2 Kings 2:1–25

2:7–8 As Elijah and Elisha finally reach the banks of the Jordan, the sense that something momentous is about to happen is increased further by the mention of their audience: “Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them.” At this point, “Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.” In this rerun of Exodus 14 and Joshua 3, Elijah takes his outer garment (presumably the same cloak he had draped around Elisha’s shoulders on the day he signed him up as his apprentice, and so already designated as a marker of succession, in 1 Kings 19:19), rolling it into a makeshift staff, and strikes the water, which parts, allowing Elijah and Elisha to cross to the area where Moses died (cf. Deut. 34:5–6).

2:9–12 When they get to the other side of the Jordan, presumably somewhere close to Moses’ unmarked grave, Elisha makes a slightly cryptic request, as Elijah finally raises the subject of his imminent departure with Elisha, saying, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” This appears to be a test of Elisha’s understanding of the role of his mentor and of Elisha’s own subsequent ministry. His answer is a request to carry on Elijah’s prophetic ministry, drawing on the language of inheritance: “Elisha said, ‘Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.’” This is tantamount to asking, “May I be your son and heir?” (cf. Deut. 21:15–17). By the term “double portion,” Elisha is asking to be Elijah’s heir. He is asking for the resources to carry on the work Elijah has been doing—to keep speaking the word of Yahweh—rather than crassly asking for the ability to surpass his master.

True to form, Elijah’s response is not exactly exuberant: “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” Old Elijah still has enough spiritual sense to remind young Elisha that this is ultimately God’s gift to grant. Elijah clearly grasps that it is not his place to commission his successor; Yahweh alone chooses his prophets. Fittingly, this submission to the sovereignty of God turns out to be Elijah’s final statement, as in 2 Kings 2:11 “chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” This appears to be a unique experience in biblical history, at the level both of what is witnessed by Elisha and of what happens to Elijah.² It marks Elijah (and by extension Elisha) as one carrying out a unique role in biblical history. It will be many, many generations before a prophet like them is seen again.

There is surprisingly little attention given to the pyrotechnics in verse 11. The main point seems to be that as with Moses, the possibility of an Elijah grotto is excluded. Like Moses’ resting place, Elijah’s is unidentifiable. And that is no bad thing. John Calvin gave very specific instructions for his funeral. Nothing was to distinguish it from that of any other citizen, he said. A plain white shroud, a simple pine coffin, and no fuss. And that is what the people of Geneva did. Even though thousands followed the procession to the cemetery, within a couple of weeks, when some visitors asked to see his grave, no one could identify it. Calvin wanted the focus not to be on him but on his God.

Elisha’s response to these phenomena is heartfelt and impassioned, crying out, “My father, my father [acknowledging the formative role of Elijah in his life]! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” He identifies the chariots and horses as the true armies of Israel, in contrast to the chariots and horses assembled by many of her kings. This implies that Yahweh’s presence was obvious in Elijah’s ministry. And that is that. Elisha rips his robe in two and takes on the mantle of his mentor, retracing his steps. In a beautiful parody of the Ahaziah incident, he asks in faith, “Where is [Yahweh], the God of Elijah?” and the Jordan opens in front of this latest Moses, on whom not just the cloak but also the spirit of Elijah now rests. With that, Elijah is gone—“And he saw him no more.” In a classical expression of mourning, Elisha “took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces” (cf. Gen. 37:34; 2 Sam. 13:31). This also prepares the way for the dramatic action of the next verse.

2:13–14 Having divested himself of his own (now ripped) cloak, the path is clear for Elisha to take on the mantle of Elijah both literally and metaphorically. He picks up the cloak and makes his way back to the Jordan, where he repeats the miracle performed by Elijah, presumably a matter of minutes earlier, as he “struck the water, saying, ‘Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’” The answer is quite obvious: the God of Elijah is now demonstrably with Elisha, his successor. This becomes indisputable when, after “he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.” If Elijah was the new Moses, Elisha is the new Joshua.

