2 Kings 2

Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha, who refuses to leave his side, receives his mantle and a share of his spirit. The Jordan parts again, the prophets recognize the change, and Elisha begins his ministry by healing the poisoned water at Jericho. The chapter closes with a sober warning at Bethel.

2 Kings 2:1

The chapter opens by telling us the end at once: the LORD will take Elijah to heaven. Nothing here is a surprise to God. The journey from Gilgal is a last walk together, with the whirlwind waiting at the end.

BSA: whirlwind (“a strong storm or hurricane”): God’s servant is carried away by a power far beyond any human hand.

See also: Genesis 5:24.

2 Kings 2:2

Elijah asks Elisha to stay behind, but Elisha will not. He swears by the living LORD and by Elijah himself that he will not leave. His loyalty is a picture of someone who wants everything God will give and will not turn back.

BSA: leave (“forsake, abandon”): Elisha refuses even to think of abandoning his master at the decisive hour.

2 Kings 2:3

The prophets’ students at Bethel already know the LORD is about to take Elijah. Elisha knows it too and wants no talk of it. He is keeping his heart fixed on the task in front of him.

BSA: master (“lord, leader”): They see Elijah as the one who leads and guides Elisha, and Elisha’s coming loss is a heavy one.

2 Kings 2:4-5

The scene repeats at Jericho: the same request, the same oath, the same warning from the prophets. The repetition tests Elisha’s determination. Each stage asks again whether he really means to follow to the end.

See also: Ruth 1:16-17.

2 Kings 2:6-7

At the Jordan, Elisha again refuses to turn back. Fifty prophets watch from a distance. They are witnesses, but only Elisha stays close enough to share what is about to happen.

BSA: distance (“far away, at a remove”): The onlookers see the event but do not share in it as Elisha does.

2 Kings 2:8

Elijah rolls up his cloak and strikes the river. The water divides and they cross on dry ground. The cloak is the sign of a prophet’s office, and the Jordan, like the Red Sea, yields to the power of God.

BSA: cloak (“mantle, prophet’s garment”): The garment stands for the prophet’s calling and authority, which is soon to be handed on.

See also: Exodus 14:21-22; Joshua 3:14-17.

2 Kings 2:9

Elijah offers a parting gift, and Elisha asks for a double portion. This is the share of the firstborn heir, so he is asking to be Elijah’s true successor. He asks for the Spirit’s power, not for riches or comfort.

BSA: double portion (“twice as much, a special measure”): It points to the heir’s share, a request to carry on Elijah’s work fully.

See also: Deuteronomy 21:17.

2 Kings 2:10

Elijah says the request is hard, because only God can give such a gift. The sign is that Elisha sees him go. The gift depends on God’s will, not on Elijah’s power, and it goes to the one whose eyes are fixed on his master.

BSA: difficult (“hard, severe”): It is beyond what any man can grant, so the answer rests with God.

2 Kings 2:11

In the middle of ordinary talk, fire and horses come between the two men, and Elijah goes up in the whirlwind. He did not die as others do. It was a rare and wonderful sign of God’s power over death.

BSA: chariot (“vehicle, carriage”): It is a heavenly vehicle of God’s own sending, not an earthly one.

Hebrew: סְעָרָה (se’arah, H5591) — “storm, whirlwind.” It is the same word as in verse 1, so the chapter begins and ends this scene with the same sweeping wind of God.

See also: Hebrews 11:5.

2 Kings 2:12

Elisha cries out to Elijah as his father, and calls him the chariots and horsemen of Israel. He means that Elijah’s prayer and word had guarded the nation better than any army. Then he tears his clothes in grief.

BSA: father (“spiritual leader, mentor”): Elisha speaks as a son who has lost the one who taught and guided him.

See also: 2 Kings 13:14.

2 Kings 2:13-14

Elisha takes up the fallen cloak and strikes the Jordan, asking where the LORD, the God of Elijah, now is. The river parts. The answer is that God has not left. He works with the successor as he did with the prophet before him.

BSA: cloak (“mantle”): The mantle has passed from one prophet to the next, with the work and calling it stands for.

See also: 1 Kings 19:19.

2 Kings 2:15

The prophets at Jericho see the river divide and recognize that Elijah’s spirit rests on Elisha. They bow before him, honoring the office God has given. The same God who worked through the master now works through his servant.

BSA: rests (“settles, abides”): The Spirit has settled on Elisha and stays with him, not just touching him for a moment.

Hebrew: נָחָה (nachah, H5117) — “to settle down, to rest.” The verb pictures the Spirit coming to settle and stay on Elisha, as a bird settles on a branch.

2 Kings 2:16-18

The prophets suggest that the Spirit may have set Elijah down on some mountain, and they press Elisha until he gives in. Fifty men search for three days and find nothing. Elisha had known it was pointless, and the search ends where he said it would.

BSA: pressed (“urged, insisted”): Their persistence wore down Elisha’s better judgment, so he let them go.

2 Kings 2:19

The people of Jericho tell Elisha that their city is well placed but its water is bad and the land fails. They bring a real need to the prophet. Jericho had been placed under a curse long before, and its trouble was deep.

BSA: unfruitful (“barren, sterile, causing the young of the cattle to come to birth dead”): The poisoned water brought loss to the land, to animals and to the families who lived there.

See also: Joshua 6:26.

2 Kings 2:20-22

Elisha asks for a new bowl with salt, throws the salt into the spring, and speaks the LORD’s word: the water is healed. The salt has no power in itself. The healing comes by God’s word, and it lasts. The writer says the water is still good to this day.

BSA: healed (“mended, cured”): The spring is made whole again, so that what brought death now gives life.

Hebrew: רָפָאתִי (rapha’ti, H7495) — “I have healed.” It is the word used for healing sickness. God speaks of curing the spring itself, so that death and barrenness no longer come from it.

See also: Exodus 15:25-26.

2 Kings 2:23-24

Young people from Bethel mock Elisha and tell him to go up, as Elijah had. This is more than a joke at his bald head. It scorns the LORD’s prophet in a town given to idolatry. The bears show that mocking God’s messenger and God’s word is serious.

BSA: jeered (“mocked, ridiculed”): It was scorn aimed at the prophet and the God who sent him.

See also: Galatians 6:7.

2 Kings 2:25

Elisha goes on to Mount Carmel and then returns to Samaria, the capital. His ministry now reaches the heart of the kingdom. He moves quietly from place to place, carrying the word of the LORD.

BSA: Samaria (“watch mountain, the capital city of Israel”): It was the seat of the kings, where the prophet’s word was needed most.