And he took up the mantle of Elijah which fell from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan;
A whirlwind has taken Elijah up to heaven, and Elisha stands on the far bank of the Jordan holding a cloak that fell from the sky. What he does with it answers the obvious question: what carries on now that the great man is gone?
The cloak did not fall at random. One writer ties the gift directly to what Elisha's eyes had been doing.
Elijah's mantle fell down upon him, because his servant had seen him going up to heaven. Now this mantle belonged to Elisha. In the same way we shall always have the power of the Spirit with us, if we stay attached to Christ and our eyes follow Him on high.
Elijah went up without the cloak. Heaven had no use for it.
Earlier he had received the call to be a prophet, but he had held back, as though the honour were too great for him... But the training had done its work. His character was now formed, his heart had declared itself, and the moment had come to take hold of what he valued. Heaven, where Elijah had gone, could have no need of a prophet's mantle. It was for earth, and above all for service here.
One writer reads the cloak as a picture of the Spirit of God. The double portion, he says, shapes the kind of ministry that follows.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him. The mantle speaks of the Spirit of God, the same Spirit that had been on Elijah, but when passed on to Elisha there was a double portion involved. This speaks of the two-fold power of the Spirit of God, giving ministry to Elisha that added the truth of God's grace to the ministry of righteousness. So, "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)... Elijah being taken up also reminds us of Christ's ascension to glory. He has poured out His Spirit on the Church of God, so that we might be His representatives, bringing grace and truth to the world around us.
Just before he picks up the cloak, Elisha tears up his own clothes. One writer treats the two acts as one move.
Seeing Elijah go up to heaven leads Elisha to do two things. First, "he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces." This act means laying aside one character to display a character that is entirely new. The garment speaks of the practical righteousness of the saints, and of the character they show before the world. Elisha did not lay them aside to wear again on certain occasions. He tore them in two and made them useless for future wear. Second, "he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him." From now on he will display the character of the man that has gone to heaven.
Elisha does not stay on the far bank. He turns back toward the country he came from, and it is in a bad state.
It is outside this condition of things that Elisha is called in his day, before he is sent back into it as a witness and servant of Jehovah... A new order of things has opened up to him. A new scene has dawned on his eyes. He now has the power, the fitness and the equipment to go back to a people who have left Jehovah for Baalzebub — back to a place where the water is bad and the ground barren... Then he goes back to that ruined, blighted place. In the power of what he has received, he becomes someone who gives to it, spreading healing and blessing around.
He stops at the bank. The man who parted this river on the way out is gone. Elisha must cross back on a faith that is now his own.
God had taken His servant away, and Elisha stood alone, where no human help could do anything. No Elijah was there to part the waters for him on the way back. But he knows that if his master has gone, his master's God remains. So he cries to Him in his time of need. Until now the faith of Elijah had held him up. Now, in his hour of crisis, he must deal with God himself, and prove that the God who heard his master would hear him too.
- Seeing — the cloak fell to the man whose eyes followed his master up. Power stays with those who keep looking above.
- Receiving — the cloak pictures the Spirit. The double portion adds grace to a ministry marked by righteousness.
- Wearing — Elisha destroys the old clothes instead of storing them. The old character ends, and the character of the man in heaven shows instead.
- Returning — equipped, Elisha walks back to barren ground and bad water. There he becomes a source of healing and blessing.
- Standing — at the bank, borrowed faith runs out. From here Elisha deals with God himself, and finds that his master's God is still there.
and he took the mantle of Elijah which had fallen from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? He also smote the waters, and they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over.
Elijah has gone up in the whirlwind, and Elisha walks back down to the river alone, holding a cloak that is not his own. The question he shouts over the water is the hinge of the whole scene: will the God who acted for his master act for him?
The words sound like a complaint. They are the opposite.
The cry "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" was a cry of faith; it expressed confidence in the God of the man who had gone to heaven. Yet it was hardly the expression of a faith that had long known God in personal intimacy and communion. He called on Elijah's God; he was not yet able to say with Paul "my God" (Phil. 4:19). God heard his cry, even if it was in feeble faith; and the waters parted for Elisha to pass over the second time.
Elijah had opened this same river on the way out. Now nobody stands beside Elisha.
God had taken His servant away, and left Elisha alone where no human help could do anything. There was no Elijah to part the waters for him on the return journey. But he is conscious that if his master has gone, his master's God remains. It is to Him he cries in his time of need. Until now the faith of Elijah had supported him. Now, in his hour of crisis, he must have personal dealings with God. He must prove that the God who heard his master would hear him also.
Elijah struck the water in silence. Elisha strikes it with a spoken question.
He had the same resource as Elijah, shown in Elijah's cloak. When Elijah divided the waters there is no record of him speaking. But Elisha shows us that the power was in what the cloak signified, not in the cloak itself. As he struck the waters he said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And the same divine power that had divided the waters for Elijah divided them for Elisha.
The same lesson lands on anyone who has lost a leader they leaned on:
Elijah had gone, but God remained. What we all need is faith in the Unseen. … Men come and go, but God is always with His people. Let us not live in the past, complaining that the former days were better than these (Eccl. 7:10); rather let us take hold of God for today, sure that we shall find Him as good to us as He ever was to His saints in ages past.
Elisha had asked for a double portion of his master's spirit. The way he picked up the fallen cloak mattered.
"He took up the cloak of Elijah" — he did not merely fling it across his shoulders. Now it was his own. Now it was fully his own. Now there was the fullest confirmation of his place — and I say again, not merely as a judging prophet on earth, but of a prophet caught up who had gone to heaven. … And now came the test: did the double portion rest upon Elisha?
Before he picked anything up, Elisha destroyed something. The two garments make one act.
First, "he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces." That act means laying aside one character to display a character that is entirely new. This is because the garment speaks of the practical righteousness of the saints and the character they show before the world. Elisha did not set them aside to wear again on certain occasions. He made them useless for future wear by tearing them in two. Then, second, "he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him." From now on he will display the character of the man who has gone to heaven.
He goes over on the strength of another man's passage, not his own standing.
Elisha experiences the power of Elijah's name over death, not of his own name. … Israel of old had crossed the Jordan in the flesh, only to meet certain destruction. Elijah had crossed it to go up to heaven, and then to send Elisha back into the land of promise with his prophet's cloak and a double portion of his spirit. Elisha crosses the river because Elijah crossed — in the name of Elijah, and with Elijah's cloak. He struck the waters as Elijah's representative by the Spirit. Death is powerless before the power of the Spirit of life in Elisha.
- Alone. Another believer's faith can no longer carry him. Elisha must deal with God himself.
- Asking. His shouted question is faith, not doubt — real, though not yet mature enough to say "my God."
- Answered. God parts the water for feeble faith, because the power was in what the cloak signified, never in the cloth.
- Assured. The crossing is the test that proves the double portion rests on him.
- Appearance. Own clothes torn, master's cloak taken up — the man left on earth now displays the character of the man in heaven.