Today’s passage: 2 Kings 2:1-25
Helpful thoughts:
- Elijah and Enoch (Genesis 5:24) were the only two people to be “taken away” without dying.
- Elisha was not necessarily asking to be twice the prophet that Elijah was. Though, he is recorded as having been used by God to perform twice as many miracles.
- In a family in that time, the eldest son would normally receive a double portion of the inheritance and become the new head of the family when the father died. Elisha had journeyed along with these other prophets, but was the one who would succeed Elijah as the main prophet in Israel.
- Elisha was asking for this responsibility of leadership and ministry, and it would be hard.
- The sign that Elijah called for was to show whether God had chosen to do what Elisha had asked for. Elijah did not have the ability to choose Elisha’s role in Israel, that was too hard for him to do. But God had sovereignly chosen him for the task.
- Taking up Elijah’s mantle symbolized what had become a reality. Elisha was now serving in Elijah’s place.
Questions to consider:
- If God was going to send a vehicle to take someone like Elijah home to Heaven today, what do you think it would be? The sign of strength, protection and speed in that day was the chariot. What was God communicating by allowing us to know this was how Elijah was taken up?
- Since Elijah had just been taken up, what do you think these young boys (Or likely, young men) were saying when they mocked Elisha with the words, “Go up?” What was their disrespect communicating concerning their view of Elijah, Elisha, and the God they spoke for? What did their cursing and God-ordained judgment communicate to those who would hear about this event?
- What can we learn about God from this passage today? How would these events stir up in us a healthy fear of the Lord? How could it encourage us to take God’s Word seriously in our reading, teaching, preaching, and our pursuit of obedience? How can it make us more thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?