After Elijah's departure there is nothing left behind but his prophet's mantle, which the Bible indicates was a garment made of hair. (2 Kings 1:8, Zechariah 13:4) Earlier in our study of the kings we found the Lord instructing Elijah to go and anoint Elisha as the successor to his ministry. Elisha, a young unmarried man still living at home, was plowing his father's fields when Elijah came along and threw his prophet's cloak around the younger man's shoulders. This symbolized the calling the Lord was placing upon Elisha's life. Elisha accepted the calling by leaving his family home and assisting Elijah in his ministry until the day Elijah was called up to heaven. But it was much easier to accept the Lord's calling while Elijah was still with him; now Elisha must decide whether he will take up Elijah's cloak and wear it from now on---which means he must also take up all the responsibilities and all the risks that come along with being the chief prophet of Israel.
After crying out in grief, "My father! My father!" when Elijah disappeared out of his sight, Elisha picks up the mantle and prepares to cross back over the Jordan River where fifty men of the company of prophets are waiting. "Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. 'Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over." (2 Kings 2:13-14) Elijah had used his cloak to strike the water so he and Elisha could cross the Jordan on dry ground. Now Elisha does the same thing, uttering words that ask, "Are You with me, Lord, as You were with Elijah?" As proof that the Lord is with him and will enable to do all that He will call him to do, the waters part for Elisha just as they did for Elijah.
I want to stop here to point out that it's easy for us to expect the Lord to do great things for others but it can be very difficult for us to expect the Lord to do great things for us. Why is that? Is it because we know ourselves (all our faults and failures) better than we know the faults and failures of others? Is it because we assume other believers are stronger in the faith than we are and less prone to making mistakes? I think it's very important for us to stop and consider that all the heroes and heroines of the Bible were ordinary human beings just like we are. For example, Jesus' brother James points out that Elijah was a mere human being, subject to all the doubts and fears and mistakes as anyone else, yet the Lord answered his prayers. (James 5:17-18) James wrote those words to encourage us that the Lord is a rewarder of faith. Elijah wasn't a perfect man. No man or woman on the pages of the Bible was perfect except the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord answered the prayers of these imperfect people because their prayers were made in faith. Elisha felt inadequate to fill Elijah's shoes and he wasn't certain he could do the types of things Elijah did but he had the faith to ask the Lord, in yesterday's study, to pour out a double blessing of the Spirit on him. Now he takes a step of faith by stepping toward the waters of the Jordan and striking them with the prophet's mantle to see what the Lord will do. The Lord provides the proof that He is with Elisha.
The prophets from Jericho witness this event and recognize that the Lord has given the same power to Elisha as his forerunner had. But they are reluctant to accept that they will see Elijah no more. "The company of prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, 'The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.' And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 'Look,' they said, 'we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.'" (2 Kings 2:15-16a)
These men saw the Lord take Elijah up into the clouds out of their sight but they don't want to believe they will never see him again in this lifetime. If you have ever lost a loved one then you know the sense of disbelief that can accompany such a loss. It can be incredibly difficult, at least at first, to accept that this is our new reality now. I think the loss of Elijah is made even more difficult for the prophets to accept because he did not die; he was simply taken up out of their sight. Earlier in Chapter 2 it was made clear to us that the prophets were aware this day was coming and when it was coming but now that the event has happened they are having trouble believing it. They are grasping at straws, saying, "Perhaps he wasn't really taken to heaven to stay. Maybe the Lord transported him to another location in Israel to perform some important miracle in His name. Let us go look for him!"
I've heard these men criticized in sermons for their lack of faith but I personally don't think they are suffering from a lack of faith. They are suffering from an abundance of grief. Elisha isn't the only person who looked up to Elijah as a father figure in the faith. Elisha may have been Elijah's closest friend but these other men were Elisha's friends too. They loved him and looked up to him as an example of how to live courageously for the Lord. I am sure that many times they sought his godly advice and encouragement. They can be excused for not wanting to accept that they won't see him again in this lifetime. It's not that they don't have the faith to believe that the Lord could take him up bodily to heaven to live forever. It's that they don't want Elijah to be gone from their lives.
Elisha knows that conducting a search for Elijah is fruitless and he tells the men not to do it. 'No,' Elisha replied, 'do not send them.'" (2 Kings 2:16b) This reminds me of the day my father passed away in the Veteran's Hospital in 1989. He had already coded and had been resuscitated twice that day. The third time he coded the doctors asked if we wanted them to take measures to resuscitate him again. My mother and my older sister (I was only nineteen at the time) both said no. And yet when the medical crew surrounding his bedside began walking over to us a few minutes later, my mom looked at me and said, "Maybe he's alright." But I knew they were walking over to tell us he had passed on. She just wasn't ready to accept that reality and that's understandable. I knew there was no reason to hope that my dad's heart had begun beating again on its own but my mom had to hear that from the doctors in order to believe it. Likewise, Elisha knows there's no point in going out to look for Elijah but the men are going to keep insisting until he gives his permission for them to go. He is at a loss as to how to convince them not to go so, not knowing what else to say, he gives permission. He realizes they are going to have to see for themselves that Elijah is nowhere to be found. Only then will they be able to accept that he is really gone from the earth.
"But they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, 'Send them.' And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, 'Didn't I tell you not to go?'" (2 Kings 2:17-18) The way this is worded it sounds like he's scolding them but I'm not sure that he is. I think he may be saying something like, "It is as I told you. He has gone to be with the Lord." It is time for Elisha and these men to get on with the Lord's work and they can't move forward unless they accept that they will not see Elijah again. The Lord has taken Elijah to heaven but He still has things for these men to do on earth.
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