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2 Kings Chapter
Two
2 Kings 2
Chapter Contents
Elijah divides Jordan. (1-8) Elijah is taken up into
heaven. (9-12) Elisha is manifested to be Elijah's successor. (13-18) Elisha
heals the waters of Jericho, Those that mocked Elisha destroyed. (19-25)
Commentary on 2 Kings 2:1-8
(Read 2 Kings 2:1-8)
The Lord had let Elijah know that his time was at hand.
He therefore went to the different schools of the prophets to give them his
last exhortations and blessing. The removal of Elijah was a type and figure of
the ascension of Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all
believers. Elisha had long followed Elijah, and he would not leave him now when
he hoped for the parting blessing. Let not those who follow Christ come short
by tiring at last. The waters of Jordan, of old, yielded to the ark; now, to
the prophet's mantle, as a token of God's presence. When God will take up his
faithful ones to heaven, death is the Jordan which they must pass through, and
they find a way through it. The death of Christ has divided those waters, that
the ransomed of the Lord may pass over. O death, where is thy sting, thy hurt,
thy terror!
Commentary on 2 Kings 2:9-12
(Read 2 Kings 2:9-12)
That fulness, from whence prophets and apostles had all
their supply, still exists as of old, and we are told to ask large supplies
from it. Diligent attendance upon Elijah, particularly in his last hours, would
be proper means for Elisha to obtain much of his spirit. The comforts of
departing saints, and their experiences, help both to gild our comforts and to
strengthen our resolutions. Elijah is carried to heaven in a fiery chariot.
Many questions might be asked about this, which could not be answered. Let it
suffice that we are told, what his Lord, when he came, found him doing. He was
engaged in serious discourse, encouraging and directing Elisha about the
kingdom of God among men. We mistake, if we think preparation for heaven is
carried on only by contemplation and acts of devotion. The chariot and horses
appeared like fire, something very glorious, not for burning, but brightness.
By the manner in which Elijah and Enoch were taken from this world, God gave a
glimpse of the eternal life brought to light by the gospel, of the glory
reserved for the bodies of the saints, and of the opening of the kingdom of
heaven to all believers. It was also a figure of Christ's ascension. Though
Elijah was gone triumphantly to heaven, yet this world could ill spare him.
Surely their hearts are hard, who feel not, when God, by taking away faithful,
useful men, calls for weeping and mourning. Elijah was to Israel, by his
counsels, reproofs, and prayers, better than the strongest force of chariot and
horse, and kept off the judgments of God. Christ bequeathed to his disciples
his precious gospel, like Elijah's mantle; the token of the Divine power being
exerted to overturn the empire of Satan, and to set up the kingdom of God in
the world. The same gospel remains with us, though the miraculous powers are
withdrawn, and it has Divine strength for the conversion and salvation of
sinners.
Commentary on 2 Kings 2:13-18
(Read 2 Kings 2:13-18)
Elijah left his mantle to Elisha; as a token of the
descent of the Spirit upon him; it was more than if he had left him thousands
of gold and silver. Elisha took it up, not as a sacred relic to be worshipped,
but as a significant garment to be worn. Now that Elijah was taken to heaven,
Elisha inquired, 1. After God; when our creature-comforts are removed, we have
a God to go to, who lives for ever. 2. After the God that Elijah served, and
honoured, and pleaded for. The Lord God of the holy prophets is the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever; but what will it avail us to have the mantles
of those that are gone, their places, their books, if we have not their spirit,
their God? See Elisha's dividing the river; God's people need not fear at last
passing through the Jordan of death as on dry ground. The sons of the prophets made
a needless search for Elijah. Wise men may yield to that, for the sake of
peace, and the good opinion of others, which yet their judgment is against, as
needless and fruitless. Traversing hills and valleys will never bring us to
Elijah, but following the example of his holy faith and zeal will, in due time.
Commentary on 2 Kings 2:19-25
(Read 2 Kings 2:19-25)
Observe the miracle of healing the waters. Prophets
should make every place to which they come better for them, endeavouring to
sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful, by the word of God,
which is like the salt cast into the water by Elisha. It was an apt emblem of
the effect produced by the grace of God on the sinful heart of man. Whole
families, towns, and cities, sometimes have a new appearance through the
preaching of the gospel; wickedness and evil have been changed into
fruitfulness in the works of righteousness, which are, through Christ, to the
praise and glory of God. Here is a curse on the youths of Bethel, enough to
destroy them; it was not a curse causeless, for it was Elisha's character, as
God's prophet, that they abused. They bade him "go up," reflecting on
the taking up of Elijah into heaven. The prophet acted by Divine impulse. If
the Holy Spirit had not directed Elisha's solemn curse, the providence of God
would not have followed it with judgment. The Lord must be glorified as a
righteous God who hates sin, and will reckon for it. Let young persons be
afraid of speaking wicked words, for God notices what they say. Let them not
mock at any for defects in mind or body; especially it is at their peril, if
they scoff at any for well doing. Let parents that would have comfort in their
children, train them up well, and do their utmost betimes to drive out the
foolishness that is bound up in their hearts. And what will be the anguish of
those parents, at the day of judgment, who witness the everlasting condemnation
of their offspring, occasioned by their own bad example, carelessness, or
wicked teaching!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 2
Verse 1
[1] And
it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind,
that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
About to take, … — It
is supposed, (tho' not expressly revealed) that Elijah flourished about twenty
years, before he was translated, body and soul, to heaven, only undergoing such
a change, as was necessary to qualify him for being an inhabitant in that world
of Spirits. By translating him, God gave in that dark and degenerate age, a
very sensible proof of another life, together with a type of the ascension of
Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Verse 2
[2] And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath
sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
Tarry here —
This he desires, either, 1. That being left alone, he might better prepare
himself for his great change. Or, 2. Out of indulgence to Elisha, that he might
not be overwhelmed with grief at so sad a sight. Or, 3. That he might try his
love, and whet his desire to accompany him; it being highly convenient for
God's honour, that there should be witnesses of so glorious a translation.
To Beth-el —
Which was truth, tho' not the whole truth: for he was to go a far longer
journey. But he was first to go to Beth-el, as also to Jericho, to the schools
of the prophets there, that he might comfort, and strengthen their hearts in
God's work, and give them his dying counsels.
Verse 3
[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.
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 —
Heb. 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.
Verse 7
[7] And
fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and
they two stood by Jordan.
To view — To
observe this great event, Elijah's translation to heaven, which they expected
every moment: and whereof they desired to be spectators, not to satisfy their
own curiosity, but that they might be witnesses of it to others.
Verse 8
[8] And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters,
and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry
ground.
Smote the waters —
These waters of old yielded to the ark, now to the prophet's mantle; which to
those that wanted the ark, was an equivalent token of God's presence. When God
will take his children to himself, death is the Jordan, which they must pass
through. And they find a way thro' it, a safe and comfortable way. The death of
Christ has divided those waters, that the ransomed of the Lord may pass over.
Verse 9
[9] And
it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask
what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I
pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
A double portion —
Or, rather double to what the rest of the sons of the prophets receive at thy
request. He alludes to the double portion of the first-born, Deuteronomy 21:17. But though Elisha desired no
more, yet God gave him more than he desired or expected; and he seems to have
had a greater portion of the gifts of God's Spirit, than even Elijah had.
Verse 10
[10] And
he said, 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.
A hard thing — A
rare and singular blessing, which I cannot promise thee, which only God can
give; and he gives it only when, and to whom he pleaseth.
If thou seest —
This sign he proposed, not without the direction of God's Spirit, that hereby
he might engage him more earnestly to wait, and more fervently to pray for this
mercy.
Verse 11
[11] And
it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there
appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder;
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
A chariot of fire — 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 appeared visibly: Not in an human shape,
tho' so they might have borne him in their arms, but in the form of a chariot
and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride in triumph, like a prince, like
a conqueror. See the readiness of the angels to do the will of God, even in the
meanest services for the heirs of salvation! Thus he who had burned with holy
zeal for God and his honour, was now conveyed in fire into his immediate
presence.
Verse 12
[12] And
Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and
the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own
clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
My father — So
he calls him for his fatherly affection to him, and for his fatherly authority
which he had over him, in which respect the scholars of the prophets are called
their sons. He saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child, and
laments it accordingly.
The chariot, … —
Who by thy example, and counsels, and prayers, and power with God, didst more
for the defence and preservation of Israel than all their chariots and horses.
The expression alludes to the form of chariots and horses which he had seen.
Verse 13
[13] He
took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood
by the bank of Jordan;
Which fell —
God so ordering it for Elisha's comfort, and the strengthening of his faith, as
a pledge, that together with Elijah's mantle, his Spirit should rest upon him.
And Elijah himself was gone to a place, where he needed not the mantle, either
to adorn him, or to shelter him from weather, or to wrap his face in.
Verse 14
[14] And
he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and
said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters,
they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
The Lord —
Who at Elijah's request divided these waters, and is as able to do it again.
Verse 15
[15] And
when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said,
The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed
themselves to the ground before him.
Bowed themselves —
They had been trained up in the schools: Elisha was taken from the plough. Yet,
when they perceive, that God is with him, and that this is the man whom he
delights to honour, they readily submit to him as their head and father, as the
people to Joshua when Moses was dead. "Those that appear to have God's
Spirit and presence with them, ought to have our esteem and best affections,
notwithstanding the meanness of their extraction and education."
Verse 16
[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. And he said, Ye shall not send.
Strong men —
Able to take such a journey.
Lest, … —
They thought, either that God had not finally taken him away from them, but
only for a time; or that God had only taken away his soul, and that his body
was cast down into some place, which they desired to seek, that they might give
it an honourable burial.
Verse 17
[17] And
when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore
fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
Was ashamed —
That is, to deny them any longer, lest they should think his denial proceeded
from a neglect of his master, or a contempt of them.
Verse 19
[19] And
the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the
ground barren.
Barren —
Either it was so originally, at least, as to that part of the city where the
college of the prophets was: or, it became so from the curse of God inflicted
upon it, when Hiel rebuilt it. However, upon the prophet's care, it grew
exceeding fruitful, and therefore is commended for its fertility in later
writers.
Verse 20
[20] And
he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to
him.
A new cruse —
That there might be no legal pollution in it which might offend God, and hinder
his miraculous operation.
Put salt — A
most improper remedy; for salt naturally makes waters brackish, and lands
barren. Hereby therefore he would shew, that this was effected solely by the
Divine power, which could work either without means, or against them.
Verse 21
[21] And
he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and
said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from
thence any more death or barren land.
Death — Hurt,
or danger, to man or beast, by drinking of it.
Verse 23
[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, and said unto him,
Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
To Beth-el — To
the other school of prophets, to inform them of Elijah's translation, and his
succession to the same office; and to direct, and comfort, and stablish them.
Children —
Or, young men: as this Hebrew word often signifies. It is more than probable
they were old enough to discern between good and evil.
The city —
Beth-el was the mother-city of idolatry, where the prophets planted themselves,
that they might bear witness against it, and dissuade the people from it;
though, it seems, they had but small success there.
Mocked him —
With great petulancy and vehemency, as the word signifies; deriding both his
person and ministry, and that from a prophane contempt of the true religion,
and a passionate love to that idolatry which they knew he opposed.
Go up — Go
up into heaven, whither thou pretendest Elijah is gone. Why didst not thou
accompany thy friend and master to heaven? Bald-head - So they mock his natural
infirmity, which is a great sin. The repetition shews their heartiness and earnestness,
that it was no sudden slip of their tongue, but a scoff proceeding from a
rooted impiety and hatred of God and his prophets. And very probably it was
their usual practice, to jeer the prophets as they went along the streets, that
they might expose them to contempt, and if possible drive them out of their
town. Had the abuse done to Elisha been the first offence of the kind, they
might not have been so severely punished. But mocking the messengers of the
Lord, was one of the crying sins of Israel.
Verse 24
[24] And
he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD.
And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two
children of them.
Cursed them —
Nor was this punishment too great for the offence, if it be considered, that
their mocking proceeded from a great malignity of mind against God; that they
mocked not only a man, and an ancient man, whose very age commanded reverence;
and a prophet; but even God himself, and that glorious work of God, the assumption
of Elijah into heaven; that they might be guilty of many other heinous crimes,
which God and the prophet knew; and were guilty of idolatry, which by God's law
deserved death; that the idolatrous parents were punished in their children;
and that, if any of these children were more innocent, God might have mercy
upon their souls, and then this death was not a misery, but a real blessing to
them, that they were taken away from that education which was most likely to
expose them not only to temporal, but eternal destruction.
In the name —
Not from any revengeful passion, but by the motion of God's Spirit, and by
God's command and commission. God did this, partly, for the terror and caution
of all other idolaters and prophane persons who abounded in that place; partly,
to vindicate the honour, and maintain the authority of his prophets; and
particularly, of Elisha, now especially, in the beginning of his sacred
ministry.
