2 KINGS 2: 8-14
TAKING UP THE MANTLE
[2 Kings 2:1-7]
Elijah has been called the grandest character that Israel ever produced. [Robert Young, Analytical Concordance to the Bible, New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1936, p 295.] But like all of us he needed a friend. Elisha had been Elijah’s servant, his disciple for many years learning what ministry was all about. But Elisha had not only learned what ministry was all about, he had a powerful desire to serve also. He had a desire to serve God, for the supreme object of the human heart is to seek God and glorify Him in service. But Elisha had also learned how to serve others and demonstrated it through his long service of Elisha.
Elisha also knew that his desire to serve would be nothing without a call to service and the anointing which is the power of Almighty God that He confers on His choice willing servants that enables them to glorify Him. For as Elisha knew, and we who would serve God and man learn, it is a vain thing to serve God and man without the touch of God upon us. So Elisha asks to be what his heart told him to be for God and for the power that would enable him in ministry and prove God’s calling.
Those moving into a new position of ministry or some new work or some new experience must have the desire Elisha demonstrated to have God’s anointing upon their life. Elisha knew that God anoints people in a special way that are ready to step up to special service. Elisha had proven himself faithful in being Elijah’s disciple. He was now ready for a new ministry, an expanded ministry, an anointed ministry.
I. REQUESTED ANOINTING, 9-10.
II. THE FIRES AND THE WHIRLWIND; 11-12a.
III. TAKING UP THE MANTLE; 12b-14.
Our message begins in 2 Kings chapter 2 verse 8 where, rolling up his mantle into a kind of rod, Elijah struck the water, and the Jordan divided itself as it had done for the children of Israel crossing into the promised land (Josh. 3:17). “Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.”
Elijah having arrived with his companion at the brink of Jordan, does not tarry there as if he doubted how he was to pass over the river. He had not forgotten Moses, who, with one stroke of his rod, parted asunder the water of the great deep, that the ransomed of the Lord might pass over and that the God of Moses was also Elijah’s God. A miracle similar to that of Moses now ensues. What a spectacle! The stream is divided. On one side it flows rapidly away; on the other it piles itself up like a wall of crystal, and the two prophets pass over, dry-shod, to the opposite shore. As soon as they are over, amazingly, the watery wall rushes down the channel as the invisible bonds are removed and the river flows on again filling its banks. How great a God is our God. At His rebuke the seas dry up, and well-watered lands become a desert, even the winds and the sea obey Him.
Can’t you just hear the fifty prophets who were left on the other side marveling as they raised upon their toes straining for a better view. “Wow, look at that!” Praise, too no doubt lifted from their lips. The dividing of Jordan formed the last in the chain of wonders which ran through the prophetic ministry of Elijah; and it shows that this man, with all his trials and fatigues, had not become feeble in his faith, but from the beginning of his call until the end continued His walk of faith.
When Elijah folded his mantle, the symbol of his authority or office together to smite the waters of Jordan, he already seemed to anticipate a princely dominion over the earth and its elements. This act of his faith seems the effort of a soul aspiring to higher degrees of advancement, to full emancipation and liberty. He seems no longer to be bound to the elements and natural laws of this world. He appears like one advanced to the dignity of a seat in the heavenly places with Christ; his faith would cast mountains into the sea, and pile up the sea to mountains were it necessary. What is miraculous in the eyes of man, appears to have become almost familiar to his faith. A new region must shortly be opened to his soul, for which this earth has become too narrow and contracted. The dominion of heaven unfolds! The boundaries of earth and time retreat, for his abode is no longer below.
Even in this momentous time, his last earthly moments, Elijah thought not of himself but of Elisha who would be left behind. Verse 9, ‘When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”’
Elijah sensing the immanency of his departure and that Elisha was following him for a reason asks what further things he could do for his successor. To the very end Elijah remained concerned for others and for the continuance of God’s work. Fully aware of God’s desire to continue the work Elijah has begun, Elisha recognizes his part of the Lord’s plan. His vision of how God can use him is unlimited. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit or his prophetic ministry. Elisha’s request for a double portion of the spirit that possesses Elijah indicates his understanding that Elijah has a special relationship with God and a special anointing to carry it out. Deuteronomy 21:17 helps some explain Elisha’s request. According to custom, the firstborn son received a double portion of the father’s inheritance (Genesis 25:31). He was asking to be Elijah’s heir, or successor, the one who would continue Elijah’s work as leader of the prophets. [Elisha did exactly twice as many miracles as Elijah.]
Undoubtedly Elisha did not ask simply for the privilege of being Elijah’s successor, no the need of the hour was upon him. He was asking for spiritual power fare beyond his own capabilities to meet the responsibilities of the awesome task that lay before him. It seems most likely that Elisha desires both Elijah’s spiritual strength and temporal responsibilities. He prayed that Elijah’s mighty power might continue to live through him. He was asking for the anointing of God to carry out this ministry. So he asks not for wealth, nor honor, nor exemption from trouble, but to be qualified for the service of God and his generation. [Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 522). Peabody: Hendrickson.]
Elijah acknowledged in verse 10 that only God could grant such an illustrious request. “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when taken from you, it will be yours–otherwise not.”
