Elijah, Elisha and a Chariot of Fire

Passage: 2 Kings 2:1-18

We have been following Elijah the Tishbite since the Word of the Lord first came to him.  We have followed him east to the Brook of Cherith and then west to Zarephath in Sidon to the widow’s house where he multiplied her oil and raised her son from the dead.

Then back to Israel and up to Mt. Carmel and then down again and fleeing south to sit under a broom tree in the wilderness before journeying 40 days to Mt. Horeb where he heard the still small voice of God.  We ended with two confrontations, one with Ahab at the end of his reign and one with the next king, Ahaziah at the end of his brief two year reign.

Now in his old age we come to the story of Elijah’s mysterious departure from the earth and the passing of the mantle of prophetic leadership to Elisha.  He came like a whirlwind out of no where, he burned like a fire, and in fire and whirlwind he disappeared.