When Yahweh was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As Yahweh lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As Yahweh lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is Yahweh elohe of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
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This is one of the two possible Old Testament selections that can be read aloud on the third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8), Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. This path is considered Track 1 and will be followed if the Track 1 option was chosen on the second Sunday after Pentecost. If a church is on that path, then a singing of Psalm 71 will follow, which includes the verse: “The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.” This pair will then precede a reading from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he wrote: “Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” All readings will accompany the Gospel selection from Luke, where we are told: “When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”
I posted my views on 2 Kings 2:1-12 back in 2021 (Year B), when that was the Old Testament selection for the last Sunday after the Epiphany. That posting can be read by searching for: A double share of your spirit. Because this reading selection omits verses three through five and adds verses thirteen and fourteen, I will address this from the Ordinary after Pentecost perspective [full-time ministry], rather than the Ordinary after the Epiphany [intern practice ministry].
Based on my having seen the reading from 1 Kings 19 as telling of Elijah having asked Yahweh to take his life, such that his going into a cave is a reflection of his death and entombment, I now see Elijah as a parallel story as that of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. This reading tells of the ascension of Elijah, where he was accompanied by the one who would elevate into his position as high priest after his disappearance – Elisha. This transfer occurred in the same way the disciples who accompanied Jesus to the Mount of Olives on the Sabbath, when he ascended before their eyes, became Apostles the next morning.
In the same way that Jesus’ dead body was taken down off the cross and prepared for burial, when Elijah went to sleep under a broom tree and an angel appeared, that appearance was to take his physical body away from the material plane. Jesus’ physical body ceased being on the material plane once his body was sealed in the tomb. Likewise, the physical body of Elijah ceased being on the material plane when the angel first came to him. Here, one needs to realize this place is where Jacob saw the ladder to the spiritual realm; so, the angel took his body away.
The forty days and forty nights that passed must be seen like the time Moses spent surrounded by the cloud on Mount Sinai. The cave Elijah entered becomes the equivalent of his tomb; and, when Yahweh asked Elijah, “What are you doing here?” that question asked, “Why is your soul still in this tomb?” When Yahweh told Elijah to go outside the cave and wait for Yahweh to pass by, that is the equivalent of the stone sealing the tomb being rolled away for Jesus’ soul to exit. In both cases, the physical bodies of Elijah and Jesus had been taken away by angels; so, when Yahweh asked the soul of Elijah that question, it is the same as the angel asking the women who came to Jesus’ tomb, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.” Elijah was asked by Yahweh why his soul remained in the cave.
When Elijah exited the cave, he found that Yahweh was in the silence, not in the physical movements of the earth or its winds. That says his soul exited the cave, not his flesh. A soul is an extension of Yahweh, with neither physically visible. Without physical properties defining spirits, they are like soft whispers. Elijah’s prayer to be taken by Yahweh was answered. Like Jesus, Elijah willing sacrificed his flesh to Yahweh, so his soul could be enabled to enter the souls of others. Like Jesus appeared in the upper room, where his soul became one with the souls of those who had feared for their lives, Elijah left the cave as a soul that could appear to those who feared Ahab and Jezebel. His soul in theirs meant those who had true faith in Yahweh. This means Elijah had to replenish the land of the Northern Kingdom with true priests that were Apostles; after Jezebel had eliminated all but Elijah. Elisha would become the foremost of those; and this ‘farewell tour’ of Elijah must be read in the same way as the time Jesus spent with his Apostles, preparing them for the time when they would no longer see him as if in his flesh [an apparition].
In verse two, where we read, “Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel.” This must be seen as the soul of Elijah having been raised in Elisha, in the same way that Jesus told his disciples, “Stay here in Jerusalem,” before he ascended. This says the angel that told Elijah the second time to eat and drink was the Yahweh elohim that was Adam (and also Jesus). That means Elijah can be seen as like Jesus (or very close to being him in a prior incarnation); and, his telling Elisha to stay and wait was like Jesus making his disciples wait a day before being filled with his soul, via the Spirit that made then Sacred.
