Day 183 – Reading – 2 Kings 1 – 4

Read today’s Scriptures.  Elijah/Elisha, how do they encourage you?

2 Kings 1.

We are backing up a little in time, and peering at the northern kingdom (Israel) and catch up with the southern kingdom, whose king was the boy, Joash. (Refer to the “kings” chart.

After Ahab died, his equally wicked son Ahaziah became king.  (Moab is going to rebel against Israel as Verse 1 says, but not until the NEXT king comes along. (chapter 3) First, God deals with this wicked king/son of Ahab.)

King Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber and lay sick (injured internally?).  He sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub (prince Baal), the god of Ekron (Philistine). 

*** (I guess his father, Ahab, never told Ahaziah about how Elijah’s true God had defeated 400 of this god’s priests on Mt. Carmel, who had called on, inquired of, and pleaded desperately with … and NONE had evoked a response from that dead god.) 

WE might ask, the same question Elijah asks when he heard what the king was doing.  “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron???

When the men returned to King Ahaziah, he was furious with Elijah.  He sent a captain with 50 men to bring the prophet back to Samaria.  Elijah’s signature “fire from heaven (from God)” took care of them.

Ahaziah sent another captain with 50.  Same thing.

Ahaziah sent a third captain with 50.  This man was scared-smart.  He fell to his knees and pleaded with Elijah to spare his life and that of his men. This was a sign from God that it was safe for Elijah to see the king.

Elijah tells king Ahaziah, “You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.”

And he died.

Ahaziah had no sons, so Jehoram, his brother (another son of the wicked King Ahab), began to reign. 

NOTE:  (DON’T GET CONFUSED.  In the south, in Judah, another Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, reigned there when that king died.  Two Jehoram kings! (Must have been a popular name.)  However, the passage beginning in 8:16, refers to the northern king as a shortened “Joram,” so that helps.)

.

In chapters 2-4 today (and then in 5-8 tomorrow), we take a little side trail to see Elijah “pass the mantle” (literally) to his protegee, Elisha, and then some of Elisha’s “double-spirit” ministry.

“Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal in the area of Ephraim.” 

(It seems that the LORD informed both prophets that this was about to happen, and Elisha was hyper-vigilant.  WHY?  Remember, Elijah told the other man that if he SAW HIM DEPART, he would get the request of a double-ministry.  Elisha was NOT leaving Elijah’s side, even though the older man “tested” him three times.)

On their way from Gilgal to Bethel (7 miles), Elijah told Elisha to STAY THERE.  Nope, said his apprentice. “As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.”

At Bethel some prophets told Elisha that the LORD would take Elijah that day. I know, he said.  Elijah again told Elisha to “STAY THERE” while Elijah went on fourteen miles to Jericho, but again the younger man refused.

At Jericho, again some prophets told Elisha that the LORD would take Elijah soon.  I know, he said. Keep quiet.

For a third time, Elijah told Elisha to STAY THERE while he went to the Jordan River.  Nope, Elisha said.

The 50 prophets followed the two to the river an witnessed the event.  Elijah took off his cloak, struck the river water, and it split so the two men could cross.  On the other side Elijah again asked what Elisha wanted. “A double portion of your spirit on me,” came the answer.

As they began to walk … CHARIOTS OF FIRE AND HORSES separated them.  Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

“My father, my father!  The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”   And he saw Elijah no more.

Elisha tore his own clothes in grief.  Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak, walked to the Jordan, and struck the water.

It parted. 

He walked across.

Of course, the 50 prophets wanted to search for Elijah, thinking maybe God dropped him somewhere in the valley.  Elijah said no at first (he’d seen Elijah disappear INTO HEAVEN), but after they pleaded, he said okay.  After an intensive search, Elijah (or his body) could not be found, and Elisha gave them that “I told you so!” look.

Then, the first proof of prophethood.  A town had water that made the people sick.  God used Elisha (and a bowl of salt) to cure it.

When Elisha returned to Bethel, some nasty pagan boys (actually young men) came out to make fun of his bald head. (Usually, prophets of God kept the Nazarite vow and never cut their hair. Now, here was a prophet of God WITH NO HAIR.)

Elisha cursed the taunting boys, and some bears came out and ate them. All 42 of them.  Seriously?  To ridicule God’s prophet was to ridicule God, Himself.  This was God’s warning to all who attempted to interfere with the newly invested prophet’s ministry. 

.

Okay, back to Jehoram/Joram, king of Israel (north). He reigned 12 years and was evil in God’s sight, though not as bad as Ahab and Jezebel.

During Jehoram’s reign, the king of Moab, who had been paying tribute to Ahab, decided to stop now that Ahab’s second son was king. This made Jehoram mad, and he called Jehoshaphat (remember they had a marriage alliance) for help. Somehow, he also managed to get the King of Edom to help. They marched around the south end of the Dead Sea, planning to attack Moab. But they ran out of water. The animals (for food) and the army were desperate for a drink.

We need a prophet! Is there a prophet around here?  There’s Elisha, who took over for Elijah.

Elisha would not help King Jehoram or the King of Edom, but … he had regard for the “good” King Jehoshaphat, so he helped them and Moab retreated.

.

Chapter 4 tells of Elisha and the widow of one of the prophets. She was poor, and a creditor was coming to take her son into slavery to pay what she owed.  Elisha told her to go beg and borrow all the vessels she could from her neighbors. She did, and then she began to pour the bit of remaining oil she had into all the vessels and jars.  She kept pouring until every last one was FULL!  Then she sold the oil and the money paid for her debts and left some for her and her son to live on. 

Another woman, a wealthy Shunammite, offered Elisha food and a place to stay whenever he was in the area.  Elisha wondered how he could repay her. When he learned that she and her old husband were childless, he prophesied that she would have a son at that time the following year. And she did. 

A few years later, the boy got sick and died. IN FAITH, she went and got the prophet. Elisha came, prayed for the boy, and he was resurrected to life. 

.

While Elisha was visiting the prophets in Gilgal, a famine was in the land. The men gathered wild herbs for a stew and put them in a pot to cook. One man unknowingly gathered poisonous gourds and put them in the pot too.  The prophets got sick while eating and cried out to Elisha.

Elisha called for some flour and threw it into the pot.  Now they ate without harm. 

Then a man came with some loaves of barley bread and some fresh ears of grain as an offering for Elisha.  The prophet told the man to give it to all the men so they could eat.

“How can I set this before a hundred men?”

“Give it to them,” answered Elisha. “For the LORD says they shall eat and have some left.”  And it was so.  

And so God used Elisha in these many ways to provide for His people in need.

.

(Oh, for faith to believe and act on the Word of God as these people did.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

.