Children —
This Hebrew word signifies not only young children, but also those who are
grown up to maturity, as Genesis 32:22; 34:4; 37:30; Ruth 1:5.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
02 Chapter 2
Verses 1-25
And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah.
Elijah translated
I. In the glorious
end of Elijah’s earthly life we see not simply the reward of one faithful man,
but the Divine grace manifested to every believer at the end of his earthly career.
One of the purposes, doubtless, of this translation of Elijah was to make
plainer to our dull understandings the upward heavenly going of every saint
when his Work on earth is over. We are so apt to follow the body with our
thoughts, and to imagine our departed friends in the grave, that here God made
the body go upward that we may be weaned of this wrong and heathenish notion.
To the spiritual mind the whole Old Testament is full o| views of the future
state; and this ascent of Elijah is one of the many instances in which we
behold the immediate contiguity of heaven to earth in the experience of God’s
holy ones. When, therefore, we are called upon to bend over the mortal form of
a departing saint, it is for us to feel how close at hand is the transfer to
heaven. “The spiritual heaven is neither ‘up’ nor ‘down,’ and this narrative of
Elijah’s disappearance from Elisha must not be pressed. In reply to this we say
that we can press it. We assert that “up” is always used in accordance with the
need or weakness (if you please) of our nature to designate the heaven of the
departed soul where it abides with God. This is but in conformity with the
uni-verbal instinct of man. Why it should be so we cannot tell, nor are we
called on to explain. The prophet Elijah ascending through the air teaches us
of a present heaven to which his life was transferred. We cannot otherwise
regard the incident. The mind refuses to see in it that he went into
unconsciousness or annihilation or to purgatory or to hell. The “heaven” is not
simply the outward heaven of sense, but the heaven of bliss and of God, just as
in the case of our Lord Jesus who led His disciples out as far as to Bethany;
and it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carded
up into heaven.
2. “Elijah went up into heaven.” It was Elijah that went up, not
Ahab. It was a man of God, one who had been faithful to the Divine will and
commands, one who had been jealous for God’s name and worship. It is well for
us to note this. Only God’s saints go up to heaven. Without holiness no man
shall see the Lord. Those who think God will or can take an unholy heart to
heaven know nothing of God. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who
shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”
While no man can derive these requisites from his nature, depraved as it is, he
can receive the blessing of the clean hands and pure heart from the Lord, even
righteousness from the God of his salvation. (H. Crosby, D. D.)
The translation of Elijah
“When the Lord would take up Elijah,”--when. There is a great
doctrine of Providence there. The life of man is absolutely at the disposal of
the Lord--that is the doctrine. One might suppose that man would have some
choice as to when he would go. Not the least in the world. We might think that
man would be permitted to stay a year or two longer--he might be engaged in
finishing a work which would require that time to complete it. No. Well, says
one, I have built the column, and the capital is nearly ready to put on: I
shall have it done the day after to-morrow--cannot I stay until then? No. “When
the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven”; not when Elijah would go, but when
the Lord would take him. Is there not an appointed time unto man upon the earth?
God knows when our work is done; sometimes we think it is done when it is not;
we wonder what more there is to do to it, it seems so trifling, as if it were
not worth while doing, reminding us of what the great sculptor said to some one
who wondered that he was so long over his marble: “I know I am doing but a few
things that look like trifles, but trifles make perfection and perfection is no
trifle.” So with us: many a poor life we have seen seems to be doing nothing,
and we wonder why it does not go forward into the eternal state. “When the Lord
would take up Elijah into heaven.”--What is heaven? Critics cannot tell us:
they have met in council and can make nothing of it. We must die to know, It
hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive God’s house. And so Elijah
goes to Gilgal: it is set down here as if it meant nothing--on to Bethel and to
Jericho, as if he were a restless kind of spirit, here and there, going on like
some fussy old man who does not know where to rest. But there is plan here,
purpose, scheme, Providence; and so there is in our travel and in our movements,
“By a whirlwind.”--There
is a lesson here for us: and it is this. That the way of our going, as well as
the time, is of the Lord’s determination, and not of ours. He appoints the
time, He makes the way, and thou hast nothing to do with it, poor dying man.
One says, “I want to die on my birthday”; and God says, “No, perhaps the day
after.” Another says “I want to die suddenly”; and God replies, “No, that is
not the way: it is in the book, it is all written down in the book: you are to have a
lingering death.” “I should like to die lingeringly, but quietly,” says another
man; and God says, “That is not the way in the book: suddenly a bolt shall
strike thee: thou shalt go to bed well, and in the morning be in heaven,
without pang or spasm or notice given to any one: they shall find thee sleeping
on the pillow like a child at rest.” Another man says, “I should like to die
like a shock of corn fully ripe”; and God says, “No, thou shalt be cut down in
the greenness of thy youth, in the immaturity of thy powers.” There are others
who would like to die in childhood--pass away before five, when the eyes are
round wonders, and they know nowise of anything--when everything round about is
mystery and puzzle and enchantment; and God says, “No, you shall die at ninety:
it is all focussed, all settled.” What have we to do, therefore? God allows us
to express our own wishes and wills, He allows us to say what we would like to
have done, and trains us to say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine, be
done.” He sends for some in a beautiful chariot made of violets and snowdrops
and crocuses, and these are the young folks that go up to heaven in the spring
chariot: the vernal coach is sent for them and they go away--so young! They
have just left school, just finished the last lesson, and shut it up, and said
“Good-bye” to master and governess, and are supposed now to be ready for life;
and God says, “Now, come up”; and they go up amid all the sweet modest spring
flowers. And others go up in old age, feeling as if they had been forgotten on
the earth, allowed to linger and loiter too long, as if God had forgotten
them--some by long affliction, some by sudden call. Elijah did not say to
Elisha, “I am going to die,” Or “I am going to heaven,” but, “I am going to
Bethel--stand there.” You know what we say to one another in view of the great
event: we say, “If anything should happen to me”--a form of words we
understand. We do not scene to be able to say plainly and with frankness, “Now,
if I should die next week” No, but we say, “We do not know what may happen, and
in the event of anything happening to me.” We do not like to mention the
monster, and to point a long plain finger into the pit, so we say, “If anything
should happen to me--in the event of anything happening to me--going to Gilgal,
and to Bethel, and to Jericho, and to Jordan, and” The rest is silence. That is
the way in the chamber of affliction. We say, “If the wind would only get round
out of the east and into the south.west, perhaps we should get you up a
little.” Never--and we know it. And our friend, unwilling to break our heart,
says, “I have been thinking that if the weather were milder, I might perhaps be
able to get out a little.” Thus touch is not made to the quick; this man says
he is going to Gilgal, and he knows he is going to heaven; he says he is going
to Bethel, as if it were nothing--only going to pray with the young ones there,
lie says he is going to Jericho, as if he is going to stop there--he knows
perfectly well he win only be there one night; he is a pilgrim with a staff in
his hand and cannot linger. He says he is going to Jordan, and he knows
perfectly well that he will never come back over Jordan, but all the time he never
says anything about it. So we let our friends down easily, and prepare them for
great events by doing certain intermediate things. Elijah says, “Ask what I
shall do for thee.” Heaven is so near, yet he is still thinking about the
earth: he is going to join the angels, and yet wanting to do something for the
poor creatures yet to linger upon the earth for ten or twenty years. Oh, bold
man, bold, bold Elijah! “Ask what I shall do for thee.” Leave me a blessing,
leave me one of your old letters, let me have your old Bible: utter one more
prayer for me, mention me in the last prayer, let the last sigh mean poor
me--me--me. Ay, we can help one another in that way. “Ask what I shall do for
thee.” Now, what is your supreme prayer? What do you want your father, mother,
friend, to leave you? Let them leave you a good example, let them leave you a
noble testimony on behalf of the truth, let them leave you an unsullied
character, and then they will leave you an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, and that fadeth not away. “If thou see me.” And Elisha said, “I will
see thee, if it be possible; I will keep my eye upon thee.” And did God ever
disappoint the eyes that were turned upwards? Did lie ever say, “The morning
shall not shine upon those who look towards the east”? Never. And so if you
look into the perfect law of liberty--look into the Bible, you will find it
always new, always a revelation, always something fresh--May bringing its own
flowers, June her own coronal ever, August its own largess of vine and wheat.
“If thou see me.” Is there any counterpart to that in the New Testament? There
is: O wonderful counterpart,--“If thou see Me, thou shalt have it, if not, it shall not
be so.” “And He led them”--that greater He--“led them out as far as to
Bethany.” And He ascended, and they watched Him and saw Him, and a cloud
received Him up out of their sight. They watched, they saw, they returned to
Jerusalem, and were endued with power from on high. That is God’s law, that the
watching man gets everything, the man who is nearest and looks keenest gets all
and sees all--and it is right. The mountain gets the first gleam of the sun,
and then the light gets down into the valleys by and by. And so--and so--these
great rocks of God are watching men: Elisha was a watching spirit: those who
see Christ taken up are endued with power from on high. Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; look, and ye shall see; knock, and it shall be opened.
Sir Isaac Newton was once asked why he was so much greater than other workers
in his particular science. He said, “I do not know, except that I, perhaps, pay
more attention than they do!” Just consider. What is attention? We think
anybody can attend. Hardly a man in a hundred can attend to anything. The
sluggard gets nothing, the shut eyes see not the morning when it cometh, the
slumberer’s closed vision cannot see the first sparklings and scintillations of
the coming day. Lord, open our eyes, that we may see! (J. Parker, D.
D.)
Elijah translated
The translation of Elijah means more than an historic statement.
The theme is concerned with the great scriptural doctrine of immortality, in
whose light we consider it. Observe--
I. The dual nature
of man. This truth is directly implied in the account of the Creation. The
bodily form was made “of the dust of the ground”; but when the “Lord God
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man became a living soul.” It is
of this dual nature Paul speaks, “there is a natural body and there is a
spiritual body; howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which
is natural.” A denial of this fact asserts that man is on a level with the
brutes. The more common belief, however, asserts the existence of the two
natures, yet clings to the idea that, somehow, the two are interdependent. This
idea is unscriptural, since, in such a case, death could not be a gain. The
spiritual body controls the material and earthly, but is not controlled by it.
II. Flesh and blood
are not immortal. The apostle calls this the corruptible body, and then declares
that corruption cannot inherit incorruption; that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. What is perishable cannot enter heaven.
III. The nature and
ministry of death. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”; this is the sad
history. “The sting of death is sin”; this is the law. In the translation of
Elijah we behold what would, perhaps, be the type of death but for sin; but,
aside from such a consideration, we turn to a few important lessons in the
scene.
1. The power of the human purpose to perpetuate itself. It is in this
manner we see the power of Elijah in his care for the schools of the prophets.
These organisations were to continue, after his departure, what his unwearied
efforts had begun. “I am left alone,” was his early cry; yet when upon the
cloud of flame he ascended, Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho, with their throngs of
prophets, were left. The theocracy which, in spite of Ahab and Jezebel, he had
founded was perpetuated in these schools. There is a future for all men on the
earth if they will only plan wisely. As Elijah had been the founder and
defender of the faith, so did he become, by these centres, the conserver of
that same faith.
2. The unwearied activity of the good man. The true life has no spare
hours apart from its purpose. It was “as they still went on and talked” that
the chariot came. The last hours were as full of service as if no change were
coming. The invisible world needed no further special thought.
3. The immortal life. The history of Carmel’s prophet seems hardly
complete without the scene on Hermon. A thousand years had passed since the
chariot of fire swept the sky. The three favoured disciples had fallen asleep
even in their Master’s prayer. Nought but that wondrous voice broke in upon the
stillness of night. By some revelation the disciples caught the accents of the
heavenly visitors. The one, fifteen hundred years before, had trodden the crest
of Sinai and spoken face to face with God. It was he who had surrendered his
claim to Egypt’s crown for the reproach of Christ. It was he whose face had
shone with a borrowed glory he wist not of. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The departure of good men
Two subjects are here presented for notice--
I. The departure
of a good man from the earth. Death is a departure from the world, it is not an
extinction, it is a mere change of place.
II. The power of
goodness in a good man’s departure. See what a grand spirit Elijah displays in
the immediate prospect of his exit.
1. A spirit of calm self-possession.
2. A spirit of strong social interest.
3. A spirit of far-reaching philanthropy.
Elijah goes to Bethel, but wherefore? Probably to deliver a
valedictory address to the “sons of the prophets.” (Homilist.)
The Christian a native of heaven
A Christian man’s true affinities are with the things not seen, and with the
persons there, however the surface relationships knit him to the earth. In the
degree in which he is a Christian, he is a stranger here and a native of the
heavens. That great city is, like some of the capitals of Europe, built on a
broad river, with the mass of the metropolis on the one bank, but a
wide-spreading suburb on the other. As the Trastevere is to Rome, as Southwark
to London, so is earth to heaven, the bit of the city on the other side the
bridge. (Alex. Maclaren, D. D.)
