Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Kings 2:11

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Kings 2:11. A chariot of fire, and horses of fire — That is a chariot and horses of the most resplendent glory, which, manifesting itself in coruscations or shooting rays, seemed to be like blazing fire, or like the sun in his strength. Some think that this circumstance, know in the heathen world, gave rise to the fable of Apollo, or the sun, being seated in a blazing chariot, drawn by horses which breathed and snorted fire. These horses were four, and called Pyroeis, Eous, AEthon, and Phlegon; all which words signify fire or resplendent light. So OVID:

Nec tibi quadrupedes animosos ignibus illis

Quos in pectore habent, quos ore et naribus efflant,

In promptu regere est: vix me patiunur, ut acres

Incaluere animi; cervixque repugnat habenis.

OVID, Met. Lib. ii., 84.

Interea volucres Pyroeis, Eous, et AEthon,

Solis equi, quartusque Phlegon, hinnitibus auras

Flammiferis implent, pedibusque repagula pulsant

Ib. 153.

Meanwhile the restless horses neighed aloud,

Breathing out fire and pawing where they stood,

Nor would you find it easy to compose

The mettled steeds, when from their nostrils flows

The scorching fire, that in their entrils glows.

Even I their headstrong fury scarce restrain,

When they grow worm, and restiff to the rein.

DRYDEN.

Perhaps the whole of this fable, which represents Phaethon son of Apollo requesting to drive the chariot of his father (the horses and chariot of fire) for one day, was borrowed from the request of Elisha to his spiritual father Elijah, whom he afterwards saw borne away by a whirlwind, in a chariot of fire drawn by fiery steeds.

Elijah went up-into heaven] He was truly translated; and the words here leave us no room to indulge the conjecture of Dr. Priestley, who supposes that as "Enoch, (probably Moses,) Elijah, and Christ, had no relation to any other world or planet, they are no doubt in this;" for we are told that Elijah went up into heaven; and we know, from the sure testimony of the Scripture, that our blessed Lord is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for us.

Elijah went up - into heaven — He was truly translated; and the words here leave us no room to indulge the conjecture of Dr. Priestley, who supposes that as "Enoch, (probably Moses,) Elijah, and Christ, had no relation to any other world or planet, they are no doubt in this;" for we are told that Elijah went up into heaven; and we know, from the sure testimony of the Scripture, that our blessed Lord is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for us.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

1:1-8:15 MINISTRY OF ELISHA

Elijah succeeded by Elisha (1:1-2:25)

Ahab’s son Ahaziah had not reigned long when he was injured in a fall. When he sent messengers to ask foreign gods whether he would recover, Elijah met them along the way. He sent them back with a message that the king would die, because he had forsaken the true God for foreign gods (1:1-10). Ahaziah sent soldiers to arrest Elijah, apparently with the intention of killing him because of his bold words. The ungodly king lost a hundred soldiers before he realized that he could neither silence nor kill the man whom God had sent to rebuke him (11-18).

Assured of this divine protection, Elijah saw that the time had come to pass on his work to Elisha. Together they visited some of the major centres where young prophets and other faithful Israelites lived. (Schools for prophets had been established in these towns as early as the time of Samuel; see notes on 1 Samuel 3:19-21.) This was a test for Elisha, who could easily have been tempted to stay at one of the schools of the prophets instead of continuing on with Elijah (2:1-6).

Elisha stood the test. He knew that since he was Elijah’s spiritual heir, he had to remain with Elijah to the end, in order to receive the spiritual power to carry on his work. The mark of the heir was that he received a double portion of the father’s inheritance (7-10; cf. Deuteronomy 21:17).

When Elijah was suddenly and supernaturally taken away, Elisha knew that, in this one man, Israel had lost a defender equal to a whole army of horses and chariots. But he soon had clear proof that God’s special power had now passed from Elijah to him (11-14). Back in Jericho the young prophets did not believe the report of Elijah’s spectacular departure, till they had spent three fruitless days looking for him (15-18).
Elisha’s first two miracles symbolized blessing and cursing, the two characteristics of his future ministry. At Jericho, where people were distressed through an unhealthy water supply, he brought healing. At Bethel, where the chief shrine of Israel’s corrupt religion was situated, he brought God’s curse on those who rejected his message (19-25).

The increasing importance of prophets

Ever since the time of Samuel the schools of the prophets had served a useful purpose in Israel’s religious life. They were valuable training centres for young men who were enthusiastic about improving the quality of spiritual life in the nation. Although members of these schools had a reputation for unorthodox behaviour (1 Samuel 10:5,1 Samuel 10:9-12; 1 Samuel 19:20-24; 2 Kings 9:11; 2 Kings 9:11), many of them were genuine followers of God.

Elijah and Elisha did not belong to these schools, but members of the schools looked upon them as their spiritual leaders. Elisha seems to have moved from school to school, spending some time in each community (see 2:1-7,15; 4:38; 6:1). His aim was not to train the young men to be professional prophets, but to build up the godly among them and so help strengthen the faithful minority in an unfaithful nation.

The cases of Elijah and Elisha show that a person did not have to be a member of one of these schools to be a prophet. Of those prophets whose writings have been collected in the Bible, few appear to have been professional prophets. The emphasis of the true prophets was that they had been called by God, not that they had received specialist training (Jeremiah 1:5; Ezekiel 2:1-5; Amos 7:14-15).

Chief characteristic of the prophets was that they were God’s spokesmen in announcing his will (Judges 4:4; 1 Kings 18:18; 1 Kings 18:18; 1 Kings 22:8; Jeremiah 23:18; Ezekiel 2:7; Amos 2:6-16; Amos 3:7). They brought God’s message to the people of their time, and this message may have included instruction for the present and warnings or promises for the future (Isaiah 1:16-20; Jeremiah 18:7-10). The prophets were mainly preachers to the general public and in some cases advisers to the nation’s rulers (2 Samuel 7:1-3; 2 Kings 19:1-7; 2 Kings 19:1-7; Isaiah 7:3-4; Isaiah 37:5-6; Isaiah 39:5-7; Jeremiah 7:1-7; Jeremiah 38:14; Zephaniah 2:1-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE PROPHETS CROSSED THE JORDAN RIVER;
ELIJAH WAS TRANSPORTED UPWARD

“And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood over against them afar off; and they two stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.”

“And Elijah took his mantle… and smote the waters” There is a great deal of symbolism in the events revealed here. The Jordan River, in all ages, has been a symbol of death, and it was fitting indeed that Elijah should pass over the Jordan just prior to his translation. Elisha also crossed over, but he returned. Elijah never returned. The Septuagint (LXX) refers to “his mantle” here as “his sheepskin.” This type of hairy clothing was worn by prophets of those ages. Great authority and respect were granted to wearers of the prophetic mantle, and Adam Clarke noted that, even in modern times, the royal robes of kings and rulers, “Were adorned with the skins of the animal called the ermine.”Adam Clarke, Vol. 2, p. 484.

“Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me” This did not mean that Elisha had dreams of eclipsing Elijah in the miracles, etc. which he would perform. The very words of this request are taken from Deuteronomy 21:17, where they refer to the double portion of a man’s inheritance which was always bequeathed to his heir, or to the firstborn. “Elisha was asking to be recognized as the `heir’ of Elijah in relation to the other prophets of that day.”The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 349.

“Thou hast asked a hard thing” This was hard, because it was a gift that Elijah could not confer. Only God could do such a thing, but the Lord revealed to Elijah that it would indeed be granted, provided that Elisha was present and viewed the translation itself.

“My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” This does not appear to be Elisha’s description of the chariots and horsemen of fire, but an evaluation by Elisha of the importance of Elijah in the spiritual history of Israel. “The Chaldee translates these words thus, `My master, my master! Thy intercession was of more use to Israel than horses and chariots.’ This is probably the sense of the passage.”Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 485. Significantly, these same words were uttered upon the occasion of the death of Elisha (2 Kings 13:14).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Elijah went up ... - No honest exegesis can explain this passage in any other sense than as teaching the translation of Elijah, who was taken from the earth, like Enoch Genesis 5:24, without dying. Compare Ecclesiasticus 48:9.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

And so it came to pass, when the LORD would take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal ( 2 Kings 2:1 ).

So the time is come when Elijah is going to depart the earth. And we gave you sort of a thumbnail sketch of Elijah last Sunday night, this interesting character who will be coming back again. It is very possible that he is alive somewhere on the earth right now. For he will be one of the two witnesses who will witness to Israel during this time in which God is going to deal with the nation Israel again for seven years. And Elijah will be one of those two witnesses of Revelation chapter eleven. And because we are so close to that time, it is very possible that he is alive and around someplace right now just waiting really for the church to be taken out so that he can begin his ministry unto the nation Israel.

