Introduction

Before Elijah was taken up to heaven, he and Elisha made a trip to some of the most famous places in Israel. He traveled from Gilgal to Bethel, then to Jericho, and finally to the Jordan. Elisha later would visit all these places (2Kgs 2:18; 2Kgs 4:38; 2Kgs 6:2).

These places are known from the ancient history of the people of God:
1. Gilgal is the place of circumcision, the starting point for the conquest of the promised land (Jos 4:19; Jos 5:9; Jos 10:43).
2. We already know Bethel from the book of Genesis. It is the place where God revealed Himself to the patriarch Jacob and where He gave him His unconditional promises of blessing; Bethel is the place where God wanted to live – Bethel means “house of God” (Gen 28:11-19; Gen 35:1-4; 14-15).
3. In Jericho, the LORD revealed Himself to Joshua as the Prince of the LORD's army, the Commander of His army (Jos 5:13-15). Jericho is the great stronghold that prevented the Israelites from entering the Promised Land, but fell for the power of Israel's God (Jos 6:20-21).
4. The Jordan is the river that prevented the Israelites from entering the land, however its waters were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, so that all Israel could cross over on dry land (Jos 3:1; 14-17).

Unfortunately in the days of Elijah and Elisha these places no longer only bore witness to the great deeds of God. They had become much more the monuments of the sinfulness of the people, places of degeneration and idolatry. Originating from Egypt, calf worship was introduced by Jeroboam in Bethel and in Dan (1Kgs 12:28-29). The prophets Hosea and Amos condemned this idolatry cult in Bethel, together with that in Gilgal (Hos 4:15; Hos 9:15; Hos 12:12; Amos 4:4; Amos 5:5).

Jericho was not well known either. It was the city of a curse, which according to God’s command should not have been rebuilt. In the days of Ahab this had still happened anyway, by a resident of Bethel. This man had to pay for his transgression of the word of the LORD with the lives of two of his sons (Jos 6:26; 1Kgs 16:34). It is remarkable that precisely this fact of the rebuilding of Jericho, formed the link between Ahab’s iniquities – it concludes with a summary of them (1Kgs 16:28-34) – and of Elijah’s sudden appearance as a prophet of judgment (1Kgs 17:1). It is as if the rebuilding of Jericho had reached the height of iniquity, and the judgment of the people and their wicked ruler had become unavoidable.

As he walked through these places, Elijah said goodbye to his earthly career. He will have thought of all that God had done for Israel, but also of Israel's decay and apostasy from their privileged position. God took him into His glory outside the promised land, after he had travelled through the Jordan with Elisha. It seems that God could not give him this homage in the land that had departed so much from Him.

His ascension could not take place in Gilgal, or in Bethel, or in Jericho, or on the nation’s side of the Jordan. Elijah had to move on and on, until God took him away from the earth on the wilderness side of the Jordan. We could almost say that it was a variant of what happened to Enoch. Of Enoch, we read that he “walked with God, and he was no longer, for God took him away” (Gen 5:24; Heb 11:5). Elijah pleased God, as Enoch did, and God honored him by taking him up to heaven, as He did with Enoch.

However, this last journey of the prophet was also of great significance for Elisha, who accompanied him faithfully and did not want to leave his side. For Elisha, this long trip was on the one hand a good opportunity to prepare for the departure of his master, and on the other hand, a good introduction to his own career. Here we see him walking next to his honored master, whose work he must continue. He was not only Elijah’s companion, but also his successor. If his master was in heaven, he had to continue his task below.

This is an important lesson for us as Christians, who are connected with a Lord in heaven. We serve a glorified Lord and may “represent” Him here on earth. We do this in the power of the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us from heaven. As the spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha, Christ has given us His Spirit, that we may be readable letters of Him (2Cor 3:2-3).

But we also need the necessary preparation to serve Him in a dignified manner. We will have to walk by His side and follow Him where He leads us. Although Elisha was tested here three times, he remained inseparable from Elijah’s side (2Kgs 2:2; 4; 6). Together they moved on and even went on dry land through the Jordan, the dead river. “So they both went on” (2Kgs 2:6; cf. Gen 22:6; 8; Rth 1:19).

When we walk with the Lord, He leads us step by step, from one “stopping-place” to another. Then we will, like Elijah and Elisha, consider the situation of God’s people. We, in turn, will be confronted with the deep decay, the corruption that has entered into the midst of what is now the people of God on earth, Christianity i.e. the professing church.