Life’s eventide
Here is a man on the borders of heaven. He is living in intimate
fellowship with God. Of each step in that last journey he can say: “The Lord
hath sent me.” Enoch, the first to be translated, “walked with God.” Elijah
most clearly did the same. So St. Paul says: “If we live in the Spirit let us
also walk in the Spirit”; or, literally, “let us also step in the Spirit.” Not
merely the walk as a whole, but each successive step should be in fellowship
with God. Nothing short of this can be adequate preparation for such a change.
Surely if we knew the Lord was coming for us in a few days, those days would be
days of infinite and unbroken fellowship; there would be no hours out of touch
with the Master. We ought when thus in perfect fellowship to be able to say of
each step, “The Lord hath sent me.” But this man on the borders of heaven, is
found in a retired spot and seeks to be alone. We find him with Elisha at Gilgal,
probably the “Gilgal beside the oaks of Moreh,” mentioned in Deuteronomy 11:30, R.V. There he proposes
to leave Elisha whilst he journeys alone to Bethel. We can understand his desire
for solitude. And he has no wish to parade his approaching honour. He will not
talk about it to Elisha; and Elisha refuses to discuss it with the sons of the
prophets. This man on the
borders of heaven, is full of a genuine humility. No traces of self are seen in
him during this last journey. There was a sweet attractiveness, however, about
this grand old warrior. Elisha felt it, and refused to leave him. Who shall say
how far Elisha’s brightness and buoyancy were the reflection of the glorious
sunset, without clouds, which closed the earthly course of this truehearted
veteran. But, again, this man on the borders of heaven takes an interest in his
stewardship. There were schools for the sons of the prophets at both Bethel and
Jericho. Elijah’s Steps were no doubt guided to these places that he might
leave at each a parting message of counsel and direction. He who said, “Occupy
till I come,” is not pleased if His servants neglect the work entrusted to
them. Nor,
however, should we be so engrossed in our work as to forget His promised
return. Once more this man on the borders of heaven has no thought of his own
needs, but is only anxious to leave a blessing behind. “Ask what I shall do for
thee, before”--mark the limitation: Elijah knew his power of helping those on
earth would cease when his life in the body was ended--“before I be taken away
from thee.” And this desire of Elijah’s was fulfilled. He was staggered first
of all at the boldness of Elisha’s request. Most truly, Elijah left a blessing
behind him. The sons of the prophets were forced to acknowledge, “The spirit of
Eli]ah doth rest on Elisha.” And nine hundred years afterwards the angel
Gabriel could say no greater word concerning the promised forerunner than that
be should “go before in the spirit and power of Elijah to make ready a people
prepared for the Lord.” And the very blessing which Elijah left behind him we
may have. The Lord God of Eli]ah has not changed. Surely, as the coming of the
Lord draweth nigh, and the promise, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” receives its
fulfilment, we may look for an increase of the “spirit” and power of Elijah in
our midst. Men say, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred
with their bones.” But this is the cynical pessimism of an unbelieving age.
Really good men never die. Their influence lives; they reproduce themselves in
those around them. Judged by earthly standards, Elijah’s career might seem
almost a failure, for his chief public triumph was so soon discounted by
unbelieving flight. But the man is more than his ministry. Character is more
than success. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
Evensong
There is always something beautiful in the declining years of one
who in earlier life has dared nobly and wrought successfully. Younger men
gather round the veteran to whom they owe the inspiration and model of their
lives; and call him “father,” enwreathing his grey locks with crowns in which
love is entwined with reverence. Seeds sown years before and almost forgotten,
or reckoned lost, yield their golden returns. Memory rescues from the oblivion
of the past many priceless records; whilst hope, standing before the thinning
veil, tells of things not perfectly seen as yet, but growing on the gaze of the
ripened spirit. The old force still gleams in the eye; but its rays are
tempered by that tenderness for human frailty, and that deep self-knowledge,
which years alone can yield.
I. The work of the
closing years of Elijah’s life. The Christian traveller among the Western Isles
of Scotland will hardly fail to visit one small, bare, lone spot out amid the
roll of the Atlantic waves. It is thy shore, Ions, of which I write! No natural
beauties arrest the eye or enchain the interest. There is but one poor village, with its two boats,
and a squalid population. Yet who can visit that low shore, and stand amid
those crumbling ruins, without intense emotion?--since it was there that
Columba built the first Christian church, to shed its gentle rays over those
benighted regions; and to shelter the young apostles who carried the Gospel
throughout the pagan kingdoms of Northern Britain. With similar emotions should
we stand amid the ruins of Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho; where, in his declining
years, Elijah gathered around him the flower of the seven thousand, and
educated them to receive and transmit something of his own Spiritual force and
fire.
II. The attitude of
his spirit in anticipating his translation. The old man clung to those young
hearts, and felt that his last days could not be better spent than in seeing
them once more; though he resolved to say nothing of his approaching departure,
or of the conspicuous honour that was shortly to be conferred on him. Here is
the humility of true greatness! Alas! what a rebuke is here for ourselves! The
prophet’s trident desire to die alone shames us, when we remember how eager we
are to tell men, by every available medium, of what we are doing for the Lord.
There is not a talent with which He entrusts us, which we do not parade as a
matter of self-laudation. There is not a breath of success that does not
mightily puff us up. What wonder that our Father dare not give us much marked
success, or many conspicuous spiritual endowments--lest we be tempted further to
our ruin!
III. The
affectionate love with which Elijah was regarded. It strongly showed itself in
Elisha. The younger man stood with his revered leader, as for the last time he
surveyed from the heights of Western Gilgal the scene of his former ministry.
And, in spite of many persuasives to the contrary, he went with him down the
steep descent to Bethel and Jericho. What is the Lord to thee? Is He a dear and
familiar friend, of whom thou canst speak with unwavering confidence? Then thou
needest not fear to tread the verge of Jordan. Otherwise, it becomes thee to
get to His precious blood, and to wash thy garments white; that thou mayest
have right to the tree of life, and mayest enter in through the gates into the
city. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The ascension of Elijah
I. The type.
1. The last intercourse between Elijah and Elisha is hardly what we
should have expected. Elijah knew that he was about to leave Elisha, but almost
seems to act with coldness towards him, and to want to throw him off. Elisha
had left all to follow Elijah, to be his disciple and attendant.
2. It was a-mark of lowliness in the prophet. He was to be honoured
by God in a most marvellous manner, and he shrank even from Elisha’s witness of
the great event. The law of the spiritual life, “He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted,” even then held good.
3. Further, it might have been to test Elisha, his affection, and his
detachment. It would seem that there was something which governed Elijah’s
request, though he does not reveal the motive of it. The strong asseveration,
too, of Elijah, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave
thee,” repeated thrice, shows how Elijah’s proposal had stirred the depths of
Elisha’s soul.
4. The repeated suggestion that he should depart reveals the
perseverance of Elisha. It gave to his will the opportunity of exercising
steadfastness and constancy. In this mysterious intercourse we see how graces
were set in motion and developed. The crossing of Jordan seems to have been the
acme of Elisha’s probation; for now Elijah turns to him, and makes a proposal
of a very different kind, “Ask what I shall do for thee,” etc.
5. Then Elisha is ready with the petition, “Let a double portion of
thy spirit be upon me.”
II. The antitype.
1. There are two ways of approaching the mysteries of Christ--one
direct, the other indirect. One through the Gospels, thee other through the
types and prophecies of the Old Testament. Besides these, there is the road of
experience in the Epistles.
2. We take now the indirect route. We find in this narrative, first,
a type of Christ’s ascension into heaven. Of the points of resemblance between
the two events, no unbiased mind could doubt. Even Scott says it was “a
prefiguration of the Redeemer’s ascension”. An both cases mere was the
miraculous elevation of a human body from earth to heaven. Both had to be seen,
to secure a gift.
3. But it is a law of the antitype to outstrip the type. Christ was
self-raised. He who by His Divine power could walk on the water, could mount up
into the air.
III. LESSONS.
1. “Exception proves the rule.” Let the exemption of Elijah from the
law of death remind us that we have to pass through the dark valley, and must
prepare for the journey; for “what man is he that shall live, and shall not see
death, that shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” (Psalms 89:48, R.V.).
2. Dispositions are necessary for receiving spiritual gifts--the
lowliness, detachment, steadfastness to be traced in the last intercourse
between Elijah and Elisha, bear witness to this.
3. To approach the mysteries of Christ through the types of the Old
Testament, seeing in them how all leads up to Him, and that therefore the
disparagement of the Old Testament cannot but end in an under-valuation of the
New (Luke 24:44). (Canon Hutchings,
M. A.)
Elisha’s love for Elijah
The length of our lives in this world is in the hand of God. We
have no independent lease of life, so that we may decide of our own accord that
we will remain for a year, or ten, or twenty years on earth. We have only a
lease at the will of God. All the physicians in the world could not insure our
fives for a single year-nay, not for a single month, or even a single day.
Elijah went when God called him. The record does not say that when Elijah saw
that his work was done he decided that it was time for him to go home to
heaven; there is nothing of that kind. It is, “When the Lord would take up
Elijah to heaven.” God decided the matter. This thought ought to give us pause.
He ought not to leave undone from one day to another what we would wish to do
if we knew this day was the last, for we do not know that God intends to give us
another day. Each day ought to see all our affairs in such a condition that we
are all right with God and man if this day is the last, for our lives are just
as certainly at the disposal of God as was Elijah’s, and we have no power that
Elijah did not have to stay the hand of God when He would call us away. There
is another thought which stands in the introduction to our theme which is very
comforting and very precious, and that is the plain statement that God took
Elijah direct to heaven. All the good are there, gathered from all ages and
from all lands. It is a land of innocence and beauty, of love and worship; a
land of music and of light, where the weary find rest, where heroic souls like
Elijah’s sun themselves in the presence of God. It was Elijah’s last day on the
earth. Elijah knew it, and said nothing to Elisha. The old man’s heart was
tender towards the young man, and he was willing to spare himself the sorrow of
parting as well as to spare Elisha if he could. But Elisha, too, had in some
way been made aware that this was the day when Elijah would be taken from him.
What thoughts must have filled the minds of the two men as they walked along
the way on that momentous day. Perhaps they were very silent. Elijah’s mind
must have been full of the past. And Elisha--what is he thinking of? How keenly
he remembers that morning on his father’s farm, when Elijah came to him with
the call of God; how well he remembers the farewell feast, and the tender
parting with his parents, and his going forth with Elijah, who during all the
years since that time has been to him not only teacher and leader, but father,
and mother, friend, and in some sense in the place of God. Elijah has stood to
him as the very incarnation of goodness, a goodness that is sustained by unwavering
faith in God; and Elisha loves this man with a love in which admiration and
reverence and devotion are mingled. His whole heart has gone out to him. His
worship of God has seemed akin to his love for Elijah. As he has lived with
Elijah he has daily come to know more of God, and the more he has loved Elijah
the deeper has been his devotion to God, and he can hardly think what life will
mean without Elijah present with him--to sustain him and inspire him. All must
have been in his heart as he answered Elijah, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy
soul liveth, I will not leave thee.” There may well have been more than a
present application to these words of Elisha. Elisha remained true to them
after the death of Elijah; in heart and spirit he was never separated from his
great friend and leader; throughout his life he remained true to Elijah, to his
goodness, to his faith in God, to his heroic purpose, and to his lofty ideals.
Now what message may we draw from the loyalty and love of this young man
towards the older man? Should it not suggest to us that supreme love and
devotion which we should show towards Jesus Christ our Saviour? True it is only
a faint illustration, for Jesus has done infinitely more for us than Elijah did
for Elisha. Elijah did not die for Elisha, but because he had by his goodness,
by his obedience to God, and by his faithful affection, called Elisha to be
God’s servant and son, Elijah loved him thus devotedly and was determined to
cling to him for ever. What, then, shall we say of the proper devotion which we
should feel and show towards Jesus Christ? Elisha not only remained with Elijah
because of the tenderest considerations of love and fidelity, but because he
felt that every moment he had with Elijah was precious, and only by imitating
Elijah would he be able to do the great work awaiting him. A still nobler
Elijah stands as our example. And both these considerations appeal to us, for
surely every moment we spend with Jesus is precious. Every hour which you will
spend reading about Jesus, talking about Him, meditating upon Him, or praying
to Him will Be an hour of infinite value to you. Not only so, but as Elisha got
his strength largely from his fellowship with Elijah in their common faith in
God, so we are strong as we keep close to Jesus Christ. I would like to
emphasise this message to all who have recently given themselves to the service
of Christ. The secret of a growing Christian character, the secret of strength
and steadiness in the Christian life, is to persistently keep close to Jesus
Christ. Elijah could not remain with Elisha, but Jesus comes to us in the
presence of the Holy Spirit to comfort our hearts. (L. A. Banks, D.
D.)
Verse 2
And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee.
