And it came to pass when Jehovah would take up Elijah into the heavens by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
Elijah's story ends with a journey, not a grave. This verse names both the One who decides that ending and the man walking beside him. Two questions sit here: why does God take His servant this way, and why does the road to heaven start at Gilgal?
Earlier in his life Elijah had asked God to let him die. God said no, and this verse shows what that answer was protecting.
Had Elijah received his request, how much he would have lost! How much better to be carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire than to be taken away in a fit of impatience! Elijah asked for the latter, but God gave him the former.
The same writer turns this into a general rule.
How truly blessed it is to let God take His own way in dealing with us! We are sure to suffer loss when we interfere with God's way of working. Yet it has always been man's tendency to interfere.
Elijah spent his last day walking, and the route was not random. Each stop recalled something God had done for Israel.
Though Elijah's public career is now over, his personal history on earth has yet to close, and that in a flood of glory... In these last hours he links himself personally, and by personal effort, with all those places in Israel that most recall God's ways with His people. Gilgal was where the reproach of Egypt was rolled off. Bethel was where Jacob saw the ladder of God reaching from earth to heaven. Jericho was where God would make His grace rise above all man's rebellion and evil. Last came Jordan, his point of departure. Crossing it recalled Israel's glorious entry into the land, and it also spoke of death, the end of man in the flesh.
The place Elijah starts from carries its own meaning.
Gilgal was the place where the people of Israel were circumcised. There the reproach of Egypt was rolled off them, and there death set them apart for the service of the Lord... That is why they had orders to return there after every conflict. So Gilgal is the true starting point for heaven, just as it is the place of power for the believer while waiting for the Lord.
The verse names two men, and the second is about to change roles.
The time is marked. It is when the Lord was about to take His servant up into heaven — the end, fruit, and reward of his hard-working path! Then, the prophet has Elisha as his companion. Until now Elisha had stayed out of sight, though Elijah had thrown his cloak over him. He had followed Elijah and served him, but his existence had been merged, so to speak, in that of his master. Now he appears more as Elijah's companion, for he was about to become prophet in his place.
Notice who receives the travel instructions in this chapter, and who does not.
The instructions to go forward to these different places were given to Elijah. No command was given to Elisha to go with him. If, then, he follows Elijah, it is entirely a question of affection. And the test draws out his affection, for three times Elisha replies, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you."
Elijah goes up; Elisha stays. That division shapes the ministry Elisha is about to begin.
The time had now come for Elijah to ascend to heaven, leaving Elisha behind to represent on earth the man who is taken to heaven. The starting point of Elisha's ministry is an ascended man. He is to be the witness on earth of the power and grace that can righteously put a man in heaven despite sin, death, and all the power of the enemy.
Elijah's exit from this world was unlike anyone else's.
We recall a moment when he sat under a broom tree, disappointed and depressed, and asked that he might die. Yet the God of all grace had planned for him a departure from this world such as no other has ever had, apart from the blessed Son of God alone. Enoch also was taken so that he would not see death — God took him — but nothing spectacular appears in the brief record of it. We — God's present saints — are expecting something far more wonderful than either Enoch or Elijah experienced. Not individually, but in a countless crowd, we shall be caught up.
- Timing — the verse begins with God's decision, not Elijah's; the man who once asked to die is carried up instead.
- Route — the road to heaven starts at Gilgal, where reproach was rolled away. It then runs on through Bethel, Jericho and Jordan.
- Companion — Elisha steps out of the background here, no longer just the servant but the next prophet.
- Affection — no order was given to Elisha to follow; he came because he would not leave his master.
- Result — Elijah goes up and Elisha stays, so that all his later service rests on a man already in heaven.
And Elijah said to Elisha, Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! So they went down to Bethel.
Elijah's last day on earth begins with a walk. He tells Elisha to stay behind — the first of three invitations to stop short. Elijah says the LORD has sent him as far as Bethel. Elisha treats that road as one he must stay on, and he swears an oath to say so.
Elisha drops out of the record after his call and reappears here, at the end. One writer reads the whole trip as God's way of equipping the man who will take over.
We hear nothing of Elisha from the time of his call, until the day when Elijah is taken up. This we can understand, since Elisha was anointed to be the prophet in the place of Elijah. The two ministries could not exist side by side. But when Elijah reaches the end of his road, Elisha comes to the front. He is the companion of that last journey and the witness of Elijah being taken up to heaven. Follow these men of God through these strange scenes. Does it not become clear that the events around Elijah's going up to heaven become Elisha's preparation for service on earth?
Elijah speaks his first "stay here" at Gilgal, a name loaded with meaning from Israel's history.
Gilgal, where their journey started, was Israel's first camp in the land after they crossed the Jordan. There the people were circumcised, and there the Lord could say to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." ... Not only has God dealt with the believer's sins, but at the cross God has dealt with the old man that produced the sins.
