Read Thru... Elijah, Elisha

2 Kings. 2 Weeks “behind schedule”, but still going. I’ve been reading at least 1-2 chapters every couple days or so- mostly on my lunch breaks, beneath the stark glow of the security light in the parking lot. I tend to read more when I can’t sleep or when I have an hour or so to kill before work. I know that sounds terrible- as if reading was the absolute last thing I would want to do in comparison to anything else... but, as I think I mentioned before, the desire comes & goes.

I feel as though I should have something to say about the lives of Ruth or Samuel or David or Solomon, all of whose stories I’ve passed by now... But at the moment, I've been thinking about the prophet Elijah. He stood with Moses & Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17. Somewhere there’s a prophecy about Elijah coming to prepare the way for the Messiah... But who was Elijah in comparison to Elisha? Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s anointing & he got it. He was Elijah’s successor... I know little of Elijah- beyond being fed by ravens & widows, his confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, his relationship with King Ahab & how he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire... More is said of Elisha than Elijah in the OT, while, to my knowledge, more is said of Elijah than Elisha in the NT. Why?

The first chapters of 2 Kings are primarily focused on the exploits of Elisha, including an interesting parallel to Jesus’ feeding of the thousands... In 2 Kings 4:42-44, Elisha fed 100 people from 20 loaves of barley bread. He helped a widow survive financial ruin with the miracle of the olive oil- jars upon jars of the stuff were multiplied from one flask. I can't help but think of Jesus turning the water into wine at Cana in John 2... In chapter 5, Elisha healed Naaman of leprosy & raised a boy from the dead. Jesus healed leprosy & raised the dead to life in His ministry here on earth as well...

In Matthew 17:11-13, Jesus told His disciples (in essence) that John the Baptist was Elijah (who came again, as prophesied), to prepare the way for the Messiah. I can’t help but wonder then, if Elisha’s life perhaps, was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own life... Elijah came first, then Elisha, who did even greater things. John the Baptist came first & then Jesus, who was greater (is greater). How interesting to think that God used the lives of those Old Testament prophets to show Himself not only to the people of their time, but also to us in New Testament times, thousands of years later. Thousands. It can’t be coincidence... I don’t know why we hear more of one than the other... Maybe we do actually hear more of Elisha in the NT- in the person of Jesus... Maybe the point is that we hear at all.