Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Kings 2:19

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Kings 2:19. The water is naught, and the ground barren. — The barrenness of the ground was the effect of the badness of the water.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

1:1-8:15 MINISTRY OF ELISHA

Elijah succeeded by Elisha (1:1-2:25)

Ahab’s son Ahaziah had not reigned long when he was injured in a fall. When he sent messengers to ask foreign gods whether he would recover, Elijah met them along the way. He sent them back with a message that the king would die, because he had forsaken the true God for foreign gods (1:1-10). Ahaziah sent soldiers to arrest Elijah, apparently with the intention of killing him because of his bold words. The ungodly king lost a hundred soldiers before he realized that he could neither silence nor kill the man whom God had sent to rebuke him (11-18).

Assured of this divine protection, Elijah saw that the time had come to pass on his work to Elisha. Together they visited some of the major centres where young prophets and other faithful Israelites lived. (Schools for prophets had been established in these towns as early as the time of Samuel; see notes on 1 Samuel 3:19-21.) This was a test for Elisha, who could easily have been tempted to stay at one of the schools of the prophets instead of continuing on with Elijah (2:1-6).

Elisha stood the test. He knew that since he was Elijah’s spiritual heir, he had to remain with Elijah to the end, in order to receive the spiritual power to carry on his work. The mark of the heir was that he received a double portion of the father’s inheritance (7-10; cf. Deuteronomy 21:17).

When Elijah was suddenly and supernaturally taken away, Elisha knew that, in this one man, Israel had lost a defender equal to a whole army of horses and chariots. But he soon had clear proof that God’s special power had now passed from Elijah to him (11-14). Back in Jericho the young prophets did not believe the report of Elijah’s spectacular departure, till they had spent three fruitless days looking for him (15-18).
Elisha’s first two miracles symbolized blessing and cursing, the two characteristics of his future ministry. At Jericho, where people were distressed through an unhealthy water supply, he brought healing. At Bethel, where the chief shrine of Israel’s corrupt religion was situated, he brought God’s curse on those who rejected his message (19-25).

The increasing importance of prophets

Ever since the time of Samuel the schools of the prophets had served a useful purpose in Israel’s religious life. They were valuable training centres for young men who were enthusiastic about improving the quality of spiritual life in the nation. Although members of these schools had a reputation for unorthodox behaviour (1 Samuel 10:5,1 Samuel 10:9-12; 1 Samuel 19:20-24; 2 Kings 9:11; 2 Kings 9:11), many of them were genuine followers of God.

Elijah and Elisha did not belong to these schools, but members of the schools looked upon them as their spiritual leaders. Elisha seems to have moved from school to school, spending some time in each community (see 2:1-7,15; 4:38; 6:1). His aim was not to train the young men to be professional prophets, but to build up the godly among them and so help strengthen the faithful minority in an unfaithful nation.

The cases of Elijah and Elisha show that a person did not have to be a member of one of these schools to be a prophet. Of those prophets whose writings have been collected in the Bible, few appear to have been professional prophets. The emphasis of the true prophets was that they had been called by God, not that they had received specialist training (Jeremiah 1:5; Ezekiel 2:1-5; Amos 7:14-15).

Chief characteristic of the prophets was that they were God’s spokesmen in announcing his will (Judges 4:4; 1 Kings 18:18; 1 Kings 18:18; 1 Kings 22:8; Jeremiah 23:18; Ezekiel 2:7; Amos 2:6-16; Amos 3:7). They brought God’s message to the people of their time, and this message may have included instruction for the present and warnings or promises for the future (Isaiah 1:16-20; Jeremiah 18:7-10). The prophets were mainly preachers to the general public and in some cases advisers to the nation’s rulers (2 Samuel 7:1-3; 2 Kings 19:1-7; 2 Kings 19:1-7; Isaiah 7:3-4; Isaiah 37:5-6; Isaiah 39:5-7; Jeremiah 7:1-7; Jeremiah 38:14; Zephaniah 2:1-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

ELISHA "HEALED" THE WATERS OF JERICHO

"And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is bad, and the land miscarrieth. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth to the spring of the waters, and cast salt therein, and said, Thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or miscarrying. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spake."

"The water is bad" The spring which produced those waters was identified in later times with, "The spring of Ain es-Sultan, just above the present day city of Jericho."The Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 74.

"The land miscarrieth" This is a little misleading, because it might appear to mean that the land was unfruitful; "But the Hebrew verb here for `casting of fruit' (which is the Hebrew) is used only of human infertility and the destruction of babes."International Critical Commentary, Kings, p. 355.

Stigers informs us that even today all of the springs that supply the city of Jericho with water are brackish, "But the principal spring is sweet and pure."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 342.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The water is naught - i. e. “bad.”

And the ground barren - Translate “and the land apt to miscarry.” The stream was thought to be the cause of untimely births, abortions, and the like, among the cattle, perhaps also among the people, that drank of it.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

And so it came to pass, when the LORD would take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal ( 2 Kings 2:1 ).

So the time is come when Elijah is going to depart the earth. And we gave you sort of a thumbnail sketch of Elijah last Sunday night, this interesting character who will be coming back again. It is very possible that he is alive somewhere on the earth right now. For he will be one of the two witnesses who will witness to Israel during this time in which God is going to deal with the nation Israel again for seven years. And Elijah will be one of those two witnesses of Revelation chapter eleven. And because we are so close to that time, it is very possible that he is alive and around someplace right now just waiting really for the church to be taken out so that he can begin his ministry unto the nation Israel.

