The Story of Elijah, chapter 11 – 10/13/2024

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Now when the LORD
was about to take Elijah up to heaven
by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha
were on their way from Gilgal 2 Kings 2:1

The prophetic ministry of Elijah provides one of the most entertaining stories in all the Bible. When it comes to phenomenal miracles, Elijah’s only rival would be Moses. His spiritual stature as a man of God is equal to the greatest heroes in scripture, and yet St. James wrote, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (Jas. 5:17). Like us, Elijah could be frightened, discouraged, and ready to give up.

Elijah would have been a fun person to know– if you like surprises. For instance, this final episode begins with a surprise. It seems we were supposed to already know he was going to be swept up to heaven by a whirlwind. He certainly knew that his work was done and something significant was about to happen, but it’s not likely he was aware he would take a ride unlike any other in the entire history of humankind. As we walk the last leg of his journey with him, it’s as if he already has one foot out the door.

As spectacular as his final moments on earth turn out to be, the other character in this scene has the greater challenge. Elijah’s servant and star pupil, Elisha, who will follow his mentor on their final road trip together. However, his motive for tagging along with Elijah is not merely see him off.

Gilgal was located in the desert and not far from the Jordan River, still within Israel’s border. As Elijah was getting read to leave, he turned to Elisha and said, “You don’t need to go with me. Please, stay here in Gilgal. As for me, Yehovah has sent me on to Bethel.” Elisha’s reaction was instant and adamant, “As Yehovah lives,” he swore (coincidentally quoting the first recorded words of Elijah), “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave your side!” Elijah simply gave him a slight nod, and off they went, taking the road that led to Bethel.

Bethel had long been recognized as a sacred site–perhaps since the days of Jacob, when he fled from his brother who was threatening to kill him. Jacob stumbled onto a place where he would spend the night. God appeared to him in a dream, and extended to him the covenant he had made with his grandfather, Abraham. Overwhelmed by God’s presence there, Jacob named it Bethel, “the house of God.” In more recent years, Israel had established their own homegrown cult in Bethel. But there was a separate community of prophets faithful to Yehovah who lived in or near Bethel.

For many years, at least as early as the days of Samuel, there had been people who longed to experience the inspiration of God’s Spirit. We do not know all of the ways they opened themselves to God’s immediate presence, but we do know that music sometimes played a role. By the time of Elijah’s arrived, these communities were known as “the sons of the prophets.” That there was some real activity of God going on in their community is evident in the few times they appear in scripture. For instance, on more than one occasion, King Saul came into contact with one of these groups, and both times he was overwhelmed by the Spirit of God.

As Elijah and Elisha neared the gates of Bethel, members of the sons of the prophets approached Elisha and took him aside. They told him, “You know, don’t you, that Yehovah is about to take your master from over your head?” Elisha’s voice was low, but stern, “Yes, of course I know! Don’t say another word.”

They had been in Bethel only a short while, when Elijah was on his feet again. Immediately, Elisha was at his side. Turning to him, Elijah gave him the same instructions as he did in Gilgal, only this time he spoke his name. “Elisha,” he began, “you can stay here with these men in Bethel, but I have to keep moving. Yehovah has now sent me on my way again; this time to Jericho.” Elisha would not back down, “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave your side!” So once again they were on the road.

Jericho was in the same general region as Gilgal and Bethel. It seems that the sons of the prophets were drawn to those isolated desert locations to seek God. Away from the larger villages and all their distractions, they focused their attention on intense spiritual development. Hundreds of years later, another similar spiritual community would settle a little further south, near the Dead Sea. Ruins of that community and the Scriptures they stored in caves there, still exist today.

The sons of the prophets in Jericho circled Elisha, and said to him, “You know, don’t you, that Yehovah is about to take your master from over your head?” Elisha answered them with the same harsh tone as before, “Yes, I know. Say nothing about it!”

If by this time you don’t recognize the pattern, then you haven’t been paying attention. In the previous chapter, three captains accompanied by fifty soldiers, came to apprehend Elijah. Each of them approached him, addressing him,“O man of God.” It did not go well with the first two captains, so the third captain changed his tone.

The pattern of threes is repeated here in the travelogue, in which the sons of the prophets replace the soldiers. The first two groups deliver the same message to Elisha word-for-word, as the first two captains had with Elijah. The third group doesn’t approach Elisha, but observes him and Elijah from a distance. Setting these two stories side-by-side, and repeating the same pattern of threes, secures the close identity of the two prophets. We cannot help but notice their names are almost the same. Now we are discovering there’s a reason for that. Elijah is about to be removed from the ongoing story of Israel, but Elisha is going to carry forward his work and ministry.

