2 Kings 2:8

_AND ELIJAH TOOK HIS MANTLE, AND WRAPPED IT TOGETHER, AND SMOTE THE WATERS, AND THEY WERE DIVIDED HITHER AND THITHER, SO THAT THEY TWO WENT OVER ON DRY GROUND._ Elijah took his mantle, х_ 'ADARTOW_ (H155)]. This word generally denotes a large and sumptuous cloak (Joshua 7:21; Jonah 3:6); but here, the hairy mantle of the prophet (cf. 2 Kings 2:13; 1 Kings 19:13; 1 Kings 19:19; Zechariah 13:4; also...

1-8 The Lord had let Elijah know that his time was at hand. He therefore went to the different schools of the prophets to give them his last exhortations and blessing. The removal of Elijah was a type and figure of the ascension of Christ, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Elisha had long followed Elijah, and he would not leave him now when he hoped for the parting blessing. Let not those who follow Christ come short by tiring at last. The waters of Jordan, of old, yielded to the ark; now, to the prophet's mantle, as a token of God's presence. When God will take up his faithful ones to heaven, death is the Jordan which they must pass through, and they find a way through it. The death of Christ has divided those waters, that the ransomed of the Lord may pass over. O death, where is thy sting, thy hurt, thy terror!...

Verse 2 Kings 2:8. _TOOK HIS MANTLE_] την μηλωτην αυτου, _his sheep-skin_, says the _Septuagint_. The skins of beasts, dressed with the hair on, were formerly worn by _prophets_ and _priests_ as the simple insignia of their office. As the _civil authority_ was often lodged in the hands of such persons, particularly among the Jews, _mantles_ of this kind were used by _kings_ and _high civil officers_ when they bore no sacred character. The custom continues to the present day; a _lamb's skin hood_ or _cloak_ is the badge which certain graduates in our universities wear; and the royal robes of kings and great officers of state are adorned with the _skins_ of the animal called the _ermine_. _THEY WERE DIVIDED HITHER AND THITHER_] This was a most astonishing miracle, and could be performed only by the almig

THEY WERE DIVIDED ... - The attestation to the divine mission of Elijah furnished by this miracle would tend to place him upon a par in the thoughts of men with the two great leaders of the nation named in the marginal references....

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 ELIJAH TOOK HIS MANTLE, AND WRAPPED IT TOGETHER,.... Folded it up close together, in a position to smite with it; this is thought to be not his hairy garment, but a shorter robe, that was worn upon his shoulders; but the Greek version renders it by "melotes", and so in 2 Kings 2:14, which, according to Isidore l, was a goat's skin, hanging down from the neck, and girt at the loins; and being thus clothed, perhaps, may be the reason of his being called an hairy man, 2 Kings 1:8, AND SMOTE THE WATERS, AND THEY WERE DIVIDED HITHER AND THITHER; just as Moses lifted up his rod, and the waters of the sea were divided for the Israelites: SO THAT THEY TWO WENT OVER ON DRY GROUND; in like manner as the Israelites did through the sea. l Origin. l. 19. c. 24....

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

_And Elijah took his mantle_ In 2 Kings 1:8 the mantle was not mentioned, but the word here is the same as in Zechariah 13:4, so that there can be little doubt that the expression -hairy man" above refers to the garment, and not to the head and beard. _and wrapt_it _together_ Making thus a sort of roll or rod, and reminding us by his action of Moses, who smote with his rod the waters of the Nile (Exodus 7:17; Exodus 7:20) when they were to be turned into blood....

HIS MANTLE— In the two books of kings there is mention made five times of this mantle, and in every place it is called אדרת _adret,_ which denotes a _royal,_ as well as a prophetical mantle. As the high priesthood and supreme civil authority centered in the same person, _mantles_ made of skins, furs, &c. which were worn at first in a religious view, came to be afterwards the _insignia_ of civil authority. See Genesis 27:15 and compare Genesis 3:21.Leviticus 7:8. REFLECTIONS.—Elijah's bright sun is now about to set, or rather to rise brighter in another world of glory. 1. God gives him notice of his intended removal, not in the ordinary course of nature, but by a change sudden and