Another writer hears Elisha's refusal as a decision not to restart at the beginning:
Stay at Gilgal, the place of self-judgement, where the flesh is judged. Stay where God had rolled the reproach of Egypt away from the people. Begin the history of Israel over again. No, that would be to begin again a test that could not be passed. ... Elisha had found in Elijah everything Gilgal could offer him. In fact, when he later crosses back over the Jordan, Gilgal is no longer part of his route.
Bethel has its own history. It is where God made a promise to Jacob that sounds like Elisha's own words here.
At Bethel (Genesis 28, especially verse 15) God promises to keep Jacob safe wherever he went, and Jacob here pictures Israel. God promises to bring him back, and not to leave him until He has fulfilled the promises He made before. This name, Bethel, plays a great part in the word of God, as it recalls the eternal care of God for His people.
Elisha was never ordered to come. That is what makes his answer worth something.
Elijah tests his affections with the words he repeats three times: "Please stay here." The instructions to go on to these different places came to Elijah. No one commanded Elisha to go with him. So if he follows Elijah, it is a question of affection alone.
Elijah gives a reason for going on: the LORD has sent him. Elisha treats that reason as binding on himself too.
What sets him apart above all is this: he has left everything to follow his master. Elijah is his one object, the one source of blessing for his soul. Without Elijah, Elisha is nothing and wants to be nothing. ... "The LORD has sent me": this shows Elijah's obedience. But if Elijah obeys, should not Elisha follow him?
Why did Elijah keep telling him to stay? One writer weighs two answers and settles on one.
Did the departing prophet want to get rid of his companion? Or was he testing him, to see how far he entered into the circumstances of that moment? We believe he was testing him. ... His soul felt that blessing went with staying close to Elijah. He was determined not to miss it.
The road ahead led to grim places. Elisha's refusal at Gilgal sets the pattern for every later stop.
Elijah's journey leads to Bethel, the city of the golden calf, then to Jericho, the city of the curse, then to the Jordan, the river of death. Yet Elisha will follow in the power of love. So Ruth could say in an earlier day, "where you go I will go." And the twelve disciples could say the same later, when many turned back and no longer walked with Him: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Grace had drawn them after Christ, and love held them to Christ.
- Start — Gilgal stands for judgement on the flesh and the reproach of Egypt rolled away. That lesson begins the journey; it is not a place to stop.
- Invitation — "Please stay here" was no command to follow. What Elisha does next is affection, not duty.
- Destination — Bethel carries God's promise to Jacob: He would not leave him until He had kept every word.
- Persistence — Elisha follows a man who is under orders himself, and turns down the same offer three times.
- Result — He believed blessing lay in staying close. The day that took Elijah away became his training for service.
And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head to-day? And he said, I also know it be silent!
Elijah is about to be taken from the earth, and Elisha will not leave his side. At Bethel the sons of the prophets meet them with news Elisha already has, and his reply shows the gap between knowing and being ready.
The first thing to notice is where these men lived.
There were "sons of the prophets" in Bethel, and they clearly knew what was about to happen. They said to Elisha, "Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?" Bethel was full of idolatry. Even so, some there knew the Lord, the God of Israel, and had been taught a little of His ways.
Who were these men? One writer traces them to a human plan, not a command from God, and shows what such training produces.
Young men educated in this way would in time take their character from the education they had received. It would not come from the actual working of the Spirit of God in them. This has been one way of man's waywardness — to try to secure God's blessings by his own wisdom and prudence. If God gave a prophet, man would want this blessing in his own way. So he sets up an institution to supply prophets. God may bless such an institution, and He doubtless did under the teaching of Samuel, Elijah and Elisha. In their day people seem to have looked on these men as the heads of these institutions.
They had the facts right. God would take Elijah that very day. Yet their words showed something was missing.
These sons of the prophets were not prophets themselves. They were living on their fathers' reputation. Elisha knew their words were without the conviction of faith.
Their deeper trouble was where their confidence rested.
All our hearts lean so strongly toward glorying in man. When God takes a beloved servant off the scene, we tend to lose confidence in God. We doubt His wisdom in removing such a man, as if God Himself would be at a loss. We are always more ready to trust the creature than the living God. According to the sons of the prophets, "the Spirit of the Lord" might have made a mistake — perhaps taken Elijah up only to cast him down again! And if so, they had "fifty strong men" with them who would soon put matters right! It was all the more striking, because they knew of the coming removal, and they could speak of it to one who was far more in the secret than they were. How little value there is in mere knowledge! Knowledge can be given, gained, passed on — but faith and spirituality cannot be handed over like that.
Elisha does not deny what they say. He accepts it and asks them to stop. His reply is not rudeness but protection of something he does not want disturbed.
Twice men reminded Elisha that the Lord was about to take away his master. These sons of the prophets had more knowledge than heart. They would only hinder Elisha's communion with his master, by filling his mind with himself and his loss. Elisha silences these intrusions on his soul's communion by saying, "I know it; keep quiet."
Their question is a test: your master is going, so why keep walking? Elisha's answer is not an argument. It is a person.