But the time has now come historically where he is going to be caught up into heaven in a whirlwind. And so Elisha is following him, and they came to Gilgal, which is north of Jerusalem. It's in the Jerusalem mountain there, and it is probably fifteen miles from Jerusalem.

And Elijah said to Elisha, You stay here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me on to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I'm not going to leave you. So they went to Bethel ( 2 Kings 2:2 ).

Now they are actually moving from Gilgal to Bethel. They are going in a easterly direction and they are moving down towards Jericho. Now when they came to Bethel,

Certain sons of the prophets came out and they said to Elisha, Do you know that your master is going to be taken away from you today? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold your peace. So Elijah said to Elisha, you wait here; for I'm going on down to Jericho ( 2 Kings 2:3-4 ).

Now, from Bethel to Jericho there's a winding valley, and it's a distance about eighteen miles on down to Jericho downhill all the way from Bethel.

And as they came to Jericho, certain sons of the prophets came out and said to Elisha, Do you know that your master's going to be taken away from you today? And he said, I know it; hold your peace. And Elijah said unto him, You wait here; for the LORD hath sent me to the Jordan River. And he said, As the LORD lives, I'm not going to leave you. So the two went on. And fifty men of the prophets went, and they stood to view from a distance: and they stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and he smote the waters, and they were divided, so that the two went over on dry ground ( 2 Kings 2:4-8 ).

Now, this must have been quite an experience as these fifty guys were watching to see this prophet take his mantle, hit the water, and watch him divide so the two guys walked across on dry ground.

And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you, before I'm taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, You've asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so unto you; but if not, it shall not be so. So it came to pass, as they still went on, and they were talking, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and the horses of fire, and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him as he was going up, and he went back to the bank of the Jordan River; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and he smote the waters, and he said, Where is Jehovah God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were there by Jericho watching saw what happened, they said, The spirit of Elijah does rest upon Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him ( 2 Kings 2:9-15 ).

So here we see sort of the passing of a mantle and anointing from one man to another. As Elijah has finished his ministry and he's caught away by the Spirit into heaven, and Elisha, asking for that double portion, that he might receive that sort of inheritance, the anointing of God's Spirit upon his life that he might continue the ministry of Elijah. And as he came back, taking the mantle of Elijah, striking the water and the question, "Where is Jehovah God of Elijah?"

I often wonder today concerning miracles. Where is the God of Elijah? I am not at all satisfied with the hyped-up programs of so many evangelists and the atmosphere in which the miracles supposedly takes place. I really do not believe that God needs to work in a circus tent environment. But I believe that He can work in very easy, natural ways. And that when you have this super emotional environment that many times God doesn't always receive the full credit and the glory for that which is accomplished, but many times the instruments so manipulate and sometimes they're just so weird that they draw your attention and it's hard to really think of the Lord. There are men who deliberately seek to draw attention to themselves.

I have wondered why it is that we do not see more dramatic kind of miracles which I know that God is able to perform. So in the idea, "Where is the God of Elijah?" He's saying a God that works visible, obvious miracles where there can be no questioning, no doubts. I cannot agree that God relegated miracles only to the apostolic period and before. That there came this point of history after the last apostle where God said, "Okay, that's the last miracle and from now on, we'll let them educate themselves and let the church expand itself through the world, through the genius of man."

I cannot believe that the lack of miracles actually indicates any lack in God's power or even God's willingness to perform miracles. And yet, the last time I asked the Lord if I may not have the gift of the working of miracles, He answered me that He has led me in a more excellent way, even than the working of marvelous miracles. And since that time, I've never asked Him again for the gift of the working of miracles. But I've just rejoiced for the fact that He has brought our fellowship into a true fellowship, into a oneness where the love of Jesus Christ dominates our fellowship. And I'm satisfied with that.

I'm sort of like Paul. Thrice sought I of the Lord that I might have the gift of miracles or the working of miracles in my life, and God more or less answered me as He did Paul. Sort of, "Don't ask me any more about this, just be satisfied with what you've got." I can see where this gift would be an extremely difficult gift for a person to handle. And I doubt if I could handle it if I had it. Because if a person had the capacity of working true miracles by the power of the Spirit, everybody and his brother will be coming along trying to capitalize on that particular gift and taking you like a side show freak around the country. So that you might work the miracles in the eyes of people and astound people and draw them, and then having drawn them, use it as a super hype to press them for an offering or something. It would be extremely difficult to deal with all of the pressures that men would put on you if you had this particular gift.

And looking at it from that angle, I am really glad that God did not answer my prayer and give me the gift of the working of miracles. And yet I'm sure that there is a place for it within the body of Christ, else the Spirit would never have given that gift to begin with. And in this skeptical world in which we live, I can see the value. And yet, I wonder what kind of a man would it take to really be able to handle all of the notoriety that would center around this kind of a gift. It would be hard, because no doubt, you know, the United Press, Associated Press, the major networks would be there trying to get your interviews and everything else, and puffing you up, and you know and exalting you, and it would be extremely difficult. In fact, I don't think I know a man that could really handle it properly.

Where is the God of Elijah? He has not changed. He is still the same. He is still there. But our very manner of living has removed us, I think, a step away. We vaunt our glorious society and highly developed society and culture. And yet, within the society and culture there are so many distractions, things that take your mind off of the Lord and on to the material things around us. Now, when Elijah and Elisha were journeying together, they were walking from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to Jordan, Trans-Jordan. And walking around in nature, and as you get out and walk in the unspoiled nature, there comes to you a consciousness and awareness of God like you can't get driving down the freeway. There is the capacity to meditate and really have close communion with God walking from Bethel to Jericho. But you try to drive down that narrow, twisting road and have real meditation and communion, and you're going to end up over the cliff.