This request laid beyond Elijah’s power to grant. Nevertheless, it was not beyond God’s. Indeed, divine direction was involved in both the asking and the answering. The asking for the spiritual power to do the job he has known he would someday assume is answered in a way that shows all special anointing and calling are God’s doing, not man’s choosing. The persistence service to his teacher all the way to the end is here honored. His divine anointing is made dependent upon his witnessing his master’s departure. But the decision to grant Elisha’s request was up to God. Elijah only told him how he would know if this request had been granted.
God would grant Elisha’s request because Elisha’s motives were pure. His main goal was not to be better or move powerful than Elijah, but to accomplish more for God. If our motives are pure, we don’t have to be afraid to ask great things from God. When we ask God for great power or ability, we need to examine our desires and get rid of any selfishness we find. But to have the Holy Spirit’s help, we must be willing to ask (Mt. 7:7-8; Lk.11:13).
II. THE FIRES AND THE WHIRLWIND; 11-12a.
Verse 11 records Elijah’s most spectacular departure from earth. “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.”
And so it would be! The wonderful event here recorded, is one of the most glorious and exhilarating that occurred before the birth of Christ. Suddenly without warning “a chariot of fire and horses of fire appear.” As the two walked and talked together this fiery chariot with its heavenly guard swooped between them and takes Elijah along in its terrific whirlwind up into heaven. So he rises in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror, yea, more than a conqueror. Swiftly he ascends through the heavens to the world of holy and blessed spirits which we cannot yet conceive.
Yes, Elijah was taken to heaven without dying. He is the second person mentioned in Scripture to do so. Enoch was the first (Genesis 5:21-24). Enoch walk with God and was not. Elijah also is granted this sacred privilege. Elijah had burned with holy zeal for God and His honor, and now with a heavenly fire he was refined and translated.
The separation of the two friends and prophets is further described in verse 12. ‘Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen !” And he saw Elijah no more.’
Elisha could but cry our it amazement at the tribute performed for his departed master. But Elisha has also just lost his dearest friend. As he stood there alone, gazing into the sky, Elisha exclaimed, “My father! My father!” in respect and dependency as a spiritual father. [The pupils of the prophets are called their sons or “sons of the prophets.”]
The chariots of Israel and its horsemen may represent the divine forces that were Israel’s true defense. The chariot as the greatest weapon then known seems symbolic of God’s supreme power. Earthly kingdoms believe they are dependent for their defense and glory upon military preparations, yet a single prophet had done more for the preservation and prosperity of Israel than all her chariots and horsemen. Elijah was an instrument through which God’s power was operative in Israel.
III. TAKING UP THE MANTLE; 12b-14.
The second half of verse 12 gives an account of what followed immediately after the translation of Elijah. “Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.”
Elisha tore his clothes in sincere heartache at Elijah’s departure and over his own unworthiness. The dearest friends must part. Elisha had protested Elijah’s leaving him, yet now he is left behind. He was grief stricken, but while lingering to reflect he would come to the realization that he must press on for it was now up to him to look after the people’s welfare. Elijah’s life has ended, but Elisha’s life of ministry has only begun.
Elijah’s mantle, the badge of his office, is given for Elisha to take up in verse 13. “he also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.”
Elisha was called to be the successor of Elijah. The fiery Elijah has just gone away, while his pupil Elisha stood looking after him as he went up in the whirlwind that God has sent to carry him to heaven. The great leader and inspirer, the intrepid Elijah, the invincible Elijah, the fearless Elijah, has been translated, and Elisha, gentle by nature and compliant, altogether different from Elijah was to take Elijah’s place. In joy mixed with sorrow he views the mantle of Elisha at his feet. The mantle of Elijah had now fallen to Elisha. The young man must take up the work which that mighty prophet had laid down. The young prophet has once had that mantle symbolically laid on his shoulders at his calling (1 Kings 19:19), now it would rest there permanently. All he needed to do was pick it up. But picking it up would mean that he would also pick up the load of service that Elijah has left for him to do.
In that hour the sense of his need came upon him appallingly, an he remembered what every man must remember; “Though I have the mantle of Elijah, that mantle is but a mere symbol. Though I have the office of Elijah, though I stand in his place, though I am his successor as a prophet, all is vain - whatever my symbols, whatever my titles, whatever the mantle, whatever the ceremonies and the forms- all is vain without the help of God.” Therefore, Elisha came back to the bank of the Jordan river and realized that his help would not come from forms, it would not come from symbols, it would not come from his position, nor from his station, nor from his title. His help must come from the Lord, and, for Elisha, a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.
In verse 14 we see the miraculous evidence that the Lord God is indeed with Elisha as He was with Elijah. “He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.
So Elisha takes up the mantles that an invisible hand had loosen from Elijah’s shoulders. He moves forth with boldness and smote the same waters with the same mantle, as did his old master, he cried as his smote them: “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And the waters parted, and he crossed over the Jordan as he did with his master just a little while before. This act brought full confirmation of his prophetic office to not only Elisha but to the eyes of the fifty students who have witnessed the entire event.
In CLOSING
God is still looking for people to take up Jesus’ mantle, which may be seen in the towel and move out to serve Him and His people. But He needs people of faith. For faith takes hold of the promises of God and takes hold of the Divine strength of God in order to accomplish things for God, be they great or seemingly small.
