Moses, you remember as the great prophet who led the people of Israel from Egypt, the man who brought the tablets of the Law down from God’s mountaintop, the man who had seen God just enough that his face glowed and people asked him to wear a veil to cover his face.
While the story of Jesus is central to the Christian story, and Moses is the central character in the founding narrative of Judaism, Elijah is less well-known than either Jesus or Moses, and Elijah’s follower Elisha is even less known than Peter, James, and John.
Today, I plan to tell the story of Elijah the great prophet of Israel. and his follower Elisha, who became a great prophet in his own right. It is important to understand the role these men played in the great drama of God’s interactions with the nation of Israel.
Let’s go back in time. We will go to a time after Moses led the people of Israel, the worshippers of Yahweh, out of Egypt, after Joshua led the people from the wilderness into the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan River, after the Judges led Israel, people like Samson, Debra, Gideon, and others, after Samuel anointed first Saul and then David as the kings of Israel, after King Solomon made Israel reknown throughout the Middle East.
After King Solomon died, there was a civil war in Israel. The Northern Kingdom, known as Israel, split from the Southern Kingdom based in Jerusalem, which became known as Judea. In Judea, the two tribes of Juda and Benjamin stayed loyal to the kings of the House of David in Jerusalem. In Israel, the ten tribes of the north split and became loyal to King Jeroboam, a former governor in Solomon’s kingdom.
2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9
About 45-50 years after the split, Ahab became king in Israel. His capital was located in Samaria, in the city of Shechem. King Ahab married Jezebel, a priestess of Baal and the daughter of the King of Tyre, who introduced and supported the worship of Baal in Israel. At Jezebel’s urging, Ahab builds a temple to Baal and brings into the country several hundred Baal priests to be missionaries. And then, she begins to kill the local priests of God, of Yahweh.
And then, in I Kings 17, Elijah the Tishbite from Gilead walks into Ahab’s palace one day. The word “Tishbite” may indicate he was from a town called Tishbe, or it may more likely be translated as “sojourner”, a person who resides temporarily in a place. So, perhaps we should call Elijah, “Elijah the wanderer from Gilead”.
And here we have a true name for Elijah, for he never settles down but moves from one place to another, living in the wilderness, being fed by crows, and then moving onto a town in the north for a while where he miraculously brings oil and grain to a starving woman and her son, and resurrects the boy when he dies. And the core part of his name, Elijah, means “My God is Yahweh”
That day, when Elijah walked up to King Ahab, he delivered a message: “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
In our English Bibles, you will often see Lord spelled LORD. Whenever Lord is spelled in a capitals, the underlying word is YHWH, pronounced “Yahweh”, the personal name of God which is “I am that I am”, as God told Moses at the burning bush.
So a man whose name is “My God is Yahweh” says, "As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
And then, Elijah walks out and apparently disappears. For a while, Ahab seems to have considered Elijah as a crazy old man, but then as the weeks and months go by without any rain, Ahab begins to seriously look for Elijah. But Elijah is off with the ravens and crows, being fed by them in a little canyon, and then Elijah is up near Jezebel’s home town helping the woman and her son, bringing the boy back to life.
No rain falls.
Consider the effects of no rain in a world with footpaths, without good roads, without railroads, without the ability to bring food in from far distances. We are blessed in the ability to bring food to our grocery stores from California, from Georgia, from Iowa, from Hawaii, even from Peru and Argentina. But donkeys aren’t a reliable way to transport food over long distances – especially when those donkeys are dying of thirst, just like the people and the plants are dying.
No rain fell for over three years.
Eventually, God told Elijah that it was time, and Elijah went to meet Ahab. Elijah told Ahab to gather the priests of Baal and meet Elijah on the top of Mt Carmel for a battle of the gods – Baal versus Yahweh. And Elijah also insisted that this be a public battle, with all the people of Israel encouraged to be there.