And now the sons of the prophets are testing his faith. Will you go further, seeing that your master is going to be taken up from you? "I also know it: be silent." You cannot understand the motive behind what I am doing. It is he himself. It is his person that draws me and that is everything to me. To be separated from him for a moment would be to lose a blessing. I know that blessing only faintly as yet. I sense it with my heart more than with my understanding. But I am sure to have it if I do not leave him, for I know that he will reach it.
- Knowledge. The men at Bethel had the facts about Elijah's removal, and they said them out loud.
- Not faith. You can teach facts about God, inherit them and repeat them. You cannot hand your conviction to anyone else.
- Not company. Their news would have filled Elisha's mind with his coming loss instead of his last hours with Elijah. So he asked them to be quiet.
- Affection. Elisha kept walking because of the person beside him, not because he had worked out what the day would bring.
- The test. They kept fifty strong men ready in case something went wrong. Elisha kept walking beside Elijah, and that was enough for him.
And Elijah said to him, Elisha, abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they came to Jericho.
Elijah's last day on earth is a journey in stages: Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan. At each stage he tells his companion to stay behind. This verse is the second refusal. It asks what holds a servant to his master when no one has ordered him to follow.
Elijah is the one under orders; Elisha is not. That detail turns the "stay here" into a test, not a dismissal.
Each stage of this last journey reminds Elisha of great truths. More than that, Elijah tests his affections by words he repeats three times: "Please stay here." The instructions to go on to these different places came to Elijah. Elisha had no command to go with him. If then he follows Elijah it is wholly a question of affection. The test draws out his affection. Three times Elisha replies, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."
Elijah gives a reason for moving on, and that reason is obedience. One writer treats Elisha's answer as the reply that follows from it. Elisha has no source of blessing apart from the master he follows.
What distinguishes him above all is that he has left all to follow his master, his sole object, the sole source of blessing for his soul. Without Elijah, Elisha is nothing and wants to be nothing. Elijah above all is the one his affections centre on: "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you!" Elijah had said to him: "Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Bethel," then "to Jericho," then "to the Jordan." "The LORD has sent me" — this shows Elijah's obedience. But if Elijah obeys, should not Elisha follow him?
The two towns are not the same kind of place. Elijah asks Elisha to settle in a famous one while he himself walks toward a cursed one.
He told him to remain in Bethel, and Bethel was a place of great note in Israel. Jericho was a place — I will not say of note, but marked with a curse. God would not allow His curse to sleep any more than His blessing. But Elisha would go on with Elijah.
That curse was not ancient history. The same writer links it to the world where Elisha served.
The world in which Elisha is a witness to the grace of God is not only an unbelieving world; because of its unbelief it is a world under the curse. So it is fitting that Elisha's mission of grace starts at Jericho, the place of the curse. Joshua had said, "Cursed be the man before the LORD that rises up and builds this city of Jericho: he shall lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son." So it came to pass. In the days of Ahab a man arose who defied the LORD by building Jericho, and he lost his two sons "according to the word of the LORD that He spoke by Joshua."
Each stop on the journey carries a lesson. Who learns it depends on where the heart is set.
Only one whose mind and affection are set on another world can enter into God's judgment on the world system, pictured in Jericho.
The same oath answers the world when it offers a comfortable place to stop.
Jericho is a picture of the world, and its suggestions are subtle. The only safe and satisfactory reply is the one Elisha gave: "As the LORD lives, I will not leave you."
Why did Elijah keep offering him the chance to stay behind? One writer asks that question and answers it.
Did the departing prophet really want to get rid of his companion? Or was he testing him, to see how far he entered into the circumstances of that moment? We believe it was the latter... His soul felt that blessing went with staying at Elijah's side. He was determined not to miss that blessing. So "they two went on." Oh, that we clung to Christ with the same set purpose that Elisha clung to Elijah! Here is the secret of power for life and testimony.
- Follow. No one commanded Elisha to come. He chose every step past Bethel, so the journey tested his heart, not his obedience.
- Follow where. Elijah moved because the LORD had sent him. Elisha's reasoning was simple: if his master obeys, he goes too.
- Follow into the curse. The road led away from a place of great note toward a city God had condemned, and Elisha went anyway.
- Follow past the offer to stop. Jericho pictures the world. When the world invites you to settle, Elisha's repeated oath is the only safe reply.
- Follow to the end. He felt that blessing hung on staying with Elijah. Clinging to Christ with the same set purpose is the secret of power for life and testimony.
And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head to-day? And he said, I also know it be silent!
Elijah's last journey runs from Gilgal to Bethel and down to Jericho, and Elisha will not leave him. At Jericho a second group repeats news he has already heard, and he tells them to be quiet — why silence a true word about God's plan?
The men at Jericho say what the men at Bethel had already said. Their words are true, yet Elisha cuts them off.
The sons of the prophets at Jericho met Elisha with the same words as those at Bethel had done. Elisha answered as he had before, "Yes, I know it; keep quiet!" (v.5) If the sons of the prophets were speaking for God, Elisha would not have silenced them. But, as is true with many preachers today, they were only repeating what they had heard from someone else.
