February 19 - Elijah & Elisha

February 19 – Elijah & Elisha - 1 Kings 19:14-21, 2 Kings 2:1-18

Elijah faced one of his most amazing moments with the Lord in 1 Kings 19:9-14. He looked for the Lord in the wind and the earthquake and the fire, but the Lord was not there. He found the Lord in a gentle whisper. This is one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament.

Again, we find that we stop much too early sometimes in our reading. The Lord spoke to Elijah, telling him that he needed to get on with the business at hand. But, for our study today, we find the Lord telling Elijah to go to the Desert of Damascus. There he would anoint Hazael king over Aram, Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed him as prophet.

This is amazing stuff! The Lord goes on, “Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:15b-18)

The next scene is that of Elijah passing his mantle to Elisha. He did it literally by placing his cloak around the young man. Elisha is given leave to say goodbye to his family, he ends his tenure as a plowman by slaughtering the oxen under his yoke and burning the equipment. Then, he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. (1 Kings 19:21)

The NIV version doesn’t do this verse any favors. The true meaning of Elisha becoming Elijah’s attendant is much deeper. The Hebrew word ‘sharath’ means to serve or minister to. He took care of Elijah’s needs in many ways. He entered into a relationship whereby he would learn everything that he could while caring for Elijah. This relationship went on for nearly 10 years.

We come to 2 Kings 2. The two men are walking together one day. Both are fully aware that this is Elijah’s last day on earth. I suspect he wants to protect his friend from the end of his life, so he asks him to remain while he goes on to Bethel. Elijah’s words are priceless, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” (2 Kings 2:2b)

They traveled to Bethel and the company of prophets came out and asked if Elisha knew that the Lord was taking Elijah that day. Well, of course he knew! But he didn’t want to talk about it. Elijah asked him to remain again while he went on to Jericho. Elisha repeated his promise. So, they went to Jericho and another company of prophets repeated the question to Elisha, with the same response. At Jericho, Elijah tried to make him stop a third time and Elisha repeated his response. So, they walked on. (2 Kings 2:3-6)

Upon coming to the Jordan river, they had about 50 prophets following them. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, struck the water and it divided. They walked to the other side. Then Elijah asked Elisha what he could do for him before he was taken from him. Elisha’s response would thrill any mentor. “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” He didn’t want this for the power or the glory. He just wanted to be a servant of God in the way of his mentor.

As they walked along and were talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them and Elijah went up in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this anc cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more.

Elisha went on to have about 50 years of prophetic ministry. The Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon him in double measure. Ten years of traveling with and serving Elijah. The two men were close friends. When it came time for them to part, Elijah would have given him anything possible, yet his Elisha’s desire was to have a double portion of the Spirit that resided in his mentor. What an amazing inheritance!