Taken Up to Heaven and Leaving Gilgal

The emphasis is on Elijah’s ascension. Elijah is thus also a picture of the Lord Jesus Himself, and of the believers of the church who will also go to heaven. In Elijah we see displayed the Lord Jesus passing through death and resurrection and taking His place in heaven. In Elisha we see a picture of the Lord Jesus who, through the Spirit of God, maintains on earth today a testimony before God. Elijah was replaced by Elisha. Elijah is also a picture of John the baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, and Elisha is a picture of the Lord Jesus Who came with blessing after John, as Elisha came with blessing after Elijah.

The testimony on earth is given in the Spirit of Him Who has gone to heaven. This testimony is often forgotten, but the faithful are allowed to see and show it again in days of decay. Elijah had left the apostate people behind him by his passage through the Jordan, but Elisha returned to do a service that started from heaven, as it were. In order to be able to perform this service properly, Elisha received an education based on the four places he traveled through with Elijah.

The days of Elijah’s ascension was the starting point for this education. It shows what God had done and how the people have subsequently reacted to His will. In every service it is important to know how God thinks about the things we meet and also to see how man has dealt with them.

The “whirlwind” and the “fire”– a chariot of fire and horses of fire – in which the LORD took Elijah up to heaven (2Kgs 2:1; 11), are phenomena that are more common in the Old Testament. We see them by direct revelation or by personal intervention of the LORD God (Exo 3:2; Exo 24:17; 1Kgs 19:11-12; Job 38:1; Job 40:6; Psa 18:8; Psa 50:3; Psa 104:3-4; Isa 30:27; Isa 66:15; Eze 1:4; Zec 9:14).

However, these were not just impressive natural phenomena, which, incidentally, fitted in well with Elijah’s character as a prophet of judgment. ‘Whirlwind’ and ‘fire’ also represent angelic powers (Heb 1:7). Therefore we can imagine the catching up of Elijah in the following way: the LORD Himself came as the Ruler of His heavenly armies, surrounded by His mighty angels (cf. 2Kgs 6:17), to take up His faithful warrior to heaven.

What a tribute to Elijah! God took him away, as He once did with Enoch and as He will soon do with the believers who remain alive until the coming of the Lord. God took him away so that he would not see death, but would enter heaven in the twinkling of an eye (cf. Gen 5:24; 1Cor 15:51-52; 1Thes 4:15-18; Heb 11:5).

In Elijah, we see the Lord Jesus returning to heaven, and in Elisha, we see the Lord Jesus coming to earth in the Spirit to give testimony. The testimony is given in the Spirit of Him Who ascended to heaven. Both aspects express the essence of true Christian belief, which is
1. A glorified Man in heaven and
2. God the Holy Spirit on earth.

True service is performed according to the measure we have received an impression of the glorified Man at the right hand of God. The impression we have of this will characterize our testimony.

Elisha had accompanied Elijah all the way. He did not start his service until after the ascension of Elijah. It is in a picture the way of the remnant that is traveling with the Lord Jesus and is testifying in the power of the Holy Spirit. The remnant, as represented by the disciples who are on earth with the Lord Jesus, form the core of the church.

It does not say that Elisha went with Elijah, but that Elijah went with Elisha. It is in fact Elisha’s way, but Elijah went with him to give him Divine teaching. It is the teaching that was needed for servants of God.

At the beginning of the chapter we are immediately informed of what was going to happen to Elijah: he would be taken up to heaven. Thus we hear early in the Gospel to Luke that the Lord Jesus was going to Jerusalem because “the days were approaching for His ascension” (Lk 9:51). At the cross, that is His departure about which Moses and Elijah spoke with Him on the mountain of glorification (Lk 9:30-31), the Holy Spirit directed the eye to His ascension into heaven.

Gilgal was the first place of education. In Gilgal, the people had been circumcised (Jos 5:7-9). Gilgal was also the place from which the people departed for the conquest of Canaan. This has a spiritual meaning for us. We participate in the circumcision of Christ, because we are united with Him in the judgment that has fallen upon Him in our place on the cross (Col 2:11). That is our ‘Gilgal’, and from there we may take possession of our heavenly inheritance in Christ. Gilgal means ‘rolled away’. Spiritually, it is the application of the death of Christ to our flesh. In the death of the Lord Jesus, God ‘rolled away’ from us the reproach of the world.