The news is not new to Elisha, and the conversation costs him something.
The sons of the prophets give their testimony to what is going to happen. But they only look on from a distance when the two prophets come near to the Jordan. Elisha knows it too, and he puts an end to the conversation. It added nothing to his knowledge of the mind of God, it disturbed the concentration of his thoughts, and so it tended instead to weaken the union of his soul with Elijah.
Elisha does not deny what they say. He knows it from another source, and he is bound to a person, not to a piece of news.
At Bethel and at Jericho the sons of the prophets say to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?" He replies, "Yes, I know it; keep quiet." The sons of the prophets cannot pass this knowledge to him. He is a prophet himself by a special divine order. But what sets him apart above all is this: he has left everything to follow his master. Elijah is his only object, the only source of blessing for his soul. Without Elijah, Elisha is nothing and wants to be nothing.
Jericho was no neutral stop on the road. Its history stood under a curse.
He goes to Jericho. It was there that the power of the enemy once barred the whole land against Israel. God had struck Jericho and pronounced a curse against it. Man had rebuilt it to his own destruction (1 Kings 16:34). Pleasant as its situation was, the curse of God still rested on it.
The curse is not the whole story of Jericho. The city also taught Israel who fights for them.
It was by Jericho that Joshua had the revelation of the Captain of the host of the Lord, with the drawn sword. At Jericho, too, the people first met the enemy that barred their entrance to the Land. There they learned that the Captain of the Lord's host was mightier than all the power of the enemy... It is good for the man who is going to witness before kings and face their murderous hatred to remember this: in fighting the Lord's battles, the Lord's host will support him, and the Captain of the host leads them.
Knowing a fact and trusting God are not the same thing. These men had the fact.
According to the sons of the prophets, "the Spirit of the LORD" might have made a mistake — perhaps have taken up Elijah only to throw him down again! And if so, they had fifty strong men with them who would soon put matters right! They knew about the coming removal, and they could speak of it to one far more in the secret than themselves. "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you? And he answered, Yes, I know it; keep quiet." How little value there is in mere knowledge! Knowledge can be given, gained and passed on. Faith and spirituality cannot be handed over in that way... Elisha had to clear himself of everything that rested on human strength and human knowledge. Both are misleading and disappointing.
- Repeated — The same message came at Bethel and at Jericho, second-hand both times. Elisha would not have silenced men who spoke for God.
- Received — His own knowledge came from God, not from them; he was a prophet by a special divine order.
- Refused — Their talk added nothing and disturbed his thoughts, weakening the union of his soul with Elijah.
- Rebuilt — Jericho was the city God had cursed, and man rebuilt it to his own destruction. It was also where the Captain of the Lord's host proved mightier than the enemy.
- Reality — Knowledge can be passed from person to person; faith cannot. The fifty strong men proved it.
And Elijah said to him, Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee! And they two went on.
Elijah is about to be taken from the earth. For the third time he tells his companion to stay behind, this time at Jericho, while he goes on to the Jordan. Elisha answers with the same oath he has already given twice. Why does Elijah keep offering him an exit, and why does Elisha keep refusing?
Three times on this journey Elijah told his servant to stay behind. Nothing forced Elisha forward; the marching orders were Elijah's, not his. That is what made the invitation a test:
Elisha is reminded of great truths at the different stages of this last journey. His affections are also put to the test by Elijah's words, repeated three times: "Please stay here." Elijah received the instructions to go forward to these different places. Elisha received no command to go with him. If then he follows Elijah it is wholly a question of affection. And the test draws out his affection, for three times Elisha replies, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."
Fereday raises the obvious question and answers it:
Did the departing prophet want to get rid of his companion? Or was he testing him, to see how far he entered into the circumstances of that moment? We believe it was the latter… His soul felt that blessing was tied to staying close to Elijah, and he was set on not missing the blessing.
The route was not random. Each place on it teaches something about God.
At Gilgal we learn the holiness of God that demands the judgment of the flesh. At Bethel, the unchanging grace of God which blesses us, keeps us, and secures to us the end of our journey. At Jericho, the mighty power of God that sustains us. And at Jordan, separation from the world so that we may enter heavenly ground.
One writer reads the stages of this chapter as a picture of Christ:
2 Kings 2:6. Jordan is death.
2 Kings 2:8. The power of death falls at the touch of the power of Christ.
2 Kings 2:9. After the victory Christ can distribute gifts.
One writer explains why this ending is good news for a believer:
The Jordan illustrates another step in Israel's relationship with God, for it speaks of death. Israel had passed through that river when the waters rolled back (Josh. 3:15-17). To learn the lesson of death rightly, we must come to see that it is a great blessing for the believer, for it brings him into the greatest joys possible.
Elisha does not argue; he swears. His answer is the language of a man whose mind is made up. Rossier puts words to the refusal at Jericho: any power to lift that city's curse lies in Elijah, not in Elisha.