But the time has now come historically where he is going to be caught up into heaven in a whirlwind. And so Elisha is following him, and they came to Gilgal, which is north of Jerusalem. It's in the Jerusalem mountain there, and it is probably fifteen miles from Jerusalem.

And Elijah said to Elisha, You stay here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me on to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I'm not going to leave you. So they went to Bethel ( 2 Kings 2:2 ).

Now they are actually moving from Gilgal to Bethel. They are going in a easterly direction and they are moving down towards Jericho. Now when they came to Bethel,

Certain sons of the prophets came out and they said to Elisha, Do you know that your master is going to be taken away from you today? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold your peace. So Elijah said to Elisha, you wait here; for I'm going on down to Jericho ( 2 Kings 2:3-4 ).

Now, from Bethel to Jericho there's a winding valley, and it's a distance about eighteen miles on down to Jericho downhill all the way from Bethel.

And as they came to Jericho, certain sons of the prophets came out and said to Elisha, Do you know that your master's going to be taken away from you today? And he said, I know it; hold your peace. And Elijah said unto him, You wait here; for the LORD hath sent me to the Jordan River. And he said, As the LORD lives, I'm not going to leave you. So the two went on. And fifty men of the prophets went, and they stood to view from a distance: and they stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and he smote the waters, and they were divided, so that the two went over on dry ground ( 2 Kings 2:4-8 ).

Now, this must have been quite an experience as these fifty guys were watching to see this prophet take his mantle, hit the water, and watch him divide so the two guys walked across on dry ground.

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you, before I'm taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, You've asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so unto you; but if not, it shall not be so. So it came to pass, as they still went on, and they were talking, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and the horses of fire, and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him as he was going up, and he went back to the bank of the Jordan River; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and he smote the waters, and he said, Where is Jehovah God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were there by Jericho watching saw what happened, they said, The spirit of Elijah does rest upon Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him ( 2 Kings 2:9-15 ).

So here we see sort of the passing of a mantle and anointing from one man to another. As Elijah has finished his ministry and he's caught away by the Spirit into heaven, and Elisha, asking for that double portion, that he might receive that sort of inheritance, the anointing of God's Spirit upon his life that he might continue the ministry of Elijah. And as he came back, taking the mantle of Elijah, striking the water and the question, "Where is Jehovah God of Elijah?"

I often wonder today concerning miracles. Where is the God of Elijah? I am not at all satisfied with the hyped-up programs of so many evangelists and the atmosphere in which the miracles supposedly takes place. I really do not believe that God needs to work in a circus tent environment. But I believe that He can work in very easy, natural ways. And that when you have this super emotional environment that many times God doesn't always receive the full credit and the glory for that which is accomplished, but many times the instruments so manipulate and sometimes they're just so weird that they draw your attention and it's hard to really think of the Lord. There are men who deliberately seek to draw attention to themselves.

I have wondered why it is that we do not see more dramatic kind of miracles which I know that God is able to perform. So in the idea, "Where is the God of Elijah?" He's saying a God that works visible, obvious miracles where there can be no questioning, no doubts. I cannot agree that God relegated miracles only to the apostolic period and before. That there came this point of history after the last apostle where God said, "Okay, that's the last miracle and from now on, we'll let them educate themselves and let the church expand itself through the world, through the genius of man."

I cannot believe that the lack of miracles actually indicates any lack in God's power or even God's willingness to perform miracles. And yet, the last time I asked the Lord if I may not have the gift of the working of miracles, He answered me that He has led me in a more excellent way, even than the working of marvelous miracles. And since that time, I've never asked Him again for the gift of the working of miracles. But I've just rejoiced for the fact that He has brought our fellowship into a true fellowship, into a oneness where the love of Jesus Christ dominates our fellowship. And I'm satisfied with that.

I'm sort of like Paul. Thrice sought I of the Lord that I might have the gift of miracles or the working of miracles in my life, and God more or less answered me as He did Paul. Sort of, "Don't ask me any more about this, just be satisfied with what you've got." I can see where this gift would be an extremely difficult gift for a person to handle. And I doubt if I could handle it if I had it. Because if a person had the capacity of working true miracles by the power of the Spirit, everybody and his brother will be coming along trying to capitalize on that particular gift and taking you like a side show freak around the country. So that you might work the miracles in the eyes of people and astound people and draw them, and then having drawn them, use it as a super hype to press them for an offering or something. It would be extremely difficult to deal with all of the pressures that men would put on you if you had this particular gift.

And looking at it from that angle, I am really glad that God did not answer my prayer and give me the gift of the working of miracles. And yet I'm sure that there is a place for it within the body of Christ, else the Spirit would never have given that gift to begin with. And in this skeptical world in which we live, I can see the value. And yet, I wonder what kind of a man would it take to really be able to handle all of the notoriety that would center around this kind of a gift. It would be hard, because no doubt, you know, the United Press, Associated Press, the major networks would be there trying to get your interviews and everything else, and puffing you up, and you know and exalting you, and it would be extremely difficult. In fact, I don't think I know a man that could really handle it properly.

Where is the God of Elijah? He has not changed. He is still the same. He is still there. But our very manner of living has removed us, I think, a step away. We vaunt our glorious society and highly developed society and culture. And yet, within the society and culture there are so many distractions, things that take your mind off of the Lord and on to the material things around us. Now, when Elijah and Elisha were journeying together, they were walking from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to Jordan, Trans-Jordan. And walking around in nature, and as you get out and walk in the unspoiled nature, there comes to you a consciousness and awareness of God like you can't get driving down the freeway. There is the capacity to meditate and really have close communion with God walking from Bethel to Jericho. But you try to drive down that narrow, twisting road and have real meditation and communion, and you're going to end up over the cliff.

So the modern society and all of its conveniences and all really have a negative effect upon real spiritual development; that kind of spiritual development that is necessary to be able to handle a gift like Elijah or Elisha had. Where is the God of Elijah? Smiting the waters, they parted. And so, the same miracle that Elijah had performed is now done by Elisha. And here is the indication that the prayer or the request of Elisha was answered. For he asked that he might receive the inheritance, that he might take over and receive that same spirit of Elijah, the double portion of it, which signifies that inheritance of this gift. And now that this same miracle is performed, it's a confirmation of the affirmation of his call. "And they came to meet Elisha and bowed themselves on the ground."

Now you see, immediately you're going to be faced with a problem. Here are these guys bowing down to him. How you going to handle it? It seems that whenever a person has the power of God or the gifts of the Spirit in operation in his life, people want to bow down to them, and they look at the instrument and magnify the instrument. And very few instruments can take that kind of stuff.

Now they said, [Hey,] there are fifty of us fellows, we're strong men. And we want to go and we want to see if maybe the body of Elijah fell somewhere in the desert. ( 2 Kings 2:16 )

No true enough, he was caught up in the whirlwind, but it may be the whirlwind just carried him off in the Land of Oz. He might be lying injured somewhere in the desert. He might have been dumped somewhere on a mountain or in some valley.

Elisha says, No sense going. But they urged him until he was embarrassed about the whole thing and he said, [Well alright, if you want to go, then] go. And so they sent fifty men and they sought for three days, but they didn't find him. And when they came again to him, (for he stayed there at Jericho,) he said to them, Didn't I tell you not to go ( 2 Kings 2:16-18 )?

You know, there's a lot of wasted effort just because people insist on doing something. And they press and they push and then you just get embarrassed about the whole thing. You say, "Okay, go ahead." But you know it's not going to accomplish anything.

And the men of the city said to Elisha, [you know,] this is a nice city and all: but the water supply is bad, and beautiful place but with the water being bad, things are dying. And so he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it. And so he went to the spring that fed the city of Jericho, and he poured the salt in the spring, and the waters of the spring were healed and it said, So they are to this day ( 2 Kings 2:19-22 ).

Now, of course, this was written almost a thousand years before Christ, so at that time, the springs that fed Jericho were still, you know, good. Actually this was written a little bit later than that. And so at the time of the writing it had been sometime, they were still good. Hey, they are still good. I was there just not long ago and drank from the spring. And the water is still good. So God did a good job in healing the springs that feed Jericho. The water is still good and of course, it's a very, very fruitful area.

Now as he was going up from Jericho to Bethel, there came foRuth ( 2 Kings 2:23 )

And it's translated "little children" and this gives you the wrong concept. You see a bunch of little kids, you know, six, seven years old crying, "Hey, you old baldhead, where you going, baldhead?" But the Hebrew language actually indicates more of a teenage and late teenage than just a child. A little child, these were rotten little boys, and they're teenagers mocking the prophet of God.