So the modern society and all of its conveniences and all really have a negative effect upon real spiritual development; that kind of spiritual development that is necessary to be able to handle a gift like Elijah or Elisha had. Where is the God of Elijah? Smiting the waters, they parted. And so, the same miracle that Elijah had performed is now done by Elisha. And here is the indication that the prayer or the request of Elisha was answered. For he asked that he might receive the inheritance, that he might take over and receive that same spirit of Elijah, the double portion of it, which signifies that inheritance of this gift. And now that this same miracle is performed, it's a confirmation of the affirmation of his call. "And they came to meet Elisha and bowed themselves on the ground."

Now you see, immediately you're going to be faced with a problem. Here are these guys bowing down to him. How you going to handle it? It seems that whenever a person has the power of God or the gifts of the Spirit in operation in his life, people want to bow down to them, and they look at the instrument and magnify the instrument. And very few instruments can take that kind of stuff.

Now they said, [Hey,] there are fifty of us fellows, we're strong men. And we want to go and we want to see if maybe the body of Elijah fell somewhere in the desert. ( 2 Kings 2:16 )

No true enough, he was caught up in the whirlwind, but it may be the whirlwind just carried him off in the Land of Oz. He might be lying injured somewhere in the desert. He might have been dumped somewhere on a mountain or in some valley.

Elisha says, No sense going. But they urged him until he was embarrassed about the whole thing and he said, [Well alright, if you want to go, then] go. And so they sent fifty men and they sought for three days, but they didn't find him. And when they came again to him, (for he stayed there at Jericho,) he said to them, Didn't I tell you not to go ( 2 Kings 2:16-18 )?

You know, there's a lot of wasted effort just because people insist on doing something. And they press and they push and then you just get embarrassed about the whole thing. You say, "Okay, go ahead." But you know it's not going to accomplish anything.

And the men of the city said to Elisha, [you know,] this is a nice city and all: but the water supply is bad, and beautiful place but with the water being bad, things are dying. And so he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it. And so he went to the spring that fed the city of Jericho, and he poured the salt in the spring, and the waters of the spring were healed and it said, So they are to this day ( 2 Kings 2:19-22 ).

Now, of course, this was written almost a thousand years before Christ, so at that time, the springs that fed Jericho were still, you know, good. Actually this was written a little bit later than that. And so at the time of the writing it had been sometime, they were still good. Hey, they are still good. I was there just not long ago and drank from the spring. And the water is still good. So God did a good job in healing the springs that feed Jericho. The water is still good and of course, it's a very, very fruitful area.

Now as he was going up from Jericho to Bethel, there came foRuth ( 2 Kings 2:23 )

And it's translated "little children" and this gives you the wrong concept. You see a bunch of little kids, you know, six, seven years old crying, "Hey, you old baldhead, where you going, baldhead?" But the Hebrew language actually indicates more of a teenage and late teenage than just a child. A little child, these were rotten little boys, and they're teenagers mocking the prophet of God.

And he looked back on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD ( 2 Kings 2:24 ).

Now, it's hard to understand why he would do that except that there was a great irreverence for a man of God.

And there came forth two she bears out of the wood ( 2 Kings 2:24 ),

And it is interesting there was woods in that area in those times. Today it's extremely barren, that valley going up. Man, there's nothing but rocks.

and it tore forty-two of them ( 2 Kings 2:24 ).

It doesn't say that they killed them and all, but just really scratched them up.

And so he went up from there to mount Carmel ( 2 Kings 2:25 ),

Now that's clear on over to the area of Haifa over in the coast.

and from there he returned back to Samaria ( 2 Kings 2:25 ).

Which is about nine miles from the Mediterranean, but about twenty-five miles from mount Carmel, the area of Haifa. It's closer to part of mount Carmel. And they said unto him, Behold now. I beg your pardon. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The evidence of Elisha’s succession 2:15-25

Had Elijah still been alive on the earth, Elisha could not have exercised authority as his successor. In this chapter there are parallels between the succession of the prophets and the succession of the kings that the writer recorded elsewhere in Kings. Elisha gave the skeptics opportunity to verify Elijah’s departure (cf. 1 Kings 18:12). After all, Elijah had been known to disappear and reappear suddenly (cf. 1 Kings 18:12). The same Spirit that had empowered Elijah now rested on Elisha (2 Kings 2:15).

The miracle that attested God’s messenger and his message evidently took place at Jericho (2 Kings 2:15). The physical condition in the town was symbolic of the spiritual condition of the nation (2 Kings 2:19). One writer suggested that the Jericho spring had become contaminated by radioactive matter as a result of Joshua’s curse (Joshua 6:26). [Note: Ian M. Blake, "Jericho (Ain es-Sultan): Joshua’s Curse and Elisha’s Miracle-One Possible Explanation," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 99 (1967):86-97.] Refreshment and fertility had suffered as a result of apostasy. Elisha was a new vessel in God’s hand similar to the new jar he requested (2 Kings 2:20). Salt seemed like the worst thing to add to brackish water to make it pure, just as return to Yahweh must have appeared to be a backward step to many idolatrous Israelites. Nevertheless, since salt is what God ordered, it was effective. The use of salt may have symbolized a break with the past, since this is what rubbing certain sacrifices with salt to sanctify them indicated (Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19; Ezekiel 43:24). [Note: John Gray, I & II Kings, p. 427.] Yahweh, not Baal, could restore blessing and fertility to His people. This miracle was another polemic against Baal worship (cf. 1 Kings 18; et al.). Baal’s worshippers credited him with ruling over the waters on and beneath the earth, including underground springs and fountains. [Note: Battenfield, p. 27.] God’s permanent healing of the spring would have served as a continuing reminder of Yahweh’s ability to bring fruitfulness and blessing out of the deadly sterility of idolatry.

