Wednesday, September 07, 2022

2022.09.07 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Kings 2:1–18

Read 2 Kings 2:1–18

Questions from the Scripture text: What was Yahweh about to do (2 Kings 2:1)? By what? From where did Elijah go? With whom? What does Elijah tell Elisha to do (2 Kings 2:2)? Why? How does Elisha vow in response? What does he vow not to do? What do they do? Who come out to whom in 2 Kings 2:3? What do they ask him? How does he answer? What does he tell them to do? Who speaks to whom in 2 Kings 2:4? What does he tell him to do? Why? How does Elisha vow in response? What does he vow not to do? What do they do? Who come out to whom in 2 Kings 2:5? What do they ask him? How does he answer? What does he tell them to do? Who speaks to whom in 2 Kings 2:6? What does he tell him to do? Why? How does Elisha vow in response? What does he vow not to do? What do they do? How many of whom face them from a distance (2 Kings 2:7)? What does Elijah take and roll up (2 Kings 2:8)? What does he do with it? what happens to the Jordan? Where do they arrive in 2 Kings 2:9? What does Elijah now tell Elisha to do? For what does Elisha ask? What does Elijah call this request (2 Kings 2:10)? What does he say will indicate whether or not Elisha receives his request? What appears in 2 Kings 2:11? What do this chariot and horses do them? Where does Elijah go? By what? Who sees it (2 Kings 2:12)? What does he do? What does he call Elijah in relation to himself? What does he call Elijah in relation to Israel? What did Elisha do no more? How does he respond to this? What does he take up instead (2 Kings 2:13)? Where does he go? What does he do with the mantle there (2 Kings 2:14)? What does he ask? What does he do to the water? Then what happens to the water? What does Elisha now do? Who see him in 2 Kings 2:15? What do they say? What do they do? What do they propose to do in 2 Kings 2:16? Why? How does Elisha answer? How do they proceed in 2 Kings 2:17? Until what happens? Who go, do what, for how long? With what results? Where do they return in 2 Kings 2:18? What does Elisha ask them then/there?

What hope do God’s people have when the greatest of them leave this world? 2 Kings 2:1–18 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eighteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that God’s power persists, even when His servants pass from one generation to another. 

God keeps calling new servants. There is something here analogous to the transition from Moses to Joshua. Moses had seemed to be so great as to be irreplaceable. But in Joshua 1, the Lord repeatedly assures Joshua that He will be with him as He was with Moses. 

Now in 2 Kings 2, although everyone knows that Elijah is about to be taken (and the Lord tells us that that’s the occasion of this passage in 2 Kings 2:1), the story of the passage is not the loss of Elijah but the retention of the Spirit Who sustained him.

For his part, Elisha knows the value of Elijah. He refuses to leave his side, especially because he is about to be taken. To Elisha, Elijah has been like a father in the ministry (2 Kings 2:12). And Elisha knows that to Israel, Elijah is the true defense of the nation—its chariot and horsemen (verse 12).

But Elisha also knew what gave Elijah value: the Spirit of Yahweh. He asks for a double portion of the Spirit in 2 Kings 2:9, and when the mantle has passed on to him, his question is, “Where is Yahweh, God of Elijah?” (2 Kings 2:14). 

But we tend to want to hang on to men whom God has used, even when we know the Lord has taken them from us. Even after recognizing that Elisha can now do the Elijah things (2 Kings 2:15), the sons of the prophets who had earlier been so insistent that Elijah was going to be taken (2 Kings 2:32 Kings 2:5) suddenly want to form a search party to retrieve him. But the outcome of the search party request/quest is actually to establish Elisha’s word over-against their folly (2 Kings 2:17-18). 

There is an important balance here. We ought to honor those whom the Lord raises up and uses among us. But we must depend not upon the men but upon God’s Spirit Himself—God’s own power and God’s own Word. God keeps calling new servants.

What servants has the Lord used in your life that were taken away? What servants is He using now? How do you go about honoring them while depending upon God Himself, His Spirit, His Word?

Sample prayer:  Lord, forgive us for esteeming too little the value of the servants that You choose and use. We often reject their good counsel, congratulating ourselves on our independent thought. And forgive us for when we depend too much upon their persons, rather than upon You, Lord, Who use them. We forget that it is Your Spirit and Your Word that we must have. But we thank You that You Yourself have come as the Servant, the great and last Prophet. Forgive us and sanctify us, we ask in His Name, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP72A “God, Give Your Judgments to the King” or TPH72B “O God, Your Judgments Give the King”

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