Stay at Jericho, Elisha, says Elijah; as for me, I am sent further. No, could I ever feel the curse hanging over this city more than you? Since you, my lord and master, do not remedy this today, could I remedy it myself? For that I should have to have a personal power, and that I have only in you.
At the Jordan the pattern breaks. Elijah stops asking, and the verse ends with the two of them going on:
"The LORD has sent me to the Jordan." Here there is no more summons to stay. Elijah takes Elisha with him. He leads him through the river of death in the power of the Spirit, which death cannot resist, in the triumphant power of a life that death cannot swallow up… "They two went on." "They two stood by the Jordan." "They two went over on dry ground." Elijah does not go over for himself alone, but to let Elisha pass over with him.
Turpin points out who does the carrying — and when the talking starts:
Elijah first of all carries Elisha, in the power that belonged to himself, across Jordan… Now every child of God has been carried over Jordan in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His power — of course I mean in position. If you are a Christian, you are over Jordan. He has carried you over. And note that they say nothing to each other until they are across the river.
- Tested — no one commanded Elisha to come. Three times Elijah offered him an honourable stop, so every step forward was pure affection.
- Trained — the road itself taught him. Gilgal spoke of holiness, Bethel of unchanging grace, Jericho of sustaining power, and Jordan of separation from the world.
- Sworn — his answer was an oath, not a preference. He would not stay in the cursed city, because any power to lift that curse lay in his master, not in himself.
- Taken — at the river the invitations to stay stop. Elijah crosses not for himself alone, but so that Elisha may cross with him.
- Rewarded — only on the far side do the two men speak. Death is where the power of Christ wins, and after that victory He gives gifts.
And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite afar off; and they two stood by the Jordan.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither; and they two went over on dry ground.
Elijah's last journey ends at the Jordan, and the river opens a dry path for two men. Commentators read this short verse as the moment death itself gives way, and they differ on whose death the picture holds.
The cloak is an ordinary garment used as an instrument. What it touches is a river; what gives way is something larger, and writers connect the cloak with the Spirit of God.
When they arrived at Jordan, Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water with it (v.8). Amazingly, the waters divided, so that the two of them walked over on dry ground. So the power of death gave way to a higher power. The cloak speaks of the Spirit of God, by whom the believer triumphs over death through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:54-57).
Another writer sums the same thought up in two lines:
2 Kings 2:6. Jordan is death. 2 Kings 2:8. The power of death falls at the touch of the power of Christ.
Israel once crossed this river going in. Elijah crosses going out, and he never comes back.
It was about six hundred years after Israel crossed the Jordan that Elijah stood at the same river with Elisha. But his crossing was out of the land of promise, which had become corrupt through idolatry, to another land which could never be corrupted. The dark, cold waters of death were before him... The same divine power that had made a way for Israel so long before now made a way for God's servant. He passed through the waters of death in figure, but only in figure. On reaching the other side he was taken up to heaven without seeing death.
Scripture holds three great partings of water. Writers keep the three apart.
This is not a figure of Christ's death and resurrection for us, as at the Red Sea. Nor is it our death and resurrection with Christ, as at Israel's crossing of the Jordan. It is the personal triumph of Christ in His death and resurrection. He passed through death so that He might enter heaven when His work on earth was done.
The verse insists twice on the pair. Elijah does not open the river for himself.
Elijah takes Elisha with him. He leads him through the river of death in the power of the Spirit, which death cannot resist, in the triumphant power of a life that death cannot swallow up. A cloak belonging to Elijah is able to do these things... "The two of them went on." "The two of them stood by the Jordan." "The two of them went over on dry ground." Elijah does not go over for himself alone. He goes over to let Elisha pass over with him. Elisha, this second self of Elijah's, will come out of death with him, and will then return in deliverance for Israel!
Elisha adds nothing to the crossing. One writer turns that into an application for every Christian:
Elijah first of all carries Elisha, in the power that belonged to himself, across Jordan. He took his cloak and struck the water, and he carries Elisha over with him. Now every child of God has been carried over Jordan, in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and by His power. Of course I mean in terms of position. If you are a Christian, you are over Jordan. He has carried you over. And note that it is not until they are across the river that any communication takes place between them.
Fifty men from the prophets' company were near enough to see the water part. They stayed on the bank.
They had a measure of knowledge, for they knew when the moment had come for Elijah to be caught up to heaven, but they had no heart to follow in that last journey. They stood to view "afar off"; they watched the prophet go down to Jordan, they never, like Elisha, went through Jordan. They never walked and talked with Elijah beyond Jordan. They never beheld the chariot of fire, and horses of fire, nor did they see the prophet caught up to heaven by a whirlwind.
Each stop on the journey — Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan — trained Elisha for what came next. The river taught the last and hardest lesson:
At Jordan we are to learn separation from the world, so that we may enter heavenly ground. There we become witnesses of a heavenly life that sets forth the grace of God.
- Struck — a rolled-up cloak hits the water, and death's power gives way to a higher power. The cloak stands for the Spirit of God.
- Opened — the river that once let Israel in now lets Elijah out. He passes through death in figure only, and God takes him to heaven without dying.
