The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?” He said, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”
Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.
The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?” He answered, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”
Elijah said to him, “Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” Then they both went on.
Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood opposite them at a distance; and they both stood by the Jordan. Elijah took his mantle, and rolled it up, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they both went over on dry ground. When they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me.”
He said, “You have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be so for you; but if not, it will not be so.”
As they continued on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it, and he cried, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” He saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces.
He also took up Elijah’s mantle that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan. He took Elijah’s mantle that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, “Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” When he also had struck the waters, they were divided apart, and Elisha went over. When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 15 That is, from being anymore thine head: for to…
That is, from being anymore thine head: for to be as the head, is to be the master, as to be at the feet, is to be a scholar.
So called, because they are begotten as it were anew by the heavenly doctrine.
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For the Lord had revealed it unto him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–15 2Ki 2:3 And the sons of the prophets that…
2Ki 2:3 And the sons of the prophets that [were] at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know [it]; hold ye your peace.
Ver. 3. From thy head,] i.e., To heaven, or from sitting any longer over thy head, as a doctor over his disciples. See Act 22:3. For among the Jews, the Rabbi sat on high, and was called Joshebh, or the sitter; the scholar sat at his feet, or lay along in the dust, called therefore Mithabbek, in token of humility.
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Hold ye your peace.] Hinder me not by your discourses from my diligent attendance, lest he be taken away on the sudden, and I not see him.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 The Lord will take away thy master: this was…
The Lord will take away thy master: this was revealed to some of the sons of the prophets, and by them to the whole college.
From thy head, Heb. from above thy head; which phrase may respect, either,
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1. The manner of sitting in schools, where the scholar sat at his master’s feet, Deu 33:3; Act 22:3. Or,
2. The manner of Elijah’s translation, which was to be by a power sent from heaven, to take him up thither.
Hold ye your peace; do not aggravate my grief, nor divert me with any unseasonable discourses; that I may digest my sorrow, and prepare myself for so great a stroke, and diligently attend all my master’s steps, lest he be snatched away from me whilst I am talking with you; and that I may beg and obtain some great blessing from him before his departure.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv9, 13 Here, I. Elijah makes his will, and leaves Elisha…
Here, I. Elijah makes his will, and leaves Elisha his heir, now anointing him to be prophet in his room, more than when he cast his mantle upon him, Kg1 19:19.
1. Elijah, being greatly pleased with the constancy of Elisha's affection and attendance, bade him ask what he should do for him, what blessing he should leave him at parting; he does not say (as bishop Hall observes), "Ask of me when I am gone, in heaven I shall be better able to befriend thee," but, "Ask before I go." Our friends on earth may be spoken to, and can give us an answer, but we know not that we can have access to any friend in heaven but Christ, and God in him. Abraham is ignorant of us.
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2. Elisha, having this fair opportunity to enrich himself with the best riches, prays for a double portion of his spirit. He asks not for wealth, nor honour, nor exemption from trouble, but to be qualified for the service of God and his generation, he asks, (1.) For the Spirit, not that the gifts and graces of the Spirit were in Elijah's power to give, therefore he says not, "Give me the Spirit" (he knew very well it was God's gift), but "Let it be upon me, intercede with God for this for me." Christ bade his disciples ask what they would, not one, but all, and promised to send the Spirit, with much more authority and assurance than Elijah could. (2.) For his spirit, because he was to be a prophet in his room, to carry on his work, to father the sons of the prophets and face their enemies, because he had the same perverse generation to deal with that he had, so that, if he have not his spirit, he has not strength according to the day. (3.) For a double portion of his spirit; he does not mean double to what Elijah had, but double to what the rest of the prophets had, from whom so much would not be expected as from Elisha, who had been brought up under Elijah. It is a holy ambition to covet earnestly the best gifts, and those which will render us most serviceable to God and our brethren. Note, We all ought, both ministers and people, to set before us the example of our predecessors, to labour after their spirit, and to be earnest with God for that grace which carried them through their work and enabled them to finish well.
3. Elijah promised him that which he asked, but under two provisos, Kg2 2:10. (1.) Provided he put a due value upon it and esteem it highly: this he teaches him to do by calling it a hard thing, not too hard for God to do, but too great for him to expect. Those are best prepared for spiritual blessings that are most sensible of their worth and their own unworthiness to receive them. (2.) Provided he kept close to his master, even to the last, and was observant of him: If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so, otherwise not. A diligent attendance upon his master's instructions, and a careful observance of his example, particularly now in his last scene, were the condition and would be a proper means of obtaining much of his spirit. Taking strict notice of the manner of his ascension would likewise be of great use to him. The comforts of departing saints, and their experiences, will mightily help both to gild our comforts and to steel our resolutions. Or, perhaps, this was intended only as a sign: "If God favour thee so far as to give thee a sight of me when I ascend, take that for a token that he will do this for thee, and depend upon it." Christ's disciples saw him ascend, and were thereupon assured that they should, in a little time, be filled with his Spirit, Act 1:8. Elisha, we may suppose, hereupon prayed earnestly, Lord, show me this token for good.
II. Elijah is carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot, Kg2 2:11. Like Enoch, he was translated, that he should not see death; and was (as Mr. Cowley expresses it) the second man that leaped the ditch where all the rest of mankind fell, and went not downward to the sky. Many curious questions might be asked about this matter, which could not be answered. Let it suffice that we are here told,
1. What his Lord, when he came, found him doing. He was talking with Elisha, instructing and encouraging him, directing him in his work, and quickening him to it, for the good of those whom he left behind. He was not meditating nor praying, as one wholly taken up with the world he was going to, but engaged in edifying discourse, as one concerned about the kingdom of God among men. We mistake if we think our preparation for heaven is carried on only by contemplation and the acts of devotion. Usefulness to others will pass as well in our account as any thing. Thinking of divine things is good, but talking of them (if it come from the heart) is better, because for edification, Co1 14:4. Christ ascended as he was blessing his disciples.