And he looked back on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD ( 2 Kings 2:24 ).

Now, it's hard to understand why he would do that except that there was a great irreverence for a man of God.

And there came forth two she bears out of the wood ( 2 Kings 2:24 ),

And it is interesting there was woods in that area in those times. Today it's extremely barren, that valley going up. Man, there's nothing but rocks.

and it tore forty-two of them ( 2 Kings 2:24 ).

It doesn't say that they killed them and all, but just really scratched them up.

And so he went up from there to mount Carmel ( 2 Kings 2:25 ),

Now that's clear on over to the area of Haifa over in the coast.

and from there he returned back to Samaria ( 2 Kings 2:25 ).

Which is about nine miles from the Mediterranean, but about twenty-five miles from mount Carmel, the area of Haifa. It's closer to part of mount Carmel. And they said unto him, Behold now. I beg your pardon. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The transfer of prophetic power 2:1-14

The Gilgal in view may have been the one between Jericho and the Jordan, or it may have been one about seven miles north of Bethel since Elijah and Elisha went down to Bethel (2 Kings 2:2). [Note: Wiseman, p. 195.] This account presupposes previous revelation, not in Scripture, that this day was to be Elijah’s last on earth (2 Kings 2:3). By granting Elisha permission to remain behind (2 Kings 2:2, et al.), Elijah was testing Elisha’s commitment to himself and to his calling as Elijah’s successor (cf. Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 22:31-62; John 21:15-25). Elisha’s refusal to speak of Elijah’s departure (2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 2:5) probably reflects Elisha’s sorrow at the prospect of losing his friend and mentor. It was not uncommon for prophets to give a valuable parting blessing (cf. Genesis 49; Deuteronomy 33), and Elisha did not want to miss that. A prophet’s mantle (cloak) was the symbol of Elijah’s authority as God’s spokesman (cf. 1 Kings 19:19). As Moses had parted the Red Sea with his rod, so Elijah parted the Jordan River with his mantle (2 Kings 2:8; cf. Exodus 14:21-22). Israel’s God was as able as ever to lead His people out of bondage and into promised blessing.

The double portion that Elisha requested was the privilege of God’s richest blessing on his life that customarily went to the first-born son in the ancient Near East (cf. 1 Kings 3:3-9). It would be a hard thing for Elijah to guarantee this double portion since blessing with His Spirit was God’s prerogative (2 Kings 2:10). Evidently Elijah intended to reward Elisha’s continued faithful commitment to him with this blessing, but if Elisha turned back from following him he would not get it (2 Kings 2:10). The eldest son, whose role Elisha filled, was responsible to carry on his father’s name and work.

"The visible vehicle of his removal would be a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1) that manifest [sic] itself to onlookers as a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11)." [Note: Merrill, "2 Kings," p. 272.]

The chariot and horses of fire symbolized God’s powerful heavenly army (cf. 2 Kings 6:17). This display of the instruments of spiritual warfare separated the two prophets and apparently could have frightened Elisha into running away and losing his desired blessing (2 Kings 2:11). The chariot and horses of fire had polemic value since the Canaanites called Baal "the rider of clouds." [Note: Battenfield, p. 27; et al.] A polemic is a presentation of evidence designed to discredit someone or something. The whirlwind (shekinah?) took Elijah miraculously into heaven, not the fiery horses and chariot (2 Kings 2:11). Elijah had thought he was indispensable to God at one time (1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 19:14), but God had told him that He would remove him and work through others (1 Kings 19:11-18). Elijah’s translation to heaven was a blessing for him since he entered heaven without dying.

"The contrast between the deaths of Elijah and his enemies could hardly be any more stark. Elijah, the faithful servant of God, ascends to heaven. Ahab and Jezebel, the sworn enemies of Yahwism and the prophets, die at the hands of their foes." [Note: Paul R. House, 1, 2 Kings, p. 210.]

Elijah had been Elisha’s spiritual father and mentor (2 Kings 2:12). Elisha mourned the departure of one of Israel’s great spiritual warriors (2 Kings 2:12). By referring to Elijah as "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen" (2 Kings 2:12; cf. 2 Kings 13:14), Elisha probably meant that Elijah’s prophetic powers and spiritual depth were the nation’s true strength. [Note: M. A. Beek, "The Meaning of the Expression ’The Chariots and the Horsemen of Israel’ (II Kings ii 12)," Oudtestamentische Studiën 17 (1972):1-10. See also Jack R. Lundbom, "Elijah’s Chariot Ride," Journal of Jewish Studies 24:1 (Spring 1973):47-48.] He was a one-man army. The chariot was the mightiest weapon then known, and it was symbolic of God’s supreme power. [Note: Harold Stigers, "First and Second Kings," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 342. Stigers wrote the commentary on 2 Kings in this volume.] By asking, "Where is Elijah’s God?" (2 Kings 2:14), Elisha was calling out to Yahweh to demonstrate His power through him as He had done through Elijah.

"In their persons they symbolized two aspects of the divine power toward the people: Elijah was the divine judicial power opposing a rebellious people and containing wholesale violence; Elisha was the dispensing of divine blessing when people repented." [Note: Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology, pp. 185-86.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked,.... About the donation of the gifts of the Spirit requested, about the state of religion in Israel, and about the training up of prophets in the colleges, and about Elisha's succession as a prophet in his room, and his discharge of that office, and such like things, as may be supposed, in which he gave him instruction and advice:

that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire; either angels in this form, see Psalms 104:4, in which they appeared for the glory and honour of the prophet, and as emblems of his flaming love and zeal for the purity of religion, and that his assumption might be conspicuous to Elisha; and perhaps by this means might be seen by the fifty men on the other side Jordan: this chariot, drawn with these horses, was not seen in the heaven, but as running on the earth, and came between the two prophets, and separated them from each other, taking up Elijah into it by means of a wind whirling about him, and which was no other than the ministry of angels; or these might be a conflux of exhalations or clouds, formed in this likeness by a supernatural power, and, by the solar rays striking on them, might appear fiery or red; and so his assumption was much in such like manner as our Lord was taken up in a cloud, Acts 1:9,

and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven; body and soul; such a change passing on him, as he went through the region of the air, which divested him of his mortality and corruption, and fitted him for the invisible world.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.   10 And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; 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; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.   12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, 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.

      Here, I. Elijah makes his will, and leaves Elisha his heir, now anointing him to be prophet in his room, more than when he cast his mantle upon him,1 Kings 19:19.

      1. Elijah, being greatly pleased with the constancy of Elisha's affection and attendance, bade him ask what he should do for him, what blessing he should leave him at parting; he does not say (as bishop Hall observes), "Ask of me when I am gone, in heaven I shall be better able to befriend thee," but, "Ask before I go." Our friends on earth may be spoken to, and can give us an answer, but we know not that we can have access to any friend in heaven but Christ, and God in him. Abraham is ignorant of us.

      2. Elisha, having this fair opportunity to enrich himself with the best riches, prays for a double portion of his spirit. He asks not for wealth, nor honour, nor exemption from trouble, but to be qualified for the service of God and his generation, he asks, (1.) For the Spirit, not that the gifts and graces of the Spirit were in Elijah's power to give, therefore he says not, "Give me the Spirit" (he knew very well it was God's gift), but "Let it be upon me, intercede with God for this for me." Christ bade his disciples ask what they would, not one, but all, and promised to send the Spirit, with much more authority and assurance than Elijah could. (2.) For his spirit, because he was to be a prophet in his room, to carry on his work, to father the sons of the prophets and face their enemies, because he had the same perverse generation to deal with that he had, so that, if he have not his spirit, he has not strength according to the day. (3.) For a double portion of his spirit; he does not mean double to what Elijah had, but double to what the rest of the prophets had, from whom so much would not be expected as from Elisha, who had been brought up under Elijah. It is a holy ambition to covet earnestly the best gifts, and those which will render us most serviceable to God and our brethren. Note, We all ought, both ministers and people, to set before us the example of our predecessors, to labour after their spirit, and to be earnest with God for that grace which carried them through their work and enabled them to finish well.