- Distinct — this crossing is not the Red Sea, and not Israel's Jordan. It pictures Christ's own triumph: He passed through death to enter heaven, His work on earth done.
- Shared — Elijah opens the water for two, not one. Christ carries the believer over by a power not his own.
- Missed — the men on the bank had knowledge but no heart to follow, so they saw the parting and nothing beyond it.
And it came to pass when they had gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Elijah's last journey ends beyond the Jordan. There he turns to the man who refused to leave him and offers him anything he asks. What Elisha asks shows what he has become — and the words "double portion" are often misread.
Elijah does not put the question earlier in the journey. He waits until they cross the river — the place of death.
Arrived on the other side of Jordan, outside the land, all is at once changed. Not until then does Elijah say, "Ask what I shall do for you." Grace puts all the power of a risen man at the disposal of Elisha. Death has opened the way for the outflow of sovereign grace. How little we realize the profound fact that all the grace and power of the risen Christ are at our disposal. What an opportunity for Elisha! He has only to ask and he will receive. His faith rises above anything the natural heart might want, and at once he asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He realizes that if he is to remain on earth in Elijah's place, he will need the spirit of Elijah.
An open offer exposes the one who receives it. A single sentence was about to reveal everything Elisha had learned on that road.
The parting moment has come. Elijah is about to be caught up to heaven. Elisha will lose his master and stay behind in a nation turning away from God — a nation that was once the Lord's people. In this solemn moment Elijah speaks his final word, "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you." Could Elijah have made this offer before? Is it not, as it were, the supreme test for Elisha? Will the answer show whether Elisha has entered into the spirit of his call? Will it show what Elisha has before him — earthly gain, selfish ambition, and worldly power? Or is his one purpose from now on to stand in the prophet's place?
The phrase does not mean twice the power his master had.
Not a double portion compared with Elijah's, but a double portion compared with any other as a successor of Elijah. A double portion was the firstborn's portion. He asked for this, for the firstborn's portion.
The eldest son's larger share was not a luxury. It equipped him to stand in his father's place.
The "double portion" was the firstborn's share (Deuteronomy 21:15-17). It made him able to represent the dead father well, and to keep up the honour of his name. All in the Church are firstborn ones (Hebrews 12:23). God gives them blessings that believers in earlier ages never knew. Nothing could be richer than the portion we have in the risen Christ — that "better thing" which God has "provided for us" (Hebrews 11:16). By the power of the Spirit we come to enjoy it. So we are made fit to represent the absent Christ well in the place where He was rejected.
Elisha's answer matches another man who was told to name what he wanted.
This reminds me of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1. Solomon had shown that he was taking his throne in the right spirit. Then God appears to him and says, "Ask what I shall give you." Elisha's answer to Elijah is like Solomon's answer to God. Solomon does not ask for the life of his enemies, nor for riches and honours for himself. He asks for wisdom to carry out the service given to him over the Lord's people.
Read this way, the verse stops being history and becomes an examination.
Let me ask you a question. Suppose the Lord Jesus were about to leave this world. Suppose He said to you tonight, "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you." What answer would you give? Remember: whatever you asked for, whatever kind of thing you asked, it would show plainly what your heart is set on. Your request would declare what was in your heart. Our prayers show the real state of our souls more than anything else — even more than our conversation. A heart that is truly loyal to Him has one ruling desire: "I want to represent You on this earth." That was what Elisha asked for.
- Death first. Elijah makes the offer only after they cross the Jordan; death opens the way for such grace to flow out.
- Test. "Ask what I shall do for you" is a test of the heart, exposing whether Elisha wanted earthly gain or his master's place.
- Firstborn. The "double portion" is the eldest son's share. It is measured against other possible successors, not against Elijah himself.
- Representation. That share let the heir represent his father well; Elisha wanted it so he could represent the man going to heaven.
- Us. All in the Church are firstborn ones, and the Spirit fits them to represent an absent Christ in the place where He was rejected.
And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be [so].
Elijah answers his servant Elisha with a warning and a condition. The request is hard, and it all turns on one thing — will Elisha see him go?
Elijah does not refuse. He compares it with what people usually chase after:
Elijah replies, "You have asked a hard thing." To gain riches, fame, and worldly power may bring hard work and frustration of spirit. But they are not "hard" things. Men of the world can get these material advantages. To get spiritual power, or to give it, is entirely outside what the natural man can do. Still, says Elijah, "if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so." Elisha will get the double portion of spiritual power only if he sees Elijah in his new position as the ascended man. The sight of Elijah in heaven will be the secret of Elisha's power on earth.
The closing words carry as much weight as the promise:
"You have asked a hard thing!" — spiritual power is not easy to get. "If you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you": so there was a way to get spiritual strength. "...but if you do not see me, it shall not be so" — there was no other way to get spiritual strength.
The phrase is easy to misread as twice Elijah's power. It comes from inheritance law:
"Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me." Not a double portion compared with Elijah's own. It is a double portion compared with any other successor of Elijah. A double portion was the firstborn's portion. He asked for this, for the firstborn's portion.
