20241001
Elijah gets out of the way
2 Kings 2:1-25 (JDV)
2 Kings 2:1 The time had come for Yahveh to take Elijah up to the sky in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal,
2 Kings 2:2 and Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; Yahveh is sending me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As Yahveh lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So, they went down to Bethel.
2 Kings 2:3 Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that Yahveh will take your master away from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
2 Kings 2:4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; Yahveh is sending me to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As Yahveh lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So, they went to Jericho.
2 Kings 2:5 Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that Yahveh will take your master away from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
2 Kings 2:6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here; Yahveh is sending me to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As Yahveh lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So, the two of them went on.
2 Kings 2:7 Fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood observing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
2 Kings 2:8 Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water, which parted to the right and left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
2 Kings 2:9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So, Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your breath.”
2 Kings 2:10 Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won’t.”
2 Kings 2:11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into the sky in the whirlwind.
2 Kings 2:12 As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” When he could see him no longer, he held strongly to his own clothes, tore them in two,
2 Kings 2:13 picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
2 Kings 2:14 He took the mantle Elijah had dropped, and he struck the water. “Where is Yahveh God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the water himself, and it parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over.
2 Kings 2:15 When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were observing saw him, they said, “The breath of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.
2 Kings 2:16 Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Since there are fifty strong men here with your servants, please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Breath of Yahveh has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.” He answered, “Don’t send them.”
2 Kings 2:17 However, they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” They sent fifty men, who looked for three days but did not find him.
2 Kings 2:18 When they returned to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
2 Kings 2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “My lord can see that even though the city’s location is good, the water is bad and the land unfruitful.”
2 Kings 2:20 He replied, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” After they had brought him one,
2 Kings 2:21 Elisha went out to the spring, threw salt in it, and said, “This is what Yahveh says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will death or unfruitfulness result from it.'”
2 Kings 2:22 Therefore, the water still remains healthy today according to the word that Elisha spoke.
2 Kings 2:23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!”
2 Kings 2:24 He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of Yahveh. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the children.
2 Kings 2:25 From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.
Elijah gets out of the way
This passage does not prove a lot of the things that people think it does. It says nothing about where someone goes when he dies. Elijah did not die that day. A number of the incidents of this passage have not been repeated with other prophets. It seems to focus more on the succession of Elisha as a prophet than anything else. Perhaps the point was that God had a limit to Elijah’s ministry, and both he and Elisha had to cooperate with God’s will.
LORD, make us willing to follow your plan, even if it means just getting out of the way.
________________________
Books by Jefferson Vann
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