Text -- 2 Kings 2:8-25 (NET)

2:8 Elijah took his cloak, folded it up, and hit the water with it. The water divided, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 2:9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you.” 2:10 Elijah replied, “That’s a difficult request! If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.” 2:11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. They went between Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm. 2:12 While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two. 2:13 He picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him, and went back and stood on the shore of the Jordan. 2:14 He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah, hit the water with it, and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over. 2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, who were standing at a distance, saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. 2:16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys.” But Elisha replied, “Don’t send them out.” 2:17 But they were so insistent, he became embarrassed. So he said, “Send them out.” They sent the fifty men out and they looked for three days, but could not find Elijah. 2:18 When they came back, Elisha was staying in Jericho. He said to them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t go’?”

Elisha Demonstrates His Authority

2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city has a good location, as our master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.” 2:20 Elisha said, “Get me a new jar and put some salt in it.” So they got it. 2:21 He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.” 2:22 The water has been pure to this very day, just as Elisha prophesied. 2:23 He went up from there to Bethel. As he was traveling up the road, some young boys came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” 2:24 When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped forty-two of the boys to pieces. 2:25 From there he traveled to Mount Carmel and then back to Samaria.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:9

¹ tn Heb “Ask! What can I do for you….?”

² tn Heb “May a double portion of your spirit come to me.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:10

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “You have made difficult [your] request.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:11

¹ tn Though the noun is singular here, it may be collective, in which case it could be translated “chariots.”

² tn Heb “look, a chariot of fire and horses of fire.”

³ tn Heb “and they made a division between the two of them.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:12

¹ sn Elisha may be referring to the fiery chariot(s) and horses as the Lord’s spiritual army that fights on behalf of Israel (see 2 Kgs 6:15-17; 7:6). However, the juxtaposition with “my father” (clearly a reference to Elijah as Elisha’s mentor), and the parallel in 2 Kgs 13:14 (where the king addresses Elisha with these words), suggest that Elisha is referring to Elijah. In this case Elijah is viewed as a one man army, as it were. When the Lord spoke through him, his prophetic word was as powerful as an army of chariots and horses. See M. A. Beek, “The Meaning of the Expression ‘The Chariots and Horsemen of Israel’ (II Kings ii 12),” The Witness of Tradition (OTS 17), 1-10.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:14

¹ tn Heb “Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him.” The wording is changed slightly in the translation for the sake of variety of expression (see v. 13).

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:15

¹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

² tn Heb “and the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, [who were standing] opposite, saw him and said.”

³ tn Heb “the spirit of Elijah.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:16

¹ tn Or “the spirit of the Lord.”

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:17

¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Elijah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:18

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:19

¹ tn Heb “my.”

² tn Heb “miscarries” or “is barren.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:20

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:21

¹ tn Or “healed.”

² tn Heb “there will no longer be from there death and miscarriage [or, ‘barrenness’].”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:22

¹ tn Heb “according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.”

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:23

¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

² tn The word נַעַר (na’ar), here translated “boy,” can refer to a broad age range, including infants as well as young men. But the qualifying term “young” (or “small”) suggests these youths were relatively young. The phrase in question (“young boy”) occurs elsewhere in 1 Sam 20:35; 1 Kgs 3:7 (used by Solomon in an hyperbolic manner); 11:17; 2 Kgs 5:14; and Isa 11:6.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:24

¹ tn Heb “he cursed them in the name of the Lord.” A curse was a formal appeal to a higher authority (here the Lord) to vindicate one’s cause through judgment. As in chapter one, this account makes it clear that disrespect for the Lord’s designated spokesmen can be deadly, for it is ultimately rejection of the Lord’s authority.

NET Notes: 2Ki 2:25

¹ sn The two brief episodes recorded in vv. 19-25 demonstrate Elisha’s authority and prove that he is the legitimate prophetic heir of Elijah. He has the capacity to bring life and blessing to those who recognize his authority, or death and judgment to those who reject him.

map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.