything else in the theory, this metaphor's origin is obvious.

Psalm 104:4 He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.

His army and its weaponry and machinery are all very natural and volcanic in origin but the ancient people didn't realise that. They just saw land being 'made to waste'.

Joel 2

2 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
²     a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
    a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
    nor ever will be in ages to come.

³ Before them fire devours,
    behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
    behind them, a desert waste—
    nothing escapes them.
⁴ They have the appearance of horses;
    they gallop along like cavalry.
⁵ With a noise like that of chariots
    they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
    like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

⁶ At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
    every face turns pale.
⁷ They charge like warriors;
    they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
    not swerving from their course.
⁸ They do not jostle each other;
    each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
    without breaking ranks.
⁹ They rush upon the city;
    they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
    like thieves they enter through the windows.

¹⁰ Before them the earth shakes,
    the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
    and the stars no longer shine.
¹¹ The Lord thunders
    at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
    and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
    it is dreadful.
    Who can endure it?

This is labeled the 'Army of Locusts' but it's clear this event was not due to locusts but to volcanic ash racing along devouring everything in its path. Locusts do not make the land tremble nor darken the sky but volcanic eruptions do. 

 
²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens
    and on the earth,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
³¹ The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
³² And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
    there will be deliverance,


Locusts do not produce 'billows of smoke' and cannot make the moon look blood red, but volcanic eruptions can. 

The second reason for a red Moon is if there’s some kind of particle in the air. A forest fire or volcanic eruption can fill the air with tiny particles that partially obscure light from the Sun and Moon. Once again, these particles tend to scatter blue and green light away, while permitting red light to pass through more easily. When you see a red moon, high up in the sky, it’s probably because there’s a large amount of dust in the air.

Incidentally, Mount Zion was probably a volcano in a place called Jerusalem other than the Jerusalem we know of today. There may have been two Jerusalems...the original one maybe in Saudi Arabia and the one we now believe is the original one in Israel.

 

Added later.....

They believe that when it expels hot lava, Merapi is really sending golden carriages to the South Sea, the kingdom of Nyai Ratu Kidul (Queen of the South Sea), for the feast.

However, he (Agni) is feared by nature. When he gets angry he can burn trees with his fire and burns the grass with his chariot’s wheels while raging thru the forest.

Pele is a skilled rider of the holua, a wooden sled that slides down steep stone ramps. Papalauahi and and other chiefs challenged Pele to see who was the best holua rider. Papalauahi proved by far to be the most skilled. Pele lost her temper. She produced a great flood of lava which overran many of the other chiefs and onlookers. 

MOUNT Cameroon, also called Mount Fako, also called Buea Mountain but most fondly called “The chariot of the gods” is the only mountain in Cameroon which has also been recorded as a volcanic mountain, with a horrifying eruption record Cameroonians have been trying to erase from memory for over 10 years. Mount Fako is believed to be guarded from erupting again by a man-eater god named Epasa Moto. Efasa-Moto is the folkloric god of the Fako Mountain. It is believed that he controls the entire “hill” from the West Coast to the border with Balondo land to the north east coast, and towards Meme Division. Physically, Efasa-Moto’s is described as being divided vertically from top to bottom in a strange mixture of half human and half stone and yet shaped in the form of a man giving a complete picture of a goat standing on its hind legs.

See more commonalities between Yahweh and the world's other volcano gods.