Tested
The call that came to Elisha as he was ploughing at Abel-meholah
was readily and gladly obeyed. There was no ten days’ tarrying between his
master’s ascension and his own wonderful enduement, as in the case of the
apostles, and this was, probably, because he had been sufficiently tested and
prepared beforehand.
1. He had learned to stoop and serve. Not one of the chosen twelve
volunteered to take the place of a servant at the passover feast on the night of
the betrayal.
2. He had learned to obey God rather than men. Mrs. Walton, in her
book, tells us that the beautiful orange groves near the town of Jaffa are so
sheltered that for some part of the year the perfectly ripe fruit of last year
is seen hanging side by side with the blossom of this. Blossom and fruit were
side by side on this journey. Elijah, so fully matured that he was ready for
translation, side by side with Elisha, who was just blossoming out in the
beauty of early faith and devotion. And yet Elijah himself was to apply the
second great test to Elisha, to see whether he would obey God rather than men. God had
commissioned Elisha to minister to Elijah. Would he persevere to the end, or
would he allow the persuasions of others to draw him off? So three times he was
tested by his own master. “Tarry ye here, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel.”
“Tarry ye here, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho.” “Tarry ye here, for the
Lord hath sent me to Jordan.” It was that he might test Elisha’s devotion, and
see if he would follow right on to the end. So Elijah does not express a desire
to be alone. He simply tested Elisha, as Naomi tested Orpah and Ruth. It is
eight miles from Jezreel to Bethel. The road descends a steep hill into a
narrow gorge which runs for some four miles to an ancient spring now called
“the Robbers’ Well.” So far the road is easy, but for the next four miles the
rocky bed of a dry watercourse is the only path. So Elijah suggests that he
might be left to tread the last stage of his earthly pilgrimage alone. Very
different was the attitude of the sons of the prophets. There were theological
colleges, so to speak, at Bethel and Jericho, and Elijah s last journey took
him past these. It would be an encouragement to him to see that God was not
left without witnesses--that his championship of God’s truth had not been in
vain. But there was no special blessing for these sons of the prophets at this
time. They fell far short of Elisha’s portion. Their attitude and spirit were
very different from Elisha’s. Perhaps they wanted to discuss who was to succeed
Elijah, and what effect his departure would have upon God’s work in Israel. But
there was no holy awe as they stood in the presence of one so soon to be
summoned to the glorious presence of the King of kings. They felt no sense of
need; they had no thirst for personal blessing. There are many to-day like
these sons of the prophets. When God is working mightily in the quickening and
deepening energy of the Holy Ghost, it is those only who follow closely, and
right through to the end, who receive
the blessing. Those who look on from a distance will never see the heaven
opened, or share in the outpoured blessing.
3. Elisha had learned to put first things first. Once more he was to
be tested. The two had crossed Jordan. That river which is the symbol of death
had parted when smitten by Elijah’s mantle. It was not fitting that he who was
to be honoured by a deathless translation should wrestle with the swiftly
flowing waters of Jordan. You say, “If I can get safely to heaven at the end,
that is all I want”; but is that all God wants? How would you answer if the
challenge, “Ask what I shall do for thee,” were put to you? Would your soul
leap forth with ardent longing for fulness of spiritual blessing, or would some craving for ease and
honour and advancement be uppermost in your heart? (M. G. Pearse.)
Verse 9
Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
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 world’s improvement. Heaven’s plan to raise the world is by the ministry of
the good. Good men are God’s agents to improve the world.
2. The event involves a positive increase in the amount of the
world’s responsibilities. The world’s 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 world’s responsibility. Thus its mighty sum of
accountability daily augments. The more good the life, the greater the addition
to the amount. Christ’s 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.
Elisha’s request
I. Its meaning.
1. “A double portion.”
2. “Thy spirit.” God’s Spirit: who came upon Samson, Saul, David,
Elijah himself (2 Kings 2:16). But still Elijah’s
spirit (2 Kings 2:15). In three senses
his:--
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 Elijah’s 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 Elijah’s power. He believed God. God was real to him. God was
not lost to Elijah’s 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 Elijah’s conduct. Think of the millions of
Christians in the world to-day. If they all had Elijah’s 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 Elijah’s spirit of implicit obedience to God.
3. Elijah’s 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 Elisha’s 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 Elijah’s
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 Elisha’s power. We are
prone to place a man’s 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. Peter’s shadow
(Acts 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--
Verse 11-12
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked.
The ascension of Elijah
1. Observe, first, how he was employed at the time of his removal:
they were “going on, and talking.” Without this information, many would have
concluded that after he had received the intimation of his speedy departure, he
was engaged alone in meditation and prayer. But it is a mistaken sentiment,
that a preparation for heaven is to be carried on only by abstraction,
contemplation, devotion.
2. Observe how he was conveyed from earth to heaven. “There appeared
a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them asunder; and Elijah went
up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Was he removed by the instrumentality of a
luminous cloud approaching and enclosing him, and then rising with a rapid
curling motion? Or was he removed by the ministry of angels, disguised under
these brilliant forms? This seems more probable. Is it not said that “He shall
send forth His angels and gather together His elect from the four winds, from
the one end of heaven to the other”? Is it not said that Lazarus died, “and was
carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom”?
I. Let us consider
it as a gracious
recompense of singular piety.
II. Let us consider
it as intimation of the future happiness that is reserved for the servants of
God.
III. We may consider
this translation as a substitute
for death. In some such way as this, it is probable, would men
have passed from earth to heaven had they never sinned. In some such way as this
will those living at the last day be qualified for glory.
IV. We may regard
it as a mode of transition much to be desired. Death is not a pleasing subject
of meditation. It is called “an enemy.” It is said to be “the king of terrors.”
Even exclusive of the future consequences, there is much to render it
formidable. Nature cannot be reconciled to its own dissolution. (W. Jay.)
The translation of Elijah and the ascension of Christ
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. 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.
I. The first point
which may be mentioned is the contrast between the manner of Elijah’s
translation, and what 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. 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. 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 to
the skies in tempest and fire. 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. 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.” 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.
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. 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
one: “the help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself.”
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. But that same absence from the history of Christ’s
ascension, of any hint of a successor, has an obvious bearing on His present relation
to the world, as well as on the completeness of His unique past work. When He
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.”
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 the rest 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
this prophet’s mission, and perhaps some clearer faith in a future life. 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. 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. (A.
Maclaren, D. D.)
The chariot of fire
Life is often compared to a journey which a man makes from the
cradle to the grave. The close of Elijah’s life on earth is very suggestive of
such a figure. Elijah and Elisha had been walking all day from Gilgal to
Beth-el, and from Beth-el to Jericho, and then across the Jordan, towards
Gilead. Perhaps Elijah had that feeling, common to men, that he would like once
more, before he died, to look on the old hills of Gilead where he was born and
brought up. There are some striking and important lessons here:
1. We are all walking towards eternity. Every step we take brings the
end nearer. We are going right on like Elijah and Elisha, walking and talking,
when suddenly, it may be without an hour’s time to prepare for the change, God
will call for us, and we must go to meet our Lord.
2. Elijah died as he lived. He had lived a life of wonderful faith,
and striking manifestations of the presence of God had marked his whole career.
His life was full of romance and heroism, through his faith in God and the
supreme daring and implicit obedience to Divine commands which had marked his
career. Through the last day of his life he kept up his work, serving God,
trusting Him with his whole soul, and now, when God calls and sends His chariot
down to the roadside on which he is walking, he is ready. He steps in, and is
carried up to heaven. You must not imagine because the chariots are not seen,
and the angels are not visible, that Elijah was the only man thus carried up to
heaven. For aught we know God takes all His children home that way. Death will
have no more effect on your character and personality than does your going out
of one room into another. The Elijah that walked beside Elisha across the
Jordan, who stepped into the chariot of fire, and was carried up to heaven, was
the very same Elijah that Peter and James and John beheld at the
transfiguration of Jesus on the holy mountain centuries afterwards. No, if you
want to be a good man after you are dead, you must be a good man before you
die. Death is not going to work any change of that sort in you. As the tree
falls, so it will lie. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
The translation
I. The fitness of
this translation.
1. There was fitness in the place.
2. There was fitness in the method.
3. There was fitness in the exclamation with which Elisha bade him
farewell.
He cried, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the
horsemen thereof!” Doubtless, amid that sudden flash of glory he hardly wist
what he said. Yet he closely hit the truth.
II. The reasons for
this translation.
1. One of the chief reasons was, no doubt, as a witness to his times.
The men of his day were plunged in sensuality, and had little thought of the
hereafter.
2. Another reason was evidently the desire on the part of God to give
a striking sanction to His servant’s words. How easy was it for the men of that
time to evade the force of Elijah’s ministry, by asserting that he was an
enthusiast, an alarmist, a firebrand!
III. The lessons of
this translation for ourselves.
1. Let us take care not to dictate to God.
2. Let us learn what death is. It is simply a translation, not a state, but an
act; not a condition, but a passage.
We pass through a doorway; we cross a bridge of smiles; we flash from the dark
into the light. There is no interval of unconsciousness, no parenthesis of
suspended animation. Absent from the body, we are instantly “present with the
Lord.”
3. Let us see here a type of the rapture of the saints. We do not
know what change passed over the mortal body of the ascending prophet. This is
all we know, that “mortality was swallowed up of life.” (F. B. Meyer, B.
A.)
Waggons
Waggons came for Jacob to bear him to Egypt. Waggons will come for
us by and by to carry us home. A chariot of fire, with horses of fire, came for
Elijah, and bore him away into heaven. The chariots need not be visible--are
not visible--that come for God’s people; nevertheless, they are real.
A nation’s true dependence
Elisha gives vivid expression here to his sense of his own and his
nation’s loss at Elijah’s departure. His view of the situation was unselfish
and patriotic; and yet it was the man who spoke rather than the Christian.
Elijah had wrought wonders in Israel, and yet he was a man of like passions
with others, as some acts of his life painfully show. Besides, he was simply
God’s instrument, as Washington was. Israel’s true reliance was Jehovah
Himself, and there was no occasion for the prophet’s despair. Nations are prone
to make a similar mistake:
1. In the way of false reliance for deliverance and abiding
prosperity.
2. In looking to the outward instrument rather” than the unseen
guiding Power.
3. In magnifying natural laws rather than looking to supernatural
forces.
4. In deploring their dangers and losses instead of falling upon
their knees before God in prayer. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Chariots of fire for the New Year
Clear and distinct as the narration is in my text, both the actual
circumstances and their significance have been popularly misconstrued. It is
generally assumed that the prophet Elijah ascended in a chariot of fire, with
horses of fire, although the narrative most,, unambiguously, asserts that
“Elijah went up by a whirlwind rote heaven. This misconception has hidden from
view, or at least obscured, the import of the appearance of the fiery chariot
and steeds which appeared at that fateful juncture in the history of these two
great prophets; and especially has it veiled the fact that it was not Elijah,
but Elisha, who was in sorest need of the celestial chariot at that particular
hour. In fine, I may say at once that, while the whirlwind came to transport
Elijah to heaven, the chariot and horses of fire were sent to bear Elisha onward
in the difficult way which lay before him, now that his leader and master was
removed from his side. The dread responsibility which would descend upon his
shoulders on the departure of Elijah had been weighing upon his mind as they
travelled together. When the sons of the prophets asked him, “Knowest thou that
the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day?” he replied in tense
accents, “Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.” It was this new weight of
responsibility that led him to seek at the last moment a double portion of the
spirit of the departing prophet. To assure him of the Divine presence and power
for his mission, he was granted, not only one wonderful glimpse of the
translated prophet, but also a vision of the unseen chariots and horses of fire
which were to remain as the permanent escort of the new prophet. The chariot
and horses of fire “parted them both asunder.” As Elijah was snatched out of
Elisha’s view, the empty space became filled with God’s flaming equipage. The
eyes that had looked to the prophetic master for direction and encouragement
were now fastened upon the embattled might of Jehovah. Elijah had ascended, but
the chariots and horses of fire remained. The experience was similar to that of
Isaiah when he received his prophetic call. The hopes based upon the good King
Uzziah ended with the king’s death. Then Isaiah’s eyes were opened, and he
writes, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up,
and His train filled the temple.” The Lord God of Elijah remained to bear
Elisha to the end of his journey. We have evidence that this vision remained as
a permanent force and fact in the life of Elisha. In the sixth chapter of this
Second book of Kings we read of Elisha’s servant being terrified by the surrounding
host of Syrians, and of his receiving inward vision at the prayer of Elisha.
“And he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire
round about Elisha.” Clearly, they were the prophet’s permanent escort. I am
glad to think that these fiery chariots were, not for the translated Elijah,
who had but little need of them when he was being ushered into the immediate
presence of the Lord of hosts, but for Elisha, whose earthly way needed to be
sustained and cheered by an escort from the skies. Many are the mighty dead in
whom cur confidence was great. But there is no gap in the world. The vacant
spaces are filled with the hosts of God. The Lord of hosts is with us.