Bethel was a center of idolatry in Israel; it was one of the golden calf sites (2 Kings 2:23). Evidently Elisha’s approach triggered a mass demonstration against him by many young men. The Hebrew word na’ar translated "lads" in 2 Kings 2:23 describes young men, not boys, in many other places in the Old Testament. Some of the individuals this Hebrew word describes were Gehazi, Elisha’s servant (2 Kings 4:12), an unnamed young man (2 Kings 4:19), and the Shunammite’s servant (2 Kings 4:24). "Baldhead" was and is a term of disrespect. The idolaters challenged Elisha to "go up" to heaven as Elijah had done if Elisha could. [Note: Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Hard Sayings of the Old Testament, p. 124.] These youths were typical of a nation that "mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at his prophets" (2 Chronicles 36:16). Not motivated by personal pride but by a desire for God’s glory, Elisha pronounced God’s curse on them for their disrespect of His prophet and Himself (2 Kings 2:24; cf. 2 Peter 3:3-7). As before, God used wild animals to judge the rebels (cf. 1 Kings 13:24). Wild bears were common in ancient Israel. [Note: James A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings, p. 366.] These early miracles identified Elisha as God’s spokesman who possessed Yahweh’s power to bless or to curse. [Note: For some other interpretations of this incident, see David Fass, "Elisha’s Locks and the She-Bears," Journal of Reform Judaism 34:3 (1987):23-29.]

These two miracles set the tone of Elisha’s whole ministry. He would be a source of blessing to the needy, but he would be a source of judgment to those who did not respect Yahweh.

"Though having the same objectives in view as Elijah, Elisha’s manner in reaching them was somewhat different. In keeping with this contrasting background [i.e., wealthy rather than poorer], he was more at home in cities and was often in the company of kings. Also whereas Elijah had been more a man of moods, either strongly courageous or despairing to the point of death, Elisha was self-controlled and even-tempered. Elisha never staged dramatic contests nor sulked in a desert. It may be, too, that Elisha was more interested in the needs of people, for many of his miracles were for the purpose of aiding and giving relief to persons in difficulty." [Note: Leon J. Wood, The Prophets of Israel, p. 246.]

"In their persons they symbolized two aspects of the divine power toward the people: Elijah was the divine judicial power opposing a rebellious people and containing wholesale violence; Elisha was the dispensing of divine blessing when people repented." [Note: Kaiser, Toward an . . ., pp. 185-86.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the men of the city said unto Elisha,.... The inhabitants of Jericho, perceiving him to be a prophet, and endowed with a power of working miracles:

behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; in a plain, surrounded with gardens and orchards, with vineyards, oliveyards, and groves of palm trees, and other odoriferous ones:

but the water is naught, and the ground barren; that is, that part of it where this water was, or ran, for from thence it became barren; or "caused to miscarry", as the word signifies q; not only trees cast their fruit, which it watered, but women became abortive that drank of it, as Josephus says r, and so cattle. Abarbinel thinks it was so from the times of Joshua, being cursed by him; but, if so, it would not have been inhabited again; rather this was owing to a new curse, upon its being rebuilt; though this might affect only a small part of the ground, not the whole, as before observed.

q משכלת "orbans", Montanus, Vatablus; "facit abortum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. r De Bello Jud. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 3.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.   20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.   21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.   22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.   23 And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.   24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.   25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

      Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of Elijah's spirit, that he wrought more miracles than Elijah. Some reckon them in number just double. Two are recorded in these verses--a miracle of mercy to Jericho and a miracle of judgment to Bethel, Psalms 101:1.

      I. Here is a blessing upon the waters of Jericho, which was effectual to heal them. Jericho was built in disobedience to a command, in defiance to a threatening, and at the expense of the lives of all the builder's children; yet, when it was built, it was not ordered to be demolished again, nor were God's prophets or people forbidden to dwell in it, but even within those walls that were built by iniquity we find a nursery of piety. Fools, they say, build houses for wise men to dwell in. Here the wealth of the sinner provided a habitation for the just. We find Christ at Jericho, Luke 19:1. Hither Elisha came, to confirm the souls of the disciples with a more particular account of Elijah's translation than their spies, who saw at a distance, could give them. Here he staid while the fifty men were searching for him. And, 1. The men of Jericho represented to him their grievance, 2 Kings 2:19; 2 Kings 2:19. God's faithful prophets love to be employed; it is wisdom to make use of them during the little while that their light is with us. They had not applied to Elijah concerning the matter, perhaps because he was not so easy of access as Elisha was; but now, we may hope, by the influence of the divinity-school in their city, they were reformed. The situation was pleasant and afforded a good prospect; but they had neither wholesome water to drink nor fruitful soil to yield them food, and what pleasure could they take in their prospect? Water is a common mercy, which we should estimate by the greatness of the calamity which the want or unwholesomeness of it would be. Some think that it was not all the ground about Jericho that was barren and had bad water, but some one part only, and that where the sons of the prophets had their lodgings, who are here called the men of the city. 2. He soon redressed their grievance. Prophets should endeavour to make every place they come to, some way or other, the better for them, endeavouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful, by the due application of the word of God. Elisha will heal their waters; but, (1.) They must furnish him with salt in a new cruse, 2 Kings 2:20; 2 Kings 2:20. If salt had been proper to season the water, yet what could so small a quantity do towards it and what the better for being in a new cruse? But thus those that would be helped must be employed and have their faith and obedience tried. God's works of grace are wrought, not by any operations of ours, but in observance of his institutions. (2.) He cast the salt into the spring of the waters, and so healed the streams and the ground they watered. Thus the way to reform men's lives is to renew their hearts; let those be seasoned with the salt of grace; for out of them are the issues of life. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good. Purify the heart and that will cleanse the hands. (3.) He did not pretend to do this by his own power, but in God's name: Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters. He is but the instrument, the channel through which God is pleased to convey this healing virtue. By doing them this kindness with a Thus saith the Lord, they would be made the more willing hereafter, to receive from him a reproof, admonition, or command, with the same preface. If, in God's name, he can help them, in God's name let him teach and rule them. Thus saith the Lord, out of Elisha's mouth, must, ever after, be of mighty force with them. (4.) The cure was lasting, and not for the present only: The waters were healed unto this day,2 Kings 2:22; 2 Kings 2:22. What God does shall be for ever,Ecclesiastes 3:14. When he, by his Spirit, heals a soul, there shall be no more death nor barrenness; the property is altered: what was useless and offensive becomes grateful and serviceable.

