Elijah’s translation to heaven
And now we reach the end of the troubles and afflictions of this precious and faithful servant of God. And, if we do not find in his case the calmness of the ascension of Jesus, who, while blessing His disciples, ascends to His eternal and familiar home; if this peculiar characteristic became His departure alone, who-perfect in Himself and in His human life, in which nothing had been found out of harmony with the heaven He was reentering-went back to His Father, from whom He came; if in Elijah’s rapture we find not the elevation of One who, having come forth from the Father and come into the world, again left the world and returned to His Father, without having for one moment departed from this word-“The Son of man which is in heaven,” and who had so much the more right and title to be there, that He had perfectly glorified the Father here below; if, in a word, he who goes up is not the God-man ascending after having finished the work committed to Him, at least the presence of God is felt throughout the whole scene in the most solemn manner-a God whose presence alone can abrogate the laws of His government, and set aside, in His servant’s behalf, that which is appointed unto men.
Moreover it is not surprising that such an event should have been accompanied with the mysterious solemnity which, in fact, surrounds it, and that those who were present should feel that something was about to happen which was beyond the common track of human joy and sorrow.
Elijah, taken away by the power of God, quits the earth without passing through death. We find in the fact itself a marvelous testimony to the sovereign goodness of God, and to the approbation He bestowed upon His faithful servant.
The details are worthy of all attention.
Elijah’s maintenance of the relationship between God and Israel
If the prophet’s translation to heaven is the great object presented to faith, we find also that he goes to every place that had a voice with respect to God’s relationship to Israel. Elijah maintained, in spite of the king, the relationship between God and Israel, according to God’s faithfulness, and as a prophet upon the earth.1 He did not maintain it by the king, which, since David, was the normal state of the people. This earthly relationship was impossible, and was to close by an act of judgment. It is this which took place, with respect even to Judah, in the rejection of Christ.
(1. This consideration makes Elijah’s position pretty evident. We have seen that prophecy was the means of maintaining God’s relationship with Israel, in a sovereign manner, when the ark had been taken and the priesthood was fallen. Prophecy still holds this place in the presence of royalty in a state of failure, which, instead of maintaining the people in relationship with God, causes them to depart from Him. While presenting their true King to the people according to Zechariah’s prophecy, Christ filled also this prophetic office according to the word of Moses, only in a manner quite peculiar. It must be remembered that, in comparing Elijah and Elisha with the Lord, Christ is looked at in this character. This gives a very important position to the function of prophecy. (Compare Hosea 12:1313And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. (Hosea 12:13).))
Nevertheless the counsels of God change not; they will be fulfilled in heavenly power.
The starting point of Elisha’s ministry
Elisha, is, so to say, the link between these two things as to prophecy. He does not return to Horeb, to announce the uselessness of an earthly ministry, and, in some sort, to place the broken law again in His hands who gave it, but who was really acting in grace.1 The starting point of his ministry is the ascended man, evidently quite a new starting point in God’s messages to Israel. Up to this point he constantly attached himself to Elijah. The latter had thrown his prophetic mantle over him (1 Kings 19); Elisha thenceforth was as if identified with him.
(1. It is this grace, which Elijah had not properly understood, that was the only means by which God could maintain His relationship with the people; so that a return to Horeb could only put an end to the relation itself as standing on Sinai ground, and especially to the ministry of Elijah which took no higher position. Nevertheless God wrought for the revelation of all this.)
Elisha’s faith
At the present moment, when Elijah is under the extraordinary power which is to snatch him away from Elisha, will the faith of Elisha maintain this position? Yes: the power of God upholds him, and he accompanies Elijah until the chariots of God Himself separate them, and in such a way that he may see Elijah ascending to heaven upon them. Through grace the whole heart of Elisha was in the prophet’s ministry, and by faith he walked in the height of God’s thoughts in this respect.
The path of Elijah and Elisha from Gilgal beyond Jordan
Let us trace their path upon the earth. It is no longer the weakness of man, as when he went to Horeb, but the power of God; and Elijah traverses all that in type had to do with God’s relationship with Israel, even death itself (and that dry-shod), up to heaven. Gilgal1 is his starting point-the consecration of man to God by death applied to the flesh-the place where Israel was cleansed from all remembrance of Egypt, where the people were set apart for God, where their camp was fixed for their victories under Joshua; in a word, it was the place where, by circumcision,2 Israel was definitively separated unto God. Elijah repairs thither, and acknowledges it thus according to God, although it was now only a place of sin to the people.3 He attains the mind of God with respect to the people, as separated from evil and consecrated to God. He sets out with this. He thinks with God: this is faith.