What Elisha wanted was not just a copy of his master:
He wanted to inherit the zeal for God and righteousness that had filled and marked his master. But he wanted it with a spirit of grace that Elijah had perhaps lacked. The "double portion" rested upon Elisha. Men might wonder at the change that came over him, but it was a secret between God and his soul.
Elijah's condition is simple:
Nothing can be more simple; it is, "If you see me taken." We do not read that Elisha ever saw him more than the once. On the contrary, it says, "He saw him no more." But he saw him taken, and that is the point. Show me the ruler of this world who could say to his subject, "If you see me in a certain position, I will give you something of myself." That is what we have here.
One writer sees the same secret in the first Christians:
Do we not know that faith's vision of Christ in the glory is the secret of power for the Christian on earth? Was it not strikingly so in the case of the first Christian martyr? Looking steadily into heaven he could say, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." That vision filled Stephen with power from on high. So, like his Master, he can pray for his murderers. While the stones fall, he quietly commits his spirit to the Lord Jesus. So too the Apostle of the Gentiles begins his Christian life with the sight of Christ in the glory.
The picture points forward to Christ:
Elijah spoke with authority. At this point he is a picture of the risen Christ, who has boundless blessings to give to His own. Faith now sees Christ risen and glorified... Elisha did see his master taken up, and received his mantle as it came down on him. The risen Christ has sent down to us the Holy Spirit.
Wanting the gift was not enough. Elisha also had to keep his eyes open:
Watchfulness was also necessary so that he might not lose sight of the prophet at the moment of his departure. "They went on and talked," apparently busy with various subjects, but Elisha's eye kept only one object in view. He could be interested in all the things the rich heart of his master was telling him, but his eye was undivided. He just did not want to miss that solemn moment. We are not called, as Elisha and the first disciples were, to see Jesus going up into heaven in the cloud. But should we not have the same attitude toward His coming as they had toward His departure?
- Hard, not impossible. Anyone can reach money and fame. No natural man can get spiritual power, or give it. That is why Elijah calls the request hard.
- Firstborn's portion. The double portion is the eldest son's share, not twice Elijah's power. It marks Elisha out from any other successor.
- One condition, one channel. See Elijah go, and the gift is yours. Miss it, and there is no other way to spiritual strength.
- Sight before service. Seeing the ascended man is the secret of Elisha's power on earth. Stephen and Paul began the same way.
- A single eye, mid-conversation. Elisha walked and talked yet never let his master out of view; the gift went to the man who did not look away.
And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens.
Elijah does not die. Fire comes between him and Elisha, and a whirlwind takes him up. Commentators ask three things here. What does the fiery chariot mean? Why did God give Elijah this exit? And what did Elisha gain by watching?
The fire is not decoration. The Christian's Friend reads it through Psalm 68, quoting an older translation that counts God's chariots as thousands of angels.
"The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels" (Psalm 68:17). So we may conclude that the chariot and the horses of fire are the expression of angelic power. The psalm adds, "The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." So we may also gather that the Lord Himself was in the middle of this display of His power. We may be the surer of this because Scripture often uses the whirlwind as a symbol of His presence, though in judgment. The fire also speaks of judgment. The holiness of God must always look like judgment to His people when they are not walking in His ways. Yet that same holiness is their eternal security and blessedness.
The way he left matched the man. William Kelly points out that heaven is not a place of fire — so the sight marked a turning point for Elisha.
Elijah was in fact a man with a heart and tongue of fire, if I may say so. All his ministry had that character — consuming and judicial, of all men most unsparing. But God let Elisha see him caught up in a chariot of fire, with horses of fire, and with a whirlwind mounting up to heaven. That makes this new starting point of Elisha's important. For heaven is not the place of fire. God's consuming judgments may break out there at times. But heaven, I repeat, is usually not the place of fire. It is the place of love, of peace, of divine glory, of rest and peace, unbroken by sin. And so Elisha was to have his ministry marked by these very qualities.
Elijah had once asked God to take his life. C. H. Mackintosh sets that prayer beside what God actually did.
Had Elijah received his request, how much he would have lost! How much better to be carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire than to be taken away in a fit of impatience! Elijah asked for the latter, but God gave him the former.
Elisha was carrying a promise from his master. J. G. Bellett notes that the walk and the talk never pulled his eye away.
All the time the eyes of Elisha were open. His heart was on the word of his master. He had hidden the promise there, and though he keeps moving on, there is no distraction. The walk and the talk, the circumstances of the journey, had not disturbed his spirit or turned aside his eye. So when the horses and chariot appeared, and Elijah was about to be carried up to heaven, Elisha's eye was on them. He saw his master going up, and got the mantle.
The double portion had a purpose: the work still waiting in Israel.
His past history was closed, so to speak, when his master left. Along with Elijah's mantle he received, as promised, a double portion of his spirit. That was his equipment for the new service he was to carry on among the people of Israel, in the power of resurrection and grace.
