Context & Key Themes
2 Kings 2 is the chapter of Elijah’s departure and Elisha’s beginning, and it is one of the most vivid passages in the prophetic literature. Elijah knows he is about to be taken. The company of prophets at Bethel and Jericho knows it too. Elisha knows it and will not leave his master’s side. What follows is the crossing of the Jordan on dry ground, the appearance of the chariot of fire and horses of fire, and Elijah going up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha tears his own garment, takes up Elijah’s cloak, and strikes the Jordan — and it parts. He has received the double portion he asked for. The era of Elijah is over. The era of Elisha has begun.
Key Verse
“Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”
— 2 Kings 2:9
Summary
The Lord is about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha are traveling from Gilgal. At every stop — Bethel, Jericho, the Jordan — Elijah tells Elisha to stay, and each time Elisha swears by the Lord that he will not leave him. The company of prophets at each place tells Elisha: do you know the Lord is going to take your master away today? He says he knows, keep quiet. At the Jordan, Elijah rolls up his cloak and strikes the water. It parts and they cross on dry ground. Elijah asks what he can do for Elisha before he is taken. Elisha asks for a double portion of his spirit. Elijah says: you have asked a hard thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so. As they are walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separate them, and Elijah goes up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha sees it and cries out: my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. He tears his own garments.
He picks up Elijah’s cloak, goes back to the Jordan, strikes the water, and says: where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? The water parts and he crosses. The company of prophets at Jericho sees him from across the water and says: the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. They bow before him. They want to search for Elijah in case the Spirit of the Lord has set him down somewhere. Elisha tells them not to go. They press him until he is ashamed, and he lets them go. They search three days and find nothing, as he said. The chapter closes with two further signs: Elisha heals the water of Jericho with salt in a new bowl, and on the road to Bethel, boys mock him and call him baldhead, and two she-bears come out of the woods and tear forty-two of them.
Reflection
Elisha’s refusal to leave Elijah is the model of a disciple who knows the cost of proximity and pays it anyway. He could have stayed at Gilgal. He could have stayed at Bethel. At every waypoint there is permission to stop following, and at every waypoint he refuses it. The double portion he asks for is not greed — it is the inheritance portion of the firstborn son, the request of a man who understands himself to be Elijah’s spiritual heir and wants everything the succession entails. Elijah calls it a hard thing not because it is impossible but because it is not his to give. It belongs to the Lord to confirm, and the Lord confirms it: Elisha sees the chariot and the whirlwind, and when he strikes the Jordan and it parts, the company of prophets understands immediately what has happened.
The boys from Bethel who mock Elisha and are mauled by the bears are a jarring note to modern readers and have been interpreted many ways. In context, Bethel is the site of the golden calves where Jeroboam established false worship. The mockery — go up, baldhead, go up — may carry the meaning of a challenge to the new prophet to prove himself by ascending as Elijah did, or simply reflect the contempt of a city that has never honored the Lord’s prophets. Either way the bears are not divine whimsy. They are the holiness of God operating in protection of the prophetic office. The chapter that begins with fire and ends with bears is not inconsistent. It is instructive: the God who takes prophets to heaven in a whirlwind and parts the Jordan for their successors is not domesticated.