(1. Reflection will show us that all this is a moral history of the life of Christ, save that Christ is what He makes us to be. But this is everywhere true. Still it was experimentally realized in Him. He had not to be circumcised; still it was the circumcision of Christ. See following note. So the high priest was washed as well as the priests. Though absolutely obedient in nature and will, He learned obedience.)
(2. This, as we have seen in the Book of Joshua, was in Canaan after the passage of Jordan, as the circumcision of Christ (that is, His separation from evil which, always true in His Person, was externally made good in His death) has a true, heavenly character, and to us is by being risen, and in heavenly places. )
Elisha will not leave him; and they go away to Bethel; that is to say, Elijah places himself in the testimony of God’s unchangeable faithfulness to His people.4 He acknowledges it; he takes his place in it; and Elisha is with him.
(1. See Genesis 28:13-1513And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. (Genesis 28:13‑15). Here too one of the calves was set up; the place of special blessing again made the place of idolatry.)
These were the two main branches of faith-of the faith of God’s people: the setting apart of the people, of man, unto God; and the unchangeable and perpetual faithfulness of God to His people, whatever their circumstances may be.
Israel (what a triumph to Satan!) had set their false gods, their golden calf, in Bethel. Elijah (and this is faith) links himself with the mind of God there in spite of this. These two things compose the life of Jesus on earth in the midst of Israel.
Elijah cannot stay there. What will he find in going further? The scene changes: he is still with God. But if transgression is multiplied at Gilgal, and if false gods are worshipped at Bethel, as “the king’s chapel and the king’s court,” the curse will meet him (for Israel has placed itself under it). He goes to Jericho. It was there that formerly the power of the enemy barred the whole land against Israel, and God had smitten Jericho and pronounced a curse against it. Man had rebuilt it to his own destruction (1 Kings 16:3434In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun. (1 Kings 16:34)). Pleasant as its situation was, the curse of God still rested on it. Elijah goes thither, and Elisha accompanies him, and refuses to leave him.
But he does not remain there either; he is still under the mighty hand of God, Elisha following him. The sons of the prophets give their testimony to that which shall take place (but they only look on from afar, when the two prophets draw nigh to Jordan); Elisha knows it too, and puts an end to a discourse which, adding nothing to his knowledge of the mind of God, and disturbing the concentration of his thoughts, tended rather to weaken the union of his soul with Elijah.
Elijah comes at length to Jordan, the type of death, which should carry him out of the land of earthly promise, and break the links of God Himself with Israel on that footing. He crossed it indeed dry-shod. We know that he ascended without having tasted death, but typically he passed through it. (It is not a question here of expiation, but of passing through death.) And now, beyond the borders of Israel-the land of law, forsaken of God-he can freely propose blessing to Elisha according to his desire.
As Jesus said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished.” In every detail death is the path of liberty.
Elisha’s request granted
Elisha, attached by the power of God to the prophet-to the same ministry which Elijah had just left-asks for a double portion of his spirit; and, although now separated from him, yet associated by faith with Elijah, gone up on high (testified by his having seen him in his heavenly condition), his request is granted. He again receives Elijah’s mantle; but it is that of the ascended Elijah.
As we have said, the starting point of his ministry is not Sinai. It is heaven beyond the borders of Canaan, the other side of Jordan, which is the type of death. For, the law having been broken, and prophecy-which set before the people their relation to God on earth, and His blessing on that earth-having been proved powerless for restoration, the faithful prophet, forsaking a land which had rejected him, had taken his place outside a blind and ungrateful people, and had been taken up to Him who had sent him (hidden, so to speak, in God; although that expression, in its fullness, is true of the precious Saviour alone).
Elijah demands the execution of justice
Up to Jordan Elijah demanded, by his ministry, that the righteous claims of God upon His people should be satisfied. He sets these claims before them. He must withdraw, and God takes him away from a people who did not know Him.
At Sinai he acted in human weakness, although God had revealed Himself. Why retire to Horeb, where the law dwelt which the people had broken? This could be only to demand the execution of justice. While manifesting that He could in His own time exercise justice, God reserved to Himself His sovereign rights of grace. But in effect it is fitting that it should be exercised in a sovereign manner beyond the limits of man’s responsibility. The relationship of Christ with Israel, with man, clearly explains this. Therefore God first shows that grace has reserved the perfect number who were known of God in Israel; then, having sent Elijah to fill up the long-suffering of the will of God in grace towards the people, instead of cutting Israel off, He places ministry in a position with respect to Israel, in which He can act sovereignly in grace towards everyone who has faith to avail himself of it.
