The writer of Kings brings us to the time when Elisha is about to take over prophetic leadership from Elijah. God has called Elijah to his heavenly retirement and has called Elisha to take his place.
It is a time of transition for Elisha. He will step into the shoes of the most celebrated star in the Hall of Fame of Yahweh’s prophets. It is a time of transition for the sons of prophets as well. They will now follow a new leader and mentor. It is also a time of transition for the northern kingdom of Israel. They shall see God’s ways and learn God’s will through the prophet Elisha.
Elisha asks the question, “Where is the LORD, God of Elijah?” (2 Ki. 2:14). According to the context of the story, it is a test-question—a question of confirmation. Elisha is asking whether the God of Elijah is now truly with him. He is inquiring whether the spirit and power of Yahweh upon Elijah is now upon him. He is asking whether the blessing and authority of Yahweh now rests on him.
We must ask that question today. “Where is the LORD, God of Elisha? Is the Spirit of God upon our lives, our church, and our ministries? Is the power of God upon us?
There are three things about the power of God upon Elisha. God’s power is there for us. Yet how do we utilize it for His glory?
The Demand for Divine Power
“Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah” (v. 14)? Elisha wanted a token, a sign, or proof that God’s power upon Elijah is now also upon him. Recall that Elijah confronted 450 prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. He called down fire from heaven at Mt. Carmel. The fire of heaven consumed the burnt offering on the altar, the water on the altar, and the water in the trench around the altar. The same Elijah pronounced judgment against King Ahab and his wife Jezebel for their sins (1 Ki. 18:33-40; 21:17-24). This is the spirit and power of Elijah.
Elisha wanted a sign of God’s power upon him. He takes the cloak of Elijah and stands at the bank of the river Jordan. Then he strikes the water with the cloak. The water parted to one side and to the other side, revealing dry ground in the middle. Then Elisha walked over the dry ground (2 Ki. 2:8). Thus, God manifested His power and blessing upon Elisha by the miracle of the parting water.
We learn two things here about how to prove the power of God in our lives and in our ministries. First, use whatever spiritual gifts you have.1 Paul wrote Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift you have” (1 Tim. 4:14). The power of God manifests itself through the spiritual gifts of God. Spiritual gifts are Spirit-energized abilities. When we utilize our supernatural abilities, we see God’s power.
What spiritual gift has God given you? You may have the gift of encouragement, the gift of giving, the gift of leadership, the gift of exhortation, the gift of teaching, or the gift of helping. Each one of you has received at least one spiritual gift. Use that for the building up of the body of Christ.
Do you wonder why you do not see the power of God sometimes? Maybe you are not using the gift of God in you. It is not because God is not working. It is because you are not using what God has given you. If you will use that gift, then you will see the power of God working through you! Do not just sit there doing nothing for the Lord! Do something with your divine ability. Find a way to serve the Lord with your divine ability.
Second, do all things by fervent prayer. Serve God as you pray. Pray as you serve God. Elisha knew that the cloak of Elijah is useless, unless God is with him. He sought the Lord and expected the Lord’s answer. When he asked, “Where is the LORD, God of Elijah,” he was already expecting an answer from God.
I read a story about a little agricultural town that survived by reaping a good harvest every year. For many months however, there was no rain. The town leader called on everyone to go to the town plaza in the early morning and pray for God to send rain. Everybody went, including a little girl. Everybody arrived carrying nothing. But the little girl arrived at the plaza carrying an umbrella in her hand.
Who do you think expected an answer from God?
Jesus said, “If you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive’” (Matt. 21:21-22, NKJV). If you want to see the power of God, better pray and expect God to do mighty things. Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it shall be yours (Mk. 11:24).
If we desire the blessing of God in our lives and the power of God in our ministries, we must seek God in prayer. We must expect God’s answers by faith. Our church theme in 2010-11 is, “Build His House.” Yet Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps. 127:1). We must expect God to do mighty things in our midst.
The Distrust of Divine Purposes
The sons of prophets saw the parting of the waters (2 Ki. 2:15). They then recognized that Elijah’s spirit now rests on Elisha. They bowed their heads down to the ground before Elisha out of reverence for him. Yet it seems that they doubted Elisha. They wanted Elisha to send fifty strong men to go and find the body of Elijah. They thought that the Spirit of God might have deposited Elijah’s body somewhere in the hills and valleys (vv. 16-17). Elisha said, “You shall not send” (v. 16).
However, the student prophets kept urging Elisha. “But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, ‘Send’” (v. 17). The verb “urged” (Heb. patsar) means “push” or “press” in the qal imperfect.2 They kept pushing and pressing Elisha until he was ashamed. The verb “ashamed” (Heb. bosh) means “be disconcerted”3 with their psychological pressure. They pressured Elisha for a long time that Elisha felt unsettled.
Finally, Elisha gave in to their pressure. They sent out fifty men to search for Elijah’s body. After three days, they came back with nothing. Elisha said to them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not go” (v. 18)? These sons of prophets doubted the word and wisdom of Elisha.
When they doubted the counsel of Elisha, they also doubted the purposes of God behind Elisha. Under divine guidance, the words of the prophet are the words of God. When you doubt the words of God, you actually doubt the will of God.
Do you find yourself doing the same thing? Sometimes, we question God’s Word. We doubt God’s will in the advice of godly people. If you question the Word of God for your life, then you question the purpose of God.
You must learn to submit to God’s will in your life. If God wants you to give your tithes and offerings to His work, then give it. Obeying God’s Word fulfills God’s purpose to glorify God in your life of giving. If God wants our church to plant daughter churches, then we must plant daughter churches. Obeying God’s Word fulfills God’s purpose to go and make disciples for Christ. You must learn to obey God’s Word, for in God’s Word is found God’s purpose to glorify Himself.
