2 Kings 2:1 Of the two great figures which the wild highland race of Gilead contributed to the history of Israel Jephthah and Elijah Elijah is incomparably the more commanding. Great in himself, he was made greater by the circumstances with which he was in almost perpetual conflict. Elijah was emph... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:1 (1) The Christian's work is finished before his removal, just as Elijah's was. The Elijahs are removed that the Elishas may take their place. (2) The Christian at death, like Elijah in his translation, is removed from the scene of labour to the scene of recompense. I. Notice the wonder... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:1 The account of Elijah's translation suggests: I. That the life of man is absolutely at the disposal of the Lord. (1) God knows when our work is done. (2) We are taken from a lower to a higher service. (3) We are not absorbed; we are elevated, dignified, and ennobled. (4) We do not slee... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:6 Elisha's resolution to face the worst, to meet the severest trial, to hear the parting words, comes straight from a soul's secret, the secret of a prophet's power. I. One prominent feature in the character of the younger prophet was faithfulness, minute and accurate, to an unmistakable... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:9 As Elijah represents the Baptist, Christ's forerunner, so Elisha prefigures Christ's successors, His servants who come after Him and inherit His gifts. Let us go through some points of the resemblance. I. Though Elijah was so great a prophet, yet Elisha had a double portion of his spir... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:11 _(with Luke 24:51)_ The translation of Elijah and the ascension of Christ. I. The first point which may be mentioned is the contrast between the manner of Elijah's translation and that of our Lord's ascension. (1) The place of the one event was on the uplands or in some of the rocky g... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:12 I. Bodily partings. Such partings are matters of everyday experience. They are part of our lot. They remind us of the great dispersion; they should make us long for the great reunion. The word of God is so tender to us, so full of sympathy, that it paints this kind of parting in all it... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:13 _(with 2 Timothy 2:2)_ How can we carry on to the future the electric spark of moral, intellectual, and spiritual life which is the essence of true religion? How shall Elisha catch the mantle of Elijah? What shall be the succession by which the torch of truth and power of goodness sha... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:14 Elisha was anxious to make his work in his day and generation to be one of service, and this anxiety showed itself in the petition he presented. The answer which was given by Elijah was that he could have that spirit of fitness if he had another spirit, viz., that of insight. He proved... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:15 The lessons which may be derived from the story of the departure of Elijah and the succession of Elisha are twofold, and quite distinct from each other. I. Elijah's translation is intended to be a representation of a good man's death in its noblest aspect. In all the various forms in... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:21 "The spirit of Elijah," they said, "doth rest on Elisha." It was true, yet who is not struck with the difference, with the contrariety, between them? At first sight the succession is a deterioration. The glow, the rush, the genius, the inspiration, the awe, the prowess, seem to have di... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Kings 2:24 I. This story teaches that the faults of our youth, and those which are most natural to us at that age, are not considered by God as trifling, but are punished by Him after the same measure as the sins of men. Men measure faults by the harm which they do in this world, and not by the h... [ Continue Reading ]