We need to know the unchanging wickedness of our fleshly nature. That is where every true service begins for the servant. Without the lesson of Gilgal, that is to say, the deep awareness of the unchanging wickedness of our flesh and God’s judgment upon it, we cannot serve. That Gilgal has become a place of idolatry and corruption has something to tell us. If the lesson of Gilgal is forgotten, Gilgal becomes the place of promotion of the flesh. What God calls evil is then praised.

The Lesson of Bethel

When Elijah wanted to leave Gilgal to go to Bethel, he told Elisha to stay where he was, because the LORD was sending him to Bethel. He seemed to say that the LORD’s commission was for him personally and that this did not mean that Elisha necessarily had to go with him. With this, he allowed Elisha to make a choice of his own. Elijah did this at every subsequent location.

With this remark Elijah tested, as it were, the motives of his companion to go with him, whether he does so for Elijah, or whether he also sees a personal assignment from the LORD in it. Elisha passed the test with flying colors every time. He wanted to learn the lessons that are connected to each place, so that he could better serve the people of God, as a man of God. Every time, he accompanied Elijah without expressing a single reservation. Elisha went with Elijah as Ruth used to go with Naomi (Rth 1:19).

Bethel speaks of the unchanging faithfulness of God, “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29). God was faithful to Jacob, the ancestor of Israel. He wanted to dwell with His people and have His ‘Bethel’, that means ‘house of God’, with them. Likewise, God is faithful to His heavenly people, the church of the living God. He wants, and will also, have His ‘Bethel’ with us.

The church is built to be an eternal dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:22: Rev 21:2-3). God will also reach His glorious final goal with us. This can never be undone by our unfaithfulness and our failure. It is good and necessary that we should always realize this, although we will also have to bow our heads, ashamed of so many things that have crept in and dishonored God, such as heresy, materialism, idolatry and sinful practices.

But what was left of what God meant by Bethel? Elisha observed that in Bethel a false religion had been established around a golden calf. The religion of the flesh had supplanted and replaced true service to God. People had made their own houses of worship, according to their own ideas and shapes. A servant must see that too.

The right understanding of what the house of God is, is also of importance today, in order to be able to do a service. Abraham learned the lesson. He set up his tent and altar by Bethel (Gen 12:8). Jacob knew that place too; he met God there (Gen 35:9-15). There God teaches about His faithfulness to His promises. In the application for us, it means that servants are formed in the church. First learn what Gilgal means: the judgment of the flesh, and then learn what Bethel means: the house of God, to know God, as the God of the house of God.

At Bethel, there were also sons of the prophets, or student prophets (cf. 1Sam 10:5b; 1Sam 19:20). At the schools of prophets in Bethel, and also in Jericho (2Kgs 2:5), the ‘students’ had been taught about the taking up of Elijah. The students thought they should inform Elisha about this, without having a connection with Elijah themselves. They spoke to Elisha about Elijah not as ‘our’ lord, but as ‘your’ lord. They also noticed that Elisha taught things they didn’t learn at their school. They didn’t go along the way that Elisha went with Elijah, but stood at a distance. The student prophets didn’t tell Elisha anything new. Despite the fact that he couldn’t boast of training at an approved institute, he was aware of what was about to happen to Elijah. Elisha had no education, but he had his calling.

The expression ‘take away … from over you’ indicates that Elijah was above Elisha and taught him. This is also literally the case when Elisha was at his feet and Elijah was therefore standing over his head. Elisha would soon have to do his job independently without the instructions of his master.

The Lesson of Jericho

Also in Bethel, Elisha is tested to stay there. But he went along to Jericho, the third place. When they arrived at Jericho, Elisha should have seen ruins, for that is the judgment God pronounced on that city. However, Jericho was rebuilt against God’s command, and by someone from Bethel, no less (1Kgs 16:34). The power of the world, of which Jericho is a picture, still has great attraction for those who do not see the world as God sees it. The eyes must be open for it, because it seems as if Jericho was a flourishing city. In the same way, Christianity, i.e. the professing church, seems to be a flourishing city, but faith sees that this is only a pretense. The power of godliness is denied there (2Tim 3:5a).

There was also a school of prophets in Jericho, with students who had a certain knowledge of future events. They also thought they should inform Elisha about this. But that was all they proffered. They didn’t go with Elisha. The truth they knew had no effect on them.

