What does it mean to receive a double portion?

In response to Elijah’s invitation to ask what he would, Elisha answered, “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” Here, then, Elisha reveals himself, discloses all his soul’s history, expresses the secret of his heart.

“A double portion!” What can that mean? Deuteronomy 21:15-17 explains the expression. Suppose a man had three sons. He would divide his possessions into four portions, giving single portions to the younger sons, and a double portion to the eldest, as the right of the firstborn.”

Now they come to Jordan. "As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men, the sons of the prophets, went and stood afar off." They did not go on; they were arrested by the difficulties; but "they two," the two that were as one, so to speak, stood by Jordan. "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. And it came to pass when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee." They had gone down through the great and well-known sign of death — not now passing through death to enter into the land, but passing through death for one of them at least. And this becomes an epoch that gives its proper character to the prophet. He was right. Not merely his own mind, but a spiritual instinct of the Holy Ghost gave him to look for a higher degree still. He goes on, and now he is on the very eve of it. Elijah puts the question, "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." Not a double portion as compared with Elijah's, but a double portion as 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. "And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing, nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so."

Very blessedly Elisha's answer discloses his single-hearted devotedness. He asks for neither long life, nor earthly riches, nor worldly fame. He covets none of those things the natural man values, but rather that which the spiritual man needs; for he says, "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." This by no means implies that he asks for twice as much gift, or power, as Elijah possessed. The Hebrew word implies the double portion of the elder son (Deut. 21:17). Only Elisha asks not for a double portion of material wealth, but for a double portion of spiritual power. Other prophets will need spiritual power, but, if Elisha is anointed to take the place of Elijah — to be in his room — then, indeed, he will require a spiritual power twice as much as that of any other prophet.

In Israel, or under the law, the birthright carried the double portion. The firstborn was to have a double share of the father's goods; and the law enjoined that this should be his by an indefeasible title, a title that was not to be challenged. The double portion was not to be given to any other child of the family on any ground of personal affection or partiality whatever. Deut. 21:15-17.

Jordan being passed, Elisha's great opportunity came. "Ask what I shall do for thee," said his master, "before I be taken away from thee." Like Solomon at an earlier date (1 Kings 3:5), his purpose of heart expressed itself in his reply. "I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." The "double portion" was the portion of the firstborn (Deut. 21:15-17), whereby he was enabled to worthily represent the dead, and maintain the honour of his name. All in the Church are firstborn ones (Heb. 12:23), and as such are endowed with blessings such as saints in former dispensations never knew. Nothing could exceed the wealthy portion which is ours in the risen Christ, that "better thing" which God has "provided for us" (Heb. 11:16). By the power of the Spirit we are enabled to enter into the realisation of it, and so become fitted to worthily represent the absent Christ in the scene of His rejection.

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 thee." 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. Alas! 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 to obtain. Does he ask for long life, or wealth, or power, or wisdom? Ah! no; his faith rising above all that the natural heart might covet, at once asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He realizes that if he is to remain on earth in the place of Elijah, he will need the spirit of Elijah. Does not this scene carry our thoughts to the Upper Room of John 14? The Lord was about to leave His disciples and ascend to glory, and though He does not say, "Ask what I shall do for thee," yet He says, as it were, "I will make a request for you." "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter that He may abide with you for ever." How slow we are to realize that a divine Person has gone up to heaven and a divine Person has come down from heaven to dwell in believers. And the Person who has come down is as great as the Person who has gone up. If we are left on this earth to be descriptive of Christ as the exalted Man, we shall need, as one has said, "a power commensurate with Himself."