      3. Elijah promised him that which he asked, but under two provisos, 2 Kings 2:10; 2 Kings 2:10. (1.) Provided he put a due value upon it and esteem it highly: this he teaches him to do by calling it a hard thing, not too hard for God to do, but too great for him to expect. Those are best prepared for spiritual blessings that are most sensible of their worth and their own unworthiness to receive them. (2.) Provided he kept close to his master, even to the last, and was observant of him: If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so, otherwise not. A diligent attendance upon his master's instructions, and a careful observance of his example, particularly now in his last scene, were the condition and would be a proper means of obtaining much of his spirit. Taking strict notice of the manner of his ascension would likewise be of great use to him. The comforts of departing saints, and their experiences, will mightily help both to gild our comforts and to steel our resolutions. Or, perhaps, this was intended only as a sign: "If God favour thee so far as to give thee a sight of me when I ascend, take that for a token that he will do this for thee, and depend upon it." Christ's disciples saw him ascend, and were thereupon assured that they should, in a little time, be filled with his Spirit, Acts 1:8. Elisha, we may suppose, hereupon prayed earnestly, Lord, show me this token for good.

      II. Elijah is carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot, 2 Kings 2:11; 2 Kings 2:11. Like Enoch, he was translated, that he should not see death; and was (as Mr. Cowley expresses it) the second man that leaped the ditch where all the rest of mankind fell, and went not downward to the sky. Many curious questions might be asked about this matter, which could not be answered. Let it suffice that we are here told,

      1. What his Lord, when he came, found him doing. He was talking with Elisha, instructing and encouraging him, directing him in his work, and quickening him to it, for the good of those whom he left behind. He was not meditating nor praying, as one wholly taken up with the world he was going to, but engaged in edifying discourse, as one concerned about the kingdom of God among men. We mistake if we think our preparation for heaven is carried on only by contemplation and the acts of devotion. Usefulness to others will pass as well in our account as any thing. Thinking of divine things is good, but talking of them (if it come from the heart) is better, because for edification, 1 Corinthians 14:4. Christ ascended as he was blessing his disciples.

      2. What convoy his Lord sent for him--a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which appeared either descending upon them from the clouds or (as bishop Patrick thinks) running towards them upon the ground: in this form the angels appeared. The souls of all the faithful are carried by an invisible guard of angels into the bosom of Abraham; but, Elijah being to carry his body with him, this heavenly guard was visible, not in a human shape, as usual, though they might so have borne him up in their arms, or carried him as on eagles' wings, but that would have been to carry him like a child, like a lamp (Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 40:31); they appear in the form of a chariot and horses, that he may ride in state, may ride in triumph, like a prince, like a conqueror, yea, more than a conqueror. The angels are called in scripture cherubim and seraphim, and their appearance here, though it may seem below their dignity, answers to both those names; for (1.) Seraphim signifies fiery, and God is said to make them a flame of fire,Psalms 104:4. (2.) Cherubim (as many think) signifies chariots, and they are called the chariots of God (Psalms 68:17), and he is said to ride upon a cherub (Psalms 18:10), to which perhaps there is an allusion in Ezekiel's vision of four living creatures, and wheels, like horses and chariots; in Zechariah's vision, they are so represented, Zechariah 1:8; Zechariah 6:1; Revelation 6:2, c. See the readiness of the angels to do the will go God, even in the meanest services, for the good of those that shall be heirs of salvation. Elijah must remove to the world of angels, and therefore, to show how desirous they were of his company, some of them would come to fetch him. The chariot and horses appeared like fire, not for burning, but brightness, not to torture or consume him, but to render his ascension conspicuous and illustrious in the eyes of those that stood afar off to view it. Elijah had burned with holy zeal for God and his honour, and now with a heavenly fire he was refined and translated.

      3. How he was separated from Elisha. This chariot parted them both asunder. Note, The dearest friends must part. Elisha had protested he would not leave him, yet now is left behind by him.

      4. Whither he was carried. He went up by a whirlwind into heaven. The fire tends upward the whirlwind helped to carry him through the atmosphere, out of the reach of the magnetic virtue of this earth, and then how swiftly he ascended through the pure ether to the world of holy and blessed spirits we cannot conceive.

      Elijah had once, in a passion, wished he might die; yet God was so gracious to him as not only not to take him at his word then, but to honour him with this singular privilege, that he should never see death; and by this instance, and that of Enoch, (1.) God showed how men should have left the world if they had not sinned, not by death, but by a translation. (2.) He gave a glimpse of that life and immortality which are brought to light by the gospel, of the glory reserved for the bodies of the saints, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers, as then to Elijah. It was also a figure of Christ's ascension.

      III. Elisha pathetically laments the loss of that great prophet, but attends him with an encomium, 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 2:12. 1. He saw it; thus he received the sign by which he was assured of the grant of his request for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He looked stedfastly towards heaven, whence he was to expect that gift, as the disciples did, Acts 1:10. He saw it awhile, but the vision was presently out of his sight; and he saw him no more. 2. He rent his own clothes, in token of the sense he had of his own and the public loss. Though Elijah had gone triumphantly to heaven, yet this world could ill spare him, and therefore his removal ought to be much regretted by the survivors. Surely their hearts are hard whose eyes are dry when God, by taking away faithful useful men, calls for weeping and mourning. Though Elijah's departure made way for Elisha's eminency, especially since he was now sure of a double portion of his spirit, yet he lamented the loss of him, for he loved him, and could have served him for ever. 3. He gave him a very honourable character, as the reason why he thus lamented the loss of him. (1.) He himself had lost the guide of his youth: My father, my father. He saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child thrown upon the world, and lamented it accordingly. Christ, when he left his disciples, did not leave them orphans (John 14:15), but Elijah must. (2.) The public had lost its best guard; he was the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. He would have brought them all to heaven, as in this chariot, if it had not been their own fault; they used not chariots and horses in their wars, but Elijah was to them, by his counsels, reproofs, and prayers, better than the strongest force of chariot and horse, and kept off the judgments of God. His departure was like the routing of an army, an irreparable loss. "Better have lost all our men of war than this man of God."

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Preparing to Depart

October 8th, 1865 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"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; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings 2:11 .