2. What convoy his Lord sent for him - a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which appeared either descending upon them from the clouds or (as bishop Patrick thinks) running towards them upon the ground: in this form the angels appeared. The souls of all the faithful are carried by an invisible guard of angels into the bosom of Abraham; but, Elijah being to carry his body with him, this heavenly guard was visible, not in a human shape, as usual, though they might so have borne him up in their arms, or carried him as on eagles' wings, but that would have been to carry him like a child, like a lamp (Isa 40:11, Isa 40:31); they appear in the form of a chariot and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror, yea, more than a conqueror. The angels are called in scripture cherubim and seraphim, and their appearance here, though it may seem below their dignity, answers to both those names; for (1.) Seraphim signifies fiery, and God is said to make them a flame of fire, Psa 104:4. (2.) Cherubim (as many think) signifies chariots, and they are called the chariots of God (Psa 68:17), and he is said to ride upon a cherub (Psa 18:10), to which perhaps there is an allusion in Ezekiel's vision of four living creatures, and wheels, like horses and chariots; in Zechariah's vision, they are so represented, Zac 1:8; Zac 6:1. Compare Rev 6:2, etc. See the readiness of the angels to do the will go God, even in the meanest services, for the good of those that shall be heirs of salvation. Elijah must remove to the world of angels, and therefore, to show how desirous they were of his company, some of them would come to fetch him. The chariot and horses appeared like fire, not for burning, but brightness, not to torture or consume him, but to render his ascension conspicuous and illustrious in the eyes of those that stood afar off to view it. Elijah had burned with holy zeal for God and his honour, and now with a heavenly fire he was refined and translated.
3. How he was separated from Elisha. This chariot parted them both asunder. Note, The dearest friends must part. Elisha had protested he would not leave him, yet now is left behind by him.
4. Whither he was carried. He went up by a whirlwind into heaven. The fire tends upward; the whirlwind helped to carry him through the atmosphere, out of the reach of the magnetic virtue of this earth, and then how swiftly he ascended through the pure ether to the world of holy and blessed spirits we cannot conceive.
"But where he stopped will ne'er be known,
'Till Phenix-nature, aged grown,
To a better being shall aspire,
Mounting herself, like him, to eternity in fire."
- Cowley
Elijah had once, in a passion, wished he might die; yet God was so gracious to him as not only not to take him at his word then, but to honour him with this singular privilege, that he should never see death; and by this instance, and that of Enoch, (1.) God showed how men should have left the world if they had not sinned, not by death, but by a translation. (2.) He gave a glimpse of that life and immortality which are brought to light by the gospel, of the glory reserved for the bodies of the saints, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers, as then to Elijah. It was also a figure of Christ's ascension.
III. Elisha pathetically laments the loss of that great prophet, but attends him with an ecomium, Kg2 2:12. 1. He saw it; thus he received the sign by which he was assured of the grant of his request for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He looked stedfastly towards heaven, whence he was to expect that gift, as the disciples did, Act 1:10. he saw it awhile, but the vision was presently out of his sight; and he saw him no more. 2. He rent his own clothes, in token of the sense he had of his own and the public loss. Though Elijah had gone triumphantly to heaven, yet this world could ill spare him, and therefore his removal ought to be much regretted by the survivors. Surely their hearts are hard whose eyes are dry when God, by taking away faithful useful men, calls for weeping and mourning. Though Elijah's departure made way for Elisha's eminency, especially since he was now sure of a double portion of his spirit, yet he lamented the loss of him, for he loved him, and could have served him for ever. 3. He gave him a very honourable character, as the reason why he thus lamented the loss of him. (1.) He himself had lost the guide of his youth: My father, my father. He saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child thrown upon the world, and lamented it accordingly. Christ, when he left his disciples, did not leave them orphans (Joh 14:15), but Elijah must. (2.) The public had lost its best guard; he was the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. He would have brought them all to heaven, as in this chariot, if it had not been their own fault; they used not chariots and horses in their wars, but Elijah was to them, by his counsels, reproofs, and prayers, better than the strongest force of chariot and horse, and kept off the judgments of God. His departure was like the routing of an army, an irreparable loss. "Better have lost all our men of war than this man of God."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–15 And the sons of the prophets that were at…
And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel,.... Or the disciples of them, as the Targum; here, though a place where one of Jeroboam's calves was set up, was a school of the prophets, perhaps founded by Elijah as a nursery for religion, and a check upon the idolatry of the times:
came forth to Elisha; out of their college: and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? who was, as Abarbinel observes, the crown and glory of his head; or else this is said, as generally thought, in allusion to disciples sitting at the feet of their masters, and so they at the head of them; the rapture of Elijah was by a spirit of prophecy revealed unto them:
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and he said, yea, I know it; being revealed to him in the same way:
hold your peace: not caring to continue any discourse with them on the subject, that his thoughts, which were intent upon it, might not be interrupted, and that his master might not know that he knew of it, and lest he should be snatched away from him, and he not see him, while discoursing with them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 And said - This was revealed to some of…
And said - This was revealed to some of the sons of the prophets, and by them to the whole college. In the kingdom of Judah they had priest and Levites, and the temple service. The want of these in the kingdom of Israel, God graciously made up by these colleges, where men were trained up and employed, in the exercises of religion, and whither good people resorted, to solemnize the appointed feasts, with prayer and hearing, tho' they had not conveniencies for sacrifice. From thy head - Hebrew. from above thy head: which phrase may respect, either, the manner of sitting in schools, where the scholar sat at his master's feet. Or, the manner of Elijah's translation, which was to be by a power sent from heaven, to take him up thither. Hold you your peace - Do not aggravate my grief, nor divert me with any unseasonable discourses. He speaks as one that was himself, and would have them calm and sedate, and with awful silence waiting the event.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Verse 3. Knowest thou that the Lord] Thus we…
Verse 3. Knowest thou that the Lord] Thus we see that it was a matter well known to all the sons of the prophets. This day the Lord will take thy master and instructer from thee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 2Ki 2:3. The sons of the prophets that were…
2Ki 2:3. The sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el — In these very corrupt times God did not wholly forsake the Israelites, but continued the schools of the prophets among them, in which men were trained up and employed in the exercises of religion, and to which good people resorted to solemnize the feasts of the Lord with prayer and hearing portions of the law read, although they had not conveniences for sacrifices, as they had in Judah, where they had priests and Levites, and the temple service. Even in Beth-el, the chief place of idolatry and impiety, where one of the golden calves was worshipped, these schools were not wanting. This was a great testimony of God’s love to that apostate people: among whom he thus left prophets to recover them from their idols. And, what is still more remarkable, prophets of greater eminence for their miracles were continued in Israel than in Judah, because they needed them more, both to turn the idolaters among them from their false worship, and their other vices, and to encourage the truly pious that still remained, and preserve them from being led away by the error of the wicked. Knowest thou not, &c.? — God had revealed to some of them, that Elijah was to be taken away that day, of which they advised Elisha, that he might more diligently attend him. From thy head — Hebrew, from above thy head; which phrase may respect the manner of sitting in their schools, for the scholars used to sit below at their masters’ feet, and the masters above, over their heads, when they taught them. Houbigant renders it, The Lord will elevate thy master above thy head to-day, alluding to his being carried up into heaven. And he said, Yea, I know it, hold ye your peace — Do not aggravate my grief, nor divert me by any unseasonable discourses. He speaks as one who was himself, and would have them to be calm and sedate, and with awful silence waiting the event. Some think he gave them this charge, lest, the extraordinary matter being divulged, there should be a great concourse of people collected about Elijah; for as the Israelites had not renounced their idolatries, notwithstanding that so many and so great miracles had been done among them, they were altogether unworthy of being witnesses of the prophet’s miraculous assumption, even as the Jews in our Lord’s time were of being permitted to be present when he ascended.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 Came forth to Elisha - It does not appear…
Came forth to Elisha - It does not appear that any interchange of speech took place between “the sons of the prophets” (see the marginal reference note) and Elijah; but independent revelations had been made to the two “schools” at Bethel and Jericho 2Ki 2:5, and also to Elisha, with respect to Elijah’s coming removal.
