The model of an elastic magnetic rod is applied for a study of a behavior of the flexible magnetic particle chain in a rotating magnetic field. By numerical simulation it is shown that behavior of a flexible magnetic chain is characterized by the existence of a critical frequency beyond which the dynamics of the rod is periodic with subsequent stages of bending and straightening. The value of the critical frequency found is explained by a simple model. Below the critical frequency the chain is bent and rotates synchronously with a field. It is illustrated that in particular cases the considered model reproduces phenomena observed experimentally and numerically for the magnetic particle chains in magnetorheological suspensions. It is emphasized that the present approach gives the general framework for the description of different phenomena in magnetorheological suspensions.