It seems to me that the departure of Elijah from the world, though of course he did not "die" at all, may furnish us with a very good type of the decease of those saints who, although taken away on a sudden, are not without some previous intimation that in such a manner they will be removed. There may be some such here. They may know that they have about them a disease which, in all probability, will terminate fatally and suddenly. Others of us may have no idea at present, that there is prepared for us a sudden death and sudden glory. We would not shrink from such a death if it were the Lord's will that it should be ours. Nay, some of us would gladly reach out our hands, and grasp so happy a mode of departure. It has always seemed to us to be the preferable way of leaving this world, not to be long sick and disabled, a weariness to those who nurse us, and a torment to ourselves, but on a sudden to shut our eyes on earth, and open them on the splendors of heaven. So to die would be, we think, a blessed mode of resting from our labors and entering into the presence of our Lord. I. Taking Elijah's case as a guide, we propose to-night to say a few words and may God make them to edification! about PREPARING FOR OUR DEPARTURE, which really is so near that it is time we began to talk about it. It is much nearer to us than we think. To those of you who have passed fifty, sixty, or seventy years of age, it must, of necessity, be very near. To others of us who are in the prime of life, it is not far off, for I suppose we are all conscious that time flies more swiftly with us now than ever it did. The years of our youth seem to have been twice as long as the years are now that we are men. It was but yesterday that the buds began to swell and burst, and now the leaves are beginning to fall, and soon we shall be expecting to see old winter taking up his accustomed place. The years whirl along so fast that we cannot see the months which, as it were, make the spokes of the wheel. The whole thing travels so swiftly that the axle thereof grows hot with speed. We are flying, as on some mighty eagle's wing, swiftly on towards eternity. Ltt us, then, talk about preparing to die. It is the greatest thing we have to do, and we have soon to do it so let us talk and think something about it. And what should we do when we are preparing to die? Well, we may spend some little time in leave-taking. We have some friends who have been very dear to us, and we may almost begin to bid them "good-bye." When we feel that death is really coming, we may spare a little season to say to a friend, "I beseech thee now to leave me." There will be some who, like Elisha with Elijah, have been with us during life, and who will not leave us tin the very last moment of death. Yet, in the prospect of our departure, we must learn to hold all things with a loose hand. Why should I grip so fast that which death must and will tear from me? Why should I set my affections so ardently upon a dying thing that will melt before my eyes? I cannot carry it with me when I am called to go. There are, it is true, dear ones who will not leave us, but who will live in our hearts and permit us to live in their hearts till the last hour shall come, and longer still. But we must begin even now to prepare for our departure by reminding them, and reminding ourselves likewise, that these friendships must be broken, that these unions must be snapped, at least for a season, hopeful though we may be that we shall enjoy them again on the other side the Jordan. The next thing we ought to do, and as it seems to me even more important, is to go and see about our work. If we have a feeling at all that we are going home, let us set our house in order. What did Elijah do? He went to the two colleges he had founded at Bethel and at Jericho, and of which he was their principal instructor, and he addressed the young men once more before he was taken from them. I should like to have been a student there to have listened to the Professor's last lecture. I warrant you that it was not an ordinary one. There was nothing in it dry, dusty, dead, and dreary. O friends, I think I hear the prophet charging them as before God, and before his holy angels, to rebuke the sin of the age in which they lived. "I went to the top of Carmel," said he, "and the priests of Baal were gathered about me, and I laughed them to scorn; I poured sarcasms upon their heads; I said to them concerning Baal, 'Cry aloud, for he is a God; and while they cut themselves with knives and with lancets I mockingly said to them, 'Peradventure he hunteth, or he stepeth, and needeth to be awaked by louder cries;' I laughed to scorn their reapings upon the altar; and then, when I bowed my knees, and cried for fire to come from heaven, those same skies, which my faith had shut up so that no rain fell upon the sinful Israelites' land, now cast forth fire at my word; and then I took the prophets of Baal, I let not one of them escape; I slew them by the brook Kishon, and made the brook run blood-red with their gore, because they had led astray the people of God, and had defied the name of the Most High. Now, young, men," said he, "be ye faithful even unto death; go ye and teach the people, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; pull down their idols, and exalt Jehovah, and speak ye as men who are sent by him." You, dear friends, are not called to teach students as I am, so I speak with earnest sympathy when I say that, next to dying in the pulpit, the thing I would choose would be to die amongst those brethren whom I often seek to stir up to fidelity in the Master's cause. But you may well desire that, before you depart, all your various works should come under review. Sunday-school teachers, call your children together; let your addresses to them be those of dying men and women. You who can and do conduct our Bible-classes, dear and honored brothers and sisters, there are many souls committed constantly to your care; clear yourselves of their blood so that you may go to your beds to-night, and every night, as though you were going to your tomb, and feel that you fell asleep on that bed as you would wish to fall asleep when your last sleeping hour must come. Let us each see to the various works we have in hand, so that we leave nothing out of place. Is there one soul we ought to have spoken to that we have not yet pleaded with for the Master? Let us do it now. Is there any field of usefulness which we ought to have ploughed, and does the ploughshare still lie rusting in the furrow? Let us go and begin to plough this very night, or, at least, when to-morrow's sun has risen. We have so little time to live, let us live like dying men. A certain lady, staying in their parish of that devoted minister, Mr. Cecil, was asked by him to undertake some particular work. She answered him "My dear sir, I should he very glad to do it but I am not certain of being in the parish more than three months" "Ah!" said he, "I am not certain of being in the parish three hours, and yet I go on with my duty, and I pray you, madam, to go on with you." Let us look at our time, not as having a great deal of it, but as having so little. Beza said to his scribe, as he was translating the Gospel of John, "Write fast; write fast, for I am dying." Then when he had got to the last verse, he said, "Now shut up the book, and leave me alone a minute," and he fell back, and entered into glory. Work hard; the candle is nearly burned out, and you have not finished that garment yet! Work hard, for you have not another candle to light when that one is gone! When Elijah had taken leave of Elisha, and had addressed the students, the next thing was to cross the Jordan. With his mantle he smote the waters, and passed through them, and then, as it were, they shut him out from all the world except Elisha. I think I would like, if I might have notice of the day of my dying, to get away from the world alone. What does a dying man want with business? A man who has to die had need shut up the ledger, and keep open that blessed book which shall be as God's rod and shaft to comfort him in the valley of the shallow of death. It is a happy circumstance for some of my friends, whom I look upon almost with envy, that they have ended the activities of life before death, and have now a little season in which, as it were, they have got on the verge of Jordan, and are resting, except that they are doing the Lord's work diligently, resting from the world, and preparing to enter into glory. John Bunyan very graphically describes this state, when he tells us of what he calls "the country of Beulah, whose air was very sweet, and pleasant, and the way lying directly through it, the pilgrims solaced themselves there for a season. Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds, and saw every day the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and day; wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shallow of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair, neither could they from, this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the city they were going to, also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the Shining Ones commonly walked, because it was upon the borders of heaven." They heard the melody of the upper spheres while they were still here below. This is a blessed terminus of our earthly life. Did not the prophet indicate it, when he said, "At evening time, it shall be light." When you have got home from business lately, how you have enjoyed those splendid evenings that we have been having, so fair, so calm, so bright! You know that the day must die, and that the dew would weep its fall; but, oh! its dying hours were so pleasant! There was no sun-heat to broil you, no dust nor whirl of care to vex you, but the evening seemed a beautiful preparation for your going to your beds. Well, if one might choose, one would like to have just such a season as that; and though there are but few grey hairs on the heads of some of us, I am not quite sure that we might not begin this happy time sooner than most people do. I do not mean by laying aside work, but by laying aside unbelief; not by giving up toil, but by giving up carking care. Why should I fret and worry myself when I am young any more than when I am old? My father's God is my God, and he who will make the land as Beulah to me when I come to die, can make it so even now if I have but that childlike confidence which can sing,

All my times are in thy hand, All events at thy command."

Imitate Luther's little bird, that used to sit on the tree, and sing so him. Nobody else could interpret its notes, or tell what it said, but to Luther it sang,

"Mortal, cease from care and sorrow, God provideth for the morrow."

Elijah teaches us another thing by which we may prepare for our departure. He said to his friend Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for thee." Quick, then, brother, quick; if you have anything you can do for your friends, do it now. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." If you do not ask your friends what you shall do, think what you can do for them. Mother, you would like to pray with that dear child of yours; then do it soon, for the hour of your departure is at hand. Friend, you would like to do a kind action to that struggling brother, then do is soon for you my be gone tomorrow. You have thought of something that you would like to do for Christ's cause. Perhaps there is a destitute village where you would like to have the gospel preached, and you want to make some provision for it; then do it soon, do it soon, or the resolve may never be able to ripen into action. How many infants that might have grown up to be spiritual giants, have been strangled by our procrastination! You nurse the little child of resolve, but seldom does it grow into the man of practical action. Get about it, get about, it now! You cannot help your friend when you have once gone up in your chariots of fire, so help him now, and let him tell you what you shall do for him. Then notice that Elijah and Elisha were talking as they went on, and holding communion with each other. Old Bishop Hall says they must have been talking of some very solemn and heavenly subjects, or else one would have thought that they would have been on their knees praying instead of talking; but he very properly adds, that "sometimes mediation is best and sometimes conversation." So was it in their case. Elijah had a great deal to say to Elisha; he was about to leave the State and the Church in very perilous times, so he talked fast to the man who was to bear the burden and heat of the day, and poured the whole case into his ear; and no doubt Elisha asked him many questions, and was informed by him upon many knotty points, and so "they still went on, and talked." Let our talk always be like their talk, and then it will be well to die talking. "They that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard." Brethren, I say, and I am afraid I may well say it with tears, that much of our conversation would not do for God to hear, and though he does hear it, yet it would not do for him to write a book of remembrance concerning it, for it would be better far that it should be blotted out. Oh! when the last solemn hour shall come, may we be found

"Wrapt in meditation high, Hymning our great Creator's praise;"

or else conversing with our brethren here below, so that we may go from the communion of the Church militant to that of the Church triumphant, and take away our lip from the human ear to begin to speak to ears immortal before the starry throne. These are the different methods by which we may prepare to die. Some people, when they fancy they are going to die, think the only thing they can do to prepare for death is to send for the parson, "take the sacrament," as they call it, get upstairs, not see anybody, and draw the curtain. The best way for a Christian to die is in harness. If I were a soldier, methinks I would sooner die in battle in the hour of victory than I would die in the trenches doing nothing, rotting in idleness for want of work to do. Let us just push on, and may it be said of us when we are gone, he did

His body with his charge lay down, And ceased at once to work and live."

