2 Kings 2:11

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY STILL WENT ON, AND TALKED, THAT, BEHOLD, THERE APPEARED A CHARIOT OF FIRE, AND HORSES OF FIRE, AND PARTED THEM BOTH ASUNDER; AND ELIJAH WENT UP BY A WHIRLWIND INTO HEAVEN._ As they still went on, and talked. Surely that conference was needful, and upon matters of high importance to the Church and the nation, in connection with the promises of their covenant God, otherwise we might have expected it would have given way to private meditation, and Elijah had been taken up rather from his knees than from his feet. But as Dr. Hall remarks ('Contemplations,' 2:, pp. 25-29), 'There can be no better posture or state for the messenger of our dissolution to find us in, than in a diligent prosecution of our calling. The busy attendance on our holy vocation is no less pleasing to God than an immediate devotion.' 'Happy is the servant whom the Master, when he comes, sha...

9-12 That fulness, from whence prophets and apostles had all their supply, still exists as of old, and we are told to ask large supplies from it. Diligent attendance upon Elijah, particularly in his last hours, would be proper means for Elisha to obtain much of his spirit. The comforts of departing saints, and their experiences, help both to gild our comforts and to strengthen our resolutions. Elijah is carried to heaven in a fiery chariot. Many questions might be asked about this, which could not be answered. Let it suffice that we are told, what his Lord, when he came, found him doing. He was engaged in serious discourse, encouraging and directing Elisha about the kingdom of God among men. We mistake, if we think preparation for heaven is carried on only by contemplation and acts of devotion. The chariot and horses appeared like fire, something very glorious, not for burning, but brig...

Verse 2 Kings 2:11. _A CHARIOT OF FIRE, AND HORSES OF FIRE_] That is a chariot and horses of the most _resplendent glory_, which, manifesting itself in _coruscations_ or _shooting rays_, seemed to be like blazing _fire_, or like the sun in his strength. Some think that this circumstance, know in the heathen world, gave rise to the fable of _Apollo_, or the _sun_, being seated in a _blazing chariot_, drawn by _horses which breathed and snorted fire. _These horses were _four_, and called Pyroeis, Eous, AEthon, and Phlegon; all which words signify fire or resplendent light. So OVID: Nec tibi quadrupedes animosos _ignibus_ illis Quos _in pectore_ habent, quos _ore_ et _naribus efflant_, In pr

ELIJAH WENT UP ... - No honest exegesis can explain this passage in any other sense than as teaching the translation of Elijah, who was taken from the earth, like Enoch Genesis 5:24, without dying. Compare Ecclesiasticus 48:9....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 2:1 THE REMOVAL OF ELIJAH FROM EARTH, AND SOME EARLY MIRACLES OF ELISHA. The great prophet of Israel was to have a departure from earth as marvelous as his life had been. Ewald's words, though not intended in an historical, but only in a literary sense, embody very forcibly what the humble believer may accept as the actual _rationale_ of the occurrence related in 2 Kings 2:1 : "An earthly career which had no equal in the purity of its devotion to the service of Jehovah, and was at the same time consummated by such powerful efforts to promote the

AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY STILL WENT ON AND TALKED,.... About the donation of the gifts of the Spirit requested, about the state of religion in Israel, and about the training up of prophets in the colleges, and about Elisha's succession as a prophet in his room, and his discharge of that office, and such like things, as may be supposed, in which he gave him instruction and advice: THAT, BEHOLD, THERE APPEARED A CHARIOT OF FIRE, AND HORSES OF FIRE; either angels in this form, see Psalms 104:4, in which they appeared for the glory and honour of the prophet, and as emblems of his flaming love and zeal for the purity of religion, and that his assumption might be conspicuous to Elisha; and perhaps by this means might be seen by the fifty men on the other side Jordan: this chariot, drawn with these horses, was not seen in the heaven, but as running on the earth, and came bet

2. ELIJAH'S TRANSLATION CHAPTER 2:1-11 _ 1. From Gilgal to Jordan (2 Kings 2:1)_ 2. The divided Jordan (2 Kings 2:7) 3. Elisha's request (2 Kings 2:9) 4. Elijah goes up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11) The time for Elijah's departure had now come, and the LORD, whom he had served so faithfully, “would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind.” As Lord He graciously orders the time and the manner of the departure of His servants (John 21:18). His coming translation was known to him, to Elisha and to the sons of

2 KINGS 1:1 TO 2 KINGS 2:25. LAST DAYS AND ASCENSION OF ELIJAH: ELISHA ESTABLISHED AS HIS SUCCESSOR. Here we have perhaps a third Elijah narrative, in which the prophet is represented as playing a part scarcely worthy of the Elijah of 1 Kings 17-19 or 21, who in the first section represents Yahweh against the Tyrian Baal, whereas in the latter he stands for righteousness opposed to legalised violence. Here the king's offence is that he sent to a Philistine oracle instead of inquiring of Yahweh, and his soldiers are punished by fire for summoning the prophet to surrender. The spelling of the prophet's name in Hebrew differs from that in the rest of the OT. The story is mentioned in the Gospel (Luke 9:54). With ch. 2 we seem to en

A WHIRLWIND. Not. fiery chariot, according to. certain hymn. Compare 2 Kings 2:1....

as _they still went on, and talked_ Elisha is to remain to the last. And now that the silence has been broken, and the request made, we can understand how much Elijah would find of exhortation and encouragement to bestow as parting counsels on his successor. _a chariot of fire, and horses of fire_ Compare with this description the notice of the sight which Elisha's servant (2 Kings 6:17) was permitted to behold, when he was terrified by the king of Syria's hosts. -The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." There it was in answer to Elisha's prayer, -Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see", that the encouraging enlightenment was vouchsafed. And here we may well think that it was of God's grace and as an assurance that Elisha should receive his petition, that his eyes were opened to behold the glory which carried away his master. Henceforth he w