Mt Carmel rises over 1700 feet above the surrounding lowlands. For centuries, it had been a place of refuge for fugitives, and it was strategically placed near the border between Israel and the Phoenician cities from where Jezebel had come. The top of the mountain is relatively flat and there had been an altar to Yahweh there for centuries, but it had fallen into disrepair over the years.
The battle terms were very simple. Both sides would build an altar with an animal sacrifice. Then, they would ask their god to light the fire of the sacrifice.
The Baal priests got to go first. They built their altar, cut up their sacrifice, placed their wood. Then, they danced around and then cut themselves. But there was no response. After a few hours of no response, Elijah taunted them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”
Finally, evening approached without any response from heaven. Now it was Elijah’s turn.
Elijah asked some men to help him and he rebuilt the ancient altar to Yahweh with twelve stones, one for each of the tribes.
He dug a trench around the altar, big enough to hold about fifty pounds of seeds.
Then, he placed the wood and cut up the bull onto the altar. And then he did something amazing.
He asked some men to fill four large jars with water. He then dumped the water on the wood and the meat on the altar. He did this three times so twelve large jars of water had been dumped on the wood and the meat on the altar, the water dripped down and filled the trench around the altar that he had dug. Twelve large jars of water – one for each of the tribes. He had soaked the wood and the meat so that it was dripping wet.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
And then fire fell from heaven and burnt up the wood, the meat, the stones, the soil, and even the water in the trench.
And the people? They fell on the ground, faces down, and began to chant. “Yahweh is God, Yahweh is God”.
And Elijah had the crowd grab the priests of Baal and put them to death. Elijah sent Ahab back to the palace to get supper, for he said he could hear heavy rain coming. And soon, the heavens opened up with a pouring, heavy, soaking rain and wind storm.
After she found out what was happening, though, Jezebel was rather upset and angry. She sent a messenger to tell Elijah that he was a dead man. So Elijah ran for the border, to the mountain of God in the south. And there, he spoke with God again.
God gave him a further three assignments, about selecting men to finish off Ahab. And one of these men, the man selected to be the next prophet, was Elisha.
Elijah found Elisha, put his cloak on Elisha and Elisha became Elijah’s servant.
Over the next few years, Elijah made additional appearances at the king’s court. Soldiers were destroyed by fire from the sky. And in one of these appearances, he is described as wearing hair clothes, and a leather belt – does that remind you of anyone else, perhaps John the Baptist? Is it any wonder people asked John if he was Elijah returned?
Eventually, Elijah pronounces doom on Ahab’s son and family – and they die. Now we come to our first reading.
... the most valuable thing in the Universe that a man can possess is what possesses him – the Spirit of God.
Elijah’s time on earth is coming to a close. He heads toward Bethel, a town about twelve miles outside of Jerusalem on the road that leads into the Jordan Valley. Rather than have Elisha walk down the mountain which he’ll have to climb back up, Elijah asks Elisha to wait in the hill country, and not to come with him down the road to Bethel. But Elisha has decided to follow this man of God, the man whose name means “My God is Yahweh”. “As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.
So Elisha follows Elijah down to Bethel.
There, a group of prophets meets them. The prophets says to Elisha, “Do you realize that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?”
And Elisha knows. He tells them “I know. Be quiet.”
Next, Elijah tells Elijah, “Yahweh has sent me down into the valley to Jericho. Stay here.” It is about a 3000 foot descent down to Jericho into the Jordan Valley, 3000 feet down – and Elisha will have to walk 3000 feet back up.
But Elisha is loyal to a fault. “Nope, I’m coming with you to Jericho." "As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.
A group of prophets who lived at Jericho met them. Once again, this second bunch asked Elisha, “Do you realize that Elijah is being taken away by Yahweh today?”
Once again, Elisha responds, “I know. Be quiet.” It must have been very difficult for Elisha, knowing that he was about to lose his mentor.