They thought they were telling something Elisha didn’t know yet. However, these truths are not primarily taught at theological colleges or bible schools, but by the Spirit of God. Pupil-prophets are at a distance. They are not idolaters, yet they do not know the true intentions of God.

The Lesson of the Jordan

Elijah was sent by the LORD to a different place each time and Elisha was again advised by Elijah not to go along. By saying this to him, Elijah put Elisha to the test every time. Each time Elisha had to consider what he was doing and make his decision. He was not forced to go with Elijah. That he went with him was his own choice. Happily, Elisha persisted until the end. He certainly did not regret that.

From Jericho the journey moves to the Jordan, to go outside God’s land which had become idolatrous. They passed through the Jordan, after Elijah had struck it with his mantle. The power of Elijah lay in his conduct, his walk – of which his mantle speaks – to the glory of God. After they had passed through the Jordan, Elijah could speak of blessing for Elisha. They were, as it were, outside the camp, like Moses and Joshua were once (Exo 33:7-11). The blessing in connection with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus – of which the Jordan is a picture – lies outside the land.

Fifty student prophets did go along a part of the journey, but then did not pass through the Jordan. Thus the people gazed after Moses when he went outside the camp to the tent he had put up, where Joshua stayed (Exo 33:8). Some Christians have an eye for what the different places represent, but have no knowledge of having died and risen with Christ. They do not enjoy the heavenly blessings that result from being placed in Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3).

Elisha’s Question

When they had come to the other side of the Jordan, Elijah said to Elisha that he may make a request. Elisha then asked for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. With this he asked for something that belongs to the birthright (Deu 21:17). He badly needed this double portion as a confirmation of his service. Elisha desired Elijah’s authority and strength to act as Elijah had acted. What Elisha wanted and requested was strength, so that he could be a true representative of Elijah when Elijah was absent. For us it is the power of the Holy Spirit to represent Christ, to live like Him (cf. Lk 24:49).

Elisha was aware that he was the successor of Elijah, his heir – much more so than the student prophets, who could be compared sometimes with nominal Christians, sometimes with ignorant believers. If we can call them heirs of Elijah at all, then Elisha was the ‘firstborn son’, therefore entitled to a double portion of the inheritance. Elisha claimed his birthright here, so to speak, after Elijah, before his departure, had given him the opportunity to make a request (2Kgs 2:9a).

What is striking here is that Elisha did not wish to inherit wealth, honor or power, but a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. His request therefore resembles the plea of Solomon, who at the beginning of his task as king, did not desire riches or power, but a wise and understanding heart to govern Israel (1Kgs 3:9; 12). With this he showed that he had the right spiritual attitude. The double portion was also reflected in his service: Elisha performed about twice as many miracles as Elijah.

Elijah did not take it for granted that Elisha inherited a double portion of his spirit. He saw it as “a hard thing”, perhaps in the awareness that it was not a person’s right and was even impossible for a man to communicate the Spirit of God to others. Elijah did not know whether Elisha’s wish could be fulfilled. Therefore he put this matter in God’s hand with the following words: “If you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be [so]”. Elijah could not give that double portion, but God could. He leaves the answer to God.

Elijah made the fulfillment of Elisha’s wish dependent on whether Elisha was going to be an eyewitness of his rapture. The only question then was: Will Elisha focus his eye on Elijah? Will he accept the great challenge of Elijah going to heaven and simply keep his eye on him continuously when he goes?

It is a blessed condition to be in, to renounce oneself and everything, and to look at Christ (Heb 12:2). When the eye renounces everything else and is only focused on Him, we find the power of the Holy Spirit in action. It’s that simple. Peter experienced this when he was walking on the water (Mt 14:29). Stephen also experienced it (Acts 7:56), as did Moses (Heb 11:27).

Elijah Goes Up to Heaven

The statement that they were “going along and talking” shows that they’d got to know each other’s thoughts and had confidence to share with each other. Over the years, a close relationship will have developed between the two men. “The slave does not know what his master is doing” (Jn 15:15), but Elisha was well aware of what would happen to his “master” (2Kgs 2:3; 5). Elisha was also not at a distance like the student prophets (2Kgs 2:7), who were not even mentioned as having personally spoken to Elijah that day (2Kgs 2:3; 5). He therefore emphatically called Elijah “my father”, when he said: “My father, my father! (2Kgs 2:12).