From thy head - i. e. from his position as teacher and master. The teacher sat on an elevated seat, so that his feet were level with the heads of his pupils (compare Act 22:3).
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Hold ye your peace - i. e. “Say nothing - disturb us not. The matter is too sacred for words.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 The sons of the prophets. That is, the disciples…
The sons of the prophets. That is, the disciples of the prophets; who seem to have had their schools, like colleges or communities, in Bethel, Jericho, and other places, in the days of Elias and Eliseus. (Challoner) --- Many of these disciples might be also their children. Elias collected some fervent souls together even at Bethel, to preserve the true religion, as much as possible. He visited them before his departure. (Calmet) --- Peace: let not Elias hear us.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 take away thy master from they head--an allusion to…
take away thy master from they head--an allusion to the custom of scholars sitting at the feet of their master, the latter being over their heads (Act 22:3).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 3. The sons of the prophets that were at…
3. The sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el — Here, at the very place where the calf-worship of Jeroboam was chiefly observed, there existed a school of the prophets. Their zeal and devotion to the true God of Israel perhaps served largely to counteract the prevalent idolatry, and preserve among the hosts of the people a faithful seven thousand. See notes on 1Sa_10:5, and 1Ki_19:18.
Knowest thou — The schools of the prophets, both at Beth-el and Jericho, (2Ki_2:5,) have also a premonition that Elijah is to be taken away. Perhaps, as Kitto suggests, his unusually solemn manner that day, his countenance and conversation more heavenward, and all his demeanour, seemed to say, “Ye shall see my face no more.”
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Take away thy master from thy head — That is, from being thy head; thy spiritual father, teacher, leader, and director. The expression, which literally is, taken from over thy head, might also intimate the manner of Elijah’s removal.
Yea, I know — He replies with emphasis, but solemnity. Literally, the Hebrew is, Of course I know; hush!
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 3. the sons of the prophets] They were called…
3. the sons of the prophets] They were called ‘sons’ in the same way as Elisha calls Elijah ‘father’. See below verse 12. Whether the prophetic body in Gilgal had been warned before Elijah’s departure from them that they would see him no more wé are not told; but it seems highly probable that it was so from what is said of Bethel and of Jericho. Thus Elisha started on his journey prepared for what its end would be.
Beth-el] This was the city which in old time had been called Luz (Jos_18:13) though from one passage (Jos_16:2) there seems to have been a distinction between Bethel and Luz, as though the latter had been the old town, and the former a sacred spot near to it. It lay in the northern part of the tribe of Benjamin, and when the kingdoms were divided and Jeroboam set up the calf-worship in Israel, Bethel was constituted the southern sanctuary. Perhaps it was as a protest against this worship that the sons of the prophets made one of their centres in Bethel. It was at Bethel that the voice of God’s prophet was first raised against Jeroboam’s altar (1Ki_13:1).
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came forth to Elisha] The solemn event of which they had been forewarned checks them from addressing Elijah. His thoughts must have been all absorbed in meditation on the revelation which he was so soon to experience, and heaven, not earth, nor the things of earth, was in his mind. Silence when God is so near is the only homage man can pay.
the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day] We can see from this language that the communion between Elijah and Elisha had been much closer than that which the aged prophet had held with the other sons of the prophets. Hence he is rather spoken of as Elisha’s master, than theirs. This is what we should expect from the special way in which Elisha was appointed (1Ki_19:16). The prophetic bodies were therefore prepared to accept Elisha as their head, when Elijah had been taken away.
hold you your peace] Elisha had marked the solemn and meditative frame of his master’s mind, and would not have it disturbed by any prolonged conversation between himself and the sons of the prophets. He cannot bear the questioning. He thinks of his own weakness and of the terrible burden which will be laid upon him when he is left alone without the friend on whom he has hitherto leaned.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–15 (3) The sons of the prophets.—See Notes on 1Ki_20:35;…
(3) The sons of the prophets.—See Notes on 1Ki_20:35; 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_19:20. There was a guild of prophets at Beth-el.
Came forth to Elisha.—Who probably walked a little way before his master, to announce his approach.
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And said unto him.—The prophetic college had been divinely forewarned of Elijah’s departure.
The Lord will take away . . . to day.—“To day” is emphatic. “Knowest thou that this day Jehovah is about to take away thy lord from beside thee?” The word “head” may signify self, or person, like the word “soul,” and other terms. (Comp. Gen_40:13; 1Sa_28:2; 2Sa_1:16.) Others explain “from over thy head,” i.e., from his position of superiority over thee as thy master and teacher. (See 1Ki_19:21; Act_22:3.) Others again, but very improbably, take the words literally as a reference to Elijah’s ascension, “away over thine head.”
Yea, I know.—Rather, I, too, know.
Hold ye your peace.—Elisha says this, not to prevent the gathering of a crowd to witness the spectacle of Elijah’s departure, nor yet to intimate that his master’s modesty will be shocked by much talk of his approaching exaltation, but simply to suggest that the subject is painful both to him and to his beloved master. The Hebrew term, hehĕshû, imitates the sound, like our “hush!”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–15 The sons of the prophets that were at Bethel…
The sons of the prophets that were at Bethel (On the expression, "sons of the prophets," see the comment upon (1Ki_20:35) The institution of the "schools of the prophets," or theological colleges where young prophets were brought up, is usually assigned to Samuel, one of whose habitual residences for a part of the year was Bethel. (1Sa_7:16) Probably he had established a "school" there which continued to this time. Came forth to Elisha, and said unto him. The students did not venture to address the master himself, who was a person of too much dignity to be intruded on; but sought out the servant, to give him a warning of what their prophetic instinct assured them was about to happen. Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head (i.e. from his position as teacher and master) today? There was, perhaps, something a little officious and self-assertive in this question. They might have felt sure, if they had been properly modest, that Elisha would have at least as much prophetic instinct and foresight as themselves. Hence he answers them with something of rebuke: And he said, Yea, I know it literally, I too know ithold ye your peace; or, "Hush do not chatter about what is so sacred; do not suppose that you are wiser than any one else; be a little modest and a little reticent.
