Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

2:1 The idea of going up to heaven at the end of an earthly life was not common in ancient Israel. The OT more characteristically speaks of the deceased's "going down" to Sheol, the world of the dead (e.g., Job 7:9; Isa. 57:9; see note on 1 Sam. 2:6). It was the fate even of mighty heroes of the Hebrew tradition to be "gathered to their people" in this way (e.g., Gen. 25:7-8; 1 Kings 2:10). Elijah represents a remarkable exception to this way of speaking (see also Enoch in Gen. 5:24; cf. Heb. 11:5). This does not mean that the OT faithful had no fellowship with God after they died, but only that this idea is seldom made explicit in the OT (but see indications of hope for continuing fellowship with God after death in Ps. 16:10-11; 17:15; 23:6; 115:17-18; Eccles. 12:7; and certainly here in 2 Kings 2:11). In the NT, Jesus implied that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive and in God's presence (Matt. 22:32); Moses and Elijah appeared talking with Jesus in Matt. 17:3; and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus implied fellowship in Abraham's presence immediately after death (Luke 16:22-25). Extrabiblical texts underline the unusual nature, in the ancient Near Eastern context, of any idea that mortals can enter and remain in heaven. The best known of these is the Akkadian myth of Adapa, the son of Ea, who visits heaven and almost obtains eternal life, but is compelled in the end to return to earth. It is not clear whether the Lord has any reason for sending Elijah from Gilgal to Bethel, and then on to Jericho (2 Kings 2:2-4); but all three cities appear in 2 Kings as locations of prophetic communities ("sons of the prophets"; see note on v. 3; also v. 5; 4:38), and Elijah is probably their leader (as Elisha is later).

2:2 Bethel is identified with Jeroboam's apostasy in 1 Kings 12-13. Please stay here. It is never made clear why Elijah, in the course of his roundabout journey, keeps trying to get Elisha to remain behind on the very day that the prophetic succession is to take place ("today the Lord will take away your master"), but it is probably a testing of Elisha's mettle as the professed disciple and designated successor to Elijah. This may provide further evidence of Elijah's reluctance to fully embrace God's plans for the future (see 1 Kings 19:13-21). Elijah affirms a little later that Elisha can receive Elijah's spiritual power only if he sees him when he is taken away by God (2 Kings 2:9-10). The prophets in the meantime are to "keep quiet"; it is disrespectful to speak of Elijah's passing while he is still around.

2:3 The sons of the prophets are not their physical descendants but groups of prophets usually affiliated with a more prominent prophet (cf. 1 Sam. 10:5; 19:20; 1 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 4:1, 38; 6:1; 9:1). (The phrase "sons of" can mean "members of a guild of"; cf. "the sons of the gatekeepers" in Ezra 2:42.) Though groups of false prophets also exist (e.g., 1 Kings 22:6), the prophetic groups associated with true prophets such as Samuel and Elijah are never viewed as false prophets but as servants of God, and therefore they must have received special revelations from God (which is the requirement for a true prophet: Deut. 18:18, 20; Jer. 14:14; Ezek. 13:1-3), though none of their prophecies are recorded in Scripture. In this text God has revealed to them that today the Lord will take away Elijah.

2:4-5 Jericho was in the Jordan Valley about 10 miles (16 km) to the northwest of the Dead Sea and is best known as the city that the Israelites first conquered in Canaan.

2:6-8 The Jordan River runs along a short stretch of a geological fault that starts in the north in Syria and extends southward into Africa. This scene of the crossing of the Jordan is reminiscent of Moses at the Red Sea, where the people also go over on dry land (Ex. 14:15-31, esp. vv. 21-22). Later in the chapter, Elisha proves that he is Joshua to Elijah's Moses by recrossing the river (see note on 2 Kings 2:14).

2:9 Elisha requests of Elijah what an eldest son would expect of a father in Israel: a double portion of the inheritance (see Deut. 21:15-17). In this case, however, the inheritance is not land but spiritual power: Elisha has already left behind him normal life and the normal rules of inheritance (cf. 1 Kings 19:19-21).

2:10 You have asked a hard thing. It is not clear how Elisha's request can be hard, given that Elisha is ordained by God to succeed Elijah as a Spirit-empowered prophet. Is Elijah simply looking for difficulties? But cf. note on v. 2.