Grace the distinctive character of Elisha’s ministry
After Elijah had passed the Jordan, we have seen that all was changed. Until then Elisha is on probation; after that, grace acts. In principle it is the position of Christ towards the assembly1 or at least towards men in grace; that is to say, it is sovereign grace, to the actings of which death has given free course, justice having nothing more to say, and no longer resting on the responsibility of man who had undertaken to obey, and from whom obedience was due. Justice now consists in God’s having His rights, in His glorifying Himself, as is just, by being consistent with His entire being, love, justice, sovereignty, majesty, truth, and every attribute which forms a part of His perfection. He does so according to His sovereignty; and He does it by the Christ who has glorified Him on the earth in all these respects, in every part of His being, so indeed as to make Him known. The testimony of it is that He has exalted Christ as man to His right hand.
(1. And, of course, towards Israel also.)
It must be remembered here that the application of this regards Israel, so that the rejection of the people is considered to have taken place by the very fact of Elijah’s rapture. God has ceased to maintain His relationship with them. In His sovereign counsels God never withdraws His love from Israel; but, on the ground of the people’s responsibility, God has judged them. He has stretched out His hands all the day to a rebellious and gainsaying people. Therefore Elisha says to the king of Israel, “Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee.”
Elisha nevertheless returns to Israel in grace. His ministry has then this distinctive character, that it is a testimony to the rejection of all that belonged to the condition of responsibility in which the people had been placed; but at the same time it is a testimony to grace by faith, according to election and the sovereignty of God, in order to maintain the people in blessing; and that through the righteous execution of the judgment which their sin had brought upon them.
This is what the return of Christ will be for Israel, rather than what it will be for the assembly, notwithstanding that fundamentally the principle is the same.
Elisha at Jericho; the curse removed
Elisha, in the power of resurrection, reenters the scene of Elijah’s labors, who had sought in vain-as He also had done who was more excellent than Elijah-to gather Israel unto the God of their fathers (that is to say, to bring back man in the flesh to some faithfulness towards God). Jericho (pleasant in itself, yet, as we have seen, an accursed place) ceases to be so; the curse is removed, and the spring of waters permanently healed, by means of salt brought in a new cruse: a type, I doubt not, of the purifying power of grace which separates man from evil, and which removes evil, as contrary to the relationship of man with God; a moral power, which will take away the curse from the world, and especially from the Jews, who are the center of rebellion against God. Salt represents purifying power in the efficacy and the permanency that distinguish the work of God which heals the object of blessing; and it characterizes, according to the faithfulness of God, the source of blessing itself. The new vessel is an image of the renewed condition of all things through resurrection.
Elisha at Bethel, Carmel and Samaria
From Jericho Elisha goes up to Bethel, which, as we have seen, is a place commemorative of the unchangeable faithfulness of God1 towards Israel; a faithfulness which can now bring forth all its fruits through death and resurrection.
(1. This is the reason why Paul (Acts 13:34-3534And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 13:34‑35)) quotes these words, “I will give you the sure mercies of David,” in proof of the resurrection of Christ, “no more to return to corruption.” Death rendered blessing possible with respect to a rebellious people, and resurrection gave complete stability to the conferred blessing; this was secured. Compare Isaiah 55 where grace towards Israel and the nations, through a risen Saviour, is gloriously proclaimed.)
From Bethel he proceeds to Carmel,1 that is to God’s fruitful field, the place where judgment had been executed upon Baal, the prince of this world; a place typical of that condition of Israel which will be the fruit of the fulfillment of God’s faithful promises. It will be seen that all this answers perfectly to the character of his ministry, as we have considered it, and answers to it in so much the more interesting a manner from being in contrast with Elijah’s ministry; the path of each corresponding with the ministry which we have ascribed to them respectively.
From Carmel Elisha returns to Samaria, in connection with which his ordinary ministry is fulfilled.
Judgment manifested on the mockers of God’s messenger
There remains another circumstance to be noticed in this history. Elisha curses the children who mock him. This action not only shows us the prophet’s authority upheld by God; it characterizes his position. For although sovereign grace, in spite of Israel’s fall, is in exercise towards the people, yet, together with grace, judgment shall be manifested with respect to those who despise the messenger of God. It will be well to remark that the judgment happens when he reenters the land of Israel, before he takes his place in the unchangeable promises of God to His people. Thenceforth it is the Carmel of God which is presented to our faith.
We may observe also, in this chapter, how little man realizes and believes what he knows, if in spirit he is not identified with it. The sons of the prophets knew that Elijah was to be taken away. Nevertheless they propose to search for him.