Vers. 3, 5, 7.
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The sons of the prophets.
It is surely instructive to find, even in godless Israel, these numerous bands of young men, congregated under prophetic oversight, and receiving sacred instruction. The origin of "schools of the prophets" seems traceable to Samuel. (1Sa_19:20) But the order took a new impulse under Elijah. "The companies of the prophets now reappear, bound by a still closer connection with Elijah than they had been with Samuel. Then they were "companies, bands, of prophets;" now they are "sons, children, of the prophets;" and Elijah first, and Elisha afterwards, appeared as the "father," the "abbot," the "father in God," of the "whole community" (Stanley). In the development and fostering of these communities, we see Elijah working with an eye to the future. He takes care that the fruits of his reforming labors shall not be lost, but shall be handed down to after-generations. He provides for the preservation and propagation of his influence. We do well to take a leaf out of his book, and study like means for the creation and consecration of godly influence. Wherever men have desired to perpetuate their principles they have formed schools, clubs, guilds, associations, colleges, and by means of these their teachings have been spread abroad. The infidel clubs of the last century, e.g., spread the principles which led to the French Revolution. The prophetic schools seem to have devoted themselves largely to sacred history, poetry, and music; but taught the pupils also to labor in honest occupations for self-support. Any mode of binding together and instructing the youth of our time, which shall combine religious training and sound education with an inculcation of the principles of honest independence, deserves every support. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 13, 14, 15 Ask what I shall do for thee, before I…
2Ki_2:9
Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
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A final interview between good men
The two names here mentioned represent two of the most remarkable men in the history of the world. Both stood faithful in a faithless age. Through both, heavenly wisdom announced its truths, and Almighty energy wrought its marvels. Both were valiant for truth. In this final interview of these illustrious men, we find something to lament, something to admire, something to study, and something to imitate.
I. Here is something to lament. The departure of a great and good man from this world is a subject for lamentation. There are two things that show this to be a lamentable occurrence,
1. The event involves a positive decrease in the amount of means for the worlds improvement. Heavens plan to raise the world is by the ministry of the good. Good men are Gods agents to improve the world.
2. The event involves a positive increase in the amount of the worlds responsibilities. The worlds responsibilities are proportioned to its means of improvement;--Unto whomsoever much is given, cf him shall be much required. The life of a good man adds to the worlds responsibility. Thus its mighty sum of accountability daily augments. The more good the life, the greater the addition to the amount. Christs life was the best, and hence He said, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.
II. Here is something to admire. What do we see here to admire?
1. Sublime calmness in the most solemn crisis. Truly solemn was the position Elijah now occupied, for he stands on the line that separates time from eternity. On one side of the line there were many scenes on earth dear to memory, many persons precious to his heart, many works that he had wrought, and much that he had left unfinished. On the other side there was eternity.
2. A generous interest in friends in the last hour of earthly life. Ask me, he says, what I shall do for thee before I be taken from thee? Though in close approximation to eternity, his affection for his friend was unimpaired. Death does not quench our love.
3. A consciousness of power to confer benefit in the last hour, Ask what I shall do for thee, implying a consciousness of power to confer good. A good man has power at all times to confer good, even on his deathbed; on his expiring couch he can exhibit fortitude under suffering, resignation to the Divine will, intercessory sympathies for the living. Deathbeds have often proved signally useful to attendant friends.
III. Here is something to study. There are two important principles suggested in this text which demand our attention:--
1. That men can only benefit their race while they are living upon earth. Before I am taken away from thee, said Elijah; implying I shall do nothing for thee when I am gone. I shall be where I cannot communicate thought, or render one act of service. Our work on earth is done when we leave it. When we die we cannot return to discharge any neglected duty.
2. That our power to benefit men will depend upon their consent. Ask what I shall do for thee. If men resist we are powerless; our instrumentality is moral, our best thoughts, our purest sympathies, our devoted efforts will all go for nothing, if men will not consent to our influence.
IV. Here is something to imitate. In the conduct of Elisha we see two things worthy of imitation.
1. A perception of real worth. I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
2. An aspiration after real worth. I pray thee let a double portion. Here is coveting earnestly the best gift. (Homilist.)
I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Elishas request
I. Its meaning.
1. A double portion.
(1) Not twice as much as thou. That might have been the prayer not of ambition to excel Elijah, but of humility. In myself so inferior that I need double portion to succeed thee.
(2) Better: the portion of first-born (Deu_21:17); twice as much as any other son of the prophets. All claim a portion. My work and responsibility greatest; to be head of the family in thy place. Give me right of the first-born-a double portion.
2. Thy spirit. Gods Spirit: who came upon Samson, Saul, David, Elijah himself (2Ki_2:16). But still Elijahs spirit (2Ki_2:15). In three senses his:--
(1) His own. Not separable, as property, friends, means of grace, etc. In him (Joh_4:14). Not hand without upholding, but cordial within, strengthening.
(2) His characteristically. One Spirit, but manifold gifts. Natural character remains, etc.
(3) His in its influence. Elishas request granted. Character moulded by Elijahs spirit, yet not obliterated. Still Elisha, not Elijah. Marked contrast between them. Elijah type of John Baptist, Elisha of Christ.
II. Its application.
1. To intercourse of friends. Elijah friend of Elisha.
2. To official relations. Elisha pupil of Elijah. Conclusion. Our intercourse with friends, our relations as teachers, parents, ministers, etc., are they such as, when the parting comes, to warrant the request, I pray thee, etc.? (Archdeacon Perowne.)
