Elisha at Jericho

2 Kings Chapter 2


The Bible says in 2 Kings 2:1 “And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.”

Elisha and Elijah were traveling together from Gilgal that day, and deep down Elisha knew that Elijah was going to be taken from him. He just had that gut feeling. It’s the kind of gut feeling that you don’t want to have. No one wants a great person whom they love, and respect taken away from them. That’s exactly how it was with Elisha. He knew he was about to loose someone very special to him.

Along the way, Elijah turned to Elisha and said. “I want you to wait here, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha told him, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee.” So together they went down to Bethel.

As they came into Bethel, the sons of the prophets ran to meet them. They said to Elisha, “Don’t you know that today the Lord is going to take your master away?”

And he answered, “Yes, I know it, but hold your peace.” In other words, hold your tongue. It made him upset to be reminded of loosing someone he loved so dearly. He didn’t want to be reminded of it at all.

Then a second time, Elijah told Elisha, “Wait here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”
But again Elisha said, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.”
So they traveled on to Jericho together. As soon as they got into Jericho, the sons of the prophets that were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Hey, don’t you know that the Lord is going to take away your master today?”

Elisha answered once more, “Yes I know, but hold your peace.”

Then again Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, because the Lord has called me to Jordan now.”
And, you guessed it, Elisha said, “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.” As they went on down the road together, fifty of the sons of the prophets stood, and watched from afar off. When they reached the Jordan River, Elijah took his mantel, wrapped it together, and smote the waters with it. All of a sudden the waters began to part, just like they did for Moses when he stretch forth his rod over the Red sea. So as the children of Israel went over to the other side on dry ground, so did Elijah and Elisha.

When they reached the other side, Elijah asked Elisha, ”What shall I do for thee, before I am taken away from thee?”

Gee willikers! Look at the answer Elisha gave! He couldn’t have asked for a better thing. His mind was not on him self. His mind wasn’t on material things. His reply was not a selfish one at all. His reply was one that would make him be a better prophet for the Lord and for others. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

You know, we as Christians should have our minds set on spiritual things as Elisha did. Oh, let me tell you kids, when you ask God for spiritual things, he dumps it on you a hundred fold. He’s already provided for you physically, hasn’t he? The Bible says with food and clothes to be content. Right? Well, those are physical needs. Now it’s time to ask him for spiritual needs such as: “Lord help me to honor and obey my Father and Mother. Lord help me to be a good testimony for you at school. Lord show me someone that needs a friend today. Lord, send me a lost soul today. Lord, give me some spiritual wisdom. Lord send me the right kind of friends.”

There are all kinds of spiritual needs. When you hand out tracts, pray that if the person is not saved, God will deal with their hearts. As I have told you kids before, God will hear the prayer of a child quicker than you can blink an eye. Take advantage of that while you’re still young and pray for spiritual things. God thinks so much of a child’s prayer, and will hear them above most adults.

Well, getting back to our story, in verse 10, Elijah said to Elisha, “Thou hast asked a hard thing, but 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.”

So, the both of them went on down the road walking and talking together. All of a sudden, there came down a chariot of fire, and it had horses of fire. Now I can try to imagine a chariot of fire. But horses of fire, Wow! That is something else. What a sight to behold! Horses of fire! Try to imagine them! That chariot and those horses came right in between Elijah and Elisha, and the Bible says it parted them both asunder. I reckon when that hot chariot got close, and started to come in between them, Elisha just stepped back out of the way and watched.

Then the wind started to pick up. That means it started getting a bit windy. Then all of a sudden a whirlwind came down out of heaven, and just sucked that chariot, and those horses right up in to the clouds. Elisha stood there and watched as his friend waved to him out of the chariot. Elisha fell down to his knees and cried, ”My Father, My Father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.”

The heavens opened up and the chariot, the horses, and Elijah, were swallowed up into the clouds. The sky, the wind, and the clouds all became calm again. Elisha took a hold of his clothes and tore them into two pieces. He was upset because his master and his friend was gone. Elisha ran over and picked up the mantle that fell from Elijah. He held the mantle close to him as he started on his way. Elisha began shaking his head, and saying under his breath, “Bless God! A double portion!, I’ve got a double portion, praise God!” Elisha’s face began to glow as he started walking back to the Jordan River.

When he reached the bank of the Jordan River, he took Elijah’s mantel and smote the waters just as he’d seen Elijah do. As that mantel came down over the waters of Jordan, Elisha cried out,” Where is the Lord God of Elijah?!”

And ya know what? It didn’t take Elisha long to get the answer to his question. God answered his question by parting the waters of Jordan, so that he could walk safely over on dry ground. It was like God saying, “Hey Elisha, you want to know where I am? Well, I’m right here next to you. I’m as close to you as this river is.”

God showed him that he was right there with him, just like he was for Elijah. Elisha wasn’t the one who parted those waters. It was all God. You know, there might come a time in your life when you will ask. “ Where is the God of my Father? Where is the God of my Mother?”