So was it with Elijah; so may it be with us! II. THIS DEPARTURE OF ELIJAH appears to melee in some measure SYMBOLIC OF THE DEATHS OF BELIEVERS. It was sudden, though expected. They were talking, and just in the middle of a sentence, perhaps, they were parted. There was no noises, for the wheels of that chariot moved not on earth, but its brightness shone around them. They looked back, and they saw strange steeds, whose eyeballs flashed with flame, and whose necks were clothed with thunder; and behind them was a chariot brighter than the golden car in which the Caesars rode, for it was a car of fire, and Elijall knew it was one of the chariots of God, which are twenty thousand, that he had sent to take his favourite servant up to the ivory palaces, where the King himself dwells. It was sudden; the parting came in a moment; and I suppose that death is usually sudden. Even though persons may be, as we say, long dying, yet the actual moment of departure comes suddenly. The bowl is broken with a crash, and the silver cord is loosed; the chain is snapped, and the eagle mounts to dwell in the sun. How terrible! a chariot of fire, and horses of fire. Even to a Christian, death is not a soft, dainty being. To die is no child's play. We speak of it, as a sleep; but it is no such sleep as yon youngster's, when he lies down upon the sunny bank to wake again. There are solemnities about it. There are, horses and there are chariots, and so far there is comfort; but they are all of fire, and he that sees them need have Elijah's eyes, or perhaps his own will blink. Elijah had seen fire before; he had called it from heaven upon his enemies; he had brought it down from heaven upon his sacrifice; he had seen fire flashing on him at Horeb, then the whole sky was blight, with sheets of forked flame, but the Lord was not in that fire as he was in this. He who had looked at that former fire, and feared not, could bear to look upon the horses and chariots of fire which God had sent. Though terrible, how triumphant! Oh, what splendor, to ride to heaven in a chariot! No foot-passenger wading through Jordan's stream, and going up dripping on the other bank to be met by the shining ones. That is bright and glorious. The good dreamer of Bedford Gaol dreamed well when he dreamed that; but this is more triumphant still, to mount the car, and stand erect, and ride up to the throne of God, drawn thither by horses of fire! It is given to but few to have this experience; and yet, what am I saying? Have we not all the like experience? Shall we not all have it when, in the image of Christ Jesus, we shall mount with him to our eternal rest? Yes, he will come again, and all his people with him; and if Jesus shall ride on the white horse of victory, his saints shall ride on white horses too, and shall enter through the gates into the city amidst resounding acclamations. Yes, to die is triumph to the Christian. It seems to me that it was an act of faith, on the part of Elijah, to mount that fiery chariot; and we may say of him as it was said of Enoch, "By faith he was translated that he should not see death; and he was not, for God took him." Yes, horses of fire and chariots of fire are no bad image of the departure of the blessed when they are called to enter into the joy of their Lord. As for us, we have not got to heaven yet; our turn has not come, though we are ready to say,

"Oh that we now might grasp our Guide!" Oh that the worst were given! Come, Lord of hosts, the waves divide, And land us all in heaven!"

III. But while we remain behind, let us ask, WHAT OUGHT WE TO DO WHO HAVE SEEN ANY DIE LIKE THIS? If we have lost wife, or husband, or child, or friend, in this sudden way, what ought we to do? You see what Elisha did. First of all, he rent his clothes, which was the Eastern mode of showing his grief. Well, you may weep, for "Jesus wept." Do not think there is any sin in sorrowing over departed friends, for the Lord never denies to us those human feelings which are rather kindly than vicious. Had there been death before the Fall, I could imagine even perfect, Adam weeping at the loss of Eve; nay, he would have been no perfect man if he could have lost his spouse, and not have wept. "Jesus wept;" we regard him all the more as Jesus because he wept; and you could not be like Jesus unless you wept too. The gospel does not make us Stoics; it makes us Christians. Still, you must remember that there is a moderation in grief. The Quaker was right who, when he saw a lady fretting on the sofa some year or so after her husband was dead, still harboring grief without a token of resignation, said to her, "Madam, I see you have not forgiven God yet." Sometimes grief is not a sacred feeling, but only a murmur of rebellion against the Most High. Yes, you may rend your garments; and if you like, you may do a little more. Elisha not only rent his garments, but be cried "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof," and in doing this he eulogized his departed friend. He seemed to say, "He has been a father to me; I have lost one who was very tender to me, one who trained me, and watched over me, and fostered me as a father." Oh, speak well of the departed! You need not 'bate your kind words about your dead friends. We speak little enough that is good of one another while we are living; I wish we sometimes said a little more, not by way of flattery, but by way of commendation, which might cheer depressed and burdened spirits; but you need not be afraid of speaking flatteringly, so as to hurt the dead who have gone to glory, for they will not be injured by what you say. If those who have departed were of value to the Church of God, you may say of them, "The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" You may wonder who will lead the Church now; you may question how things will go on; who will be the horses to drag the car, or where will now be the Chariot in which weary spirits may be made to ride. Yes, you may both grieve and eulogize. Weep well and speak well, but then, what next? Do not stand there, and waste your time; do not stop there, and let your eyes see nothing. See, there is something falling. What is it that is dropping from the sky. It is no meteor. Elisiha's eyes are fixed on it; he finds that it is the old mantle that the prophet used to throw about his shoulders, and he picks it up joyfully; and our friends, who have gone from us, have left their mantles too. What are these mantles? Sometimes good men leave their books and sermons behind them, but all Christian people leave their good examples. Now, do not stand and weep then you forget the goodness of the departed, but go and take their mantles up. Were they earnest? Be you earnest. Were they humble? Be you humble. Were they prayerful? Be you prayerful; and so, in each case, shall you wear their mantle. They have left their example for you to follow; they are not gone that you may superstitiously reverence them, but they have departed that you may earnestly imitate them. As far as they followed Christ, do you follow them, and so wear their mantle. And when you have got their mantle, do not waste precious time in lamentations about them any more; get to your business. There is a river in your way; what then? Well, go to the Jordan as the prophet Elisha did, and try to pass it. Say not, "Where is Elijah?" but "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Elijah is gone, but his God is not; Elijah has gone away, but Jehovah is present, still. Now then, Christians, you have to take up the work of the departed; take it up in the strength of the same God who made them mighty, and strive to do the same works that they did. If they divided Jordan, do you divide Jordan. You have their example to show you how to do it, and their God is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Ask ye now, "Where did Elisha go after he had divided Jordan?" Did he go to seek out Elijah

"In some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of shade; Where rumor of "

bereavements and of death might never reach him more? Not he! He went straight away to the place where Elijah used to be the head of the college, and there took up Elijah's work. Were I a soldier, with courage for the armor of any mind, and valor for the enterprise of my life, a soldier of that class which Baxter describes as carrying their lives in their hands, and the grace of God in their hearts, then surely, when I saw a man just in front of me fall, I should step forward, and take his place. That is what you should do. If there is a good man dead, fill up the gap. If there is a saint departed, be you, as it were, "baptized for the dead." Seek to have the blessing of God upon you, so that you may have a double portion of his spirit, and may be able to take the place in the ranks, or the council, which he who is gone has vacated. Your business is not in the closet of mourning, but in the field of service. There is work to be done yet; there is work to so done yet; up, and do it! That was a brave thing in Richard Cobden's life, at the time when his whole soul was taken up with the subject of free trade, and the breaking of the chains of commerce, the young wife of his friend, John Blight, died, and God went to him, and said, "Now, Bright, you have lost your wife, and we will heal your sorrow by fighting the nation's battle;" and the thing was indeed well and bravely done. So, if you have lost a dear friend, heal your sorrow by giving yourself more earnestly than ever to God's cause, and to the propagation of "the truth as it is in Jesus." There is nothing like activity, nothing like having the hands full, to keep the heart bright, and to keep the soul happy. You are dullards, you who have nothing to do: you fret and fume, and rebel, instead of fighting for you Lord; but if you would only go up "to the help of the Lord against the mighty," and would bear his burdens, he would help you to bear yours, and the sorrow that now seems as a knife in your bones would be as a spur to your activity. "I vowed," said one, "that I would be avenged on death for all the damage that he had done to me, and so I smote him right and left with the fiery sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; I preached the immortality that there is in Christ Jesus, and so I was avenged of death, and felt that I had conquered him." So do you; go and serve your Master still, and though Elija may depart, yet you shall fill up his place, and God's horsemen and chariots shall not be wanting. And now, dear friends, in parting for the night, it is meet for us to say, "Farewell for this night, then we meet again in the morning." But, sometimes, this parting may be very significant, and therefore let us say, "Farewell," with the thought that some of us may never look each other in the face again. I hope we can truly say, "Farewell!" and then we shall meet in the morning, when the night is over, and the death-dews drop no more, when the chill frost of midnight shall all have been melted away by the rising sun of immortality. Yes, we will meet; we shall meet to part no more. We will make an appointment now, to meet each other then, where our hearts, in faith, have often met before, at the throne of him who has washed us in his blood, and made us white, and so, FAREWELL TILL THE MORNING! But what of some of you? You can make no such appointment to meet us there, for your way is not thitherward not with horses of fire to heaven, but with chariots of flame down to hell, down, down, down for ever into the depths of grief! We dare not say that we will meet you there. If you will go there, you must go alone; if you will perish, you must perish by yourself. If you will live and die without a Savior, you cannot expect your friends to accompany you to that dreary world of woe. But why goest thou, why goest thou, O solitary traveler, where thou wouldst not have thy fellow go? Thou wouldst not see thy child damned, let me say the word with solemn awe thou wouldst not see thy child damned, wouldst thou? Then why shouldst thou so damned thyself? "But must it so!" say you. No, sinner, there is no "must" for that. There hangs my Master, the crucified redeemer, and if thou lookest to him, there will be another "must" for thee, namely, that thou must be saved. The road to heaven is by the cross of Calvary. Christ Jesus marks the way to glory by the crimson blood-drops which flowed from his pierced hands and feet. Trust Jesus; trust him wholly; trust him now; trust him for ever; and then we will meet, we will meet, again in the morning, and so, GOOD NIGHT!