      II. Here is a curse upon the children of Bethel, which was effectual to destroy them; for it was not a curse causeless. At Bethel there was another school of prophets. Thither Elisha went next, in this his primary visitation, and the scholars there no doubt welcomed him with all possible respect, but the townsmen were abusive to him. One of Jeroboam's calves was at Bethel; this they were proud of, and fond of, and hated those that reproved them. The law did not empower them to suppress this pious academy, but we may suppose it was their usual practice to jeer the prophets as they went along the streets, to call them by some nickname or other, that they might expose them to contempt, prejudice their youth against them, and, if possible, drive them out of their town. Had the abuse done to Elisha been the first offence of that kind, it is probable that it would not have been so severely punished. But mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misusing the prophets, was one of the crying sins of Israel, as we find, 2 Chronicles 36:16. Now here we have, 1. An instance of that sin. The little children of Bethel, the boys and girls that were playing in the streets (notice, it is likely, having come to the town of his approach), went out to meet him, not with their hosannas, as they ought to have done, but with their scoffs; they gathered about him and mocked him, as if he had been a fool, or one fit to make sport with. Among other things that they used to jeer the prophets with, they had this particular taunt for him, Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head. It is a wicked thing to reproach persons for their natural infirmities or deformities; it is adding affliction to the afflicted; and, if they are as God made them, the reproach reflects upon him. But this was such a thing as scarcely deserved to be called a blemish, and would never have been turned to his reproach if they had had any thing else to reproach him with. It was his character as a prophet that they designed to abuse. The honour God had crowned him with should have been sufficient to cover his bald head and protect him from their scoffs. They bade him go up, perhaps reflecting on the assumption of Elijah: "Thy master," they say, "has gone up; why dost not thou go up after him? Where is the fiery chariot? When shall we be rid of thee too?" These children said as they were taught; they had learned of their idolatrous parents to call foul names and give bad language, especially to prophets. These young cocks, as we say, crowed after the old ones. Perhaps their parents did at this time send them out and set them on, that, if possible, they might keep the prophet out of their town. 2. A specimen of that ruin which came down upon Israel at last, for misusing God's prophets, and of which this was intended to give them fair warning. Elisha heard their taunts, a good while, with patience; but at length the fire of holy zeal for God was kindled in his breast by the continued provocation, and he turned and looked upon them, to try if a grave and severe look would put them out of countenance and oblige them to retire, to see if he could discern in their faces any marks of ingenuousness; but they were not ashamed, neither could they blush; and therefore he cursed them in the name of the Lord, both imprecated and denounced the following judgment, not in personal revenge for the indignity done to himself, but as the mouth of divine justice to punish the dishonour done to God. His summons was immediately obeyed. Two she-bears (bears perhaps robbed of their whelps) came out of an adjacent wood, and presently killed forty-two children, 2 Kings 2:24; 2 Kings 2:24. Now in this, (1.) The prophet must be justified, for he did it by divine impulse. Had the curse come from any bad principle God would not have said Amen to it. We may think it would have been better to have called for two rods for the correction of these children than two bears for the destruction of them. But Elisha knew, by the Spirit, the bad character of these children. He knew what a generation of vipers those were, and what mischievous enemies they would be to God's prophets if they should live to be men, who began so early to be abusive to them. He intended hereby to punish the parents and to make them afraid of God's judgments. (2.) God must be glorified as a righteous God, that hates sin, and will reckon for it, even in little children. Let the wicked wretched brood make our flesh tremble for fear of God. Let little children be afraid of speaking wicked words, for God notices what they say. Let them not mock any for their defects in mind or body, but pity them rather; especially let them know that it is at their peril if they jeer God's people or ministers, and scoff at any for well-doing. Let parents, that would have comfort in their children, train them up well, and do their utmost betimes to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts; for, as bishop Hall says, "In vain do we look for good from those children whose education we have neglected; and in vain do we grieve for those miscarriages which our care might have prevented." Elisha comes to Bethel and fears not the revenges of the bereaved parents; God, who bade him do what he did, he knew would bear him out. Thence he goes to Mount Carmel (2 Kings 2:25; 2 Kings 2:25), where it is probable there was a religious house fit for retirement and contemplation. Thence he returned to Samaria, where, being a public place, this father of the prophets might be most serviceable. Bishop Hall observes here, "That he can never be a profitable seer who is either always or never alone."