The spirit of Elijah
Elijah, with his clear-eyed vision, saw that Elisha and not himself was the man to be considered at this hour; the parting meant more to Elisha than it did to himself. Elijah knew that all was right between him and God. He had no doubts about his future. I do not suppose he had the slightest intimation as to the peculiar manner in which he would leave the earth, although his words indicate a premonition that he was not to die in the natural, usual way. But in whatever way God called him, Elijah was safe. His work was done. His record was made up. Heaven and immortal glory, with the crown of eternal life, remained for him. Elisha, however, was in the midst of the struggle of life. He was to remain in the warring and striving world. He was to stand before wicked kings and ungodly men as the messenger of God. He would need every possible help and blessing that he might not fall or faint by the day. Ah, it is not death that the good man needs to fear. Living is infinitely more serious than dying. If we live well, we shall die well. We are not for a moment to suppose that there was anything selfish or ambitious in the request of Elisha. He was not asking that he might be twice as great as Elijah. He was thinking of the great need of the people and how much the loss of Elijah would mean, and he felt how small were his own powers and gifts compared to those of the great man whom he had loved and followed. He is asking that upon his own gifts and powers, which seem to him so small, a double portion of the spirit that had made Elijah so great may rest and make him strong to do the work of God which was now to fall upon his shoulders. The response of Elijah was significant. He answered, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. Dr. William M. Taylor sees in this answer of Elijah this meaning: The sight of Elijahs ascension gave to Elisha a firmer and more vivid faith in the reality of the unseen life than he had ever had before and greater than even Elijah had ever known. It remains for us to find our message in considering what constituted this spirit of Elijah, a double portion of which Elisha desired as the greatest boon that could come to him. For every one of us who is striving to live the good life to-day will find it as valuable a possession as it was to Elisha.
1. It was a vital faith in the presence and power of God in the world. There was Elijahs power. He believed God. God was real to him. God was not lost to Elijahs sight by the creation which He had made. Elijah saw God present in the midst of His world with unlimited power and control. This gave him all his courage. It was the same force that made John Knox a greater terror to a wicked queen than all the armies of Scotland. It was the same force that made Luther the greatest man of Ms day.
2. The spirit of Elijah was the spirit of obedience. He obeyed God promptly, without questioning; we never should have heard of him but for that. He kept his ear open, listening to God, and he went swiftly to do the Divine bidding. That was what gave value to Elijahs conduct. Think of the millions of Christians in the world to-day. If they all had Elijahs spirit of obedience, what revolutions would come about. The gambling hell would be abolished for ever. War would die out of the earth, and the Gospel would speedily be preached to every creature, if only all the men and women who bear the name of Jesus Christ had Elijahs spirit of implicit obedience to God.
3. Elijahs spirit was a spirit of supreme courage born of this faith and obedience. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
The noblest legacy of the departed good
I. The greatest need, the most solemn position, is not with those who are leaving the world, but with those who remain. Not Elijah, but Elisha requires strength and help. It was a perception of Elishas greater need that prompted the invitation.
II. Our power to bless others is limited by our lives. Before I be taken away from thee. Elijah cannot pledge himself to anything after his departure. While yet he lingers upon me earth he may help and mess his successor. We can only bless the world while we are present in it.
III. The noblest legacy of the departed good, and the measure in which we should ask to possess it. Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. This was the wisest request Elisha could have presented. What are we to understand by thy spirit? We think he must mean that which was the animating principle of Elijahs character, the master passion of his soul--his fidelity to God, and zeal for His name. This spirit of the great and good is their noblest legacy, our richest inheritance.
1. The spirit of Elijah was the secret of Elishas power. We are prone to place a mans power in natural gifts and external advantages. But all experience proves that, in the work of the Lord, a simple, earnest, soul-possessing faithfulness is superior to all beside. He who has it, whatever else he may have or have not, is a true Elijah, who shall bring down the sacred fire, not upon a slaughtered bullock, but upon the souls of men.
2. The spirit of the great and good alone can compensate for their departure and loss.
3. The spirit of the great and good is alone unchanging in its character, and meets the requirements of every age.
4. To catch and inherit the spirit of the good and great is to attain the deepest and truest resemblance to them. (W. Perkins.)
What is the best service I can render my fellows
The giving fact of life is a fact permanent and wonderful. Steadily each of us is giving his fellows somewhat.
I. Volitionally we may give--e.g., money, place, knowledge. Better than these, we may volitionally give a helping sympathy.
II. But unvolitionally, unconsciously, we are giving to our fellows; St. Peters shadow (Act_5:15). Every one of us is streaming upon his fellows an unconscious influence Our practical question is--What is the best gift any one can yield his fellows? I find the answer in our Scripture.
1. The best gift one can yield his fellows is character--the double portion of a noble spirit.
2. This fact, that the best gift we can yield our fellows is character, that the best service we can render them is the imparting of a noble spirit, has important applications--
(1) To our friendships--noble friendships, as Elisha did with Elijah, we shall get nobleness.
(2) To marriage. For the associations of marriage are the closest possible. And if each were noble, what nobleness has not each to each imparted?
(3) To parenthood. The character of the parent is reproduced in the child.
(4) The great character-giver is Jesus Christ. There is no failure in Him, as there was, to some extent, in Elijah. (Homiletic Review.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv11–13 2 Kings
2 Kings
THE CHARIOT OF FIRE
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THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH AND THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST
2Ki 2:11. - Luk 24:51.
These two events, the translation of Elijah and the Ascension of our Lord, have sometimes been put side by side in order to show that the latter narrative is nothing but a ‘variant’ of the former. See, it is said, the source of your New Testament story is only the old legend shaped anew by the wistful regrets of the early disciples. But to me it seems that the simple comparison of the two narratives is sufficient to bring out such fundamental difference in the ideas which they respectively embody as amount to opposition, and make any such theory of the origin of the latter absurdly improbable, I could wish no better foil for the history of the Ascension than the history of Elijah’s rapture. The comparison brings out contrasts at every step, and there is no readier way of throwing into strong relief the meaning and purpose of the former, than holding up beside it the story of the latter. The real parallel makes the divergences the more remarkable, for likeness sharpens our perception of unlikeness, and no contrast is so forcible as the contrast of things that correspond. I am much mistaken if we shall not find almost every truth of importance connected with our Lord’s Ascension emphasised for us by the comparison to which we now proceed.
I. The first point which may be mentioned is the contrast between the manner of Elijah’s translation, and that of our Lord’s Ascension.
It is perhaps not without significance that the place of the one event was on the uplands or in some of the rocky gorges beyond Jordan, and that of the other, the slopes of Olivet above Bethany. The lonely prophet, who had burst like a meteor on Israel from the solitudes of Gilead, whose fervour had ever and again been rekindled by return to the wilderness, whose whole career had isolated him from men, found the fitting place for that last wonder amidst the stern silence where he had so often sought asylum and inspiration. He was close to the scenes of mighty events in the past. There, on that overhanging peak, the lawgiver whose work he was continuing, and with whom he was to be so strangely associated on the Mount of Transfiguration, had made himself ready for his lonely grave. Here at his feet, the river had parted for the victorious march of Israel. Away down on his horizon the sunshine gleamed on the waters of the Dead Sea; and thus, on his native soil, surrounded by memorials of the Law which he laboured to restore, and of the victories which he would fain have brought back, and of the judgments which he saw again impending over Israel, the stern, solitary ascetic, the prophet of righteousness, whose single arm stayed the downward course of a nation, passed from his toil and his warfare.
