Reflections on 2 Kings 2

2 Kings 02 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Not long before the LORD took Elijah up into heaven in a strong wind, Elijah and Elisha were leaving Gilgal.
   
2. Elijah said to Elisha, "The LORD wants me to go to Bethel, but you must stay here." Elisha replied, "I swear by the living LORD and by your own life that I will stay with you no matter what!" And he went with Elijah to Bethel.
   
3. A group of prophets who lived there asked Elisha, "Do you know that today the LORD is going to take away your master?" "Yes, I do," Elisha answered. "But don't remind me of it."
   
4. Elijah then said, "Elisha, now the LORD wants me to go to Jericho, but you must stay here." Elisha replied, "I swear by the living LORD and by your own life, that I will stay with you no matter what!" And he went with Elijah to Jericho.
   
5. A group of prophets who lived there asked Elisha, "Do you know that today the LORD is going to take away your master?" "Yes, I do," Elisha answered. "But don't remind me of it."
   
6. Elijah then said to Elisha, "Now the LORD wants me to go to the Jordan River, but you must stay here." Elisha replied, "I swear by the living LORD and by your own life that I will never leave you!" So the two of them walked on together.
   
7. Fifty prophets followed Elijah and Elisha from Jericho, then stood at a distance and watched as the two men walked toward the river.
   
8. When they got there, Elijah took off his coat, then he rolled it up and struck the water with it. At once a path opened up through the river, and the two of them walked across on dry ground.
   
9. After they had reached the other side, Elijah said, "Elisha, the LORD will soon take me away. What can I do for you before that happens?" Elisha answered, "Please give me twice as much of your power as you give the other prophets, so I can be the one who takes your place as their leader."
   
10. "It won't be easy," Elijah answered. "It can happen only if you see me as I am being taken away."
    
11. Elijah and Elisha were walking along and talking, when suddenly there appeared between them a flaming chariot pulled by fiery horses. Right away, a strong wind took Elijah up into heaven.
    
12. Elisha saw this and shouted, "Israel's cavalry and chariots have taken my master away!" After Elijah had gone, Elisha tore his clothes in sorrow.
    
13. Elijah's coat had fallen off, so Elisha picked it up and walked back to the Jordan River.
    
14. He struck the water with the coat and wondered, "Will the LORD perform miracles for me as he did for Elijah?" As soon as Elisha did this, a dry path opened up through the water, and he walked across.
    
15. When the prophets from Jericho saw what happened, they said to each other, "Elisha now has Elijah's power." They walked over to him, bowed down,
    
16. and said, "There are fifty strong men here with us. Please let them go look for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the LORD carried him off to some mountain or valley." "No," Elisha replied, "they won't find him."
    
17. They kept begging until he was embarrassed to say no. He finally agreed, and the prophets sent the men out. They looked three days for Elijah but never found him.
    
18. They returned to Jericho, and Elisha said, "I told you that you wouldn't find him."
    
19. One day the people of Jericho said, "Elisha, you can see that our city is in a good spot. But the water from our spring is so bad that it even keeps our crops from growing."
    
20. He replied, "Put some salt in a new bowl and bring it to me." They brought him the bowl of salt,
    
21. and he carried it to the spring. He threw the salt into the water and said, "The LORD has made this water pure again. From now on you'll be able to grow crops, and no one will starve."
    
22. The water has been fine ever since, just as Elisha said.
    
23. Elisha left and headed toward Bethel. Along the way some boys started making fun of him by shouting, "Go away, baldy! Get out of here!"
    
24. Elisha turned around and stared at the boys. Then he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Right away two bears ran out of the woods and ripped to pieces forty-two of the boys.
    
25. Elisha went up to Mount Carmel, then returned to Samaria.
    

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This chapter records the transition of prophetic leadership from Elijah to his protege, Elisha. The first part of this account is evidently a test of Elisha. First Elijah told Elisha he was being sent by the Lord to Bethel and said for Elisha to stay in Gilgal. But Elisha, knowing that the Lord was about to take Elijah, insisted on going with him. His insistence was probably motivated in part by his desire to be with his mentor until the end, and in part by the anticipation of a blessing from Elijah before he departed earth.

In Bethel "the sons of the prophets" came to Elisha and told him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?" (2:3) Elisha replied that he knew and he didn't want them to speak of it and remind him of his loss. This whole procedure was repeated in going to Jericho. Elijah told Elisha to stay behind and he refused, and in Jericho the sons of the prophet gave Elisha the same message and he gave them the same reply.

A third time, Elijah told Elisha the Lord was sending him to the Jordan. Again, Elisha refused to stay behind. An audience of 50 sons of the prophets came and watched what happened. Elijah rolled up his mantel and struck the waters of the Jordan and they parted as they had done previously for the Israelites to cross under Joshua's leadership. Elijah and Elisha crossed over, and having done so the time had arrived for Elijah to be taken up into heaven. But first he asked Elisha what he could do for him. Elisha replied, "Please, let there be a double portion of your spirit on me." (2:9) He was basically asking for the blessing of the firstborn, which was a double portion. This was beyond Elijah's power to grant, but he told Elisha that the sign indicating his request had been granted would be for him to see Elijah being taken away.

As the two continued to walk and talk, a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated them and then a whirlwind took Elijah up into heaven. Elisha saw the whole thing indicating his request had been granted. After tearing his clothes in mourning, Elisha then picked up Elijah's mantle that had fallen from him and repeated what he had done in parting the waters of the Jordan. The waters parted for him as they had for Elijah and the 50 prophets who had been watching knew that, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." (2:15) They had not seen Elijah being taken up by the whirlwind as had Elisha, so they insisted on sending out a search party to locate him, suggesting that, "Maybe the Spirit of the LORD has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys." (2:16) Although Elisha told them not to do it, they persisted until he told them to go ahead. Of course, they returned empty-handed and he reminded them that he had told them not to do it.

This whole account concludes with two miracles performed by the Lord through Elisha. The first was to heal a spring of water that provided water for the city of Jericho. It had turned bad and was undrinkable and spoiled the crops. At the Lord's instruction, Elisha put salt in a bowl, then threw it into the spring, and the water was permanently healed. This may have been another demonstration to the Israelites of God's superior power to that of Baal.

After healing the spring water Elisha left Jericho and on his way to Bethel a group came out and harassed him. Various Bible version refer to them as little children or small boys, but they are thought by some to have been young men rather than children. Their harrassment amounted to disregard for God’s prophet, and in turn, for God. Elisha's task as God's prophet was to establish God as the God of Israel over Baal to whom they had turned under the evil leadership of several kings. Therefore, he took seriously this disregard for God and so he "cursed them in the name of the Lord." Having done so, two bears came out of the woods and killed 42 of them. This suggests that there were more than 42 in the group and that this was a planned demonstration against the Lord's prophet.