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

It has been already remarked that the mission, or, at any rate, the proper ministry of Elijah closed with his own complaint against the children of Israel. God took him at his word. He pleaded against, instead of for, Israel. Now he was called to a ministry of a judicial character, but it ought to have been in communion with all that were of God and for His name, and there was, so far, a want of entrance into the mind of God. There was the full, complete remnant of the people according to the election of grace. They were as nothing to Elijah, but they were very much to God. It is evident, therefore, that God and His servant were totally at issue, and, therefore, if such was the condition of the servant, he was virtually resigning his office. So God, from that very moment, taking him at his own word, appoints Elisha to succeed him. Yet, nevertheless, God did not take him away in anger. Far from it. On the contrary, though it was the lack of grace on behalf of the people of God which was surely offensive to the Lord in His servant the prophet, there was no lack of grace on God's part. Elijah therefore remains, though by no means as before. There was a certain transition of position, before the Lord took him. But when he did take him it was with the highest honour that could be put upon man here upon earth he was caught up to heaven without even passing through death.

The opening chapter then of this Second Book of Kings presents in a very striking manner the acting, if not the ministry, of the prophet the proof that the power of God was still with him. For when the wicked king, now himself sick, sent to the power of evil to learn about himself, God answers him not the enemy God gives him a more speedy answer than he had looked for. To Elijah God communicates the fact, orders him to stop the messengers and to give that most solemn intelligence to the king that he was then lying on his death-bed, and should therefore by no means recover. It was not that the king was ignorant of Elijah, but he followed in the evil of his father, and, as his father was the open enemy of Elijah, he therefore counted him as his enemy. So the son in the very same footsteps walks after his father. Nevertheless, for this very reason, just as it was when God employed the daring of Pharaoh to manifest His glory, so it was now in Israel where it was come to this, that a large part the greater part indeed of the people of God was a sphere for the display of Jehovah's glory just because of their total departure from, and opposition to, His will. Consequently it bears this judicial character, for God was still dealing with His servant Elijah.

The messengers, then, arrested by the prophet, bring back the word of his coming death to the king, who soon finds out that it is none other than Elijah the Tishbite. He thereupon sends an officer with his company to take him. This was more easily said than done, and, in fact, brought an immediate judgment upon the heads of those that obeyed the king. We can understand that there are some who wonder at this. But it must never be forgotten that not even in Judah was it a mere monarchy, still less in Israel, now that they were divided. The government of the kingdom of Israel was a theocracy. No doubt the king was the representative of God's power, but still it was a throne of Jehovah. When, therefore, a king set himself in defiance of Jehovah he must take the consequences. No person, for instance, bearing the Queen's commission, is entitled to order his men against the Queen, and the Queen is perfectly entitled to punish them. Their pleading the order of the officer has nothing to do with the matter. The officer has no commission against the Queen. If the men choose to follow their officer's command against the Queen's authority they need not be surprised at what must be the issue.

And so in fact the king of Israel was in direct rebellion against God. I make this remark of a general kind, because it is the key to what otherwise must seem a little surprising, and of which infidelity constantly makes a difficulty, that is, the summary judgment executed every now and then in Israel. The constitution in Israel was strictly the law, and the law knows nothing but death for rebellion against the authority of God. This necessarily belongs to the law, and it is simply man who denies the title of God to put man under law. Such a thought is worthy of an atheist, for grant the Being of God, the reality of God, and God's authority is clearly entitled to act thus, if He think fit for His own glory. But then when once this is allowed, it is seen that the kingdom of Israel differs from all other kingdoms, inasmuch as if these kingdoms pretend to be theocratic it is merely a delusion and a falsehood, whereas in Israel it is the fact. And all the effort of Satan was to make the Israelites and their king forget that it was a theocracy forget the peculiarity of their place and of their calling. In all other cases the pretension was a mere spurious thing, the cover of downright hypocrisy and tyranny; in Israel it was the simple truth. Now this clears away heaps of difficulty in Scripture, because then God's dealing, even in a manner so terrible as the prompting His servant to ask for fire from heaven to consume a captain and his men, because of the daring defiance against God, the God of Israel, is simply a necessary consequence of the position of Israel. Instead of being a difficulty, it is what must be, what ought to be. God would be giving up His own authority otherwise.

Just as no parent ought to allow his children to deny his authority in his own house, and no master ought to allow it in his servants, so it would be the greatest absurdity if God were to permit defiance of His own authority in those that took the place of being His people. The king, therefore, sending out word was nothing to the purpose, because the king of Israel was the servant of Jehovah. He was merely the highest servant then. No doubt he was the expression of the visible authority, but then that authority could not be used against God. There is a limit necessary to all authority, "until he come whose right it is" to reign. And there indeed is what gives the true meaning of the place of the king of Israel, and it just ends when one comes who is not only man but God, and who will reign not only as man but as God. There will be one Jehovah, and His name one, and He will reign over all the earth.

This then clears away, I trust, any difficulty to a believer, that can be found in the scene before us. And indeed I have made the remarks more general in order to take in many other difficulties, for after all we must remember, even if we come to the general principle of it, that God is acting not in a close rigid way, but He is acting on the broad thought of His own plan with every man, woman, and child in the whole world. Because what is death if it be not an act of God's judging sin? And those who quarrel therefore with God's dealing with fifty men at a time forget that He is dealing with every person, and themselves among the rest, as objectors. I merely make this remark because people overlook the plainest facts before their eyes.