We can learn a practical lesson from the way Elijah and Elisha treated each other. This is an example of how older and younger believers could and should interact with each other. Although Elisha’s faithfulness was put to the test by his older companion, we also see here the harmonious union of an older servant of the Lord with a younger servant of the Lord. Elijah was Elisha’s spiritual father (2Kgs 2:12), as Paul was of Timothy, whom he called his “child” (1Tim 1:2; 2Tim 1:2). In this way young men of God are prepared for the task that awaits them.

So Elisha became an eyewitness to the ascension of Elijah, and then his eyes were opened by God Himself for the miracle that took place. And indeed Elisha was allowed to see the taking up of his master and thus to look into the invisible world (2Kgs 2:11-12; cf. 2Kgs 6:17). He saw how God sent a chariot from heaven, “a chariot of fire and horses of fire”, when He took Elijah – the faithful and lonely warrior for God’s glory on earth – in His glory. Thus we also know that “while they were looking on” (Acts 1:9) the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and “sat down at the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19).

Reaction of Elisha

After his rapture, Elijah’s service ends and Elisha’s service begins. After his calling, Elisha first stayed for a while in the shade, in the school of exercise of God. Elisha’s task began with the question of the double portion, the question of birthright. He was given this, because the condition was met that he would see Elijah go to heaven. It says emphatically here: “Elisha saw [it]”.

Elisha called Elijah “my father” and “the chariot of Israel and its horsemen”. In doing so, he acknowledges that he was the spiritual child of Elijah, and that he saw in Elijah, the whole power of the army of Israel concentrated. The spiritual power of God’s people rests in times of decay, in the last days, not with the masses, but is present in the individual who is a man of God, man or woman. The Lord Jesus is in every way, the true Man of God, the true Israel. He went to heaven. Who, in His power, now bear witness before God in the midst of an apostate Christianity?

Elisha “saw Elijah no more”, just as we no longer see the Lord Jesus on earth. The Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Paul also did not know Him any more according to the flesh (2Cor 5:16). Like Elisha, the (spiritual) Christian walks in the Spirit of the glorified Lord (Gal 5:25). Elisha is a picture of Christ coming to His people in the Spirit. The Lord Jesus said that after His going away He would come to His disciples: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (Jn 14:18). This happened when the Holy Spirit came to earth (Jn 14:16-17).

Then Elisha ripped his clothes into two pieces. He was the man of grace, but he only could be because he radically dealt to the old. We have already seen this, when after his calling by Elijah, he left his oxen and slaughtered a pair and cooked their flesh on the wood from their yoke (1Kgs 19:20-21). The tearing of his clothes meant that Elisha had put aside the old in order to put on the new (2Cor 5:17).

Elijah’s Mantle

Elijah could not take his mantle to heaven. Thus the Lord Jesus could not continue to do the service in heaven that He had done on earth. He had surrendered it in the hands of His servants. That service would be greater, just as the service of Elisha was also greater than that of Elijah (cf. Jn 14:12). This service, however, was carried out in the character of the one who went to heaven. This also applies to us as servants who do the work of the Lord on earth. Our service should bear the features of Him Who is in heaven.

Elisha took up the mantle. With this he actually stepped into the service of the LORD instead of Elijah. He took up, so to speak, the challenge of his calling to fulfill the service associated with it. With the mantle taken up, he stood near the Jordan. Previously he was there with Elijah. Now he was alone. Each servant can be directed by another servant to the starting point of service: the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The moment comes when he must stand alone there and realize that his service is only meaningful if it is connected to what the Jordan speaks of: a dead, risen and glorified Lord in heaven. The servant must always remain aware of this.

The mantle of Elijah has the same function in this history as the staff of Moses with his passage through the Red Sea (Exo 14:16) and the ark of the covenant on his entry into Canaan (Jos 3:13). With the staff, the ark and the mantle, the water had to give way to the power of the God of Israel, who created a path for those who belong to Him.

Elisha called upon the name of the LORD here, with the words “where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” He knew that the miracle of dividing the waters when he went through them, together with Elijah (2Kgs 2:8), did not occur by the power of Elijah. If he wanted the waters to divide again, it would not be by his own strength, but by the mighty working of their God. In His power, these men of God could go where a man by nature cannot go.