2:11-13 chariots of fire and horses of fire. The divine army, last encountered waging war on Ahab (1 Kings 22:1-38), has come for Elijah; Elisha sees it, as he will see it again in 2 Kings 6:8-23. In biblical tradition, both chariotry and fire have strong associations with God's self-disclosure. Both images come together in the most common natural form of divine appearing ("theophany") in the OT: the thunderstorm--the storm cloud representing the divine chariot or throne (Ezekiel 1; Hab. 3:8) and the fiery lightning bolts representing the divine weapons (Ps. 18:14; Hab. 3:11). In response to this particular theophany, Elisha took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. This is perhaps part of a mourning ritual (cf. Gen. 37:34; 2 Sam. 13:31; Isa. 37:1), but it is also suggestive of leaving his old life behind, as he picks up instead the cloak of Elijah (used in 1 Kings 19:19-21 to symbolize Elisha's prophetic call).

2:14 the water was parted . . . and Elisha went over. The Spirit who empowered Elijah has now come upon Elisha, and miracles immediately follow. As Elijah's true successor, Elisha is able to repeat Elijah's action in parting the waters (vv. 13-14). There is also a kind of parallel in the life of Joshua, for Joshua also crossed the Jordan in Joshua 3 and entered the land of Israel near Jericho, "repeating" Moses' action in parting the waters (Exodus 14).

2:15 they came to meet him and bowed. The roots of the Jericho community's allegiance to Elisha lie in their conviction that he is Elijah's bona fide successor (The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha).

2:16 Please let them go and seek your master. The sons of the prophets seem to understand that the prophetic succession has taken place, but do not fully understand what has happened. Standing at a distance (v. 7), they have seen the fire and the whirlwind (v. 11), but they have not perceived what was happening in the storm's midst. They wonder, therefore, whether the Spirit of the Lord has not simply caught Elijah up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley; and they at least want to retrieve Elijah's body for burial (cf. 1 Sam. 31:11-13).

2:19-22 the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful. This is the first of two stories that further authenticate Elisha as Elijah's prophetic successor, a man able both to bless and to curse in the Lord's name (cf. Moses in Deuteronomy 28). Jericho was in an area ideal for settlement because of the presence of the perennial spring ‘Ain es-Sultan, which irrigated the fertile land around it. This story, however, tells of contamination of the water supply (the rebuilding of the city having taken place under the shadow of Joshua's curse; Josh. 6:26; 1 Kings 16:34). The remedy offered by the new Joshua (Elisha), who has just crossed the Jordan, involves a new bowl and salt. New items, being uncontaminated, were customarily employed in rituals in the ancient Near East (e.g., Judg. 16:11; 1 Kings 11:29). Elsewhere in the OT, salt is associated with the covenant and is included as part of offerings made to the Lord (see "salt of the covenant" in Lev. 2:13; cf. Num. 18:19), as well as being used in other specific rituals (Judg. 9:45; Ezek. 16:4). The use of salt here is likewise symbolic, for by itself a tiny bowl of salt would have no effect on a constantly flowing spring. The healing of the water was therefore accomplished by supernatural means: Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water.

2:23-24 jeered at him. The focal point for Israel's apostasy was Bethel (see 1 Kings 12:25-13:34). Therefore, it is no surprise to find young people from this city adopting a disrespectful attitude toward a prophet of the Lord, and to treat a prophet with disrespect is to treat God himself with disrespect. The reference to the baldhead is not clear, but Elisha might have already been so bald by nature that to youthful eyes he looked grotesque; or perhaps some prophets, like later Christian monks, shaved their heads as a mark of their vocation. he cursed them. . . . And two she-bears . . . tore forty-two of the boys. Though this judgment may at first seem harsh, the group must have included over 50 boys old enough to be out running in a pack, and so they constituted something of a physical threat to Elisha. The authors of Kings regularly show that contempt toward divinely called prophets is disastrous for God's people.

2:25 The succession narrative now complete, Elisha ends his journey with a visit to Mount Carmel--the scene of Elijah's great victory--and a return to Samaria to continue the war against Baal worship.