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Day 171: Elijah and Elisha
2 Kings 2
Chapter 2: The End of the Elijah Cycle and the Beginning of the Elisha Cycle
Elisha Refusing the Gifts of Naaman (ieter de Grebber)
2 Kings 2:1-6 ~ Elijah prepares for the end of his ministry
Question: How many repeats do you notice in the narrative?
Answer: Elijah urges Elisha to leave him three times and three times Elisha refuses, making an oath in Yahweh's name three times not to leave his master. Twice the brotherhood/sons of prophets tell Elisha they know that his master is leaving and twice Elisha tells them to be quiet.
The "sons of the prophets" (literal translation) are communities of prophets; one group lives at Bethel and the other at Jericho. These may be the two communities of prophets Obadiah saved from Jezebel (1 Kng 18:4, 13). They may have prophetic gifts, since they know Elijah is going to be taken away, or Elijah has told them that he is leaving. But they do not have the kind of powerful relationship that Elijah has with God. Elisha's rebuke to them may signal his discomfort with the knowledge that he will be losing his mentor. Elisha's three times vow of refusal to be parted from Elijah shows the depth of his devotion. Elijah and Elisha start out from Gilgal (the Gilgal to the north of Bethel and not the Gilgal near Jericho) and travel south to Bethel and then east to the Jordan River near Jericho.
The community of the prophets that accompanied them stopped at some distance from the west side of the Jordan River. Elijah performed one last public miracle by parting the waters of the Jordan River so he and his disciple could cross over to the other side on dry land.
Elisha's request to receive a "double portion" of his master's spirit was not a desire to surpass Elijah in his ministry by being twice as great. Elisha was speaking in terms of inheritance law to express the desire to carry on Elijah's ministry as his heir. Inheritance law assigned a "double portion" of the father's possessions to the firstborn son/heir (see Dt 21:15-17). It is Elisha's desire to be acknowledged as Elijah's spiritual heir and to carry on Elijah's mission in calling Israel to repentance as God's agent to the apostate covenant people of the Northern Kingdom. This is not a surprise to Elijah since God had already told him that Elisha was to be his successor (1 Kng 19:19-21).
Elisha is granted the vision of what appears to him to be a chariot of fire and then they are separated by horses of fire as he sees Elijah being drawn up to heaven in a storm
The vision of Elisha was that of the Lord God (see Hab 3:8). His vision is similar to the vision Ezekiel will see in Ezekiel 1:4-28; 10:1-22 of God's heavenly throne as it moves into the plane of human history and as God leads His heavenly army as Yahweh Sabaoth "Yahweh of Hosts" ("hosts" referring to the army of spiritual beings who serve God) to battle the forces of evil on earth.
Elisha not only received a "double portion" of Elijah's spirit and power, but he will become an ever greater prophet than his mentor by performing more miracles.
Question: When will Elijah appear in the New Testament? See Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36.
Answer: Elijah will appear with Moses with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration.
The Church has always seen the transition of Enoch and Elijah into heaven without suffering physical death as foreshadowing Christ's Ascension into Heaven as well as the promised entrance into heaven of the Virgin Mary and all the just (Mt 25:40-46). The question is, were Enoch and Elijah only spared the suffering of physical death and did they both die when they were taken, or where they simply assumed into heaven, avoiding death altogether and the time of purification in Sheol, the abode of the dead? Scholars, ancient and modern, are divided on this question. Some believe Elijah did not experience death and was taken into heaven so he could return in the event of the Transfiguration Christ. However, Moses was also present at that event, and he died (Dt 34:5), so to remain alive was not a requirement for the Transfiguration event. Other scholars point out that the gates of heaven were closed to mankind from the time of the Fall of Adam. No person born into original sin could enter the gates of Heaven which were only opened at the Baptism of Christ (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:21-22; CCC 536, 633, and 1026) and became ready to receive the righteous dead after Jesus' sacrificial death (1 Pt 3:18-20).
1 Kings 2:19-25 ~ Elisha's first two miracles
The Elisha cycle begins in this part of the narrative. Like the Elijah stories, the Elisha stories are presented in cycles and interspersed between historical and prophetic narratives. The Elisha stories, unlike the three parts of the Elijah cycle, are presented in fifteen stories of varying length and while Elisha will repeat Elijah's miracle, his miracles are at least double those of his mentor.
The town of Jericho was the home of a community of prophets who now recognized Elisha as their leader and wanted him to stay with them (2 Kng 2:5, 15). Jericho had been rebuilt during the reign of King Ahab of Israel (1 Kng 16:34), but the city had not prospered. Apparently the only water source was still under Joshua's curse on the city of Jericho (Josh 6:26), and both the people and the land suffered and remained unproductive. Elisha's miracle fully removed the old curse judgment (2 Kng 2:21). The salt was not used as a natural purifier because there is the explicit statement that God himself healed/purified the water (verse 21).
CHALLENGE: “Easter is a pagan holiday. Its timing is based on the full moon and the spring equinox, and it’s named after the goddess Ishtar.”
DEFENSE: Easter’s origins are Jewish. It is the Christian equivalent of Passover.
The word “Easter” is of English origin. Ishtar was worshipped in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), not England, which is thousands of miles away. Despite sounding similar, the two words are unrelated.
The eighth-century British historian Bede claimed the word “Easter” came from the name of the month in which it occurred (basically, April). He said this month used to be called “Eostur,” though this was no longer true in his day. He also thought the month was named after a Germanic goddess who was no longer worshipped (The Reckoning of Time 15).
Bede is the only source who mentions this goddess, so he may be incorrect. Regardless, this applies only to the origin of the English word—not the origin of the feast. Its origin is revealed by its name in other languages. In Italian, it’s Pasqua; in Spanish, Pascha; in Portugese, Páscoa; in French, Pâques; in Danish, Paaske; in Dutch, Pasen; in Swedish, Påsk; and so on. All of these derive from the Latin Pascha or Greek Paskha, both of which are words for the Jewish feast of Passover (Hebrew, Pesakh).
The event Easter celebrates is the Resurrection of Jesus, and it is celebrated in conjunction with Passover because Jesus was crucified at Passover and rose the following Sunday (John 19:14–18, 20:1–20).
The reason Easter’s timing is based on the full moon after the spring equinox is because that was the timing of Passover on the Jewish calendar. The Law of Moses requires Passover to be celebrated on the fourteenth of the month of Nisan (Lev. 23:5). This is a spring month that contains the equinox, and because the Jewish months begin on the new moon, the fourteenth fell on the full moon. The timing of the feast thus is Jewish, not pagan. What is ultimately important is what Easter signifies today—the Resurrection of Jesus—not where it came from.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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