Elisha did not compare himself with Elijah, but called upon the LORD, the God of Elijah. That God had not changed. Elisha called upon the God who was with Elijah, that this same God may be with him. God also wants to support us with His power in the service we may do for Him. The God Who has given men of God strength, will also give us strength.

The Sons of the Prophets

There was a great contrast between Elisha and the student prophets from Jericho, who in everything that had happened, had remained at a distance and therefore had not been eyewitnesses to Elijah’s ascension (2Kgs 2:7; 15). The student prophets, both in Bethel and in Jericho (2Kgs 2:3; 5), were well informed about the impending event –perhaps by a prophetic revelation of which Elisha had also been informed. However, they did not see with illuminated eyes, like Elisha, how Elijah was triumphantly caught up to heaven. Only Elisha had had his eyes opened for the rapture of Elijah.

However, the student prophets saw something else. They noticed a change in Elisha as a result of what he had seen. The ascension of Elijah radiated, as it were, from him. Such a testimony will also radiate from us when people see in us the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. They will be reminded of Him through our actions (Acts 4:13). This Spirit did not rest on the student prophets of Jericho. They also did not see Elijah go to heaven. Christians who have no knowledge of a glorified Lord cannot show much of His Spirit, that Spirit Who bears witness of Him.

The student prophets felt that Elisha, so to speak, was spiritually above them. But they didn’t get any further. They did not ask why it was that the spirit of Elijah rested on him, and even less, desired to receive the same Spirit. Instead they did as Obadiah did before Elijah and bowed down before him (1Kgs 18:7). They also reasoned exactly like Obadiah, who was afraid that the Spirit of LORD would suddenly move Elijah to another environment (1Kgs 18:12). They believed that the Spirit may have taken Elijah “up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley”.

When they asked to search for Elijah, they showed that their horizon was limited to the earth. They did not take into account a real taking up to heaven. In the same way there are people in our day who are characterized on the one hand by religious confusion, and on the other hand by open idolatry. There are many well-intentioned confessors, who belong to the “prophets of the LORD” (1Kgs 18:13), but still think of earthly things. Unfortunately, they have – at least in the practice of Christian life – no eye for a heavenly Christ (Phil 3:19-20; Col 3:1-4).

Elisha answered the question of the student prophets with a clear ‘no’. Because they wanted to search anyway, he finally agrees. Their search showed that they had not understood the truth of Elijah’s ascension. The action by fifty men of the student prophets of Jericho was both superfluous and in vain. Elijah was not found, just as Enoch in his days “was not found because God took him up” (Heb 11:5). It is possible that after Enoch’s ascension, a futile search for him was organized; the words ‘he was not found’ may indicate this. When they returned without any result, Elisha gently pointed out their unbelief to them.

The Water of Jericho

Before we look further in detail to the miracles of Elisha, we must first make a general remark about them. When we see all the miracles in which Elisha is involved, there is a remarkable order to be discovered. The striking of the water of the Jordan was Elisha’s first miracle. His last miracle took place when he had already died and lay in the grave. When a dead man was thrown into his grave, the dead man came back to life (2Kgs 13:21). There is a similarity between the two miracles. They both have to do with death and resurrection. The Jordan is a picture of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the dead man thrown into the tomb of Elisha, came back to life by the touch of Elisha’s bones. This is why his first and his last miracles belong together.

Several miracles in between seem to belong together two by two. In any case, there is a connection between the following six miracles. Thus, in the two miracles that now come to our attention first, the water of Jericho and the bears from the forest, we can see miracles that are related to nature, where one miracle was a blessing and the other miracle was judgment. The next two miracles are about what was empty and filled by the LORD: empty trenches and empty vessels were filled with water (the Word) and oil (Spirit) respectively. The following two miracles have to do with life from the dead.

The first revelation of grace in the service of Elisha took place in Jericho, the city of the curse (Jos 6:26). What man had built up seemed pleasant. The situation of the city was pleasant. But it remained the place of the curse, a place which, as we have already seen, had been rebuilt in rebellion toward God (1Kgs 16:34). Death reigned there and inhibited the prospect of fruitful life. The men of the city addressed their need to the man of God. With the words “behold now” they pointed out the situation to him to observe it with his own eyes. In this way they involved him in their situation.

Then Elisha acted. The prophet of grace came to the place of death. He did not come to judge, but to give life. That is the hallmark of our time. God’s patience still postpones judgment (2Pet 3:9b). God wants to give life, but does so on His own terms. It is only possible to escape death through the man of God, who is now the Lord Jesus.

