Ahab passes from the scene in a battle Jehovah warned him not to pursue. Judah also goes through a royal succession. Ahab’s son dies after falling from the roof of the palace, smashing through the lattice screen on one side of the shady breeze room on the second floor. He had sent messengers to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron down in Philistine territory, which provoked Jehovah to let him die from his wounds. His son succeeds him.
We see that God is able to protect Elijah from Jezebel. More so, we discover in our text today that the prophet was able to establish several prophetic academies where men could learn how to restore the prophetic ministry of the God of Israel. Meanwhile, Elisha continues to serve him as his understudy.
On the day that God planned to take Elijah home, the prophet really wanted to be alone, but Elisha shadowed him closely. Both men knew what was coming, and the bond between them was very strong. They had been at the other Gilgal, up near Shiloh. Elijah asked Elisha to stay there while he headed down on some errand to Bethel, a few miles south of there. It was a hardy hike along the central ridge of Palestine, mostly the ancient trade highway.
Right there in the City of Bethel, where Jeroboam had built one of his pagan shrines, one of Elijah’s prophetic academies existed, and the students came out to meet them. They mentioned the impending departure of Elijah to Elisha, something they were able to discern from their studies. Elisha shushed them, most likely because he already had enough weighing on him at that moment.
Next, Elijah proposed to head down the wadi to Jericho. Again he tried to get Elisha to stay, but without success. This was a much longer hike through the winding route at the bottom of the wadi, and they would have come out of the canyon just above the ancient campsite of Gilgal on the left, and Jericho’s mound on the right. Both were surrounded by verdant fields and groves in the lush Jordan Valley. Again, at Jericho was another school of Jehovah’s prophets.
They told Elisha the same thing, that today he would lose his “head” — his master, Elijah. And again, Elisha hushed such talk. Everyone could feel how close it was. Then Elijah said he needed to go down to the river. While its course has wandered over the centuries, it was probably about a 5 mile hike to the banks. The sun by now was just starting to leave a bit of shadow in pockets around the hills to the west. Again, Elisha refused to let the elder prophet go alone.
Elijah’s mantle had long been a symbol of his authority, easily recognized by anyone who had heard of him. It’s not likely he was wearing it, but Elisha was carrying it for him as part of their luggage. The old man took it out and rolled it up lengthwise, forming a large flexible tube. He stepped close to the water’s edge and slapped it downward on the surface of the slow moving flow. The water pulled back both directions from the spot and left a strip of dry bed for them to cross.
On the far side of the riverbed, as the water flowed back into its course, Elijah turned and asked if there was any bequest his assistant might desire. Elisha replied that he wanted to fully inherit the spiritual authority of his master, referring to the double portion of a firstborn heir. Elijah replied that it was not his to grant, but if Elisha saw his master physically depart, then he could know it was granted.
Sure enough, as they strolled along the east bank of the river, a glowing chariot pulled by glowing horses appeared from the sky and landed near them. This vision of light pushed between the two men, and Elijah was escorted aboard to ride in it. Then, with a noisy whirring of wind that tugged at Elisha’s clothing, the chariot rose into the sky. Elisha shouted to Elijah that he could see the chariot and horses of Jehovah, a symbol of how very important the elder prophet was to God. The apparition faded into the sky.
Sometime during this miraculous vision, Elijah had shrugged off that cloak. It was a further symbol that God was making Elisha his successor and heir. Elisha picked up the heavy garment and repeated what his master had done, rolling it up like a carpet and slapping the water of the river. Again, the water curled back and Elisha crossed on dry ground.
This wasn’t some kind of silly game. The entire student body from the prophet’s academy had climbed up to some high ground where they could watch this whole scene. Elijah demonstrated his authority, and Elisha came back wielding the same power. As their new master came back toward them, they ran to meet him. Exulting in what they had scene, they treated Elisha as their new headmaster of the school. They would have been quick to notify the other branches of the school.
But then they harassed him about going to look for the body of Elijah. This was not far from where the Lord had ordered Moses to go and die alone, and the students must have assumed this was something similar. It did not occur to them at that point that Elijah had been completely translated into the Spirit Realm, and didn’t have to face death. Elisha gave up arguing with them and the student body sent their strongest fifty hikers, who searched three days in the area with no success. Elisha got to say to them later, “Told you so!”
As they were near the city of Jericho and night was falling, it was obvious Elisha was going to stay with them at least overnight. At the foot of the hill on which the city stood was one of several springs washing over the area. They noted to Elisha that the land was fertile, but this particular spring was brackish and the water was causing plants, animals and people to suffer a low level of poisoning. Elisha instructed them to bring a new, unused clay salt-cellar; it has to be new and dedicated for the Lord’s ceremonial use. He had them fill it with salt. It was something very easy to get from the nearby Dead Sea, where drying beds had stood since prehistoric times.
In a highly symbolic act, Elisha poured the salt into the spring. He declared it healed. To this day, you can travel to Ain-es-Sultan on the West Bank, where the ancient mound of Tell Jericho stands, and it is the only spring in this whole area that is sweet and clean.
A few days later, as Elisha was returning to Bethel, a group of young louts had come out to meet him along the main road rising up through the steep wadi. They fell in behind him as he walked. Taking advantage of the ambiguity of the Hebrew language, they were taunting Elisha. On the surface, the expression “go up” means “climb the hill,” but also “get out of here.” But it was also mocking Elijah’s departure, which they would have heard about by now, and they were telling Elisha he should catch a chariot ride to Heaven, too. Further, they called him “bald head.” Most baldness was due to leprosy, so they were telling him he was wholly unwelcome. But again, it was a pun in Hebrew, suggesting he no longer had his master around, as if he were unqualified to be the “head” of the prophets of Jehovah.
These young smart-alecks were no doubt partisans in favor of defending Jeroboam’s shrine against the noisome presence of prophets of Jehovah. It was typical Hebrew chutzpah to establish a prophet’s school in the shrine city, which already had its own paganized training center of false prophets. There’s no doubt some of these boys were students in that competing idolatrous academy.
Elisha pronounced them accursed in the name of Jehovah. As they came near a forest on the way, a pair of mother bears came out from the trees and mauled 42 of those young louts.
Elisha went up to Mount Carmel, which at this time served as a kind of retreat, where Elijah had built the altar to Jehovah and demonstrated that He was the one true God of Israel. After a time of worship and contemplation there, he returned to Samaria to continue his former master’s ministry.