I. There can be no
progress in life except through God’s chariots of fire. The only dynamic power
is bestowed by invisible forces. We cannot make any real progress without the
guidance of God s hand.
II. The chariots of
fire represent also Divine protection. They declare the presence of the Angel
who redeems us from all evil. Through the panoply of science a myriad foes
invade our safety. For our journey through the perils of the year we must seek
the escort of the mailed hosts of God.
III. The chariots of
life represent the impartation of strength. It was a strengthened Elisha that
smote the waters of the Jordan with Elijah’s mantle, and cried with strenuous
energy, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
IV. The chariots of
fire are also the forces of purification. To those whom God leads onward He is
as a refiner’s fire. The true law of the survival of the fittest is the
survival of the purified. Without purification, the material of life becomes
corrupt as a stagnant fen, and dies of its own self-created malaria. Yet
visible fires cleanse not the soul. God is the only Purifier.
V. It is further
evident that the renewal of our strength can be obtained only through the
renewal of our vision of
the invisible God.
1. We need a new vision of Divine truth. God is a fire, and His
chariots are flame. The vision shows the awful, immutable, all-pervasive energy
of righteousness. His truth flames through creation in chariots of fire.
2. We must also have a new vision of the love of God. It is not well
to see the infinite truth without beholding also the infinite love. It is
impossible to understand the infinite love without having beheld the majesty of
infinite truth. Love also is a fire, consuming all selfishness. Love in the
heart of God is a fire that has kindled a mystery of sorrow in the temple of
the Deity itself. The fires of God’s chariots form letters of flame, and the
reading is, “God is love.”
3. We need a new vision of the nearness of God. His chariots are at
hand. Leap into them, and His glory shall be round about you.
4. We need a new vision of God’s intensity. God’s horsemen linger not.
(John Thomas, M. A.)
And he saw him no more.
Three partings
Life is full of partings. Every day we see some one whom we shall
never see again. Homes are full of these partings, and churches are full of
these partings, and therefore Scripture also, the mirror of life, is full of
these partings. When sin entered into the world, the first consequence was a
murder, the second consequence was the Flood, but the third consequence was
dispersion. “The Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all
the earth.” Speech itself--that dearest, most delightful communion between
heart and heart--was confounded, was made a Babel of sounds. This was that
great parting asunder of the human family, which had in it the type, and the
substance too, of all partings--allowing but one real reunion, begun on
Calvary, realised in Pentecost, to be consummated at the Advent. We speak of
three partings.
I. Bodily
partings. Those who were once near together in the flesh are no longer so. It is a thing of
everyday experience. They are part of our lot. They remind us of the great
dispersion; they should make us long for the great reunion. Some of these
partings are easily borne. It is probable that every day we meet some one whom
we shall never meet again till the judgment. There is little that is sorrowful
in this--though even this has its solemnity. But some bodily partings have a
more evident sadness. It is a serious thing to stand on the pier of some
seaport town, and see a son or a brother setting sail for India or New Zealand.
Such an experience marks, in a thousand homes, a particular day in the calendar with a
peculiar, a lifelong sadness.
II. Partings
between souls. I speak still of this fife. The sands of Tyre and Miletus were
wet with tears when St. Paul there took leave of disciples and elders. But
those separations were brightened by an immortal hope, and he could commend his
desolate ones to the word of God’s grace, as able to give them an inheritance
at last with him and with the saved. I call that a tolerable, a bearable
parting;
III. The
death-parting which must come. Set yourselves in full view of that--take into
your thought what it is--ask, in each several aspect of earth’s associations
and companionships, what will be for you the meaning of the text, “He saw him
no more.” The life-partings, and the soul-partings, all derive their chief
force and significance from the latest and most awful--the one death-parting,
which is not probably, but certainly, before each and all. (C. J.
Vaughan, D. D.)
Two prophets parted
In various ways we become associated in life--similarity of tastes
in art pursuits, in literature, in polities, trade, religion. Sometimes, having
travelled, we meet with some companion to whose soul ours is knit so long as
life lasts. It is only natural that we should like companionship. Few men are
fitted to live alone. Long-continued solitude is irksome; we become bored with
self.
I. A suitable
companionship on a heavenward journey. “They two went on.” The union between
the two had been appointed by God.
II. Listen to
elevating conversation between heavenward travellers. The text tells us that as
they journeyed they “talked.” On what subject? Evidently it was concerning
Elijah’s departure. Both found it “greatly wise,” not only to speak with the past, but to talk of
the future. We should speak sometimes of the ending of life, not that we may
become gloomy, but that we may realise the value of life--its seriousness and
its far-reaching effects. The telegraph clerk holds in his hands, when at the
dial plate, the power to communicate a wish at the distance of thousands of
miles; and thus we hold in our hands the character of a life that shall extend
deep down into the ages of eternity. Hence we should he most anxious as to the
correctness of our aims in the present, and desirous that holy influence should
not be lost in the hereafter. Words may flash along wires, and convey no
meaning; music may flit from a string, and die in the distance; but the message
and music of life should have meaning and volume, vibrating along the wires of
immortal being.
III. We have now to
witness the sudden separation between heavenward companions. “As they still
went on and talked, behold! there appeared horses of fire and a chariot of
fire, and parted them both asunder.” The ending was anticipated, yet sudden.
What sort of companionship have we in our heavenward journey? What is the
general tenor of our conversation as we journey? What sort of hope have we
concerning the end of our journey? What state awaits us? (F. Hastings.)
Verse 13-14
He took also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him.
The mantle of Elijah
when Elijah swept away from the side of Elisha in his chariot of
fire, guarded by angelic horsemen, Elisha was for a moment overwhelmed. Ere
long his eye fell upon the mantle of Elijah. That was all that was left to him
that was physically tangible, but it meant a great deal. As his eyes gazed on
it, his heart grew tender and soft as memory carried him back to that morning
on his father’s farm, years ago, when that mantle was thrown around his own
shoulders and he recognised it as God’s call to the prophetic service. During
all the years since that time that mantle had been constantly under his eyes.
It had been the indication, the token, of the presence of God with Elijah. But
it was only a token; the power was in the God who called Elijah and who
strengthened him for his work. So we can imagine what deep pathos, what tender,
worshipful emotion there was in the heart and voice of Elisha as with sincerest
prayer he cried, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” As he said these words he
smote the waters with the mantle, and God answered to his cry, and the waters
stood back from the stroke, and he walked across on dry land. There is here:
1. A message for Christians in all ages who long to have in present
emergencies the spiritual power known in the past. Our lesson is in this, that
we cannot make the conditions of changing life conform to old conditions; but
the attitude to God, the relation to God which made men and women the channels
of Divine influence and blessing in any age of the world are possible to us.
Elisha was a very different man from Elijah. If he had gone about trying to act
like Elijah in all sorts of customs and habits of a minor nature he would have
made himself the laughing-stock of his time. But we see that from the start
Elisha grasped the kernel of the matter. It was not Elijah’s mannerisms, nor
Elijah’s peculiar methods, but Elijah’s faith in God that gave him his power.
And so his cry is, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” Joseph Parker says that
by these words Elisha shows that he is not called to a merely official
position, but that he is elected to represent the Divine Majesty upon earth.
Had Elisha acted in a way which suggested self-sufficiency, his prophetic
office would have been destroyed well-nigh before it was created. It is when we stand back
in humility, and from the depths of our souls cry out of our desolateness to
God, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” that we begin our work in the right
spirit, and only then. Sometimes we hear men and women talking now about the
days of Wesley, and of Whitefield, and the early fathers of the great Wesleyan
revival and reformation, as though they thought by some change of clothing or
change of outward physical living the power of those days could come back. But
that cannot be true. That which was at the heart and was the moving centre of
the great Wesleyan revival was the same power that made Elijah what he was and
that gave Elisha force to continue his work. It was an abiding faith in God.
What Christians need to-day, and what we must have if we are to know the power
which has made the saints of God mighty in every age of triumph for the church,
is the same spirit and the same faith that Elisha had when with the mantle of
Elijah he smote the waters of the Jordan and cried from the depths of his soul,
“Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
2. God never fails to answer when His children call upon Him in
faith. He immediately responded to Elisha’s faith. He will be as faithful to
us.
3. When with sincere hearts we serve God and surrender ourselves
completely to do His will, God causes others to see. The young men at the
prophetic school in Jericho were very quick to discern that the blessing of God
rested on Elisha. They at once acknowledged that the spirit of Elijah had
fallen on him. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
The prophet’s mantle
Elijah’s solemn, silent act was sufficiently clear and eloquent to
Elisha. When a great teacher dies, says Sir John Malcolm in his History of
Persia, he bequeaths his patched mantle to the disciple that he most
esteems. And the moment the elect disciple puts on the holy mantle he is vested
with the whole power and sanctity of his predecessor. The mantles which were
used by ascetics and saints have always been the objects of religions
veneration in the East. The holy man’s power is founded upon his sacred
character, and that rests upon his poverty and contempt of worldly goods. His
mantle is his all, and its transfer marks out his heir. (Alex. Whyte, D.
D.)
Verse 14
Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
The prophet as incarnating the Divine
I. The God of
Elijah calls His servants to tasks impossible to unaided human strength. God’s
servants in all ages are called to dare and do the impossible. In the common duties of our life
we move constantly in that region. To conquer eight hundred and fifty priests
of Baal was great; to conquer eight hundred and fifty thousand sinful
influences assailing us week by week is as great. Elijah’s energy exhibited the
normal state of man’s faculties inspired by God. We may share the same strength
and achieve heroic things for Christ. The God of Elijah is with us, and will
qualify us if we are but entirely consecrated to Him.
II. The God of
Elijah is He Who makes the opposites of life conspire for the good of His servants. To the view of
a shallow philosophy the universe is made up of opposite and contradictory
forces that cannot be reconciled. The faith that declares, “As the Lord liveth
before whom I stand,” sees in that light the contradictions of life harmonised
in the one purpose of infinite goodness. So it was in the life of Elijah. There
is the law of heredity, and the law of freedom and spontaneity. Faith unites
and utilises both in the production of a new and original character. There is
alternation in Providence. The years of plenty are followed by years of famine.
Faith draws from each special benefit. Prosperity nurtured his inner life.
Famine gave him his opportunity to drive home his lessons. John Bright and the
Irish Famine in Free Trade Agitation. The faithless and faithful in society. The
storm and the “still small voice.” His historic career,--his posthumous
influence. Faith united all these facts, and made them tributary to his work.
III. The God of
Elijah requires us to limit and suppress all that may hinder our one
life-purpose. He was not aesthetic, but he won on Carmel.
IV. In the God of
Elijah we see revealed the limitless portion of the good. He satisfied Elijah.
Surely He will suffice for us!
V. The God of
Elijah is the strength of the humbler prophet.
VI. The God of
Elijah loves to have His goodness, wisdom, power, mirrored in His servants’
lives. Our knowledge is to reflect His thought, our benevolence His love, our
strength His might. At the beginning of all enterprises, in contact with
corrupt states of society, when we lament fallen heroes, when we face the
difficult, we should catch the spirit of Elisha, and go on from conquering to conquer. (J.
Matthews.)
“Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
It was a great thing when we could get people to ask questions
about God.
Philosophers talked a great deal about “the God-consciousness.” Here was a man
who had the “God-consciousness” wondrously developed. This man Elisha, when he
asked this question, was not simply solicitous about God in general--he wanted
a particular type of God. He wanted not any god nor every god, not any aspect
of the tree God, but the Lord God of Elijah. But was the Lord God of Elijah
different from the god of other people? The implicit doctrine of this question
seemed to be that He was. Did God reveal Himself in a hundred different ways
through a hundred different personalities? He did, and that was the great fact
that appeared in the text. It must be so, for God was infinite. Most people
would dismiss this statement as a foolish platitude. But if we realised what it
meant it would be obvious that God transcended intellectual conception. Let us
not be distressed because we cannot understand God. Nobody could understand
Him. As one of the greatest modem theologians had said, “It takes a God to
understand God.” In the ultimate sense no man could by searching find out God.
Therefore, if we had an infinite God, He must be capable of expressing Himself
in a hundred, in a thousand, ay, in ten thousand different ways. “Every man
painted his own picture of God,” and every man must be warranted in doing so if
God was infinite. One individual saw God from a certain angle, another
individual saw Him from a different one; different churches saw Him from
different standpoints; but all were right, for God was infinite. Elisha wanted
the type of God he had seen manifested in Elijah. It was a glorious doctrine,
this doctrine that God revealed Himself through personality. Jesus Christ was
in the supreme sense what every man is in a lesser sense--God’s Word. A word
was the manifestation of a man. What a grand opinion we should have of some
people if they never opened their mouth! When we spoke a word we were known; a
word was the expression of a personality. And Jesus Christ came down to this
earth to articulate God to man. And what Christ did supremely every believer
did in a lesser degree. Elisha had got all his theology from Elijah. Elijah
never wrote a word; he left no volume of theology behind him, but there was no prophet who had
made such a permanent impression on Israel and on the world. He lived his
theology, and he gave such a revelation of God to his people that when he was
gone they said, “Where is the God of Elijah?--the God of Elijah for me.” Some
of us had gathered most of our conception of God from some noble personality.