I’m here to tell you that the Lord will show you quickly that he’s right there with you. He’ll say, “I’ve been here all along, I’ve been this close to you.” Praise God he promised that he would never leave me nor forsake me. He has been true to his promises over the years for me, and he’ll do the same for you. The God of your Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, Mother, Pastor, or best friend is right there just as close to you as he was for them. And to the saved person who never had any of the family and friends just mentioned, the God of the Bible is just as close to that person as he is anyone else. The Lord showed this to Elisha that day. What a blessed day.
When Elisha neared Jericho, the sons of the prophet saw him coming up the road. They said to themselves, “Wow! The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha!” They could see a spiritual glow about Elisha they had never seen before. They ran up to Elisha and bowed their selves to the ground before him.

They told Elisha that there were fifty men waiting to go and search for Elijah. They said, “Maybe the spirit of the Lord lifted him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or dropped him in a valley somewhere. Let us go and search for your master.”

Elisha told them, “No , don’t worry about it, you don’t need to send any men out searching.” But they kept on bothering Elisha until he finally said, “All right, go ahead and send out the men.”
The men searched and searched for three days, and couldn’t find a trace of Elijah anywhere. Now , I don’t know about you, but I think these men were rather nuts. First they told Elisha that the Lord was going to take Elijah from him that day. Then when the Lord takes Elijah, and they want to go out and search for him. They must not have thought that God was capable of taking Elijah safely home. Maybe they thought the Lord dropped Elijah’s dead corps on a mountaintop or in a valley somewhere. They must not have had much confidence in God. Or maybe they were just out in the sun too long, and it scorched their brains a bit.

After three days they returned to Elisha shaking their heads, and shrugging their shoulders. Elisha said, “Did I not say unto you, go not?” Elisha knew they wouldn’t find Elijah. But for some people, you just can’t tell them anything. They have to find out for themselves.

While Elisha was in Jericho, the men of the city came up to him and said. “Elisha, we have a pretty nice city here, everything is pleasant as you can see, but our waters are polluted. We can not drink the water without getting sick, and some have even died from it. And not only that, our ground is so barren.”

Elisha told the men to bring him a new cruise, and put some salt in it. A cruise is a vessel. Elisha took the new cruise and went to the spring of the waters. As he cast the salt into the water, he said, “Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.”

And the Bible says in chapter 2, verse 22, “So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.”

Do you know that salt is good for healing? My Mother always told me when I had a sore throat to gargle with warm, salt water three to four times a day. And do you know that it really works! After my Mother had surgery, she began swimming in the ocean, and the salt water helped her wound to heal up.

Do you know what the Bible says about salt? Let’s look in three places. First, look in Luke 14:34. The Bible says that, “Salt is good. But if the salt has lost his savour, where with shall it be seasoned?” You know, this verse reminds me of a worldly Christian. The Bible says in the next verse that salt that has lost it’s savor, is not good for anything. It’s not good for land, nor even a dung hill. A dung hill, is a big pile of poo poo. My, what a thing to say about a person. But ya know what? God even says that a luke warm Christian makes him sick enough to puke. What good are you to God if you have lost your savor? What good are you to others if you have lost your savor? Do you know that lost people need Christians with salt to help mend their broken hearts and to help heal their wounds? They need that salt in you, because that flavor and that savor will lead them to the great physician. If I were a lost soul on my way to hell, I sure wouldn’t want to go to a worldly Christian for help. Worldly Christians aren’t even good for dung hills. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Here’s another place that talks about salt is in Colossians 4:6. It says, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
What would food taste like with out the flavor of salt? Yuk! That’s what I’d say. Can you imagine food without salt? Food would be dull, and bland. Well, that’s exactly what you’re like if your speech is not seasoned with salt. Yuk, dull, and bland.

Look at another place is in Matthew 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost it’s savour, where with shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world, A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

I guess that says it all. Now you can see how important salt is.

Back to our story, Elisha decided to travel on to Bethel. While on his way to Bethel, there came little children from out of the city, and they began to tease Elisha. They had obviously heard about Elijah taken up into heaven by a whirlwind. They knew the story had to come from Elisha, since he was the only one with Elijah at that time. They decided to make fun of the new Prophet, so they mocked him, and yelled, “Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head!”
Boy, was that ever a big mistake. Elisha turned and looked at those children, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. As soon as he did that, there came two she bears out of the woods and ripped forty-two of those children to shreds and killed them deader than a doornail. What a big mistake to laugh and make fun of God’s man.

You know, the winds and the seas obey God. The animals and all of nature obey the voice of God. When God says “Sick em,” they don’t question the master, they do as their told. I’d sure be careful of what I say about God’s men. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Those children weren’t too wise, were they?

Now I’ll tell you why Elisha is my favorite prophet. It’s because he asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. Because he asked for something spiritual, God gave it to him. Elisha asked for something spiritual so that he could help others. What do we want from God? Is it spiritual things, or is it things that we want so that we can consume them upon our own selves and our own lust? If you want to be used by God in a mighty way, you’ll have to set your mind on spiritual things and not on things of the world.

Elijah was a mighty prophet. That’s for sure, but Elisha was double the prophet.