What a different set of associations cluster round the place of Christ’s Ascension-’Bethany,’ or, as it is more particularly specified in the Acts, ‘Olivet’! In the very heart of the land, close by and yet out of sight of the great city, in no wild solitude, but perhaps in some dimple of the hill, neither shunning nor courting spectators, with the quiet home where He had rested so often in the little village at their feet there, and Gethsemane a few furlongs off, in such scenes did the Christ ‘whose delights were with the sons of men,’ and His life lived in closest companionship with His brethren, choose the place whence He should ‘ascend to their Father and His Father.’ Nor perhaps was it without a meaning that the Mount which received the last print of His ascending footstep was that which a mysterious prophecy designated as destined to receive the first print of the footstep of the Lord coming at a future day to end the long warfare with evil.
But more important than the localities is the contrasted manner of the two ascents. The prophet’s end was like the man. It was fitting that he should be swept up the skies in tempest and fire. The impetuosity of his nature, and the stormy energy of his career, had already been symbolised in the mighty and strong wind which rent the rocks, and in the fire that followed the earthquake; and similarly nothing could be more appropriate than that sudden rapture in storm and whirlwind, escorted by the flaming chivalry of heaven.
Nor is it only as appropriate to the character of the prophet and his work that this tempestuous translation is noteworthy. It also suggests very plainly that Elijah was lifted to the skies by power acting on him from without. He did not ascend; he was carried up; the earthly frame and the human nature had no power to rise. ‘No man hath ascended into heaven.’ The two men of whom the Old Testament speaks were alike in this, that ‘God took them.’ The tempest and the fiery chariot tell us how great was the exercise of divine power which bore the gross mortality thither, and how unfamiliar was the sphere into which it passed.
How full of the very spirit of Christ’s whole life is the contrasted manner of His Ascension! The silent gentleness, which did not strive nor cry nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets, marks Him even in that hour of lofty and transcendent triumph. There is no outward sign to accompany His slow upward movement through the quiet air. No blaze of fiery chariots, nor agitation of tempest is needed to bear Him heavenwards. The outstretched hands drop the dew of His benediction on the little company, and so He floats upward, His own will and indwelling power the royal chariot which bears Him, and calmly ‘leaves the world and goes unto the Father.’ The slow, continuous movement of ascent is emphatically made prominent in the brief narratives, both by the phrase in Luke, ‘He was carried up,’ which expresses continuous leisurely motion, and by the picture in the Acts, of the disciples gazing into heaven ‘as He went up,’ in which latter word is brought out, not only the slowness of the movement, but its origin in His own will and its execution by His own power.
Nor is this absence of any vehicle or external agency destroyed by the fact that ‘a cloud’ received Him out of their sight, for its purpose was not to raise Him heavenward, but to hide Him from the gazers’ eyes, that He might not seem to them to dwindle into distance, but that their last look and memory might be of His clearly discerned and loving face. Possibly, too, it may be intended to remind us of the cloud which guided Israel, the glory which dwelt between the cherubim, the cloud which overshadowed the Mount of Transfiguration, and to set forth a symbol of the Divine Presence welcoming to itself, His battle fought, the Son of His love.
Be that as it may, the manner of our Lord’s Ascension by His own inherent power is brought into boldest relief when contrasted with Elijah’s rapture, and is evidently the fitting expression, as it is the consequence, of His sole and singular divine nature. It accords with His own mode of reference to the Ascension, while He was on earth, which ever represents Him not as being taken, but as going: ‘I leave the world and go to the Father.’ ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father.’ The highest hope of the devoutest souls before Him had been, ‘Thou wilt afterwards take me to glory.’ The highest hope of devout souls since Him has been, ‘We shall be caught up to meet the Lord.’ But this Man ever speaks of Himself as able when He will, by His own power, to rise where no man hath ascended. His divine nature and pre-existence shine clearly forth, and as we stand gazing at Him blessing the world as He rises into the heavens, we know that we are looking on no mere mysterious elevation of a mortal to the skies, but are beholding the return of the Incarnate Lord, who willed to tarry among our earthly tabernacles for a time, to the glory where He was before, ‘His own calm home, His habitation from eternity.’
II. Another striking point of contrast embraces the relation which these two events respectively bear to the life’s work which had preceded them.
The falling mantle of Elijah has become a symbol known to all the world, for the transference of unfinished tasks and the appointment of successors to departed greatness. Elisha asked that he might have a double portion of his master’s spirit, not meaning twice as much as his master had had, but the eldest son’s share of the father’s possessions, the double of the other children’s portion. And, though his master had no power to bestow the gift, and had to reply as one who has nothing that he has not received, and cannot dispose of the grace that dwells in him, the prayer was answered, and the feebler nature of Elisha was fitted for the continuance of the work which Elijah left undone.
The mantle that passed from one to the other was the symbol of office and authority transferred; the functions were the same, whilst the holders had changed. The sons of the prophets bow before the new master; ‘the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.’
So the world goes on. Man after man serves his generation by the will of God, and is gathered to his fathers; and a new arm grasps the mantle to smite Jordan, and a new voice speaks from his empty place, and men recognise the successor, and forget the predecessor.
We turn to Christ’s Ascension, and there we meet with nothing analogous to this transference of office. No mantle falling from His shoulders lights on any of that group, none are hailed as His successors. What He has done bears and needs no repetition whilst time shall roll, whilst eternity shall last. His work is unique: ‘the help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself.’ His Ascension completed the witness of heaven, begun at His resurrection, that ‘He has offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever.’ He has left no unfinished work which another may perfect. He has done no work which another may do again for new generations. He has spoken all truth, and none may add to His words. He has fulfilled all righteousness, and none may better His pattern. He has borne all the world’s sin, and no time can waste the power of that sacrifice, nor any man add to its absolute sufficiency. This King of men wears a crown to which there is no heir. This Priest has a priesthood which passes to no other. This ‘Prophet’ does ‘live for ever,’ The world sees all other guides and helpers pass away, and every man’s work is caught up by other hands and carried on after he drops it, and the short memories and shorter gratitudes of men turn to the rising sun; but one Name remains undimmed by distance, and one work remains unapproached and unapproachable, and one Man remains whose office none other can hold, whose bow none but He can bend, whose mantle none can wear. Christ has ascended up on high and left a finished work for all men to trust, for no man to continue.