It seems that everyone knew what was going to happen. And well they should if they were listening to God’s Spirit speaking to them. That’s how people become prophets, after all. By hearing God’s voice and listening to it.
Elijah told Elisha once again, “Yahweh wants me to go to the Jordan River.”
Elisha responds, “Right behind you, Boss!” "As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.
This is loyalty. But notice that Elisha’s loyalty is not just to Elijah – His loyalty is to the mission, to the man who talks with God, and to that same God that Elisha know lives.
He is following the man who single-handedly returned Israel from the worship of a deadly, evil god who demanded infant sacrifice – to the worship of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Moses, the God of Israel, the God that sent fire from the sky.
And they came to the Jordan River. Where to cross the Jordan, the historic boundary of Israel, the river that God had dried up for Joshua and the invading army of Israel so many centuries before?
Fifty of the prophets from Jericho are watching to see what happens.
Elijah takes his cloak, rolls it up, hits the water, and the water separates so he and Elisha can walk across on dry land. Wow!
And the man of God, the man whose name means “My God is Yahweh” turns to Elisha, his servant, his follower who has stuck with him for years, the younger man whose name means “My God is salvation”. “Elisha, what can I give you before I go?”
Elisha responds, and asks for the most valuable thing he can think of. “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.”
And I’m sure Elijah smiles. For he says, “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
For you see, Elisha realized that Elijah had nothing material of importance. Indeed, Elisha realized that there is nothing important that is material. Instead, the most valuable thing in the Universe that a man can possess is what possesses him – the Spirit of God. And Elijah had a huge helping of that Spirit.
Elisha was greedy for the right stuff. His focus was upon God and God’s Spirit.
About that time, “a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.”
Elijah went to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot made of fire drawn by horses of fire. And all Elisha could do is yell the obvious: “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
And Elisha saw him no more.
Elisha grieved. He grabbed his own robe and ripped it in half. He was upset, he was angry, he wanted the man back who had taught him so much about God, he wanted back the man who was filled with God’s Spirit.
Have you ever been there, standing as someone crossed over Jordan, wanting them back so selfishly because they were the one who treated you well, who taught you what was important in life, who showed you God’s love and leaked their Spirit all around and all over you because they were so filled with God’s Spirit that it simply leaked out of them?
Have you ever been angry because someone moved on, that wonderful person moved on in this life or went to Heaven? Have you wanted to rip and tear and shred things because you were so upset?
That was Elisha that day there beside the Jordan River, deep in the hot Dead Sea valley where salt had dried from all the tears the Jordan River had carried from Galilee, the lake of life hundreds of feet above and upstream.
Years earlier, Elijah had walked up to Elisha while he was plowing. Elijah had come from nowhere and just walked up to him and put his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders. And Elisha knew then and there who Elijah was, the Spirit that possessed Elijah, and that Elisha should follow the older man.
The young man had been plowing his fields with twelve oxen. His servants drove eleven of them and he drove the lead ox. But that was behind him now. So on that day, so many years ago, Elisha killed his oxen, he tore up his yokes and used them for the fire, he fed his workers and his family and Elijah and Elisha himself. And then he left his home, never looking back, because he focused his life on following and learning from this Spirit-filled man, the one whose name meant, “My God is Yahweh.” He left behind his idols of wealth and land and family – and focused upon God.
Given a choice, would you rather have your home or a double helping of God’s Holy Spirit?
Elijah’s time on earth is coming to a close. He heads toward Bethel, a town about twelve miles outside of Jerusalem on the road that leads into the Jordan Valley. Rather than have Elisha walk down the mountain which he’ll have to climb back up, Elijah asks Elisha to wait in the hill country, and not to come with him down the road to Bethel. But Elisha has decided to follow this man of God, the man whose name means “My God is Yahweh”. “As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.
So Elisha follows Elijah down to Bethel.
There, a group of prophets meets them. The prophets says to Elisha, “Do you realize that Yahweh is going to take your master away from you today?”