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

It has been already remarked that the mission, or, at any rate, the proper ministry of Elijah closed with his own complaint against the children of Israel. God took him at his word. He pleaded against, instead of for, Israel. Now he was called to a ministry of a judicial character, but it ought to have been in communion with all that were of God and for His name, and there was, so far, a want of entrance into the mind of God. There was the full, complete remnant of the people according to the election of grace. They were as nothing to Elijah, but they were very much to God. It is evident, therefore, that God and His servant were totally at issue, and, therefore, if such was the condition of the servant, he was virtually resigning his office. So God, from that very moment, taking him at his own word, appoints Elisha to succeed him. Yet, nevertheless, God did not take him away in anger. Far from it. On the contrary, though it was the lack of grace on behalf of the people of God which was surely offensive to the Lord in His servant the prophet, there was no lack of grace on God's part. Elijah therefore remains, though by no means as before. There was a certain transition of position, before the Lord took him. But when he did take him it was with the highest honour that could be put upon man here upon earth he was caught up to heaven without even passing through death.

The opening chapter then of this Second Book of Kings presents in a very striking manner the acting, if not the ministry, of the prophet the proof that the power of God was still with him. For when the wicked king, now himself sick, sent to the power of evil to learn about himself, God answers him not the enemy God gives him a more speedy answer than he had looked for. To Elijah God communicates the fact, orders him to stop the messengers and to give that most solemn intelligence to the king that he was then lying on his death-bed, and should therefore by no means recover. It was not that the king was ignorant of Elijah, but he followed in the evil of his father, and, as his father was the open enemy of Elijah, he therefore counted him as his enemy. So the son in the very same footsteps walks after his father. Nevertheless, for this very reason, just as it was when God employed the daring of Pharaoh to manifest His glory, so it was now in Israel where it was come to this, that a large part the greater part indeed of the people of God was a sphere for the display of Jehovah's glory just because of their total departure from, and opposition to, His will. Consequently it bears this judicial character, for God was still dealing with His servant Elijah.

The messengers, then, arrested by the prophet, bring back the word of his coming death to the king, who soon finds out that it is none other than Elijah the Tishbite. He thereupon sends an officer with his company to take him. This was more easily said than done, and, in fact, brought an immediate judgment upon the heads of those that obeyed the king. We can understand that there are some who wonder at this. But it must never be forgotten that not even in Judah was it a mere monarchy, still less in Israel, now that they were divided. The government of the kingdom of Israel was a theocracy. No doubt the king was the representative of God's power, but still it was a throne of Jehovah. When, therefore, a king set himself in defiance of Jehovah he must take the consequences. No person, for instance, bearing the Queen's commission, is entitled to order his men against the Queen, and the Queen is perfectly entitled to punish them. Their pleading the order of the officer has nothing to do with the matter. The officer has no commission against the Queen. If the men choose to follow their officer's command against the Queen's authority they need not be surprised at what must be the issue.

And so in fact the king of Israel was in direct rebellion against God. I make this remark of a general kind, because it is the key to what otherwise must seem a little surprising, and of which infidelity constantly makes a difficulty, that is, the summary judgment executed every now and then in Israel. The constitution in Israel was strictly the law, and the law knows nothing but death for rebellion against the authority of God. This necessarily belongs to the law, and it is simply man who denies the title of God to put man under law. Such a thought is worthy of an atheist, for grant the Being of God, the reality of God, and God's authority is clearly entitled to act thus, if He think fit for His own glory. But then when once this is allowed, it is seen that the kingdom of Israel differs from all other kingdoms, inasmuch as if these kingdoms pretend to be theocratic it is merely a delusion and a falsehood, whereas in Israel it is the fact. And all the effort of Satan was to make the Israelites and their king forget that it was a theocracy forget the peculiarity of their place and of their calling. In all other cases the pretension was a mere spurious thing, the cover of downright hypocrisy and tyranny; in Israel it was the simple truth. Now this clears away heaps of difficulty in Scripture, because then God's dealing, even in a manner so terrible as the prompting His servant to ask for fire from heaven to consume a captain and his men, because of the daring defiance against God, the God of Israel, is simply a necessary consequence of the position of Israel. Instead of being a difficulty, it is what must be, what ought to be. God would be giving up His own authority otherwise.

Just as no parent ought to allow his children to deny his authority in his own house, and no master ought to allow it in his servants, so it would be the greatest absurdity if God were to permit defiance of His own authority in those that took the place of being His people. The king, therefore, sending out word was nothing to the purpose, because the king of Israel was the servant of Jehovah. He was merely the highest servant then. No doubt he was the expression of the visible authority, but then that authority could not be used against God. There is a limit necessary to all authority, "until he come whose right it is" to reign. And there indeed is what gives the true meaning of the place of the king of Israel, and it just ends when one comes who is not only man but God, and who will reign not only as man but as God. There will be one Jehovah, and His name one, and He will reign over all the earth.

This then clears away, I trust, any difficulty to a believer, that can be found in the scene before us. And indeed I have made the remarks more general in order to take in many other difficulties, for after all we must remember, even if we come to the general principle of it, that God is acting not in a close rigid way, but He is acting on the broad thought of His own plan with every man, woman, and child in the whole world. Because what is death if it be not an act of God's judging sin? And those who quarrel therefore with God's dealing with fifty men at a time forget that He is dealing with every person, and themselves among the rest, as objectors. I merely make this remark because people overlook the plainest facts before their eyes.

Another thing to which I would call your attention is this. Had there been compunction of heart and activity of conscience in the captains of these fifties, not one of them would have perished. We see that most clearly from the last captain and his company. He humbles himself, and the mercy of God flows out at once. We may be perfectly certain therefore that in the case of the others there was hardness of conscience and indifference. For there was not one of the captains and I doubt not, not one of the fifties that did not know the prophet Elijah, that had not the fullest testimony to his heart and conscience that that man was the most faithful representative of God's will and glory and power. If therefore men chose to bear the risk (and the object was great, the design was the injury, if not the death, of that very servant of God, and this, too, when God was acting on the grounds of righteousness and of law), they must take the consequences. It is plain that government by theocracy would be impossible if God did not reserve to Himself the right to punish, to impress upon others the necessity of obedience. In this scene, therefore, we have clearly that God still puts honour upon His servant. His proper ministry was closed, but in this there is no sign of one disgraced or one upon whom God is heaping dishonour not the slightest. And there cannot be a greater proof than this very fact in these closing scenes of Elijah, that when the leader of the last troop humbles himself before the prophet, the prophet goes down by the word of the Lord, for he at least, a servant, abides in obedience to God. He goes before the king and gives, to the king's face, what he little desired to hear "On that bed thou must die!" "So he died, according to the word of Jehovah which Elijah had spoken."

But the next chapter (1 Kings 2:1-46) shows us the closing and final scene of Elijah. "And it came to pass when Jehovah would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah bath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, Yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Jehovah liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on."

Elijah then tests the faith of Elisha. We find this constantly in Scripture. An easier path is presented. You may spare yourself the trouble. But where there is faith to see that it is but a test, the soul is prepared to go forward understands the mind of God about it. It is impossible for any person to lay down rules as to such a matter. It was not by a rule that the cleansed Samaritan knew the mind of the Lord. Outwardly, the nine were following more literally what the Saviour said, but the cleansed Samaritan knew better. The letter, even of Scripture, is insufficient to guide the child of God. We need the Holy Ghost to give the word of God power "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." I grant you that the natural mind of man, taking up such a principle, would make terrible havoc of the word of God, but there is just the difference. The Spirit of God wielding the word makes it to be the sword of God; the mind of man dabbling with the word of God only reflects itself. Now in the present case it was clearly the test of Elisha's faith. If he was not prepared to go on with the prophet, he need not take so much trouble. His heart was thoroughly willing; he was about to gain a good degree, as it is said, in the faith in a little, for he that is faithful in little is faithful in much, and he that not merely was called and knew that the prophet's mantle was cast around him, and understood by that significant token that he was to succeed Elijah here below that same prophet looks for more and he receives more.

