Elijah goes bodily into heaven
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📚And it happened, when the LORD would take Elijah up into heaven 📖 in a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 📚And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please wait here 📖, for the LORD has sent me to Bethel”. And Elisha said to him, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you”. So they went down to Bethel.3 📚And the sons of the prophets 📖 who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know it. Be silent”.
4 📚And Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please wait here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho”. And he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you”. So they came to Jericho.
5 📚And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it. Be silent”.
6 📚And Elijah said to him, “Please wait here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan”. And he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you”. And the two of them went on.
7 📚And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood at a distance to watch. And the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 📚And Elijah took his cloak and folded it, and struck the waters, and they were divided left and right, so that the two of them went over on dry ground.
2:8 Compare Ex 14:16, 21, 22; Josh 3:7-17. God demonstrated publicly once again that He was the true God and that Elijah was His prophet. See 1 Kings 18:36-39; 2 Kings 1:10. This is what Elijah’s ministry was all about.⚜
9 📚And it happened, when they had crossed, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I should do for you 📖, before I am taken away from you”. And Elisha said, “Please, may a double portion of your spirit be on me”.
10 📚And he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be so to you; but if not, it will not be so”.
2:10 Elijah recognizes that Elisha’s request is not his to grant, and leaves it to God. But Elisha must be with him to the very end (v 3).⚜
11 📚And it came about as they still walked on and talked, that, suddenly, a chariot of fire and horses of fire 📖 appeared and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up 📖 in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 📚And Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more; and he took hold of his own clothes and tore 📖 them in two pieces.
Elisha becomes Elijah’s successor
13 📚He also took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
2:13 Verse 8. The cloak was a symbol that Elisha was Elijah’s successor. See 1 Kings 19:19.⚜
14 📚And he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the waters and said, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided left and right, and Elisha went over.
2:14 Elisha acted in faith and was willing to act in the sight of those who may have been watching. He believed that according to Elijah’s word (v 10), he now had a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Now God publicly reveals by this miracle that Elisha was His chosen prophet. It has been estimated that Elisha’s ministry was twice as long as Elijah’s, and the number of his recorded miracles is double that of Elijah’s.⚜
15 📚And when the sons of the prophets who were watching at Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha”. And they came to meet him, and bowed down 📖 to the ground before him. 16 📚And they said to him, “See now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up, and thrown him on some mountain or into some valley”. And he said, “You must not send”.
2:16 Compare 2 Kings 18:12. It seems they did not believe that a man in the body could be taken completely out of the world.⚜
17 📚And when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send”. So they sent fifty men, and they looked for three days, but did not find him. 18 And when they came back to him (for he waited at Jericho) he said to them, “Did I not tell you not to go?”
Elisha heals the bitter water
19 📚And the men of the city 📖 said to Elisha, “Please look, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees. But the water is bad, and the ground is barren”.
20 📚And he said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it”. And they brought it to him.
21 📚And he went out to the spring of water, and threw the salt in there, and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I have healed 📖 this water. From it there will be no more death or barren land”. 22 So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
Elisha, the young men, and the bears
23 📚And he went up from there to Bethel, and as he was going up on the road, youths 📖 came out of the city, and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you bald head! Go up, you bald head!” 24 📚And he turned back and looked at them, and pronounced a curse 📖 on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came 📖 out of the woods, and tore forty-two of the youths. 25 📚And he went from there to mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.