Leaving Jericho, Elijah’s destination was not another city, but this time it was the Jordan River. Again, he told Elisha that he did not have to go with him, and again Elisha said, “As Yehovah lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave your side!” As they reached the water’s edge, fifty of the sons of the prophets, were watching them from a nearby hillside. Standing on the riverbank, Elijah removed the mantle from his shoulders–the same mantle he had draped over Elisha when he ordained him to be a prophet. Elijah wrapped it around his arm, and then slapped it on the surface of the water. Immediately, the water upstream was separated from the water down stream, creating a path of dry ground that the two of them took to reach the other side.

For anyone familiar with Israel’s history, this calls to mind Israel’s crossing through the Red Sea with Moses, and then crossing through the Jordan River with Joshua. Moses’ staff was the symbolic instrument God used in parting the waters of the Red Sea. The ark of the covenant was the symbolic instrument he used when Joshua led Israel through the Jordan River. Now, this time, it is Elijah’s cloak (or mantle) that symbolizes God’s means of working the miracle.

Why the miracle? Why is it so important for people to get from one shore to the other, that God would provide a supernatural passage? The answer may have to do with inevitable stages of human life, and moving from one into the next. Whether the process of moving from one stage to the next occurs over time or happens in an instant, we pass through necessary transitions as we journey through time. What we may not do well, is mark those transitions. Or worse yet, we may not even realize we have made the transition. We may be pouring all our attention and energy into clinging to a past we will never again possess or experience.

The tragedy of not marking transitions is not that we remain stuck in the same rut that brought us to this point in our lives, but that refusing to recognize life is different now, our mental, emotional, and spiritual growth is stunted. We cannot stop our bodies from aging, but we can stop learning, maturing, developing, and drawing ever closer to God. To refuse to step across the next threshold, to stubbornly hang onto a past that no longer serves the demands of today, prevents us from appreciating the fullness of where we are now or doing our best work in this stage of our lives.

Elijah had to make the transition from active service to retirement. Elisha had to make the transition from neophyte to full-fledged prophet. Both of them had to transition into the next thing God had for them. The beauty of their stories, is that they both were ready for this. I would say that Elisha, at least, was eager to reach the next pinnacle. It was time.

On the other side of the river, Elijah stopped and turned to Elisha. He was no longer playing games, as if he wanted to lose Elisha and go on by himself. He had never been more serious than in this final moment with his disciple. Looking into his eyes, he said, “Elisha, what can I give you, what can I do for you before I’m carried away from you?” Without skipping a beat, Elisha answered, “Please, let there rest upon me a double portion of your spirit.”

Elijah took that request seriously. He explained to Elisha, “You have asked for something that does not come easily, is difficult, and could be painful. But, if you’re there to see me the moment I’m taken from you, that double portion will be yours. If you aren’t there, then you won’t get it.”

If we’re not familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, it could sound like Elisha is asking for twice as much of God’s Spirit than had rested on Elijah. The double portion referred to something extra. The closest parallel to what Elisha wanted to receive from Elijah, was the guaranteed inheritance an eldest son received from his father (Deut. 21:17). We don’t know precisely what that would entail. There’s no doubt it referred to material possessions, but it may have had to do with other immaterial roles of authority, responsibility, and influence as well. At any rate, it was the normal inheritance given to the oldest son, and not a surplus of what the father had owned. Elisha wanted to serve God’s people with the same dynamic gifts and abilities that typified Elijah’s ministry.

After that dramatic moment, they continued walking together, carrying on a conversation that would have been reported to us if it included something we needed to learn. Still, one can’t help but wonder whether this was an ethereal conversation regarding mysteries normally hidden from human minds.

The force that threw them apart was sudden. Chariots of fire, drawn by horses of fire flew between them. Elijah was swept up off the ground by a whirlwind that carried him into the sky. Elisha cried out, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” What else could he say?

Then it was over. Elijah was gone.

Whether in grief or the passion of a new spirit, Elisha literally ripped off the cloak he was wearing. Elijah’s mantle having fallen from him when swept away, was lying on the ground. Elisha picked it up and returned to the bank of the river. He rolled the mantle around his arm as he had seen Elijah do, and slapping it on the surface of the water, he shouted, “Where is Yehovah, the God of Elijah?” With that, the water parted as it had before, and he returned through it to Israel’s side of the river.

Having witnessed the entire spectacle, the sons of the prophets realized what had happened.“The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha,” they exclaimed. Hurrying off to meet Elisha, they bowed before him as a sign of respect.