"According to thy faith be it done unto thee." He waits. He well understood that the time was not come to fulfil his office. He looks for more. The sons of the prophets gave no intelligence; they were indeed but intruders. They would have liked him to occupy his mind with their information. Elisha told them to hold their peace. His heart was elsewhere it was with Elijah, and these great things that were in store for him that day. Nothing would suffer from the prophet. So Elijah said to him, "Tarry I pray thee here." He bade him remain in Bethel, and Bethel was a place of great note in Israel. And Jericho was a place, I will not say of note, but marked with a curse, and God would not allow His curse to slumber any more than His blessing. But Elisha would go on with Elijah.

Now they come to Jordan. "As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men, the sons of the prophets, went and stood afar off." They did not go on; they were arrested by the difficulties; but "they two," the two that were as one, so to speak, stood by Jordan. "And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee." They had gone down through the great and well-known sign of death not now passing through death to enter into the land, but passing through death for one of them at least. And this becomes an epoch that gives its proper character to the prophet. He was right. Not merely his own mind, but a spiritual instinct of the Holy Ghost gave him to look for a higher degree still. He goes on, and now he is on the very eve of it. Elijah puts the question, "Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." Not a double portion as compared with Elijah's, but a double portion as compared with any other as a successor of Elijah. A double portion was the firstborn's portion. He asked for this, for the firstborn's portion. "And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing, nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so."

Now came the moment to decide whether faith in this case was to have her commensurate blessing. "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; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Elijah was in fact a man with a heart and tongue of fire, if I may say so, and all his ministry was of this character consuming and judicial, of all men most unsparing. But if Elisha was given to see him caught up in a chariot of fire, with horses of fire, and with a whirlwind mounting up to heaven, this new starting-point of Elisha's becomes of importance. For heaven is not the place of fire. There may be exceptionally the bursting out of consuming judgments of God, but heaven, I repeat, normally is not the place of fire, but rather of love, of peace, of divine glory, of rest and peace, unbroken by sin. And Elisha accordingly was to have his ministry characterized by these very qualities.

We shall find him, therefore, instead of being a mere repetition of his fiery predecessor, a most suited successor, and one, in divine wisdom, given to meet the exigencies of God's glory in Israel. But Elisha has another character, for although righteousness be of God, righteousness is not all that is in God. And indeed if we look at God's attributes, righteousness is not the highest, although it is that which God can never sacrifice. But, nevertheless, if we are to speak of attributes, grace is surely of a higher character, and as the heavens are higher than the earth, so surely is the earth the place where righteousness must govern, and heaven is the place where grace must govern. And Elisha therefore becomes not merely what he began, but he became also the witness of grace; and it is not therefore merely as Elijah, for he starts just like the apostles themselves, who received once their commission in the land of Israel, and then went forth bearing the solemn message and wiping the dust from off their feet against those who rejected them as witnesses. But those apostles received another appointment of a higher ministry which that same Lord Jesus that sent them through the earth sent them from the heavens Himself ascending up there.

So it was with this beautiful witness to the truth of God, and almost, I must add, to the grace of God. "Elijah saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." The double portion would be most surely his. "And he saw him no more; and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces." But it is added, and most strikingly, "He took up also the mantle of Elijah" not merely flung it across his shoulders. Now it was his own, now it was perfectly his own, now there was the fullest confirmation of his place; and I repeat again, not merely as of a judging prophet on earth, but of a raptured prophet that had gone up to heaven. "He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan." and now came the test, whether in truth the double portion did rest upon Elisha. "And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters and said, Where is Jehovah God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters they parted hither and thither; and Elisha went over."

Elisha was the true and God-given successor of Elijah, but not after the same sort; for God does not repeat Himself. The God with whom we have to do is a living God, and the God that sent Elijah was now sending Elisha for another work and of a different character, and this it will be my object to open a little tonight to show how the Spirit of God brings out this new ministry. For now Elisha has been waiting, just as Elijah himself had waited. There was this pause, and we can see the great purpose. For undoubtedly had Elisha gone forward before, we have no reason to believe that there would have been any such character to his ministry. He waited, and he waited to prove that it is not always those that are the quickest to go forward in a work of the Lord that have, and bear, and produce, the best fruits. By no means. But those who know what it is to wait a little while that the Lord may deal with them before they are competent to deal with others, and also at the particular season.

And here we find how truly his waiting upon the Lord had this result. "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. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master." Were these the men that could give information to Elisha? These same men now propose, and this proves how poor even the son of a prophet may be when he no longer speaks the word of the Lord, that they should seek Elijah, "Lest peradventure the Spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send." That is, he first deals with them according to wisdom. In the next place, if they will be foolish, let them prove their folly. "They sent, therefore, fifty men, and they sought three days but found him not. And when they came again to him (for he tarried at Jericho), he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not."

But now we begin to see in the next instance recorded the peculiar action of the prophet Elisha. "And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; but the water is naught, and the ground is barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruise and put salt therein." When God brought out the place of our Lord above, He brought out further all that was suitable to a new creation. When souls know that which is the truth of God and our Lord Jesus, and consciously look up to Him, we know that they belong to Him. When God was dealing by the law it was always the old creation. When the Lord Jesus took His place on high after the accomplishment of redemption, the new creation surely came in. And this we see most completely in the doctrine of the apostle Paul. Here we have as far as a sign or a token can be, the new cruise, as just the sign of this new creation in the mind of God. And the application of this is the place of a curse. Now if there was a spot in the Holy Land that was under a curse, it was Jericho. Every one knows that who reads his Bible. Jericho accordingly is the spot to which the prophet directs this new cruise with salt put in to be brought.

"And he went forth unto the spring of the waters" and so was dealing with the fountainhead "and cast the salt in there and said, Thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more dearth or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.'' "Can anything more distinctly show that here we have to do with a new character of action. There is no longer the death-bed judgment of Jehovah, administered according to the word of the prophet. Here we have the power of sin and the power of evil, and according to the purpose of God, the new creation, for undoubtedly this new cruise with the salt therein is the type of it. Jericho is a sample of that which will be done universally by the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His appearing. He means to reconcile all things unto Himself. It might be but a little here, but it is the sample of a very great result. "So the waters were healed according to the saying of Elisha which he spake."

And thence he goes up, not to the place which was under the curse, and where he brings in a divine power of blessing and healing, but, to Bethel. Bethel was not under the curse, but it was under the burden of corruption. It is the place where God had caused the pledge and promise of His faithful care to be given to one that needed it, to one that was under circumstances of the greatest possible distress forlorn, obliged to flee from the house of his father and mother, with a deadly burning hatred of his brother against him. There it was that Jacob has a vision of God, and there it was that God plighted His word for ever. There it was that there was the house of God, that there was the gate of heaven opened to the slumbering Jacob, and there it was too that God made good, in after days, the purpose that was to be broken alas! by the unfaithfulness of man. But there Satan had so gained over the hearts of Israel that they had lifted up their calf-god and there they had insulted the God of Israel to His face. It was here that the prophet came, not to challenge, not to make of it another Gomorrah, not to bring down the calf worshippers and slay them, but here Elisha came, for it is Elisha with a heavenly vision. And yet for all that, it is remarkable it is one of the great exceptions of the prophet, that although he had this heavenly vision, woe be to the man that slights him; for the returning Lord Jesus Christ is the moral judge upon the earth His severest judgments will be from heaven.

That which will deal with the last mockers is given here in a little way, if I may so speak. Here there were those that insulted the prophet. It might be only little children, but little children often let out what their parents mean. How often you may know what goes wrong at home by that which little children say. And so it was with these little ones that mocked Elisha, and said, "Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head!" Now it was mockery that filled the land; there is no question of it. Elijah had gone up, and it was as good as telling him that he had better follow; that Elisha had better take the same route as Elijah. No doubt it would have been a relief to the carnal and the worldly and the idolatrous and the wicked generally in the land of Israel were there no Elijahs and no Elishas. It was therefore the taunt of unbelief, for if men had seriously realized that Elijah had gone up to heaven, and that Elisha was one that was here upon earth doing the will of God, neither the little children nor their parents would have so uttered their evil thoughts and feelings against the Lord. And so it was. And here again we have the same solemn thing, only in an exceptional way, with Elisha we have judgment accompanying the heavenly testimony.

The very same thing we find in St. Paul. It is not only that Peter tells of the day of the Lord, but there is judgment, and necessarily judgment executed by the Lord Jesus Christ upon earth. These little ones then who so spake "he cursed in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tare forty and two children of them. And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria." Heaven is by no means the ordinary place from which judgment comes. Throughout the millennial reign heaven will be the source of countless comforts and blessings in a richer measure than the world has ever tasted before. So we find in Elisha a further illustration.