The Mantle Passes

Elijah's final journey went from Gilgal to Bethel, to Jericho, and across the Jordan. Elisha's threefold refusal to leave showed his loyalty. The question was not whether Elijah would go, for the sons of the prophets knew, but whether Elisha would be ready to carry on.

Elisha's request for a double portion was not greed. Under the Law, the firstborn heir received a double share (Deuteronomy 21:17). Elisha was asking to be Elijah's true successor. The sign would be whether he saw Elijah taken. When the chariot of fire appeared, Elisha saw it and cried out, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. Elisha's cry suggests that Elijah, not armies, had been Israel's real defense.

Elisha picked up the fallen mantle and struck the Jordan, asking where the Lord, the God of Elijah, was. The waters parted, and the prophets recognized that Elijah's spirit rested on Elisha. He healed Jericho's water with salt. When a crowd of young men mocked him near Bethel, he cursed them in God's name, and two bears attacked forty-two of them. It was a serious warning against despising God's messenger. In the New Testament, Elijah appears with Moses on the mount of transfiguration, talking with Jesus (Matthew 17:3).