And Elisha knows. He tells them “I know. Be quiet.”
Next, Elijah tells Elijah, “Yahweh has sent me down into the valley to Jericho. Stay here.” It is about a 3000 foot descent down to Jericho into the Jordan Valley, 3000 feet down – and Elisha will have to walk 3000 feet back up.
But Elisha is loyal to a fault. “Nope, I’m coming with you to Jericho." "As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.
A group of prophets who lived at Jericho met them. Once again, this second bunch asked Elisha, “Do you realize that Elijah is being taken away by Yahweh today?”
Once again, Elisha responds, “I know. Be quiet.” It must have been very difficult for Elisha, knowing that he was about to lose his mentor.
It seems that everyone knew what was going to happen. And well they should if they were listening to God’s Spirit speaking to them. That’s how people become prophets, after all. By hearing God’s voice and listening to it.
Elijah told Elisha once again, “Yahweh wants me to go to the Jordan River.”
Elisha responds, “Right behind you, Boss!” "As surely as Yahweh lives and you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha says.
This is loyalty. But notice that Elisha’s loyalty is not just to Elijah – His loyalty is to the mission, to the man who talks with God, and to that same God that Elisha know lives.
He is following the man who single-handedly returned Israel from the worship of a deadly, evil god who demanded infant sacrifice – to the worship of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Moses, the God of Israel, the God that sent fire from the sky.
And they came to the Jordan River. Where to cross the Jordan, the historic boundary of Israel, the river that God had dried up for Joshua and the invading army of Israel so many centuries before?
Fifty of the prophets from Jericho are watching to see what happens.
Elijah takes his cloak, rolls it up, hits the water, and the water separates so he and Elisha can walk across on dry land. Wow!
And the man of God, the man whose name means “My God is Yahweh” turns to Elisha, his servant, his follower who has stuck with him for years, the younger man whose name means “My God is salvation”. “Elisha, what can I give you before I go?”
Elisha responds, and asks for the most valuable thing he can think of. “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.”
And I’m sure Elijah smiles. For he says, “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
For you see, Elisha realized that Elijah had nothing material of importance. Indeed, Elisha realized that there is nothing important that is material. Instead, the most valuable thing in the Universe that a man can possess is what possesses him – the Spirit of God. And Elijah had a huge helping of that Spirit.
Elisha was greedy for the right stuff. His focus was upon God and God’s Spirit.
About that time, “a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.”
Elijah went to heaven in a whirlwind on a chariot made of fire drawn by horses of fire. And all Elisha could do is yell the obvious: “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
And Elisha saw him no more.
Elisha grieved. He grabbed his own robe and ripped it in half. He was upset, he was angry, he wanted the man back who had taught him so much about God, he wanted back the man who was filled with God’s Spirit.
Have you ever been there, standing as someone crossed over Jordan, wanting them back so selfishly because they were the one who treated you well, who taught you what was important in life, who showed you God’s love and leaked their Spirit all around and all over you because they were so filled with God’s Spirit that it simply leaked out of them?
Have you ever been angry because someone moved on, that wonderful person moved on in this life or went to Heaven? Have you wanted to rip and tear and shred things because you were so upset?
That was Elisha that day there beside the Jordan River, deep in the hot Dead Sea valley where salt had dried from all the tears the Jordan River had carried from Galilee, the lake of life hundreds of feet above and upstream.
Years earlier, Elijah had walked up to Elisha while he was plowing. Elijah had come from nowhere and just walked up to him and put his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders. And Elisha knew then and there who Elijah was, the Spirit that possessed Elijah, and that Elisha should follow the older man.
The young man had been plowing his fields with twelve oxen. His servants drove eleven of them and he drove the lead ox. But that was behind him now. So on that day, so many years ago, Elisha killed his oxen, he tore up his yokes and used them for the fire, he fed his workers and his family and Elijah and Elisha himself. And then he left his home, never looking back, because he focused his life on following and learning from this Spirit-filled man, the one whose name meant, “My God is Yahweh.” He left behind his idols of wealth and land and family – and focused upon God.