That was our aim in life as believers to give a theology to men, to live a
theology before men. Infidelity could answer argument, but argument wag no
answer to life. What sort of a God was the God of Elijah--God as represented in
the teachings, and work, and life of Elijah? He was a God of wondrous power. We
wanted a God of that sort to-day. The God of Elijah was a big God. What a
little God some people had. Some people had a very shrivelled theology
nowadays. People were doing to-day what the Israelites of olden times were
charged with doing--they were limiting the High One of Israel, limiting the
Illimitable. What a ghastly irony! There were people who were turning nature
into a dungeon, imprisoning God in His own creation, chaining Him with what
they called “Natural Law.” There were people nowadays who instead of having the
God of Elijah had a God, to whom it was practically no use to pray. But what
were natural laws but God s methods of working? Elijah s God was a God of
marvellous power in Nature. It would be wonderfully refreshing to have a little
more of the God of Elijah to-day Elijah’s God was a supernatural God. He was a
miracle-working God. The God of Elijah was a God who would have right done at
all costs. Did some one say Elijah represented a very stern righteousness--that
we should not like a stern Master to-day? He was sure we should not. Elijah
would not be at all popular nowadays. Did some one say that if Elijah had lived
in these Christian days his sternness would have been modified? Surely it was
not too great a stretch of the imagination to say that in the last glimpse we
had of him, on that snow-clad mount of Christ’s transfiguration, he spoke no
longer of justice but of redemption. But people said, “We believe nowadays in
God’s Fatherhood.” But “Fatherhood” must be defined. It did not mean
indifference to right and wrong. The manifestation of God that Elijah gave
meant righteousness. Fatherhood was the great attribute of Elijah in the eyes
of his disciple. He revealed God not only as a God of wondrous might, but as a
tender Father. How tender that strong man could bet The Lord God of Elijah was
also a God of intense zeal. We did not get that God very much in these days. It
was an unpleasant fact that the great majority of people were outside the churches
to-day; but what was worse was the fact that the majority of Christians were
content with this state of things. It was an unpleasant fact that there was
such a dearth of conversions, but it was worse that Christians were not
concerned about it. Elijah’s conception of God allowed him to pray. There are
people to-day whose theology scarcely permits them to pray. Elijah was a most
remarkable man for solitary communion with God. We must be men of prayer if we
would be living manifestations of God. (Dinsdale T. Young.)
The Lord God of Elijah
The meaning of the word Elijah is that Jehovah is God; and to
impress this truth, carried in His own Name, on the hearts of a people that
wished to forget Him, and that were always prone to worship other gods--this was
the object of his wonderful career.
1. Now, the first point I wish to dwell upon is this, that the name,
the Lord God of Elijah, carries in it a revelation of a God that we need
believe in in these days. Once we get a name revealed in this Book, or by God
Himself, it cannot be asked what there is in a name. There is a great deal in a
name if it is revealed from on high.
2. Again, the Lord God of Elijah is a God who can wield all the
powers of nature and providence to bring down a rebellious people to acknowledge
Him.
3. Again, the Lord God of Elijah is a God who honours all who honour
Him in every age. Now, Elijah was a man of great faith. He asked for things
that were never asked for before, but he was never disappointed.
4. There are special
occasions when we cannot help exclaiming, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
and one of them is when our leaders are taken from us. This was one such
occasion.
5. Then, again, we are surprised that leaders are taken away in a
time of great indifference with regard to religious truth.
6. Then, lastly, where is the Lord God of Elijah? Let me tell you. He
is now ready as ever to clothe any man with power from on high who believes in
that power and believes that he cannot do without it. The self-sufficient man
will never get it. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? He is there, alive to the
service of the most obscure of His servants; He reckons them all, and rewards
them. (E. H. Evans.)
Good men, witness of God
The Rev. T. R. Stevenson says, in a sermon quoted in the Chinese
Recorder: “During a recent visit to Japan I met with a gentleman who
mentioned an incident which I can never forget. One rarely hears anything more
impressive. He knew a missionary in China who one day encountered a Chinaman.
The latter had been in the habit of watching the conduct of the former, and
that very narrowly. He said, “I want your God to be my God.” The missionary
answered, “What do you mean?” “I wish to be of the same religion as you. Why do
you? Because if your God is like you, He must be good.”
God’s attractiveness as seen in the devout life
There was a boy dying in one of the English counties. He had heard
Whitefield, with his marvellous voice, and glowing heart, preach about the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the impression never left him. While yet a child, he had to
die; and as the fever flush mounted to his brow, and as the fire burned in his
eye, he said, “I should like to go to Mr. Whitefield’s God.” What a testimony!
what a recommendation! I say to Paul to-day, as he tells me of how God’s grace was
sufficient for him, “I should like to go to Paul’s God.” (J. Robertson.)
Calling upon the God of another
“God of Queen Clotilda,” cried out the infidel Clovis I. of
France, when in trouble on the field of battle, “God of Queen Clotilda! grant
me the victory!” Why did he not call upon his own god? Saunderson, who was a
great admirer of Sir Isaac Newton’s talents, and who made light of his religion
in health, was, nevertheless, heard to say in dismal accents on a dying-bed,
“God of Sir Isaac Newton, have mercy on me!” (Daniel Baker.)
Elijah’s God
Elisha caught the mantle of Elijah, whose marvellous translation
to heaven he witnessed. Smiting the waters of Jordan, as his master and
predecessor had done, with the same mantle, Elisha cried, “Where is the Lord
God of Elijah?” Elijah had gone. Had God also gone? The parted river proved
that Elijah’s God was with Elisha.
I. Elijah’s God.
To see what kind of a God Elijah served, glance at some of the leading events
in the prophet’s life. Dense darkness hangs over Israel (1 Kings 16:1-34.), idolatry being
rampant. Elijah’s challenge to Ahab (1 Kings 18:1-46.). The prophet’s
threat of famine fulfilled. God’s care over him by the brook Cherith. The
unfailing oil and meal at Zarephath. The widow’s son restored to life. The
contest on Carmel. The God that answereth by fire. It seems as if God puts
Himself into Elijah’s hands, and the prophet receives whatever he asks for--a
famine, or fire, or life for the dead, or the restoration of a nation to God.
Why did God so honour Elijah? Because Elijah honoured God.
II. God’s Elijah.
Do we want Elijah’s God? If so, we must be like Elijah. Notice the prophet’s--
1. Boldness. He was not afraid to stand alone.
2. Intense earnestness. His supreme desire was the salvation of
Israel.
3. Earnest prayer. “He prayed earnestly.”
4. Strong faith. He relied absolutely upon God--before Ahab, by the
brook, on Carmel, etc.
5. Purity. His character would bear the test of God’s searching eye.
As the Lord God liveth, before whom I stand.
6. Obedience. He obeyed God implicitly.
7. Constant communion with God. The Lord was his chief companion.
8. Power, with God and with men. Do we want character. The Almighty
is always on the side of His Elijahs. (Charles Cross.)
Elijah’s God
Elisha had now taken the place of Elijah, his master, and was
going forth to prosecute Elijah’s duties and to continue his work. We notice
here:--
I. There are
different workmen, but one Master.
1. God does not need any one particular man Elijah was great,
powerful, and good, but his departure did not hinder the Master’s work.
2. It is the master-power that carries on the Master’s plans. Elijah
was nothing without God. Neither was Elisha. How deeply Elisha felt his
powerlessness! He did not cry out “where is Elijah?” but “where is Elijah’s
God?”
II. That the
experience of others is an encouragement for ourselves. Elisha had seen the
works of his predecessor, and knew that those works had been performed in the
strength of the Lord. In that same strength he could also be helped.
1. The advantage of studying God’s work in the past.
2. The faith which appropriates that work.
3. The urgency of prayer. Elisha’s cry was a prayer, an appeal.
III. The cumulative
power of the ministerial office.
1. Each minister inherits not only what his predecessor obtained, but
what his predecessor did. And during the past thousand years all the knowledge,
power, and experience of the whole army of preachers has been amassed and
bequeathed to us. Elisha used Elijah’s old mantle. He was content to follow the
old paths. The new is not always best. At the same time neither the old nor the
new can profit. It is the God we want, and He is always the same; and His
revelation is made more complete through every succession of His servants.
IV. The necessity of putting
God to the proof. How many are content with crying out, “Where is God?” They
cry, but don’t put Him to the test. It is so.
1. In our religious experience.
2. In our daily work.
3. In our numerous trims.
It is no use to cry unless you act. Elisha cried and smote the
water. Then God proved His presence. The evil condition of the world now is
because we cry so much and trust so little. (Homilist.)
Man’s cry and God’s response
I. The religious
cry of humanity. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” This question comes out in
all hearts, in all religions. Where is God? Where is He who made me and for
whom I am made, and who alone can satisfy my nature? Where is He? Oh that I
knew where I might find Him? etc. It is a cry rising from the deepest depths of
human nature, old as the ages and wide as the race.
II. The merciful
response of God. When he “had smitten the waters, they parted hither and
thither: and Elisha went over.” Elisha wanted the manifestation of the God of
Elijah, and for this purpose he smote the waters. The response of God here to
the cry was--
1. Symbolical. It came not in words, but in things. The response
was--
2. Prompt. No sooner did Elisha touch the waters than they divided.
He was not left in suspense. The answer was at hand. The answer of this
question is always at hand. The response was--
3. Satisfactory. “And Elisha went over.” Every man who earnestly asks
this question may find a satisfactory answer, and cross the stream of all
difficulties. (Homilist.)
Power, or one’s might for duty
I was riding one night in the late winter on the elevated road
through the Battery Park in New York City. As I looked out of the window I saw
that the electric lights were blazing with almost the brilliancy of the sun.
Their sharp scintillating beams fell on the branches of the trees that filled
the park. But as those beams fell upon them I noticed that not a single
leaf-bud stirred. I saw, too, that all the leaf-buds and all the twigs were
eased in ice, and the imprisoning ice flashed back haughty gleam even to the
powerful electric light. I began to think, if those trees were never to be
touched by any other light there could never hang upon them any beautiful
wealth of summer foliage. There is no force in that shining to push into
movement the latent energy folded in those leaf-buds. There is only one force
which can stir the trees
to energy, and that is the marvellous power of the spring sun. Do you not think
that Christians are often very like the folded dormant buds and the icy
branches? Much light and various falls on them--light of knowledge, of worship,
of Sabbaths, of preaching, of harmonious song, of culture; all the wonderful
light of our Christian civilisation. But often they do not seem to stir much;
they do not greatly grow; some churches, if they have a prosperous time
financially, are not much discontented if there are no conversions. After all,
is a tree with its leaf-buds folded snugly in and its branches ice-covered so
bad a symbol of many a Christian, many a church? Is there any power that can
stir them, as in the spring-time the wonderful sunlight stirs a tree, sending
the life-currents thrilling through all its substance, swelling the leaf-buds
till they must push out their folded banners, piling on to each least twig the
succulent growth of another season One cannot believe the Scripture and say
anything but yes to such a question.
1. There is the old gospel. Paul calls it the power of God unto
salvation (Romans 1:16). What a power it was in the
city of the Caesars! What a power it is!
2. There is the living Christ. The powerful hand of Him who is
death’s victor is on the helm of things.
3. There is the abiding Holy Spirit. The reason why Christianity is
not a history merely, like the reigns of the Caesars, is because the abiding
and vitalising Holy Spirit is in the world, charging the historic truth of
Christianity with present energy. There is the power of the Spirit.
4. There is for Christians the promise of power. To such as have
already become the sons of God, there is a promise given of still greater
attainment, the power of the indwelling Spirit. But ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me.
Plainly, such power will make duty easy and triumphant.
The conditions of the gaining of such power are well illustrated
in our Scripture and its surroundings,
1. Determination to have it. Elisha would not leave Elijah (verses 2,
4, 6).
2. Determination to have it notwithstanding dissuasives. The sons of
the prophets could not put sufficient obstacle in Elisha’s way (verse 5).
3. Such determination to have it as to dare to ask for it. “And
Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me” (verse
9).
4. Such purpose to have it as keeps us in communion with Christ at
all hazards. When Elijah went beyond the Jordan Elisha would go over with him
(verse 8).
5. Such determination to have it as makes us resolutely obedient to
the conditions of its reception. Elisha would see the rapture of Elijah (verse
12). Brave use of what power we have, sure that in the using more power will be
imparted. “And Elisha took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote
the waters.” Christians or churches need not be like trees in winter with
folded buds and branches ice-incased. There is melting, energising power for
them. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)
Verse 15
They said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.
The recognition of spiritual superiority
This is clearly an instance, not of the flunkey spirit, but of
justifiable deference, a commendable acknowledgment of spiritual superiority.