Another thing to which I would call your attention is this. Had there been compunction of heart and activity of conscience in the captains of these fifties, not one of them would have perished. We see that most clearly from the last captain and his company. He humbles himself, and the mercy of God flows out at once. We may be perfectly certain therefore that in the case of the others there was hardness of conscience and indifference. For there was not one of the captains and I doubt not, not one of the fifties that did not know the prophet Elijah, that had not the fullest testimony to his heart and conscience that that man was the most faithful representative of God's will and glory and power. If therefore men chose to bear the risk (and the object was great, the design was the injury, if not the death, of that very servant of God, and this, too, when God was acting on the grounds of righteousness and of law), they must take the consequences. It is plain that government by theocracy would be impossible if God did not reserve to Himself the right to punish, to impress upon others the necessity of obedience. In this scene, therefore, we have clearly that God still puts honour upon His servant. His proper ministry was closed, but in this there is no sign of one disgraced or one upon whom God is heaping dishonour not the slightest. And there cannot be a greater proof than this very fact in these closing scenes of Elijah, that when the leader of the last troop humbles himself before the prophet, the prophet goes down by the word of the Lord, for he at least, a servant, abides in obedience to God. He goes before the king and gives, to the king's face, what he little desired to hear "On that bed thou must die!" "So he died, according to the word of Jehovah which Elijah had spoken."

But the next chapter (1 Kings 2:1-46) shows us the closing and final scene of Elijah. "And it came to pass when Jehovah would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah bath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, Yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Jehovah liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Tarry here, I pray thee; for Jehovah hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on."

Elijah then tests the faith of Elisha. We find this constantly in Scripture. An easier path is presented. You may spare yourself the trouble. But where there is faith to see that it is but a test, the soul is prepared to go forward understands the mind of God about it. It is impossible for any person to lay down rules as to such a matter. It was not by a rule that the cleansed Samaritan knew the mind of the Lord. Outwardly, the nine were following more literally what the Saviour said, but the cleansed Samaritan knew better. The letter, even of Scripture, is insufficient to guide the child of God. We need the Holy Ghost to give the word of God power "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." I grant you that the natural mind of man, taking up such a principle, would make terrible havoc of the word of God, but there is just the difference. The Spirit of God wielding the word makes it to be the sword of God; the mind of man dabbling with the word of God only reflects itself. Now in the present case it was clearly the test of Elisha's faith. If he was not prepared to go on with the prophet, he need not take so much trouble. His heart was thoroughly willing; he was about to gain a good degree, as it is said, in the faith in a little, for he that is faithful in little is faithful in much, and he that not merely was called and knew that the prophet's mantle was cast around him, and understood by that significant token that he was to succeed Elijah here below that same prophet looks for more and he receives more.

"According to thy faith be it done unto thee." He waits. He well understood that the time was not come to fulfil his office. He looks for more. The sons of the prophets gave no intelligence; they were indeed but intruders. They would have liked him to occupy his mind with their information. Elisha told them to hold their peace. His heart was elsewhere it was with Elijah, and these great things that were in store for him that day. Nothing would suffer from the prophet. So Elijah said to him, "Tarry I pray thee here." He bade him remain in Bethel, and Bethel was a place of great note in Israel. And Jericho was a place, I will not say of note, but marked with a curse, and God would not allow His curse to slumber any more than His blessing. But Elisha would go on with Elijah.

Now they come to Jordan. "As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men, the sons of the prophets, went and stood afar off." They did not go on; they were arrested by the difficulties; but "they two," the two that were as one, so to speak, stood by Jordan. "And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee." They had gone down through the great and well-known sign of death not now passing through death to enter into the land, but passing through death for one of them at least. And this becomes an epoch that gives its proper character to the prophet. He was right. Not merely his own mind, but a spiritual instinct of the Holy Ghost gave him to look for a higher degree still. He goes on, and now he is on the very eve of it. Elijah puts the question, "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." Not a double portion as compared with Elijah's, but a double portion as compared with any other as a successor of Elijah. A double portion was the firstborn's portion. He asked for this, for the firstborn's portion. "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."

Now came the moment to decide whether faith in this case was to have her commensurate blessing. "And it came to pass as they still went on, and talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Elijah was in fact a man with a heart and tongue of fire, if I may say so, and all his ministry was of this character consuming and judicial, of all men most unsparing. But if Elisha was given to see him caught up in a chariot of fire, with horses of fire, and with a whirlwind mounting up to heaven, this new starting-point of Elisha's becomes of importance. For heaven is not the place of fire. There may be exceptionally the bursting out of consuming judgments of God, but heaven, I repeat, normally is not the place of fire, but rather of love, of peace, of divine glory, of rest and peace, unbroken by sin. And Elisha accordingly was to have his ministry characterized by these very qualities.

We shall find him, therefore, instead of being a mere repetition of his fiery predecessor, a most suited successor, and one, in divine wisdom, given to meet the exigencies of God's glory in Israel. But Elisha has another character, for although righteousness be of God, righteousness is not all that is in God. And indeed if we look at God's attributes, righteousness is not the highest, although it is that which God can never sacrifice. But, nevertheless, if we are to speak of attributes, grace is surely of a higher character, and as the heavens are higher than the earth, so surely is the earth the place where righteousness must govern, and heaven is the place where grace must govern. And Elisha therefore becomes not merely what he began, but he became also the witness of grace; and it is not therefore merely as Elijah, for he starts just like the apostles themselves, who received once their commission in the land of Israel, and then went forth bearing the solemn message and wiping the dust from off their feet against those who rejected them as witnesses. But those apostles received another appointment of a higher ministry which that same Lord Jesus that sent them through the earth sent them from the heavens Himself ascending up there.