When Elisha said he would not stay behind, the words he spoke are these: “alive Yahweh and alive your soul not I will leave you.” This is Elisha telling Elijah that he knows true life is only that experienced when one’s soul is married to Yahweh. Elisha knew Elijah was married to Yahweh and his soul had the eternal life of Yahweh in it. By knowing that – the truth of faith as personal experience (knowledge that is beyond belief) – Elisha’s soul knew the presence of Elijah’s soul (therefore Yahweh’s Spirit) was with his; and, he refused to give up that eternal life presence he knew was in him. He felt the life and would not let go of it. This is the meaning of a ‘fear of God,’ as the fear can only come from the thought of losing Yahweh’s life within.
Now, three times Elijah told Elisha to stay some place and three times Elisha said no. The omitted verses [three to five] include this second time he responded that way. Twice (in Bethel and in Jericho), we are told: “The company of prophets … came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today Yahweh will take adoneka away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” Here, the Hebrew word “adoneka” becomes proof that says Elijah as an inner spirit – the Lord over Elisha’s soul – and not a physical man walking beside Elisha. Further, the reality of the Hebrew written says “and came the sons the prophets” (“ḇə·nê-han·nə·ḇî·’îm”), which is two words joined as one. The use of “sons” says they were all like Elisha, as those disciples who had received the soul of Elijah in them as well. Thus, they all knew they had been told by the soul to “Stay” … in Bethel and in Jericho.
When we hear Elisha telling those “sons the prophets,” “Yes, I know; keep silent,” this was a conversation between the souls of “sons the prophets” and the soul of Elisha; so, his saying “keep silent” means “remain still.” This is a statement of Yahweh’s presence, as Elijah had found Yahweh passed by in silence – words actually better stated as “a fine whisper.” Thus, the “sons the prophets” were speaking in “a fine whisper” to Elisha, to which he responded the same, telling them to “keep” that presence of Yahweh in them. Elisha following Elijah would benefit them all.
Where the translation says, “Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan,” this again refers to “sons the prophets,” which was a presence within “fifty men.” That says the death and resurrection of Elijah was to rebuild the “sons the prophets,” because Elijah twice told Yahweh the “sons of Israel” had thrown down His altars (which caused him to act zealously). Elijah was reborn as Jesus, so he could touch the souls of new priests to lead the people. This says the “fifty men sons the prophets” were double that (one hundred), just as the twelve were double that number stated. That number would be those who would pass on the Spirit of Yahweh to others, so the evil could be addressed within each heart of the Northern Kingdom.
When the peripheral story has one hundred priests hiding in caves from Jezebel, here again their being in caves says they were killed and entombed. The tour of Elijah can then be seen as him going to raise the dead, either as Jesus raised Lazarus, or returning the souls of the priests killed unjustly into new bodies of flesh, as possessing spirits from Yahweh. This means Elisha being the assistant to Elijah means he sacrificed his flesh to become Elijah reborn. That is the story read aloud as the alternate Old Testament reading for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost.
When we read of Elijah rolling up his mantle: “and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground,” this becomes the holiness of Elijah being the same as that of Moses parting the sea and Joshua parting the Jordan, when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. It was not a rolled up robe that parted water and made the ground instantly dry, it was Yahweh’s presence – His Spirit – that surrounded everything in, on and around Elijah that he touched. The mantle cannot be seen as some magical piece of clothing that had amazing powers. Elijah held the mantle when it struck the water; so, Elijah was Yahweh incarnate (like Jesus, like Moses, like Joshua).
We then read of Elijah offering to do one last thing for Elisha, before he is taken up. In that we read, “Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” In that request, the Hebrew written – “pî-šə·na·yim bə·rū·ḥă·ḵā” – literally says, “mouth-two of your spirit.”