A chariot carried Elijah. H. L. Rossier contrasts that with the way Christ went up.
This chariot and these horses of fire were angels (2 Kings 6:17). Their look matched Elijah's character, since as a prophet of the law he had acted by the fire of judgment in Israel. It was not at all like this when the Saviour ascended. He needed no angelic escort to serve Him or to carry Him into heaven. He went up by His own power, having been declared Son of God in power by resurrection. A cloud, the dwelling place of the divine glory, received Him at once and carried Him up from before the eyes of His disciples (Acts 1:9).
Elijah left the world without dying. William Kelly sets him beside Enoch, and reads both as advance signs.
Enoch and Elijah both lived in times of great and growing wickedness. Both were prophets of judgment that would not sleep. God took both of them on high without death. This was a witness of the great taking up that will be the portion of all the living saints who remain. The Lord Himself will descend for them from heaven, and they will be caught up together with the dead saints, raised to meet the Lord in the air.
- Prayer — Elijah once asked to be taken away in a fit of impatience; God gave him a chariot of fire instead.
- Presence — the fire and whirlwind speak of angelic power, with the Lord Himself in the middle of it; the fire means judgment, yet God's holiness is His people's safety.
- Character — fire matched Elijah, the prophet of judgment; but heaven is a place of love and peace, and Elisha's ministry took those marks instead.
- Sight — Elisha's eye never wandered from his master; he saw him go, and received the mantle and the promised double portion.
- Preview — Elijah and Enoch left without dying, a sign of living saints caught up to meet the Lord; yet a chariot carried Elijah, while Christ went up by His own power.
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. Then he took hold of his own garments and rent them in two pieces.
Elijah goes up to heaven, and Elisha stands alone. His cry names what he sees, and his torn clothes answer it. Commentators differ over whether the title he shouts belongs to the heavenly power that took Elijah, or to Elijah himself.
Elisha's part in this scene is that he looks and sees. One writer treats that sight as a picture of what gives a Christian strength on earth:
Do we not know that faith's vision of Christ in the glory is the secret of power for the Christian on earth? Was it not strikingly so in the case of the first Christian martyr? Looking up steadily into heaven he could say, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." In the light of that vision Stephen was so filled with power from on high that, like his Master, he could pray for his murderers. While the stones were falling, he calmly committed his spirit to the Lord Jesus.
Some take the words as Elisha's reading of what carried Elijah up. On this view he sees, in that angelic power, the same power that will one day rescue his nation:
My impression about "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen" is that Elisha's faith connects the chariots of God with Israel. That is why he calls them the chariots of Israel. As a prophet he looks at the angelic power that was taking Elijah up, and sees in it the deliverance of Israel by that same power. For us it is the power that worked in Christ when God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.
Others hear the cry as spoken about Elijah. One man was worth more to the nation than its horses and riders, and the nation could not see it:
He felt that the people of God had lost their surest defence, although the people themselves were too blind to understand it. In the same way the saints are today the world's most precious asset, whether people see it or not.
The verse records a double fact: Elisha saw him go, and then saw him no longer. One writer draws a line between the two: what ended was only the sight on earth.
He sees him in the heavens to which he had ascended, but on earth he sees him no more. Has this no voice for the Christian? Does not the Apostle say, "Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer"? These words in no way mean that we should stop considering Christ in His path through this world. We are still to learn from Him, and to delight our souls in His lowly grace, His tender love, and infinite holiness. They plainly tell us, however, that we are no longer to know Him in connection with Israel and this world.
Elisha does not simply take off his old clothes. He tears them, so that they can never serve him again:
Elisha tears his own garments in two. They will serve him no longer, for he now has Elijah's mantle, the double portion of his spirit. It is in this power that he will walk among the people of Israel. May it be the same with us! May we tear up our old garment after having put on Christ, so that we may present Him in testimony to the world!
Years later a king of Israel wept over the dying Elisha and used the same words. One writer draws out what they meant then:
Joash comes down, weeps over Elisha's face, and says, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" — the same words Elisha himself had used when he saw the prophet going up to heaven. That is, he acknowledged him to be the strength of Israel. What makes it so moving is that Elisha was dying; all natural vigour was leaving him. Elisha had acknowledged that the strength of Israel was not in horses or chariots, but that he himself was their strength. In the same way Joash the king of Israel now acknowledges the dying Elisha, and God confirms the word.
- Sight. Elisha saw Elijah go. That sight is what makes everything else in the verse possible.
- Power. A sight in heaven becomes strength on earth. Stephen saw the Son of Man at God's right hand, and prayed for his killers while the stones fell.
- Defence. The cry names Israel's real protection. Commentators differ on whether it points to the angelic chariots or to Elijah himself. Both readings agree on one thing: Israel's safety never lay in its own horses and riders.
- Loss. He saw him no more. The tie on earth is gone, not the person. Elijah is still known, but now in heaven.
- Tearing. Elisha could never wear those clothes again. He ends the old life at the same moment he receives the new power, and writers apply this to Christians who have put on Christ.