KINGS
COMMONLY CALLED
THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS
THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS
CHAPTER 2
Elisha and the prophets know Elijah is to be translated—Elijah divides waters of Jordan, and is taken up into heaven in a whirlwind—Mantle of Elijah falls on Elisha, who also divides waters of Jordan—Elisha heals waters of Jericho—Youths torn by bears for mocking Elisha.
1 AND it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, [ Prettyt low key way to talk about the upcoming death or Elijah. ] that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el.
3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
[ Yea I know he is going to die today, but let me enjoy the time that I have with him, without thinking about that ok. Give me a break it will all happen too soon. some people kind of delight in the pain of others. Why dwell on the moment before I need to. ]
4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.
5 And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
[ Was Elijah using this time to prepare Elisha by taking him around to see all of the sons of the prophets while he was there with him, kind of a last exposure he had done it in Bethal then Jerico, then Jordan. ]
7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two [ Elijah and Elisha. ] stood by Jordan.
8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, [ Just as Moses did at the red sea and Joshua did had done right here before this should have been an obvious show for those sons of the prophets that just witnessed it. When Joshua and Moses had done it before it was for all of the children of Israel to pass over. Here it is just for Elijah and Elisha. Is this telling us something that Elisha is special. ] So that they two went over on dry ground.
9 ¶ And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, [ Is there anything that I can do for you before I go? ] before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
[ Elisha is more understated that Elijah, he wasted the type to talk smack, he was more withdrawn, he held back and so he was asking for all that he could to help him. Elisha knew that he was following someone that was amazing, as if I don't think that I can do this, I need two times the amount of the spirit that God has placed on you in order for me to be effective. ]
10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: [ Why? Because giving the spirit of God to someone is not something that he can just do. So he puts it for the answer to come from God who does have the power. ] nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; [ You will know that God will be with you as you have asked, and the answer will be shown you if you see me when I am taken up. If you are righteous enough to see that and what awaits me then you will know. ] but if not, it shall not be so.
11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; [ He is seeing the source of Elijah's strength and by seeing that Elijah was suggesting that should have all of the strength that he will need going forward. The witness here will be his strength. ] and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 ¶ And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, [ Was this a cry to Elijah, or was Elisha calling forth to Heavenly Father as he saw him in that moment? ] the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
[ He tore off his old clothes, or everything that he used to be and left it. ]
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah [ He picks up Elijah's clothes and puts them on. Then je moves forward. ] that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
[ So Elisha now does the same thing with the waters of Jordan that Elijah did for them to cross over, now he does it in order to get back. This should be an obvious sign to everyone watching. Elisha exercised his faith as the new prophet, that mantle that he had taken up provided him with enough spiritual strength to do as he wanted in serving the Lord, He had been given enough of a double portion to do the work with his own character sets. ]
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
[ They were witnesses, they saw what the Lord had done here with a new prophet and so they congratulated him. ]
16 ¶ And they [ The son's of the prophets. ] said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: [ Lets send fifty men to go make sure that he is really gone and not just picked up and then blown over the next hill and is suffering there somewhere, let us go search.] lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he [ Elisha. ] said, Ye shall not send.
[ In other words don't bother. I know exactly where he went because I was permitted to see God take him up. No question for me. ]
17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, [ The conversation went something like let's send them, Elisha, no don't bother, please we need to send them. Elisha; no you don't need to I know what happened; pleases we need to be sure. Elisha; it would be futile. but we have too - and so Elisha finally says ok do what you are going to do anyway. ] he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?
[ They go out searching for 3 days and return finding nothing. Elisha says "I know, I told you that you would find nothing. For I saw him taken up, I know full well where he went."]
19 ¶ And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, [ The city is in a good location. ] as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
[ It's a nice place but there is not any water to drink. We cannot survive here. ]
20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. [ Bring me a small container and put salt in it. ] And they brought it to him.
21 And he [ Elisha. ] went forth unto the spring of the waters, [ The place where the water used to come from. Symbolically "lets go to the source of living water, is the water not flowing? If not then why? Pretty good indication of apostasy. So we need to make changes." ] and cast the salt in there, [ Now putting salt in water usually does not make it better, only worse. Remember they are by the Jordan river here and the Jordan river flows into the dead sea, and the dead sea is dead because of salt, so putting more salt in the water does not seem like a good idea. Symbolically "we are to be the salt of the earth. But salt is a preservative, it keeps things from their natural decay. Salt is part of the covenant that is why it was offerred with the animal sacrifices. Our preservation comes through covenant. So let's go to the source of living water and reset it by infusing the salt of the earth, the covenant, and then watch living water come forth. " ] and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
23 ¶ And he [ Elisha. ] went up from thence unto Beth-el: [ Now he returns to the Lion's den so to speak. The source where Israelite idolatry all began. The opposite of living water, the place where Jerobaum first set up his golden calf. ] and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children [ Hebrew: young lads, teenagers, most likely rebellious. ] out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, [ Hebrew: "get out of here." ] thou bald head; [ Since they are openly mocking him this might mean symbolically that hair is a symbol of power and authority. Samson got his strength from his hair, the nazarenes did not cut their hair to maintain their power with God. So since they are mocking him about his hair in essence they are mocking him saying you have no authority over me, where is your hair. You have no right to tell me how to live my life, so get out of here. ] go up, thou bald head.
[ Go up and cry to your God baldie, because we do not recognize your authority at all, with us you have none. Pretty openly in your face attitude. ]
24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. [ This makes both Elisha and God very harsh and judgemental, using vengence to get back at children. There has to be more to the story, it is out of the nature of Elisha. Now Elisha is less confrontational than Elijah was (remember that Elijah called down fire from heaven to the captains of fifty when they challenged him.). Elisha does not say what he wants God to do with them, he simple curses them in the name of God. Or he calls them to repentance in the name of God, tells them they need to change or God will deal with them. It is a message that they are on dangerous ground mocking God and his servants. God can do with you as he will. ] And there came forth two she bears [ "momma bears" who wants to deal with a momma bear. So symbolically God goes Momma bear to protect his new cub prophet Elisha. ] out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.