Now, at last, we have come to the end of the story of Elijah.

No, I was wrong. Instead, I should have asked, “Have we now come to the end of Elijah’s story?” He did not die, so this was not the end of his life. Have we heard the last of him? Apparently not.

The Hebrew Scriptures end with Malachi, and Malachi’s prophecies end with this prediction:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a [curse].” (Mal. 4:6)

Then later, the angel who announced to Zechariah the birth of his son, predicted that John the Baptist would minister “in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Lk. 1:17)

So we are not ready just yet to write the words: “The End.”

As I said at the beginning of this episode, Elisha’s challenge through this ordeal was greater than Elijah’s. Why did I draw this conclusion? The answer is simple. As we move through the story, what questions naturally come to mind? For instance, I would want to know why Elijah kept telling Elisha he did not need to go with him from place to place. I think the answer to that question comes when Elijah explained what Elisha had to do to receive the double portion he requested. He had to be there to see Elijah go. That means that every step of the way had been a challenge for Elisha. Would he continue on to the reward, or would he hang back?

Another question I would like answered, it why did Elisha insist on staying with Elijah in his final journey? Was it simply out of loyalty to his mentor? Or did Elisha inherently know that if he was going to receive the double portion from Elijah, he had to stick with him? Well, Elisha was a prophet, after all. It is possible he knew that if he did not stay close by Elijah’s side, he would not get the gift he desired and needed.

Later on, when Elisha was nearing the end of his life, the king of Israel came to visit him. Elisha gave King Joash a couple of tasks to complete. Both tasks had prophetic significance. In the second challenge, Elisha told the king to take a handful of arrows and then said, “Strike the ground with them.” So the king took the arrows and hit them on the ground three times. Of course, he had no idea why the old prophet told him to do this, and he may have felt silly hitting the ground with the arrows. But when he stopped, it angered Elisha, who asked, “Why did you stop? You should have struck five times, or even six times; then you would have defeated the army of Syria until you wiped them out completely. But now you will have only three victories, and that will not be enough to prevent Syria from returning and conquering Israel.”

I have always felt sympathy for the king. How could he have known he was enacting a ritual that would have serious consequences later on? Of course, he would have struck the ground more times–if he had known. Perhaps the moral of the story, is if God tells you to do something, you should keep doing it until he tells you to stop. However, I think there’s another lesson to be learned here.

It turns out, that each time Elisha was told he could stay behind, it was a test. Elijah knew that if Elisha was not there to see him taken away, there was nothing else he do for him. Elisha had to pass the test in order to get what he desired. Maybe the three tests were meant to reveal whether Elisha was really suited for the work that lay ahead. How committed was he? Would he give himself the luxury of taking time to relax if he had not finished a project? Would he continue through the hardships and setbacks of God’s work, even when it seemed like he wasn’t accomplishing anything significant?

My concern today is for myself and for you. I feel like I’m old enough that God has to know by now I belong to him. I don’t need any more tests. But I have heard the stories of other people who gave out before they reached the finish line, and I don’t want to be included in those statistics. That means I’m going to be tested.

You are going to be tested. In a moment I will elaborate on that statement. How can we know when we are being tested? Well, if we’re prophets, we’ll just know. Sadly, we aren’t prophets–or, at least I don’t think we are. And that means we cannot know when we’re being tested. So if we don’t know we’re being tested, how can we keep from failing the test?

Here’s my elaboration: Everything is a test!

You are being tested today. I have no idea what that test is, or what it’s going to prove, or how you’re going to rate on it, but you are being tested.

I have been tested this week. The tests are always more intense when we’re sick or not up to par; and that’s how it’s been for me. I’ve been hit with the realization that I am unprepared for the increasing demands coming my way. I thought that when we got old, everything would be easier, that we would be less responsible for anything other than surviving another day. Instead, I’ve been tempted to entertain a host of worries, to fixate on my inadequacies and sink into despair. Only, now I realize that I am being tested.

And what is it God is testing? That’s simple. My trust in him. If I allow myself to drown in the fear of failure, of uncertainty and insecurity, then I have failed the test, regardless of what happens next, whether good or bad. If good, well then I will give thanks and rejoice. If bad, well then, I will trust God, rejoice and give thanks. The only way to pass this test is to let go of anxiety and despair.

If you pay attention, you will be able to discern in what way you are being tested today and what it is in your relationship with God that he is testing. And if you determine to stay close to him, like Elisha did with Elijah, you will pass the test and get your double portion. And then this excursion into Elijah’s story over the last three months will have done us some good.