III. Whilst our Lord’s Ascension is thus marked as the seal of a work in which He has no successor, it is also emphatically set forth, by contrast with Elijah’s translation, as the transition to a continuous energy for and in the world.
Clearly the other narrative derives all its pathos from the thought that Elijah’s work is done. His task is over, and nothing more is to be hoped for from him. But that same absence from the history of Christ’s Ascension, of any hint of a successor, to which we have referred in the previous remarks, has an obvious bearing on His present relation to the world as well as on the completeness of His unique past work.
When Christ ascended up on high, He relinquished nothing of His activity for us, but only cast it into a new form, which in some sense is yet higher than that which it took on earth. His work for the world is in one aspect completed on the Cross, but in another it will never be completed until all the blessings which that Cross has lodged in the midst of humanity, have reached their widest possible diffusion and their highest possible development. Long ages ago He cried, ‘It is finished,’ but we may be far yet from the time when He shall say, ‘It is done’; and for all the slow years between His own word gives us the law of His activity, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.’
Christ’s Ascension is no withdrawal of the Captain of our salvation from the field where we are left to fight, nor has He gone up to the mountain, leaving us alone to tug at the oar, and shiver in the cold night air. True, there may seem a strange contrast between the present condition of the Lord who ‘was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God,’ and that of the servants wandering through the world on His business; but the contrast is harmonised by the next words, ‘the Lord also working with them.’ Yes, He has gone up to sit at the right hand of God. That session at God’s right hand to which the Ascension is chiefly of importance as the transition, means the repose of a perfected redemption, the communion of the Son with the Father, the exercise of all the omnipotence of God, the administration of the world’s history. He has ascended that He might fill all things, that He might pour out His Spirit upon us, that the path to God may be trodden by our lame feet, that the whole resources of the divine nature may be wielded by the hands that were nailed to the Cross, that the mighty purpose of salvation may be fulfilled.
Elijah knew not whether his spirit could descend upon his follower. But Christ, though, as we have said, He left no legacy of falling mantle to any, left His Spirit to His people. What Elisha gained, Elijah lost. What Elisha desired, Elijah could not give nor guarantee. How firm and assured beside Elijah’s dubious ‘Thou hast asked a hard thing,’ and his ‘If thou see me, it shall be so,’ is Christ’s ‘It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away the Comforter will not come, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.’
Manifold are the forms of that new and continuous activity of Christ into which He passed when He left the earth: and as we contrast these with the utter helplessness any longer to counsel, rebuke or save, to which death reduces those who love us best, and to which even his glorious rapture into the heavens brought the strong prophet of fire, we can take up, with a new depth of meaning, the ancient words that tell of Christ’s exclusive prerogative of succouring and inspiring from within the veil: ‘Thou hast ascended on high; Thou hast led captivity captive; Thou hast received gifts for men.’
IV. The Ascension of Christ is still further set forth, in its very circumstances, by contrast with Elijah’s translation, as bearing on the hopes of humanity for the future.
The prophet is caught up to the glory and repose for himself alone, and the sole share which the gazing follower or the sons of the prophets straining their eyes there at Jericho, had in his triumph, was a deepened conviction of his prophetic mission, and perhaps some clearer faith in a future life. Their wonder and sorrow, Elisha’s immediate exercise of his new power, the prophets’ immediate transference of their allegiance to their new head, show that on both sides it was felt that they had no part in the event beyond that of awe-struck beholders. No light streamed from it on their own future. The path they had to tread was still the common road into the great darkness, as solitary and unknown as before. The chariot of fire parted their master from the common experience of humanity as from their fellowship, making him an exception to the sad rule of death, which frowned the grimmer and more inexorable by contrast with his radiant translation.
The very reverse is true of Christ’s Ascension. In Him our nature is taken up to the throne of God. His Resurrection assures us that ‘them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him,’ His passage to the heavens assures us that ‘they who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them,’ and that all of both companies shall with Him live and reign, sharing His dominion, and moulded to His image.
If we would know of what our manhood is capable, if we would rise to the height of the hopes which God means that we should cherish, if we would gain a living grasp of the power that fulfils them, we have to stand there, gazing on the piled cloud that sails slowly upwards, the pure floor for our Brother’s feet. As we watch it rising with a motion which is rest, we have the right to think, ‘Thither the Forerunner is for us entered.’ We see there what man is meant for, what men who love Him attain. True, the world is still full of death and sorrow, man’s dominion seems a futile dream and a hope that mocks, but ‘we see Jesus,’ ascended up on high, and in Him we too are ‘made to sit together in heavenly places.’ The Breaker is gone up before them. Their King shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.’
There is yet another aspect in which our Lord’s Ascension bears on our hopes for the future, namely, as connected with His coming again. In that respect, too, the contrast of Elijah’s translation may serve to emphasise the truth. Prophecy, indeed, in its latest voice, spoke of sending Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the Lord, and Rabbinical legends delighted to tell how he had been carried to the Garden of Eden, whence he would come again, in Israel’s sorest need. But the prophecy had no thought of a personal reappearance, and the dreams are only dreams such as we find in the legendary history of many nations. As Elisha recrossed the Jordan, he bore with him only a mantle and a memory, not a hope.
‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.’ How grand is the use in these mighty words of the name Jesus, the name that speaks of His true humanity, with all its weakness, limitations, and sorrow, with all its tenderness and brotherhood! The man who died and rose again, has gone up on high. He will so come as He has gone. ‘So’-that is to say, personally, corporeally, visibly, on clouds, perhaps to that very spot, ‘and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives.’ Thus Scripture teaches us ever to associate together the departure and the coming of the Lord, and always when we meditate on His Ascension to prepare a place for us, to think of His real presence with us through the ages, and of His coming again to receive us to Himself.
That parting on Olivet cannot be the end. Such a leave-taking is the prophecy of happy greetings and an inseparable reunion. The King has gone to receive a kingdom, and to return. Memory and hope coalesce, as we think of Him who is passed into the heavens, and the heart of the Church has to cherish at once the glad thought that its Head and helper has entered within the veil, and the still more joyous one, which lightens the days of separation and widowhood, that the Lord will come again.