In the religious world, as in other spheres, some men are meant to lead and
others to follow. Yes, but every man can select his own hero. Worship he must,
but it is not necessary that he should become an idolater. He can determine for
himself who or what shall be the object of his veneration and regard. No man is
compelled to cast the pearl of admiration at the feet of swine. Hence to know
the true status and quality of men it is sufficient to inquire at what shrine
they prostrate themselves. To know the ideals he cherishes, the names he
reveres, the heroes he admires, is to know a man at the most vital and central
point. Where, then, does this test place these sons of the prophets that were
at Jericho? It gives them the loftiest position; it stamps them as spirits of
the wisest and noblest type.
1. How do we compare with these sons of the prophets which were at
Jericho? What qualities do we require in men as the condition of our
deferential regard? Is it enough that a man is of so-called royal descent? That
by the accident of birth he occupies a throne and is called a king? How do we
define these terms “royalty” and “kingship”? “Fine feathers” do not “make fine
birds.” Neither do the trappings of kingly office constitute royalty and
entitle their possessor to the loyal devotion of the people. There is a royalty
of mere blood and lineage which may be, and frequently is, associated with vice
and vulgar display and crass selfishness and intolerant pride. On the other
hand, there is an aristocracy of the spirit, a royalty of soul, that comes not
by a birth of blood, but by regeneration of the Spirit, and that displays
itself in all sweet and gracious and noble living. To which of these do we Fay
homage?
2. There is a further application of this thought on which we may
dwell. It is sometimes said, “Oh, but we must have respect for the cloth.” What
cloth? If “cloth” be the badge of authority, if the possession of it
constitutes a man’s claim to special deference and regard, then how strangely
is Elisha’s first and mightiest credential overlooked here. For he comes
carrying in his hand the well-known mantle of the great man who has just
ascended. But these sons of the prophets do not appear to have noticed it. We
do not read, “Now when the sons of the prophets saw the mantle of Elijah in the
hand of Elisha . . . they bowed themselves . . . “ Their homage was rendered on
totally different ground. They saw that “the spirit of Elijah” did “rest on
Elisha.” “The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.” In the administration of
the Kingdom of God on earth there is, of necessity, a law of succession. There
is but one unchangeable priesthood. Every other servant of Jehovah, however
great and apparently indispensable, is presently withdrawn from the busy
sphere. But he leaves behind him his mantle. He does not take with him the
source of power. So the Spirit of the Lord moves with sovereign freedom,
alighting upon whom He will “The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisa.” Why
Elisha? In almost every feature he is a striking contrast to his predecessor.
“And when the sons of the prophets which were at Jericho saw . . . they said.”
Then Elisha’s qualification for the high position was self-evident. It could be
perceived and appraised by the onlooker. (H. Davenport.)
Elijah’s legacy
I. It was a legacy
bequeathed with difficulty. There is a great, general truth underlying these
words. It is a hard thing to communicate moral qualities It is easy to cause another
to possess your material wealth; it is not so easy to enrich him mentally,
morally, or spiritually. This is the experience of every good parent. You want
to make men of your children. It is no easy task. What patience, what wisdom,
what grace are needed to do it. Yet thank God it is a work in which many
succeed. But, again, when Elijah said, “Thou hast asked a hard thing”--he
meant, I think, that the request was beyond him. He could not give his servant
what he sought. He might give him his mantle, and by doing so symbolise the
transference of his office, but he could not give him his power. He could teach
him--could from the resources of his own experience give him many a hint that
was sure to be useful when he should fill his master’s place--but the
power--the spiritual force--required, and required as the chief thing--that he
could not cause him to inherit. So is it with us in whatever capacity we act
for the good of others. We draw a distinct line between our work, what we can
do, and what is beyond us--as possible only with One higher than we. We can
plough the fields and sow the seed, but we cannot quicken it. We can preach and
teach, but we cannot change the heart.
II. Elijah’s legacy
was bequeathed with great willingness. When Elisha said, “Let me have a double
portion of thy spirit,” Elijah’s first thought was, “You ask what is very hard
to give”; but his second thought was, “Well, but I am after all pleased with
your request. Now, I don’t say that I can give you this; but still what I
cannot do I am sure the God whom I serve will do. Yes; it is a good desire, and
if thou art faithful unto the end it shall be done unto thee.” There is surely
an important lesson to be learned by us here. We ought not to do only the good
that is of easy achievement. It will, indeed, be well for us if we always do
what we can, yet the danger is to suppose that all we can do is what we can do
with ease. We should remember that there is little value in the life that copes
not with difficulties.
III. Elijah’s legacy
was bequeathed because asked, “I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit
be upon me.” From the promptness in which the request was made it is apparent
that this was the blessing his heart was set upon obtaining. When the heart is
fully resolved the tongue does not hesitate. His master confesses that it was a
hard thing to grant; but if he had not asked it would have been impossible to
endow him with such a blessing. It is the seeing soul that is enriched, not
because God would enrich only the few, but His blessing can only enter the open
receptive spirit. We have not because we ask not, or because we ask amiss. The
thing I ask is great, but the greatness of my faith is commensurate, and, lo!
the promise is spoken--“It shall be so unto thee,” and after the voice the
heavens open and the blessing comes down. Let Elisha’s case encourage us to ask
for what we need.
IV. Elijah’s legacy
was bequeathed as the result of faithful service. A condition was attached to
the bestowment of the blessing asked, “If thou see me when I am taken from thee
it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.” (A. Scott.)
The true succession
The succession of Elisha was one marked by the sharpest and
boldest contrasts.
I. In his origin.
Elijah came from the mountainous country of Gilead. He was the wild man of the
mountains. Elisha was called from the peaceful scenes of agricultural life.
II. The appearance
of the men. This was totally unlike. Learn, that succession does not consist in
dress; that a great man’s successors are those who carry forward his work, not
those who ape his appearance. The true succession is one of character, and not
one of clothes.
III. In their manner
of life, so it should be always in the sphere of religion. There are other and
better ways of succeeding to our Puritan forefathers than by singing Rouse’s
version, adopting the nasal tone, sitting in cold meeting-houses, and listening
to forty-headed sermons. But how slow some good people are to distinguish
between religion and its accidental dress!
IV. The particular
form of their work for God. Elijah’s was destruction; Elisha’s was
construction. The first act of Elijah was to smite the land with a terrible
curse. The first act of Elisha was to bless Jericho with the gift of good
water. Lessons taught by the contrasts which I have mentioned:
1. The little stress which the Divine Arrayer and Architect places
upon external sameness. We discover this Divine indifference far below the
human level, and in the lowest spheres of life. The two blades of grass which
grow at your feet are not exactly alike. They have their generic likeness, but
they also have their points of difference. So with the roses. Each has its own
style, its own peculiar blush. So with the noble pines which stand high up upon
nature’s battlements waving their majestic plumes. Each one of them stands up
an individual giant, itself in girth, itself in height, itself in beauty. Men
come forth from the Divine Hand as unique, as peculiar, as are the roses or the
planets. Each has his own beauty; each has his own orbit; each bears the stamp
of the day in which he lives. Take an old Roman coin, and compare it with one
which comes forth clearly cut from our own mint. What a difference between
them! Yet both are precious metal, both are coin. So is it with the man whom
God forms and equips for His work. He lays stress only upon the soul, only upon
the spirit of a man.
2. The variety and flexibility of means and methods allowed in the
kingdom of God. From the necessity of the ease, great flexibility and variety
of method must be allowed to those who work for God. Because the generations
change, knowledge increases, the line of battle shifts. He would be little
better than a fool who should now preach to men in the style of the great
divines of two centuries ago. As well might the soldier of to-day take the
battle-axe, and go forth to the battlefield where the Minie whistles, and the
shell shrieks, and the cannon-ball jumps miles at the touch of powder. And then
as to Christian activity. Good men are afraid of many of its new forms. They
shake their heads; as much as to question whether a soul, reached by the Gospel
through the instrumentality of a layman, is after all much advantaged. Why, out
yonder on the Western fields, the farmer harvests in one day with his reaping
machine as much grain as he could do in a whole month with the old sickle. And
he is not sorry; not sorry that he can cultivate five hundred acres instead of
five. So, in these latter days, through the diversity of operations, the
reaping power of the Gospel is multiplied a thousandfold. And yet men shake
their heads. “This irregular preaching of the Gospel,” they exclaim. “Are we
not going a little too fast? After all, hadn’t we better leave the world
harvest to the priests and their orthodox sickles?” That God’s great work in
this world always proceeds from that which is negative to that which is
positive; from conversion to edification, from destruction to construction. In
the Divine economy, threatening, correction, repression, destruction, mark only
the first stage, the incipiency of the work. They are only ordered for the sake
of an end outside of and beyond themselves. And this, the Divine method, we
should follow.
1. In our working for others. We must lead the penitent forward into
the life of positive righteousness, or we never form the “new man.” A man is
like a vessel. He is formed to contain, and will surely be filled either with
the good or with the bad. You cannot count on a vacuum in human nature; and, if
you could, the world would get no benefit from it, and God would abhor it. You
have not therefore Saved a man, if you have but emptied him of that which is
bad.
2. This truth has also application to our own religious life.
Christianity, piety, are more than negation, and our religion, if it is long to
satisfy us, must have its positive side. Inanity is well-nigh as bad as
foulness, and it would be to the shame of your manhood and your Saviour if you
stopped with it. Take some aims worthy of a new life. Begin on something
positive in the way of goodness.
3. The proper use of the great and good men who have gone before us.
This is to take up their work, and to carry it forward; not, perhaps, just as
they did, but as the Divine Providence intimates, and as we are best fitted to
do it. (T. T. Mitchell, D. D.)
Possessing the spirit of another
Said the late Dr. Gordon: “Imagine one without genius and devoid
of the artist’s training sitting down before Raphael’s famous picture of “The
Transfiguration,” and attempting to reproduce it. How crude and mechanical and
lifeless his work would be! But if such a thing were possible as that the
spirit of Raphael should enter into the man, and obtain the mastery of his mind
and eye and hand, it would be entirely possible that he should paint this masterpiece,
for it would simply be Raphael producing Raphael. This is the solution of our
imitation of Christ. To be filled with the Spirit is the secret of becoming
like our Lord.
A holy succession
A good man died a little time since, and when his body had been
carried to the grave, the little funeral party returned to the house; and the
minister after a few words of kindly comfort was taking his departure, the
eldest son called him aside for the moment and said, “There is a place empty in
the church. My father is gone, will you take me instead? I want to fill up the
gap: I want to be baptized for the dead.” (Helps for Speakers.)
And the men of the city said unto Elisha.
The bitter waters sweetened-Elisha the healer
Jericho, a city of high antiquity, was one of the most important
in the land of Palestine. Its walls were so broad, that at least one
person--Rahab--had her house upon them. Silver and gold were so abundant that
one man--Achan--could stealthily appropriate 200 shekels. Between the city and
the far East, there had existed for years, before its occupation by the
children of Israel, a wide and extensive commerce, of which the “goodly
Babylonish garment,” purloined in the act of dishonesty just mentioned, may be
accepted as proof. The New Testament notices of Jericho are full of interest.
The lonely limestone rocks behind the city formed the scene of our Lord’s
temptation. It was down the banks of the Jordan, at Jericho, the Master had
previously gone to be baptized. Three times in Jericho did our Blessed Lord
give sight to the blind. Once in Jericho, the descendant of Rahab the “hostess”
accepted the hospitality of Zaccheus the publican. For five hundred and fifty
years a doom had lain upon Jericho. She had been the first city to resist the
advance of Israel under the leadership of Joshua. She was therefore not only
condemned to fall “before the captain of the Lord’s host,” and amid the much
ceremony with which we are all familiar--the annihilation was accompanied with
a terrible curse. The man who ventured to rebuild Jericho was to lay the
foundation in his first-born, and in his youngest son to set up the gates.
Josephus describes the district in his day as quite a fairyland, with its palms and roses,
and fragrant balsams and thickly dotted pleasure grounds--a perfect garden and
paradise of Eastern beauty. At the period of the text, however, things were
very different. The spring was still suffering from the old doom pronounced
against Jericho, it was noxious, unfit for drinking, prejudicial to the soil:
“The men of the city said unto Elisha “--who was at this time residing here in
the sacred college--“Behold. I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant,
as my Lord seeth, but the water is naught, and the ground barren.”
1. The Gospel is “a new cruse” for the world. Christianity comes not
in “the oldness of the letter” and the law, but in “the newness of the Spirit.”
The Gospel, too, begins at the origin of the evil--the heart--that is “the spring of the
waters.” What is needed is “a clean heart and a right spirit”; the poison is at
the fountain-head, and must be dealt with there. Once again, like the salt in
the cruse, how unlikely and insufficient at first sight the simple Gospel
appears for the world’s conversion. The words with which Elisha accompanied
tile casting in of the salt, and the consequent working of the miracle, are
very noticeable: “Thus saith the Lord,” exclaimed the prophet, “I have healed
these waters.” How the change was effected, we cannot tell. Means were employed
to show that God in His greatest works has a place for the instrumentality of
man. Elisha “cast in” the salt.