Now the first thing I desire to notice in the portion I have read is this, and I beg you to mark it well, that Elijah first of all carries Elisha, in the power that belonged to himself, across Jordan. He took his mantle and smote the waters, and he carries Elisha over with him. Now every child of God has been, in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His power, carried over Jordan; of course I mean positionally. 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. When they get over Jordan, Elijah says, as it were, "You are about to be left without me. You will have to be alone in this world; you can no longer have me, or count upon my wing to protect you. You have hitherto had my sustainment, my presence, personally with you; but now you can have it no more; and before I depart ask what I shall do for thee!" Elisha's reply is, "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." And Elijah said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee." Now there you have what I wish to speak about; that is, power. What Elisha wanted, and what he asked for, was power, in order that he might be a true representative of the one who was absent; and this is what the true saint of God desires; it is the longing of all who are devoted to Christ. He does not say, "I want to get all the blessing I can — heaven secured, and everything in the future made good — taking no thought about the present." This is not true-heartedness for Christ; it is not loyalty and affection for Him. A person who, as it were, says, "I am very glad to take all the blessings, all the good of Christ's death, all the advantages that flow to me from what He has done: I shall be in heaven with Christ, in glory with Him; but as to this world He does not expect me to do anything save the best I can" — such an one has no loyalty, or devotedness, or true-heartedness, to His rejected Lord. True-heartedness, on the contrary, says, "I delight that He has brought me into all the blessings, but at the same time my heart longs to be for Him here, and all the more so because there was nothing for Him here but rejection." Is it not a wonderful thing to think that before the blessed Lord takes His throne in this world — for He has no throne in it yet, though He will have — He condescends to take a throne in our poor hearts; and the one who is really loyal to Him delights to say, — Before He has His throne here I will give Him the throne of my heart. I delight in my affections to antedate the day when He will sway that sovereignty over the whole universe. I delight He should do it in my heart now — that Christ should be Lord of every motion there, the sovereign of my heart; that there should not be a single motion — wonderful though it be to say it — not a single motion of which He is not the spring, and source, and satisfaction. Thus it is the heart longs to represent Him here. It knows He has sent us here to be for Him, and it wants to be in his mind as to this; it longs thus practically to be the friend of Christ. Now this is true loyalty to the Lord Jesus. Of course it is at best in a poor, feeble way; but still, no matter how feeble it is, what He looks at is the heart. Remember there may be a great deal of show and profession that has no reality in it; but if He sees that at cost, and loss, and trial, we place all we have on one side, in order that we may truly represent Him in this world, it delights His heart. It was this Elisha wanted, and asked for. He asked for nothing else — not for usefulness, not that he might be the great benefactor of his age, or some wonderful person that all would look up to, and record him as the means of blessing to hundreds and thousands of his fellow-creatures. Not a word of it; it was something infinitely beyond that, and it was expressed just in these simple words "I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." And the reply is as simple; viz., "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." Now the very thing we require for that is power, as I have already said. Therefore, when we come to the doctrine in the New Testament, we find that when the Lord Jesus Christ went away from this world the Holy Ghost came down. It is extremely interesting, as well as important for us, to look at the order of this in Acts 1. There you will find that the word "taken," which is used here in 2 Kings — "if you see me taken" — occurs no less than four times, and that in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ going up. "He was taken" — that is the thought running all through that chapter. Afterwards the Holy Ghost came down. Christ being taken up, the Holy Spirit descended. So Elijah being taken, his mantle descended upon Elisha.

I should like to ask this question: If the Lord Jesus were to say to us this evening, on the eve of His departure out of this world (supposing that He had not as yet left it, and that we had been the companions, as His disciples were, of His blessed path down here) — "Ask what I shall do for you, before I be taken from you;" what answer would you give? I desire solemnly to exercise every heart here as to this. Because, remember well that whatever would be your request, whatever the nature of your petition, so would be indicated distinctly the object of your heart. Your request would declare what was in your heart; and hence it is that our prayers are the expression of the real state of our souls more than anything else, even than our conversation. What is really in our hearts, whatever is the commanding object of our affections, that which sways us, comes out more in prayer than we might suppose. If, then, you can put yourselves in this place for a moment, just reflect, if the Lord Jesus were to put that question to you now — "Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee" — what would you ask? You can see that it is a solemn question. I ask you, What is the dearest and nearest thing to your hearts? This scripture I have read will answer the question as to what we should ask if Christ were all to us. The one commanding desire of a heart that is really loyal to Him would be this — "I want to represent you on this earth." That was the nature of Elisha's request; and it would be the nature of the request of every heart in this company that was really true to Christ. If you were really true and devoted, if you really loved the Lord Jesus — I do not mean with natural affection, that is not worth anything — but if you loved Him divinely, if you had divine affection for Christ, if you had affection by the Holy Ghost in the new man for Christ, the one ruling desire in your heart would be — "Lord Jesus, my desire is to represent you when you are not in this world." That was Elisha's desire respecting Elijah, as can be seen in this chapter before us.

Elijah, as you know, was on the eve of being taken, and he was about to leave Elisha behind him. Elisha was attached to Elijah — would not leave him. He said, in effect, "I will not leave you. As long as you are here, I will cling to you." "Well," Elijah says, "I am about to be taken from you; what then?" "Then," said Elisha, as it were, "when I cannot have you, let me represent you." It is a wonderful thing to think of it: "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me;" meaning not simply double in the ordinary sense of quantity, but as if he had said — "The desire of my heart is, that when you are removed you may still be here in me." That, I believe, is the thought, beloved friends — That I may represent you so distinctly, that it will be, as it were, a reproduction on this earth of the absent one. That is what I desire; the one thought and longing of my heart.

2 Kings 2:9. "A double portion" is an allusion to the share of a first-born or eldest heir. Thus, in Gen. 48:22, Israel says to Joseph (who got the birthright of Reuben, 1 Chr. 5:1-2), "I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren." Deut. 21:17 may also be compared, where a similar Hebrew phrase occurs, and the sense beyond question is a double portion in comparison with what might fall to other heirs. Hence, I think, that Mr. Manley's query must be answered in the negative, and that the expression refers to the Jewish idea of a first-born's inheritance. The Septuagint and the Latin version of Tremellius and Junius, Luther and De Wette, Martin and Osterwald, confirm the English Bible. So does even De Genonde, though the Vulgate gives "duplex spiritus tuus;" but this latter rendering seems to me groundless. On the distinctive ministries of Elijah and Elisha, the reader may find some valuable remarks in "Present Testimony," vol. 3 pp. 415- 439 (Groombridge and Sons.)

We encounter another highly interesting illustration in Elisha's life. He had been called as prophet and successor of Elijah (1 Kings 16:16,19). Before Elijah ascended to heaven, Elisha was allowed to express one wish. He asked for "a double blessing" of the spirit of Elijah, that is, the part of the first-born (Deut. 5:21,17): He wished for spiritual strength – not material things or fame.