So let us take our share in the ‘great joy’ with which the disciples returned to Jerusalem, left like sheep in the midst of wolves as they were, and ‘let us set our affection on things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v12 1. The Beginning of His Ministry
II. THE PROPHET ELISHA
1. The Beginning of His Ministry
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CHAPTER 2:12-25
1. The mantle used (2Ki 2:12-14)
2. The sons of the prophets (2Ki 2:15-18)
3. The healing of Jericho’s waters (2Ki 2:19-22)
4. Judgment upon the scoffers (2Ki 2:23-25)
Both Elijah and Elisha are types of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their names indicate this. Elijah means “my God is Jehovah,” and Elisha, “my God is salvation.” Suffering, affliction and rejection are prominent in the life of Elijah, but it ended for him by being taken into heaven. It foreshadows the path of Him who was rejected by His own, cast out by the world and who has gone to heaven. In Elisha and his ministry, sovereign grace towards Israel in apostasy and ripening for judgment, is the predominant feature, foreshadowing Him who appeared in the midst of His people, ministering grace and truth (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18). (Another typical application is to look upon Elisha’s ministry as typifying what will be bestowed upon Israel and upon the Gentiles with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Elisha had seen Elijah’s departure into heaven, and when he saw him no more “he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.” He thus expressed his grief, but at the same time he took Elijah’s mantle (symbolical of the prophetic ministry, which had fallen upon him) and used it at once. He smites with it the waters of Jordan and the Lord God of Elijah answers faith by parting the river. It was the first miracle of his administration. “So shall the waters of difficulty, nay, the cold flood of death itself, part, if we smite in faith with the heaven given garment; so shall the promise of God ever stand sure, and God be true to His Word; and so may we go forward undauntedly, though humbly and prayerfully, to whatever work He gives us to do” (A. Edersheim).
The sons of the prophets then acknowledged Elisha. They are seen ever after in close fellowship with the prophet; they belonged to the faithful remnant in Israel. However, not having witnessed Elijah’s translation they were unbelieving and thought that the Spirit might have transported the prophet (1Ki 18:12; Eze 3:14; Eze 8:3). They were not obedient to Elisha’s command and urged him to send, till he was ashamed and yielded to their request. After a three days’ unsuccessful search they returned and now they had to be ashamed, when their master told them, “Did I not say unto you, Go not?” They were like the disciples of our Lord “slow to believe.”
The second miracle is one of mercy, followed by a miracle of judgment. The healing of Jericho’s waters is a miracle of much significance. Jericho is a type of the world under the curse (Joshua 6). The water was naught and the ground barren. A new cruse with salt is brought. The salt is put into the waters and the prophet said: “Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.” When He, who is greater than Elisha, comes back to this earth again, now under the curse and death reigning upon it, the curse will be removed; there will be healing as it was for Jericho. The other miracles of grace and mercy teach the same lesson.
The third miracle is one of judgment. Judgment well deserved fell upon those who despised the chosen messenger of God. The mockers were not “little children,” but young men. They were of Bethel, and no doubt associated with the wicked worship established there (1Ki 7:25-33). They were infidels and scoffers. They mocked the translation of Elijah and taunted Elisha. The curse of the Lord fell upon them. Forty-two of their number were torn by she-bears. The punishment has been declared by critics “disproportionate to the offence.” It certainly is not when the offence is considered as an insult to the man of God, who had gone to heaven and to the prophet who had taken his place; besides, these young men had scoffed at the power of God. And we must not overlook the fact that present day mockers and rejecters of the ministry of the gospel and grace of God will also receive their punishment in due time (2Pe 3:3-7).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v15 Elisha’s Miraculous Powers
Elisha’s Miraculous Powers
v. 15. And when the Sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho, those who had stood at a distance to witness the older men crossing the Jordan on dry ground, saw him, returning in the same manner as both he and Elijah had gone over, they said, drawing their conclusion from this miracle, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him, with the same veneration which they had formerly shown to Elijah.
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v. 16. And they said unto him, Behold, now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. They had known that Elijah was to be removed from Elisha’s head,
v. 5. but they had no definite idea of the meaning attached to this expression, believing, apparently, that the soul of Elijah alone had been taken, and that they would be able to find his body somewhere in the neighborhood. And he said, Ye shall not send. He knew that their plan was altogether foolish, since Elijah had been translated to heaven according to body and soul.
v. 17. And when they had urged him till he was ashamed, when their stubborn persistence showed him that there was no hope of dissuading them from their purpose, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not, their strenuous search proved fruitless.
v. 18. And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, in a mild reproof for not heeding his advice, Did I not say unto you, Go not?
v. 19. And the men of the city, probably the magistrates or the influential citizens, said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, on a beautiful oasis, noted for its splendid palms, as my lord seeth; but the water is naught, it had a bad effect, and the ground barren, miscarriages were the rule in the country round about, apparently on account of the water.
v. 20. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, a receptacle, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
v. 21. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, where the brook welled up from the ground, and cast the salt in there, as a prophetical, symbolical action to indicate what the Lord was about to do, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land, that is, barrenness, of which they had complained. This miracle was intended to convey to the minds of the people the fact of the blessings of God in the prophetic activities of Elisha.
v. 22. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. The spring and the brook served as permanent reminders of Jehovah’s goodness and power for good.
v. 23. And he went up from thence unto Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him, a band of blaspheming youngsters up to the age of young men, children of the idolaters of Bethel, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head! They railed on him and insulted him as an impure and expelled person.
v. 24. And be turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord; for it was as Jehovah’s prophet that the mockery had been heaped upon him. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them, without, however, making any move toward eating them. It was God’s punishment upon these revilers of His servant, for their number shows that they had planned this demonstration with deliberate, wicked intent.
v. 25. And he went from thence to Mount Carmel, he chose solitude and concealment for a while, after the manner of the prophets, and from thence he returned to Samaria, where he afterwards had a house, 2Ki 6:32. Note: It is not wrong or an injustice, but is done out of obedience to God, if His servants pronounce His curse and damnation upon persistent blasphemers.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 The sons of the prophets
The sons of the prophets
This does not mean that they were the sons of prophets, but rather, that they were a group of prophets. AT: "A group of men who were prophets" (See: Idiom)
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As Yahweh lives, and as you live, I will not leave you
"As surely as Yahweh lives and as you live, I will not leave you." Here Elisha compares the certainty that Yahweh and Elijah are alive to the certainty of what he is saying. This is a way of making a solemn promise. See how you translated this phrase in 2 Kings 2:2. AT: "I solemnly promise you that I will not leave you" (See: Simile)
translationWords
son
prophet
lord
Jericho
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 9, 11, 12, 13 2:8 Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the…
2:8 Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it: Such symbolic actions visually represented God’s power (see Exod 14:16, 21, 26-27; 17:8-13; 1 Kgs 11:30-31; Ezek 4; 5:1-4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.