Where is the LORD, God of Elijah, in your life and in your church? If you are to know God’s purpose in your life and ministry, you had better obey God’s Word. In God’s Word is God’s purpose.
The Demonstration of Divine Presence
To show Israel that Elisha is now God’s prophet, the composer of Kings includes three miracles of Elisha to three groups of people. The first miracle is the miracle of partition before the sons of prophets (v. 14). In this miracle of partition, Elisha struck the water of the river Jordan with the cloak of Elijah, and the water parted. Then Elisha crossed over the dry ground in the middle. The sons of the prophets saw it. God confirmed His presence upon Elisha before them.
The second miracle is the miracle of preservation before the men of the city of Jericho (vv. 19-22). The water was so bad that the land was “unfruitful” (v. 19). The word “unfruitful” (Heb. shakal) is a piel participle which means, “make childless; cause barrenness, or abortion”4; or “cause miscarriage.”5 The water caused mothers to miscarry their babies, causing death and childlessness. The land was like a mother without children.
But Elisha performed a miracle of decontamination. He asked for a bowl of salt and sprinkled the salt over the contaminated water. Salt was a symbol of preservation. People rubbed it on meat offerings, to make it holy for God. It symbolized the covenant of salt between Israel and the LORD (Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19; Ezek. 43:24).6 Thus, Elisha’s use of salt seems to signify Yahweh’s renewal of his commitment to preserve Israel. Elisha then declared the word of the LORD. Henceforth, the water shall cause no death or miscarriage anymore (2 Ki. 2:21).
Notice that the waters were healed not because of the salt, but because of the word of the LORD, as Elisha points out. Salt was a symbol of God’s renewed commitment to heal Israel. We see here a demonstration of divine grace to Israel.
God has entered Himself into a covenant with you through Christ. “Where is the LORD, God of Elijah?” The answer is that His blessing is upon us in Christ. He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Eph. 1:3-4). “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7). He lives in you by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s seal, guaranteeing your future inheritance.
Do you know this in your heart? Paul prayed that God "may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe" (Eph. 1:17-19).
Do you know and experience this power? Live for God. Then you shall see His power.
The third miracle is a miracle of destruction before the “bad boys of Bethel.” “Some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, ‘Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead’” (2 Ki. 2:23, NKJV)! The word “boys” (Heb. naar) can mean a young boy, lad, or youth in the singular.7 The same word is used for Joseph who was already seventeen years old (Gen. 37:2). Paul R. House notes that it “can refer to youths from twelve to thirty years old (1 Sam 16:11–12; 2 Sam 14:21; 18:5), i.e., old enough to show respect for God’s prophet.”8
But these youths insulted the prophet Elisha. They said to him, “Go up, you baldhead!” Maybe they have heard of how Elijah went up to heaven. Now, they want Elisha to do the same. In other words, they want him to disappear. Why did they insult Elisha?
Bethel was one of two cities (the other was the city of Dan) where King Jeroboam established false calf worship. Jeroboam placed in Bethel a golden calf for the people to worship. Bethel became a place of idolatry and contempt for God’s Word. The people became anti-Word of God and anti-prophet of God. The bad boys of Bethel reflected the kind of anti-prophet attitude that prevailed among the people of Bethel.9
In response, Elisha turned and cursed them (2 Ki. 2:24). Then two she bears came out of the forest and tore forty-two of the boys (v. 24). Elisha did not pray for the two bears to come out. But God sent those bears. We are not told if the youths were all killed, but they certainly suffered that day. Never ever insult a bald man!
The word “cursed” (Heb. qalal) means “declared cursed by invoking the name of Yahweh” in the piel imperfect.10 Elisha declared that they are judged by Yahweh. Elisha was actually calling on the authority of Yahweh to judge them. The basis for this call is found in Leviticus 26:21-22:
"Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted."
It was not a magic formula, but a declaration of divine condemnation against them. That declaration brought divine destruction upon the anti-God boys. It served as a sign of divine judgment against the idolatrous people of Bethel. By this miracle of destruction, God once again confirmed His presence and power upon Elisha.
Conclusion
“Where then is the LORD, God of Elijah?” God’s presence goes with those who proclaim His Word. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations; and I am with you always to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). A few days later, the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to dwell in the disciples (Acts 1:8; 2:1-4). With the Spirit of God is the presence of God.
God’s power goes with the proclamation of God’s Word. That is why I’m excited to preach God’s Word. I’m excited when we go church planting or evangelizing. When we proclaim His Word, we see His power.
ENDNOTES
1 H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell, eds., The Second Book of the Kings (TPC; London: Funk and Wagnalls, n. d.), 29.
2 Francis Brown, Samuel Driver, and Charles Briggs, ?????, 7795. BDB on CD-ROM. Version 5.0c., 1994.
3 R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, ?????, TWOT 1:222.
4 Brown, Driver, and Briggs, ??????, BDB 9926.
5 William L. Holladay, ????, Holladay 8588.
6 John Gray, 1 and 2 Kings (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963), 427.
7 Brown, Driver, and Briggs, ??????, BDB 6213.
8 House, 1, 2 Kings, 260.
9 Bob Deffinbaugh, “The Life and Times of Elisha the Prophet—Elisha’s Accreditation (2 Kings 2:19-3:27).” Cited March 5, 2011. Online: http://bible.org/seriespage/life-and-times-elisha-prophetE28094-elishaE28099s-accreditation-2-kings-21982 11327.
10 Holladay, ???, Holladay 7526.