2:15–18 The “sons of the prophets” now make another appearance to confirm for us what we have already grasped, acknowledging, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” The handover is complete. Surprisingly, they “bowed to the ground before him” (one wonders what Elijah would have said?). Their request is similarly unexpected: “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master.” Their theory is that “the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” Elisha has little time for their mistaken ideas, replying with all the subtlety of his late mentor by telling them in effect that they are wasting their time. However, they succeed in browbeating him, going on “till he was ashamed” and acquiescent, saying, “Send.” This seems to be a very human interlude, in which the sons of the prophets, for whatever reason, guilt Elisha into this action. As a result, they waste three days looking for Elisha, and on their return, he declares to them in effect, “I told you so.” The point is, as the sons of the prophets can see in 2:15, “the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha”—God is still speaking. The end result of all of this is Elisha is firmly installed as the new Elijah, God’s spokesman to his people. The mantle has been passed on, and that is pretty much that. Apart, of course, from the two little footnotes in verses 19–25.

2:19–22 The final section of this chapter takes the strangeness to a whole new level. The inhabitants of Jericho, having recognized Elisha as Elijah’s successor, now bring him a very practical problem. “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” Jericho is part of God’s good land, but some form of water pollution is threatening both life and productivity (1 Kings 16:34 may be part of the background here, along with Ex. 15:23–25 and Josh. 6:26). In 1 Kings 2:20, Elisha responds instantly by asking for a “new bowl,” in which he places “salt.” He then makes for the “spring of water,” presumably the city’s primary water supply, “and threw salt in it” (from the bowl). He then pronounces, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” The word translated “miscarriage” here is the same word translated “unfruitful” at the end of verse 19. In verse 19, the term is clearly a metaphor for land that cannot produce crops because of the poison, so it seems best to take it the same way here, making verse 21 parallel to verse 19.

However, the detail of the miracle is not the main point. As Elisha takes over from Elijah, it is clear that Yahweh is still speaking, and his word is still ordering the life of his people. This is underlined by the final comment in verse 22: “So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.” The implication may be that the city is experiencing God’s curse, but it does not actually say as much. Nor does it explain why Elisha grabs the salt.³ But it is clear that the water that was making people very sick is purified by the word of the Lord, as Elisha, yet again, performs a Moses-like act. God blesses his people through his word. He is not silent. Elijah may have gone, but God is not silent.

2:23–25 Last is the shocking climax of the vicious she-bears. As he retraces his steps, Elisha passes through Bethel, the notorious center of false worship in Israel. At that moment, some “small boys came out of the city and jeered at him.” This is not a couple of bored children using inappropriate language to an adult—there are at least forty-two of them. The word for “small boys” can equally mean “youth,” which in the context seems to make much more sense. In all likelihood, this is not a few unruly children being disrespectful to an adult; this is a mob of hostile youths. This hostility is also reflected in their abuse. “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” is an interesting choice of language. This is not innocent teasing of a follicle-challenged stranger—for a start, Elisha’s head would have been covered, so this is a deliberate, targeted insult. And in light of the fact that Elijah was quite hairy, it becomes obvious that the youths are, in fact, denying Elisha as the true successor to Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 1:8), and therefore they are denying that he speaks the word of Yahweh. When they tell him to “Go up,” they may be telling Elisha to go up to worship Baal, and if not, they are certainly telling him to get out of town. In any case, this is clearly a rejection of the one who brings the word of Yahweh.

It is still a shock, however, when, rather than rebuking them or threatening to report them to their parents, Elisha curses them “in the name of the Lord.” Elisha does not swear at them; he announces a covenant curse, a curse like that in Leviticus 26:21–22, which reads: “If you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.” These are covenant bears! In the matter-of-fact style that our writer seems to reserve for particularly gory incidents, we are told that “two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.” As lions dealt with prophets who would not hear Yahweh’s word (1 Kings 13:24; 20:36), so now these covenant bears deal with this latest outbreak of contempt.

Is this a shocking incident? Yes it is. As Matthew Henry says, “Let the hideous shrieks and groans of this wicked, wretched brood make our flesh tremble for the fear of God.” But this incident is also one that fits perfectly with the flow of 2 Kings 1 and 2, in which we see very clearly how God not only works in the darkness but will not be silenced, continuing to speak through this prophet. It is the response to this prophetic word that determines whether God’s people experience blessing or curse. Elisha’s journey is now almost complete; after visiting Mount Carmel, a sign that he will pick up the fight against Israel’s apostasy where Elijah has left off, he goes back to Samaria, where we will next pick up the story.