Elisha’s ministry in Israel (the ten tribes) was full of blessing for that guilty people. The responsibility for their low moral tone rested mainly with their kings, although God did not hold the people guiltless. But the sin of “Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,” was their ruin and their snare to the close of their national history. Their first king was far too shrewd to attempt to govern the people without religion of some kind, but he so perverted the whole economy that God’s authority was lost, and the king became supreme in religious matters as in everything else.
God’s purpose in raising up Elisha was to bring blessing to His poor, sinful people. The false religion might satisfy the king and apparently strengthen his authority, but no real blessing could be ministered to the people by such means. God would have them consider their ways and return unto Himself, the source of all true blessing.
The Two Ministries
Let us then consider these two remarkable men in their respective ministries as types of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Elijah, we see the executor of judgment as Jehovah’s righteous witness, yet rejected by the nation, but claimed by the glory to which he belonged. Elisha was the witness of this translation of his master, and in the power of a double portion of Elijah’s spirit he appears among God’s erring people with a ministry, not of judgment, but of grace. In this we see a type of the risen Christ, rejected on earth, but received up in glory, and who has received gifts for man. These two prophets, so differing in spirit, experience and testimony, were nevertheless connected in many ways. If we would rightly understand the one, we must also have a knowledge of the other.
We find the first reference to Elisha in that wondrous scene upon Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19). Elijah had come to Horeb, the mount of law and responsibility, to accuse the people and invoke the curse of a broken covenant. Rarely do we find one of God’s servants equally affected by grace and truth, or able to give to each its proper place in testimony. So we find that when Elijah could see nothing but judgment, no resource of grace for Israel, God’s command was, “Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room” (1 Kings 19:15-17).
Elijah was to be superseded by another, and in the service and ministry of this successor we have the beautiful expression of that wondrous grace which God entertained for His people. It was therefore necessary that the two ministries should be closely connected. The Lord’s ministry upon earth was characterized by grace and truth, and now that redemption has been accomplished, there is the triumph of grace through righteousness, as we read in Romans 5:2121That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21), “As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
A Man Translated to Heaven
This connection between the two prophets was established in a two-fold way. First, God Himself withdrew Elijah from the place of testimony in Israel when he declared himself (as he thought) Jehovah’s solitary witness for truth and righteousness. Second, it pleased Jehovah to prepare Elisha for the work that was before him by a course of instruction in the truth of God and Israel’s departure from it at the feet of Elijah and in company with him whom God had used in such a remarkable way to arrest the apostasy of the nation. The translation of Elijah was a witness to God’s estimate of him, and he who was the object of unreasoning malice, who was feared and hated by the king of Israel, threatened by the wicked Jezebel, and sought for in every known kingdom and nation that he might be delivered up to death is now outside the limits of Israel’s land by a convoy from heaven that shall carry him to realms of glory. But Israel’s only hope of blessing and deliverance lay in that glorious escort! Elisha’s faith laid hold of this fact and built upon it. The “chariot of fire, and horses of fire” might indeed part these witnesses asunder, but it was “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof,” and they would be in attendance upon Elisha until the close of his life (2 Kings 2:12; 6:17; 13:14).
The Double Portion
Elisha had the opportunity, only accorded to one other man in Scripture, of giving expression to that which his heart valued. “It came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so” (2 Kings 2:9-10). He desired to inherit the zeal for God and righteousness which had filled and characterized his master, but with a spirit of grace in which perhaps Elijah had been lacking. The “double portion” rested upon Elisha.
In this remarkable way the scene closed upon Elijah’s testimony, vindicating him whose life work had seemed singularly barren of results, yet provocative of man’s hatred. Israel had rejected him but heaven received him. Now his successor appears before us; upon Elisha is conferred the mantle and, with it, also the double portion of Elijah’s spirit which he had coveted. Earlier, when he had received the call to the prophetic office, he had shown hesitation as though the honor were too great for him, but the training had accomplished its work, and the moment had arrived in which to appropriate what he valued. It is thus we are exhorted to “covet earnestly the best gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31). That which is really valued shall be possessed and attached to us in our service here, receiving its proper reward hereafter.
No Collective Restoration
In these last days of Christendom’s history, some have proved the reality of Christ’s love to the church, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and the sufficiency of Christ’s name as a gathering center, until He comes. Restoration collectively there cannot be, but the rejection of what is false. The ministry of Elisha did not aim at the moral recovery of the nation, as was the case with Elijah, although, no doubt, it was so used to many individuals in it. But God would have His poor, sinful people to understand that He changes not, and they who in their misery cast themselves upon Him would prove it.
Elisha set no superstitious value upon the mantle of Elijah, nor did he set himself to act in a similar way to his late beloved master. Rather would he invoke the “Jehovah God of Elijah.” Faith manifested in him its own proper character and value and, in reality, recalled the glorious days of Israel’s first entrance into and occupation of the land of Canaan. In both cases the river Jordan interposed a natural barrier to the progress of God’s people and to the accomplishment of His purposes. Nevertheless, faith counts upon the unchanging power and grace of God, and difficulties are overcome. Even the “sons of the prophets,” with all their officialism, formality and unbelief, had to acknowledge that “the spirit of Elijah doth rest upon Elisha.” And the Jehovah God of Elijah was with him too.
Adapted from G. S. B.,
Bible Treasury