Given a choice, would you rather have your home or a double helping of God’s Holy Spirit?
And so when Elisha settled down a bit that day, he saw that Elijah’s old cloak had fallen on the ground. And he walked back to the River, the Jordan River, and he asked, “Where now is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?” And half-heartedly, he rolled up the cloak and slapped the water of the river.
And the water split, leaving a path of dry land across the river! And he crossed over the Jordan River like Joshua had centuries before and entered the Promised Land once again.
The fifty prophets of Jericho who were watching insisted on searching to see if Elijah’s body had fallen to earth and Elisha finally, reluctantly, agreed to let them search. They searched for three days but could not find his body on either side of the Jordan River, there just north of the Dead Sea.
And then, almost 900 years later, Jesus led Peter, Andrew, and John up to the top of Mount Hermon, a very tall mountain north of Galilee, the mountain whose snowmelt feeds the living sea, the Sea of Galilee and gives it life even today.
And suddenly, at the top of mountain, Jesus changed right before their eyes. No longer was he wearing a dirty, grey-white robe, but that robe was glowing bright, filled with light, whiter than human hands could make it, and Jesus’ face was shining even more than Moses’ face had glowed so many years ago, and then they appeared – Moses and Elijah – and Jesus spoke with them. But Jesus had been transfigured – and the disciples were transfigured by their realization that Jesus was truly divine, truly the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh.
The three disciples were all scared, but as usual, Peter took out his nervousness by speaking. “Let me build shelters here – three of them – for You, Jesus, for Moses, and for Elijah.” Peter wanted to honor the three great prophets.
And Peter quickly realized his mistake, for God spoke out of the clouds surrounding them and told Peter to shut up and listen! “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”
God called Peter's attention away from the great Moses and the great Elijah to God's one and only Son, Jesus. Jesus was the one to listen to.
And then they were gone and it was just Jesus, Peter, Andrew, and John again. And on the way down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone until He rose from the dead. But the three had been transfigured, deeply changed by the event, for they had seen Jesus as He truly is. God had shown them that Jesus was His Son.
My friends, there comes a time in our lives when we have to consider what we believe. Most Americans go through their lives believing vaguely in a vague god, a belief that makes them feel better, a general idea that one day when they die, they may become an angel or see Jesus or go to heaven. It is an easy belief, a life that allows us to have nice homes, nice cars, decent jobs, to live without much difficulty for twice the lifespan that most people enjoyed a hundred years ago. It is easy to believe - and not do anything.
But my friends, following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean an easy life. Sometimes we need to make hard decisions – my home, my job, my career, my comforts – or a life devoted to God. At some point, we must also be transfigured by God’s grace and love. We must see Jesus as He truly is and accept what that means for our life and the choices we make from that point onward. It means we might have to give up something comfortable if we will really follow Jesus.
Given a choice, would you rather have your home or a double helping of God’s Holy Spirit?
Given a choice, would you rather spend your leisure hours comfortably at home or helping rowdy young elementary students come to know the love of God?
Given a choice, would you rather be an ordinary person – or an Elijah – or even one of the company of prophets that saw Elijah taken to Heaven? Would you rather be nameless? Or would you declare to your friends, neighbors, family, and everyone you meet: “My God is Yahweh”. “My God is Jesus”.
We think these are choices only God can make, and to a certain extent that is true, for God told Elijah to put his cloak on Elisha, Jesus told Peter and Andrew and John to follow Him, and God has put you in this world to step forward to do battle with the evil in this world. That is what He asks of all Christians. But too few realize this.
Now, the question is what choices will you make today, this week, this year? God is waiting for someone to step forward from his or her comfortable life and begin to change the world. And that someone is you.
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