Here, one needs to recall the name “Ephraim,” which means “Doubly Fruitful” or “Two-fold Increase,” where the dividing into two (multiplying) is relative to the cardinal word meaning “two” (“shenayim”), where both are placing focus on the duality of a soul within a soul (Jesus’s soul resurrected in Elijah, Elijah-Jesus soul resurrected in Elisha). When Elisha tore his own clothes in two [verse twelve], the words written imply Elisha ripped apart the clothes of duality that was a soul in a body of flesh [“biḇ·ḡā·ḏāw” means “of his treachery,” meaning the influence of the physical over the soul]. Elisha removing his commitment to all human desires is that symbolism of “rending his own clothes in two.” The Hebrew word “peh” clearly states “mouth,” rather than “portion,” with that often being a reference to the “mouth” of God. Thus, Elisha’s request was to be as Elijah was and speak for Yahweh, as His Son; but to do that, Elisha had to destroy the influence of the physical first. He sacrifice his soul to Yahweh fully, when he tore his clothes in two. More than be another “son prophet,” Elisha asked to be the “Son of Yahweh reborn.”
Because only Yahweh can grant that wish [think back to how young Solomon had no thoughts of speaking as God, like his father had, asking instead for wisdom], Elijah said, “if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you.” In that, Yahweh was speaking through Elijah, as the Son only speaks what the Father says to speak. This means that to witness an Ascension, rather than Elijah simply being hidden in a whirlwind and disappearing [and the disciples witnessed Jesus Ascend] means one will be resurrected in the same as the one departing. Of course, the Ascension was not the soul of Elijah leaving the worldly plane; it was his soul rising to be the seed spread by the hand of the Father. Because Elisha saw Elijah rise within his world, the mantle was thrown out of the chariot to land on the ground. This makes the mantle be like the shroud of Jesus (along with the robes he left for Joseph of Arimathea to repossess).
After Elisha picked up the mantle and walked back to the Jordan, he then acted the same as Elijah had. Again, knowing the cloth robe had no magical power that made it be capable of parting the waters of the Jordan, the power was in Elisha, just as it had been in Elijah. He saw Elijah ascend, so he had received the “mouth of two of the spirit.” Elisha became the spokesman for Yahweh on earth. The waters parted and the ground was again dry for him to cross.
This is where Elisha asked, “Where is Yahweh elohe of Elijah?” In that, the Hebrew words “Yahweh elohe” are written, which the NRSV has improperly translated as “the Lord, the God.” The Hebrew word “’ĕ·lō·hê” is a noun, written in the masculine plural construct. To translate “gods” as “God” is pure ignorance of that written. The word is a construct of “elohim,” as implying an article comes before that, as “the gods.” However, the root “elohim,” when directly following “Yahweh,” is a statement of Elisha asking, “Where is the soul of Yahweh’s Son?” Just as Elijah was the Son of Yahweh, which made the mantle strike the water and part it, when Elisha asked that question (the first time he struck the water with the mantle it did nothing), he called upon the name of Yahweh, as His Son. At that time, the second strike of the water with the mantle caused it to part as it had before, when Elijah did that.
When we read, “the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over,” a more accurate translation of the Hebrew says: “[the water] was divided this way and that.” In a division, the Jordan River was cut in two. The dry ground between the two halves is then symbolic of the dualities of a soul in a body of flesh – the “this way and that” – but the dry ground is the resurrected soul of the Yahweh elohim that commanded the soul and flesh to divine in two. The division was so the possessing soul of Yahweh’s elohim could become one with the two, while not part of it. This says the parting of water is symbolic of divine possession, which days Yahweh’s Son walks here … on dry ground. The meaning of “dry ground” is then flesh that is unchanged by worldly influences – no changing due to emotional winds.
As an Old Testament selection that can be chosen to read aloud on the third Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s personal ministry as Jesus should have begun, this says one should be like Elisha. One has to want to serve Yahweh zealously, not passively. When the soul of Jesus told John to write his Revelation, as a letter to the seven churches (the state of rest that true servitude can bring), the worst state of religious being was said to be “lukewarm,” as it was “neither hot nor cold.” The hot and cold reflect the zealous states of being totally committed to divine service, whereas being “lukewarm” made Jesus “want to spit you out” in disgust. We are told to be like Elijah, who sacrificed his life to serve Yahweh; so, he was resurrected as the Yahweh elohim that parts the waters of self and provides dry ground to walk righteously upon. There are no magic carpets that one can ride to heaven. Only Jesus can save a soul and return it to Yahweh; and, to become Jesus, one must feel his presence and refuse to let it go.
Explaining the Readings 