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Elijah Is Taken Up to Heaven
2 Kings 2.1_2 and 6_14
Good News Translation (GNT)
1 The time came for the Lord to take Elijah up
to heaven in a whirlwind.
Elijah and Elisha set out from Gilgal,
2 and on the way Elijah said to Elisha, "Now
stay here; the Lord has ordered me to go to
Bethel."
But Elisha answered, "I swear by my loyalty
to the living Lord and to you that I will not
leave you." So they went on to Bethel.
6 Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Now stay here;
the Lord has ordered me to go to the Jordan
River."
But Elisha answered, "I swear by my loyalty to
the living Lord and to you that I will not leave
you." So they went on,
7 and fifty of the prophets followed them to the
Jordan. Elijah and Elisha stopped by the river,
and the fifty prophets stood a short distance
away.
8 Then Elijah took off his cloak, rolled it up, and
struck the water with it; the water divided, and
he and Elisha crossed to the other side on dry
ground.
9 There, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what you
want me to do for you before I am taken
away." "Let me receive the share of your
power that will make me your successor," (a)
Elisha answered.
10 "That is a difficult request to grant," Elijah
replied. "But you will receive it if you see me
as I am being taken away from you;
if you don't see me, you won't receive it."
11 They kept talking as they walked on; then
suddenly a chariot of fire pulled by horses of
fire came between them, and Elijah was taken
up to heaven by a whirlwind.
12 Elisha saw it and cried out to Elijah,
"My father, my father! Mighty defender of
Israel! You are gone!" and he never saw Elijah
again. In grief Elisha tore his cloak in two.
13 Then he picked up Elijah's cloak that had
fallen from him, and went back and stood on
the bank of the Jordan.
14 He struck the water with Elijah's cloak and
said, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
Then he struck the water again, and it divided,
and he walked over to the other side.
Footnotes
2 Kings 2:9 Elisha asked for
the share that the first-born son
inherited by law from
his father (see Deut. 21.17).
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Commentary taken from taken from the
'word-on-the-web' supplied by the Scripture Union
Elijah Is Taken Up to Heaven
2 Kings 2.1_2 and 6_14
As Elisha trails round
after his master,
who's getting it right?
Is Elijah right to shake off
his young disciple?
Or is Elisha right to stick
to his mentor like glue?
The answer, I suspect,
is that there is no right answer.
Discipleship is not about methods,
but relationships.
It's not about 'getting it right',
but about following a living
example of faith.
Elisha, as long as his
mentor was there,
wasn't going to miss anything
he might learn from Elijah.
He resolved to follow,
to learn and to imitate.
Elisha had been a
prophet-in-training,
'shadowing' Elijah for
some time as God
had commanded.
As the handover approaches,
Elijah wants to slip away
as though he is not sure
how to relinquish his role,
and Elisha does not seem
quite ready to take
responsibility.
Elijah knew the dangers
of the job so perhaps
both men wanted God to
reconfirm his choice of prophet.
Graciously, the Lord gives a string
of confirmations.
He gives Elisha an awareness
of imminent events,
then confirms what
Elisha has sensed.
Even though Elisha received
a heavenly sign and inherited
the physical symbol of prophetic
authority he still had to
believe that God's Spirit
was with him and act as the
prophet he was called to be.
Jewish tradition suggests that
Elijah was protective of the
special and intimate relationship
he had with God,
so that he even wanted his
successor to be excluded from such
a moving departure.
A double portion.
Whatever the reason, Elisha,
like a good apprentice,
wants not only to follow
in his master's footsteps
but to have a double portion
of his spirit.
Just as the firstborn son
inherited a double share of
property to keep the family
estates intact, so Elisha
wants to double the
effectiveness of his own
prophetic ministry.
Whilst Elijah cannot
guarantee this,
events confirm that
Elisha's wish is granted.
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