2 Kings 2 explained: Elijah Taken Up, Elisha Takes Over

Last journey to the Jordan (vv. 1-8)

Elijah keeps telling his apprentice Elisha to stay behind, perhaps to test his loyalty, though the text does not say why. Elisha refuses, even as groups of prophets warn that Elijah will be taken today. At the Jordan River, Elijah strikes the water with his rolled up cloak and it parts, echoing Moses at the sea and Israel crossing this same river under Joshua.

The double portion (vv. 9-10)

Elisha asks to inherit a 'double portion' of Elijah's spirit, asking in some way to carry on as his master's heir (what exactly he meant is discussed below). Elijah calls this a hard thing without saying why, and makes it depend on a sign: whether Elisha sees him as he is taken.

The chariot of fire (vv. 11-12)

Fiery chariot and horses come between the two men, and Elijah is carried up in a whirlwind with no death described. Christians have often read this as a foreshadowing of Jesus rising to heaven. Elisha sees it, which meets Elijah's condition, and he tears his clothes in grief, calling Elijah his father and Israel's chariots and horsemen, likely meaning Elijah protected Israel better than any army.

Elisha picks up the cloak (vv. 13-18)

Elisha takes the cloak Elijah dropped, the same cloak Elijah once threw over him when he first called him. When Elisha strikes the Jordan, asking where Elijah's God is now, the river parts, and the watching prophets bow to him as their new leader. They fear the Spirit of the LORD may have carried Elijah off and set him down on some mountain or in a valley, so they press for a search until Elisha gives in, and fifty men look for three days without finding him.

Healing Jericho's water (vv. 19-22)

The people of Jericho say their spring is bad and the land suffers, though the translations differ on whether the land is 'unproductive' or 'miscarries'. Elisha throws salt from a new bowl into the spring, but he credits the healing to the LORD's word, so the salt is usually read as a sign rather than the cure.

The jeering at Bethel (vv. 23-25)

At Bethel, where King Jeroboam had set up a golden calf shrine, a crowd of young males mocks Elisha's baldness. Translations render their taunt as 'go up' or 'get out of here', and it is perhaps a sneer at Elijah's going up. Elisha curses them in the LORD's name, and two bears maul 42 of them. The Hebrew can mean small boys or young men, and readers differ: some see God defending his new prophet from a hostile town, while some ancient Jewish teachers faulted Elisha for this harshness.

Key verse: 2 Kings 2:15

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on what Elisha's 'double portion' (v. 9) means: many read it as the eldest son's double share of an inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17), a request to be Elijah's rightful heir, while others take it as a request for twice Elijah's power, pointing to the larger number of miracles told about Elisha.

Something to think about

When someone you relied on is gone, how do you decide what to carry forward from them and what to leave behind?