Elisha said that they needed to bring him a new jar with salt in it. When God starts working in a place of the curse, He does so through something new, not through something that has already been used and is old. This symbolically represents that God does not restore the old nature, but makes a new beginning. He does not connect something new to something that is old (Mt 9:16). The salt speaks of “the salt of the covenant” of God with His people (Lev 2:13). Salt is a preservative and stops spoilage. That is how it is with God’s covenant that holds up against everything. God keeps His word in Christ, Who is the new Man. Only in Him is everything protected and pure. In Him are all the promises of God yes and amen (2Cor 1:20). In Him we are a new creation (2Cor 5:17).

The salt was thrown into the spring of Jericho. In the history of Christianity, i.e. the professing church, we see how its influence has brought life and prevented corruption. We see this also in the lives of converted people. Christian influence on the world around it is life. That is what the Lord Jesus means when He tells His disciples and us: “You are the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13a).

Unfortunately, it must also be added that “the salt has become tasteless” (Mt 5:13b). We see now, in professing Christianity, how the salt loses its strength. All Christian values and norms derived from the Bible are increasingly disappearing from society and legislation. In the midst of increasing moral decline, the command of God for the faithful disciple, the man (man or woman) of God, is to show in marriage and family, how He intended us to live. The Christian who does this has “salt in himself” (Mk 9:50b) and will speak words of grace that are “seasoned with salt” (Col 4:6).

Such a person is a true blessing to those surrounding him, and he glorifies God in his life. He is a source that is healthy. Everyone with whom he comes into contact will experience the health giving influence of it. The life of such a person does not give rise to death or unfruitfulness, but life. This is the result of acting “according to the word of Elisha which he spoke”. The word of the man of God is nothing but the word of God. We have nothing but the Word. If we speak according to the Word of God, there will be healthy spiritual growth.

We see in this event that Elisha brought grace and blessing to a place of judgment like Jericho. In the next chapters we will see that Elisha brought blessing for what in picture represented the future faithful remnant (2 Kings 4) and that he had blessing for the nations (2 Kings 5). Like the Lord Jesus, Elisha used his power for the benefit of others and not for himself.

Judgment on Mocking Boys

Elisha’s service was not only one of grace. Three times he also judged: here about mocking boys, later about Gehazi (2Kgs 5:21-27) and then about the officer of the king (2Kgs 7:1-2; 17-20). After the Jordan and Jericho, the cursed city, Elisha set off for Bethel, which means ‘house of God’. At the place of the curse, blessing was brought. In connection with the house of God, judgment is brought.

Elisha went on his way to Bethel, but he didn’t get there. After his meeting with and judgment of the mocking boys, he went to Carmel. The boys from Bethel had no respect for a servant of God. Such young people will not grow spiritually, but die. If young people have no respect for those who do God’s work, the bears will make short work of them. We may ask ourselves what kind of young people our own local church produces. The local church can be seen as a reflection of the house of God.

These “young lads” are not innocent little children. We would estimate them to be around fifteen years old. They know what they say; they demonstrate without doubt, their contempt for the truth. Their appreciation of the truth is according to what became of Bethel: the place where the golden calf stands and the Baal is worshipped. Thus Bethel has become a town where God has no place.

“Baldhead” was a swearword and a judgment. It spoke of uncleanness (cf. Lev 13:40-44). By calling Elisha to “go up”, they mocked the ascension of Elijah. They scolded Elisha, not wanting him in their town. They wanted him to leave. They can be compared to the mockers of the end time in which we live (2Pet 3:3-4). The ascension of the Lord Jesus has been scornfully dismissed. There is no belief in His ascension and even less in His return to earth.

Elisha pronounced judgment. He did so “in the Name of the LORD”. Thus will come the judgment of the unbelieving mockers. Young people from Christian families, so to speak from ‘Bethel’, will be torn apart by ferocious and cruel female bears. David was compared to a bear who was robbed of young (2Sam 17:8; Pro 17:12; Hos 13:8). These female bears tore apart the boys who had no respect for life, for something that came from God.

After this event, Elisha went to Carmel. At Carmel, Elijah’s service has reached a climax. There, Elisha will have thought about Elijah’s service. Then he travelled to Samaria, where Jehoram, the king of Israel lives.