2. In the redemption of a lost world, God has room for the energies of believing
men. “As ye go, preach.” “Sow beside all waters.” But God is the grand agent.
The power of the healing waters comes from the Great Physician. “The new cruse”
and “the salt” in it, both are God’s sufficient honour for poor sinful men to
be their administrators--let God be “All in All.” There was no mistaking the
result of the Divine interposition by the hand of Elisha in relation to the
bitter waters of Jericho. “Thus saith the Lord, there shall not be from thence any more death or
barren land.”
3. The figure is that of the Gospel again, both in its influence on
society at large and the individual believing heart. Put “the new cruse” and
“the salt” once really in, and a new heart leads to a new life, and the world
at large, once its springs are really touched, feels it through all its tributaries and
ramifications. What has Christianity not done for the social life of man? It
has abolished polygamy. It has put honour on the marriage tie. It has created
lazar-houses for the sick, and asylums for the penitent profligate. What has it
not done for the cause of civil liberty? It has struck the fetters from the
negro. It has proclaimed freedom of conscience. What has Christianity not done
for the commercial enterprise and the outward prosperity of the world? The
missionary is the pioneer of the merchant. (H. J. Howat.)
Cleansing the fountain
Elisha began his work as a leader of the church of his time by a
deed of mercy. Elisha made no claim that he had healed the waters himself, and
he did not pretend that there was any power in the salt to work the change. He
was simply God’s minister, and the salt was used simply as a symbol of God’s
presence in the cleansing of the fountain. We have in this cleansing of the
fountain suggested to us: that a man’s surroundings may be very pleasant, and
his temporal circumstances such as to cause the envy of his neighbours, and yet
his life may be embittered and his career utterly despoiled because of some
malady of the spirit that takes away his peace, and ruins his happiness. Elisha
assumed that it would be useless to change the water in the stream, for the
evil fountain left unchanged would continue to pour forth its poisoned waters.
So he went to the spring, and cast in the healing salt at the fountain-h cad. We
are reminded of the words of Jesus where He declares that “A good man, out of
the good treasure of heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil mare
out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the
abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” And again our Saviour says, “For
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies”: and He adds, “These are the things which
defile a man.” The poisonous stream of conduct is poured forth because the
heart is evil. It is one of Aristotle’s axioms that the goodness or badness of
anything is determined from its principle: hence it is that we call that a good
tree that hath a good root, that a good house that hath a good foundation, that
good money that is made of good metal, that good cloth that is made of good
wool; but a good man is not so called because he has good hands, a good head,
good words, a good voice, and all the lineaments of his body similar and
composed, as it were, in a geometrical symmetry, but because he has a good
heart, good affections, good principles of grace, whereby all his faculties,
both of body and of soul, are always in a readiness to do that which is right.
Plutarch tells us that Apollodorus dreamed one night that the Scythians took
him and tortured him, and as they were putting him to death in the boiling
cauldron, his heart said unto him, “It is I that have brought thee to this
sorrow; I am the cause of all the mischief that hath befallen thee.” And it is
certainly true that the heart of man is the forge and the anvil where all the
actions of his life are hammered out. You must give your whole heart to God and
obey Him in every way, or else all pretensions to religion are hypocrisy. The
secret of Christianity’s great power in the world is in this transformation of
the heart. Elisha made sure that the water in the stream would be clean and
pure, by cleansing the fountain. Christ makes sure that the new life of the man
who truly comes to Him shall be good, by cleansing the heart. (L. A. Banks,
D. D.)
Elisha healing the water, and the means he used
What a true picture is here delineated of things on earth! What a
living sample of its present state! Look where you will, go where you please,
there is something pleasant and something unpleasant. May we not hereby learn
how sin has defaced this fair creation, so that nowhere can perfection be seen.
And now, therefore, the Lord will bring good out of evil. He will make this
city a resting-place for his prophets.
I. In what part of
the waters did Elisha exert his power? It was the spring. This conveys a deep
spiritual truth. We can easily perceive that, had Elisha’s attention been
directed to the water only a few yards from the fountain-head, his labour would
have been for nought. As fast as he sweetened the running water, the bitter
fountain would still pour out its venom. But we do not so readily see and allow
that, except the corruption of human nature be attacked at the fountain-head,
the heart, all other remedial measures can only work a passing effect, since
the bitter stream of innate depravity will still run out.
II. The means
Elisha used. “And he said, Bring me a new cruse,” etc. Salt is a conspicuous
article in Scripture. It was a pledge of fidelity, and is so still in the East.
If you once cat salt with an Arab, his life is pledged for your life, Some few
grains of salt and bread pass the lips, and then the words are used--“By this
salt and bread I will not betray thee”; and in the Book of Chronicles we read--“The
Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David by a covenant of salt”
(2 Chronicles 13:5). Salt was also a
sign cf maintenance. Thus, in the Book of Ezra, the adversaries of Judah, in
stating their case to Artaxerxes the king, say, “Now because we have
maintenance from the king’s palace” (Ezra 4:14), which is literally, as
rendered in the margin, “because we are salted with the salt of the palace”--i.e.,
supported at the king’s charge. When a native of the East means to say he is
fed by any one, he uses the expression, “I eat such an one’s salt.” Salt was
also a constant accompaniment of the ceremonial law. “Every sacrifice shall be
salted with salt,” are the words of Jesus; and it is in this sense that we find
our Lord and His apostles using salt figuratively for grace, saying, “If the
salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? “ (Mark 9:49; Mark 9:1). Thus the means used by Elisha
to heal the waters point to another deep spiritual truth--they remind every one
of this inquiry, Have ye salt in yourselves? Is grace working in your heart,
“mortifying your evil and corrupt affections, and inclining you daily to
exercise all virtue and godliness of living”? But there is another feature in
the means here used which may convey a useful hint--they were contrary to
nature, contrary to any means that man would have employed to produce a like
effect. Salt, we know, renders water bitter and nauseous instead of sweet and
pleasant to drink, and naturally, therefore, the salt would have served but to
increase the brackishness of the fountain. The fact, then, of Elisha using a
remedy opposed to the effect wanted, not only went to make the miracle more
evident, more palpable, but it also confirmed a stumbling truth--namely, that
grace and nature are contrary the
one to the other--that the ways of God (so far as seen in this
fallen world) and the ways of man in curing an evil are altogether different;
both will use means, but the means which it pleases Jehovah to use are not
those which man would choose or even think of. “My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). Surely these opposites--these
unlikely means fetching a good end--are meant to teach us something. What can
it be? They were intended to humble man, and to bring him into submission to
the righteousness of God. “God chooses foolish things of the world,” or things
foolish in the world’s sight, to “confound the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). (G. L. Glyn.)
The pleasant and the painful
I. Life as it is.
That is, with the pleasant and the painful associated. Now, this is a picture
of every man’s life.
1. It is so materially. How much we have in this material world that
is pleasant to our senses, and healthful and strengthening to our bodies; but
amidst all there is the painful. There are malarial swamps, pestilential winds,
roaring earthquakes, and poisonous minerals and plants, etc. etc.
2. It is so intellectually. There is much in the region of intellect
that is pleasant--bubbling springs of thought, tempting regions of inquiry,
bright visions and hypotheses bespangling the heavens. But with all this there
is much that is painful--dense clouds of ignorance hanging over the scene,
hideous doubts howling in the ear, terrific chasms yawning at the feet.
3. It is so socially. How much in social life is pleasant--the
friendly grasps, the affectionate greetings, the sweet amenities of those with
whom we meet and mingle. But with all this there is much that is
painful--social unchastities, hypocrisies, frauds, insolences.
4. It is so religiously. The religious, where the idea of God fills the horizon,
there is the infinitely pleasant But in this wonderful region how much of the
painful do we experience, what temptation to doubt, what infidelity and
blasphemy often assail us, and bring over us the horror of a “great darkness”.
II. Life as it
might become. The painful and the pleasant separated. Elisha here separates the
painful from the pleasant. Two remarks here.
I. The separation
was a happy one. He did not take away the pleasant from the painful, but the
painful from the pleasant.
2. The separation was a supernatural one. “And he said, Bring me a
new cruse,” etc. The Gospel is the true” cruse” for separating the painful from
the pleasant in the experience of human life. Thank God for the pleasant in
your life. Seek earnestly that Gospel cruse whose salt alone can rid your life
of all that is deleterious and distressing. (Homilist.)
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el.
Elisha and the naughty children
;--
I. The event as
regards the transgressors. They were the children of a small town among the
hills, in one of the extremities of the land of Canaan, called Beth-el; the inhabitants
depended chiefly for their living upon their flocks of sheep and the produce of
the earth.
1. Wickedness arising from unexpected quarters. The children of
Beth-el.
2. That there is a great responsibility connected with a family.
Considering the tendencies of our nature to evil, and the bad examples around,
us, nothing but strong common, sense, strong parental love and the fear of God,
will enable parents to wash their hands from the blood of their offspring.
3. That neither age nor position exempts sin from being punished. The
bears destroyed forty-two children of Beth-el. Rich and poor, high and low, old
and young must be punished for their transgressions. God is no respecter of
persons.
II. The event as
regards the prophet.
1. It is dangerous to persecute God’s people. No weapon that is
formed against them shall prosper, whether it be the stocks or the burning
faggots, the Pope or the drunken vagabond. Seeing godly men in trouble, we
might think that God is angry with them, but that is a great mistake.
2. That religion does not deprive man of the right of self-defence.
Some people seem to think that a Christian must endure every species of
injustice without uttering a word of protest.
3. That the kindest nature when aroused is the fiercest. In reading
the history of the prophet we are struck with the generosity of his nature. (W.
Alonzo Griffiths.)
The tearing of forty and two children by two she-bears
Elisha had started for Beth-el on prophetic business. As he was
passing out of Jericho, he was followed by a crowd, not of innocent little
children, but probably of servant boys. The phrase here translated “little
children” was applied to himself by Solomon when he was twenty years of age (1 Kings 3:7); and by Jeremiah to
himself when he was old enough to enter upon the prophetic office (Jeremiah 1:6-7); and it was applied to
Joseph when he was at least seventy years of age (Genesis 37:2). These deriders were boys
old enough to know what they were about, and old enough to have respect for the
prophetic office. Probably they had had a pecuniary income from the business of
fetching water into Jericho, so long as the water in the city was bad. As soon
as Elisha healed the spring of the waters of the city, the occupation of these
lads was gone. They were enraged at that. They were more interested in their
pecuniary income than in the health of hundreds of citizens, old and young.
Their cry after Elisha was not disrespect for old age. They did not call him
“Bald-head.” He was not old. There is no evidence that he was baldheaded; but,
if so, those boys probably would not have known it, as there is no proof that
they ever had seen his uncovered head. He could have had no artificial
baldness. That was forbidden (Leviticus 21:5, Numbers 6:5). Because of the miracle of
the healing of the water, and the consequent loss to them of their gain, they
cried after him, “Go up, thou shaver! Go up, thou shaver! “It is to be remarked that he had performed
the miracle as the ambassador of Jehovah, and that when those boys cried out
after him they were insulting Jehovah. The prophet did not take it as a
personal offence He did not curse them in his own name. He cursed them in the
name of Jehovah; and ii they had not committed any great sin against Jehovah he
would never have visited them with so frightful a retribution. They,
themselves, were murderously selfish and impious. They watched the prophet’s
going out, and went out in a body for the purpose of insulting him as a prophet.
It was justice that visited their sins upon them, and it was so connected with
the miracle, that it seemed to be simply poetic justice, that whatever the
punishment of their sins should be, it should be manifest as being of a kind
with their sins. That is the principle which reigns throughout all intelligent
moral government. They desired the death of others that they might make money.
There is no lesson in this passage of respect for old age. There is no
exhibition of bad temper on the part of the prophet. There is nothing of
cruelty in the conduct of Jehovah. That God abhors selfishness, and that when
human selfishness sets itself in opposition to the movements of God’s unselfish
mercy and loving-kindness, then lie will administer to it a severe rebuke; this
is the lesson. Selfishness and irreverence are the sins against which this
narrative is levelled. If it be said that it is not likely that so many lads so
large as these would have been torn, as represented in the text, it may be
replied that she-bears, robbed of their whelps, are described as especially
ferocious; and that when these lads heard the malediction pronounced by a
prophet who had wrought the great miracle of cleansing the waters in their
town, and then saw immediately two ferocious bears rushing toward them, their
guilt and peril united to demoralise them, and while they were in this
condition so many of them were hurt. It is to be noted that not one of the
wicked boys is said to have lost his life. None perished, while many were
punished. The story, instead of setting forth Jehovah as a cruel deity,
actually presents him as a God who administers justice mercifully. (Sunday
Magazine.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》