So it was with this beautiful witness to the truth of God, and almost, I must add, to the grace of God. "Elijah saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." The double portion would be most surely his. "And he saw him no more; and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces." But it is added, and most strikingly, "He took up also the mantle of Elijah" not merely flung it across his shoulders. Now it was his own, now it was perfectly his own, now there was the fullest confirmation of his place; and I repeat again, not merely as of a judging prophet on earth, but of a raptured prophet that had gone up to heaven. "He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan." and now came the test, whether in truth the double portion did rest upon Elisha. "And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters and said, Where is Jehovah God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters they parted hither and thither; and Elisha went over."

Elisha was the true and God-given successor of Elijah, but not after the same sort; for God does not repeat Himself. The God with whom we have to do is a living God, and the God that sent Elijah was now sending Elisha for another work and of a different character, and this it will be my object to open a little tonight to show how the Spirit of God brings out this new ministry. For now Elisha has been waiting, just as Elijah himself had waited. There was this pause, and we can see the great purpose. For undoubtedly had Elisha gone forward before, we have no reason to believe that there would have been any such character to his ministry. He waited, and he waited to prove that it is not always those that are the quickest to go forward in a work of the Lord that have, and bear, and produce, the best fruits. By no means. But those who know what it is to wait a little while that the Lord may deal with them before they are competent to deal with others, and also at the particular season.

And here we find how truly his waiting upon the Lord had this result. "And when the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho saw him they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master." Were these the men that could give information to Elisha? These same men now propose, and this proves how poor even the son of a prophet may be when he no longer speaks the word of the Lord, that they should seek Elijah, "Lest peradventure the Spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send." That is, he first deals with them according to wisdom. In the next place, if they will be foolish, let them prove their folly. "They sent, therefore, fifty men, and they sought three days but found him not. And when they came again to him (for he tarried at Jericho), he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not."

But now we begin to see in the next instance recorded the peculiar action of the prophet Elisha. "And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; but the water is naught, and the ground is barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruise and put salt therein." When God brought out the place of our Lord above, He brought out further all that was suitable to a new creation. When souls know that which is the truth of God and our Lord Jesus, and consciously look up to Him, we know that they belong to Him. When God was dealing by the law it was always the old creation. When the Lord Jesus took His place on high after the accomplishment of redemption, the new creation surely came in. And this we see most completely in the doctrine of the apostle Paul. Here we have as far as a sign or a token can be, the new cruise, as just the sign of this new creation in the mind of God. And the application of this is the place of a curse. Now if there was a spot in the Holy Land that was under a curse, it was Jericho. Every one knows that who reads his Bible. Jericho accordingly is the spot to which the prophet directs this new cruise with salt put in to be brought.

"And he went forth unto the spring of the waters" and so was dealing with the fountainhead "and cast the salt in there and said, Thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more dearth or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.'' "Can anything more distinctly show that here we have to do with a new character of action. There is no longer the death-bed judgment of Jehovah, administered according to the word of the prophet. Here we have the power of sin and the power of evil, and according to the purpose of God, the new creation, for undoubtedly this new cruise with the salt therein is the type of it. Jericho is a sample of that which will be done universally by the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His appearing. He means to reconcile all things unto Himself. It might be but a little here, but it is the sample of a very great result. "So the waters were healed according to the saying of Elisha which he spake."

And thence he goes up, not to the place which was under the curse, and where he brings in a divine power of blessing and healing, but, to Bethel. Bethel was not under the curse, but it was under the burden of corruption. It is the place where God had caused the pledge and promise of His faithful care to be given to one that needed it, to one that was under circumstances of the greatest possible distress forlorn, obliged to flee from the house of his father and mother, with a deadly burning hatred of his brother against him. There it was that Jacob has a vision of God, and there it was that God plighted His word for ever. There it was that there was the house of God, that there was the gate of heaven opened to the slumbering Jacob, and there it was too that God made good, in after days, the purpose that was to be broken alas! by the unfaithfulness of man. But there Satan had so gained over the hearts of Israel that they had lifted up their calf-god and there they had insulted the God of Israel to His face. It was here that the prophet came, not to challenge, not to make of it another Gomorrah, not to bring down the calf worshippers and slay them, but here Elisha came, for it is Elisha with a heavenly vision. And yet for all that, it is remarkable it is one of the great exceptions of the prophet, that although he had this heavenly vision, woe be to the man that slights him; for the returning Lord Jesus Christ is the moral judge upon the earth His severest judgments will be from heaven.

That which will deal with the last mockers is given here in a little way, if I may so speak. Here there were those that insulted the prophet. It might be only little children, but little children often let out what their parents mean. How often you may know what goes wrong at home by that which little children say. And so it was with these little ones that mocked Elisha, and said, "Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head!" Now it was mockery that filled the land; there is no question of it. Elijah had gone up, and it was as good as telling him that he had better follow; that Elisha had better take the same route as Elijah. No doubt it would have been a relief to the carnal and the worldly and the idolatrous and the wicked generally in the land of Israel were there no Elijahs and no Elishas. It was therefore the taunt of unbelief, for if men had seriously realized that Elijah had gone up to heaven, and that Elisha was one that was here upon earth doing the will of God, neither the little children nor their parents would have so uttered their evil thoughts and feelings against the Lord. And so it was. And here again we have the same solemn thing, only in an exceptional way, with Elisha we have judgment accompanying the heavenly testimony.

The very same thing we find in St. Paul. It is not only that Peter tells of the day of the Lord, but there is judgment, and necessarily judgment executed by the Lord Jesus Christ upon earth. These little ones then who so spake "he cursed in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tare forty and two children of them. And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria." Heaven is by no means the ordinary place from which judgment comes. Throughout the millennial reign heaven will be the source of countless comforts and blessings in a richer measure than the world has ever tasted before. So we find in Elisha a further illustration.