1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 (Good News version)
The Lord said, “Return to the wilderness near Damascus, then enter the city and anoint Hazael as king of Syria; anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.....
Elijah left and found Elisha plowing with a team of oxen; there were eleven teams ahead of him, and he was plowing with the last one. Elijah took off his cloak and put it on Elisha. Elisha then left his oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you.”
Elijah answered, “All right, go back. I'm not stopping you!
Then Elisha went to his team of oxen, killed them, and cooked the meat, using the yoke as fuel for the fire. He gave the meat to the people, and they ate it. Then he went and followed Elijah as his helper.
This is the second week of our current Summer Sermon Series and today we are still reading about Elijah, the greatest prophet, after Moses.
In our Old Testaments there are eighteen books of the prophets – six major prophets and twelve minor prophets. The designations major and minor have nothing to do with their relative importance. The division is based strictly on the length of the book of their prophecies. Some of their stories covered years of events and so their books are longer. The six majors are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (ascribed to Jeremiah), Baruch, Daniel, and Ezekiel.
The twelve minor prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Obadiah has the “honor” of being the shortest book in scripture, consisting as it does of one short chapter.
It is ironic, then, that those considered the greatest prophets do not have books of their own. Moses, of course, has the entire Torah, the first five books of scripture, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. attributed to him. These are not generally considered prophetic books because they are more importantly the foundational history of the Hebrew people.
That leaves us with Elijah and his successor, Elisha. Their stories are told in First and Second Kings, which are categorized, logically, as history. These two are labeled as “non-writing” prophets, which apparently means that no one followed them around taking notes. There are many stories about them, but less perhaps, of their actual prophesying although their words are recorded and shared in these books.
Today will be the last day we speak here about Elijah specifically, but today’s reading isn’t the end of Elijah’s story. In fact, Elijah seems to go on and on. In our Christian scriptures, it's recorded that many people believed at first that Jesus was Elijah returned, and then recall that it was Elijah who was the third figure along with Moses and Jesus at the transfiguration.
Traditional Jewish families still follow a tradition of opening their front door at the end of the Seder meal to welcome Elijah into their home, and they pour an extra glass of wine, which is left undrunk, for Elijah. It is Elijah who attends the circumcision of every Jewish male, and therefore his presence as a guest in the home signifies that every male there is properly circumcised.
Another reason Jewish folk still look for Elijah’s coming is because it is his coming that will herald the arrival of the long-awaited messiah. This is the same reason that many people, according to our Christian gospels, believed that John the Baptist was really Elijah returned.
Today’s reading is a fairly quiet story of the calling of Elisha to be Elijah’s student – his “prophet-in-training.” The two books of Kings are history books and their function is to provide a somewhat cohesive story about the various kings who reigned in Judah and Israel over a course of years – not to tell the stories of prophets. Stories about Elijah and Elisha come about whenever they support the stories of the kings. It is therefore a little confusing to try to find a timeline for the lives of either of them.
Our reading about Elijah from last week, if we look back that far, ended, after their meeting at the cave in the silence, with God instructing him to...”go to the wilderness near Damascus...” and that is exactly where our story begins today. He is further instructed to anoint Hazael as king of Syria; and anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel... and then finally to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat to succeed him as prophet.
Elijah announces this news to elisha by draping his cloak over his shoulders. We assumes that Elisha knew exactly what this meant. This is not the moment of the actual passing of the mantle – one assumes Elisha had to give it back to Elijah at this point, since he was only in training. There are many more Elijah stories – many more battles, many more good kings and bad kings before Elijah’s work for God is finished. The actual passing of responsibility comes several chapters later in 2nd Kings when, after a scene reminiscent of Moses parting the Red Sea, Elijah uses his mantle to part the waters of the Jordan. After crossing over he gives his cloak to Elisha, this time to keep, and is swept up in a whirlwind and lifted up in the heavens. This is another unique point in the lives of Elijah and Elisha.
Quite often prophets were called out of the blue – no training, no support. Isaiah, for instance, saw a vision in which he was called out and his lips were cleansed by a seraph with a burning coal. Jeremiah was told in a vision that God had formed him even in the womb and had been shaping him for his ministry since before birth. Amos was just a fig farmer, minding his own business when he was called..
There are instances of mentoring in scripture – Moses trained up Joshua to lead the people when Moses was no longer allowed to do so; Eli the high priest and second to last Judge in Israel recognized a calling in the child Samuel and raised him up to eventually replace him as the last of the Judges; Paul mentored Timothy – but if there is another instance of a prophet training up their replacement I cannot recall it.
Like every other story of God interacting with God’s people, this one is unique – a sign that God sees each one of us as individuals and never as just a category of creation.
We’ve mentioned before that in the Old Testament there were professional prophets who were quite often nothing but shills for their employers. The “real” prophets, the ones who made it into scripture, almost always begin their stories by declaring they were not prophets before this calling fell on them – making it clear that they are called by God to this strange work, rather than this being something they chose for themselves. Amos, as example, says flat out “I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet.” He is only doing this because God calls him to it.
God appears to work for each individual need with who and what is there to work with – both in biblical times and today. Sometimes prior training helps, sometimes we are left to wing it. But we are never really left alone. Whoever, whenever, wherever we are called, God is with us to equip us we the tools and most especially the courage we need to answer that call.
In our Old Testaments there are eighteen books of the prophets – six major prophets and twelve minor prophets. The designations major and minor have nothing to do with their relative importance. The division is based strictly on the length of the book of their prophecies. Some of their stories covered years of events and so their books are longer. The six majors are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (ascribed to Jeremiah), Baruch, Daniel, and Ezekiel.
The twelve minor prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Obadiah has the “honor” of being the shortest book in scripture, consisting as it does of one short chapter.
It is ironic, then, that those considered the greatest prophets do not have books of their own. Moses, of course, has the entire Torah, the first five books of scripture, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. attributed to him. These are not generally considered prophetic books because they are more importantly the foundational history of the Hebrew people.
That leaves us with Elijah and his successor, Elisha. Their stories are told in First and Second Kings, which are categorized, logically, as history. These two are labeled as “non-writing” prophets, which apparently means that no one followed them around taking notes. There are many stories about them, but less perhaps, of their actual prophesying although their words are recorded and shared in these books.
Today will be the last day we speak here about Elijah specifically, but today’s reading isn’t the end of Elijah’s story. In fact, Elijah seems to go on and on. In our Christian scriptures, it's recorded that many people believed at first that Jesus was Elijah returned, and then recall that it was Elijah who was the third figure along with Moses and Jesus at the transfiguration.
Traditional Jewish families still follow a tradition of opening their front door at the end of the Seder meal to welcome Elijah into their home, and they pour an extra glass of wine, which is left undrunk, for Elijah. It is Elijah who attends the circumcision of every Jewish male, and therefore his presence as a guest in the home signifies that every male there is properly circumcised.
Another reason Jewish folk still look for Elijah’s coming is because it is his coming that will herald the arrival of the long-awaited messiah. This is the same reason that many people, according to our Christian gospels, believed that John the Baptist was really Elijah returned.
Today’s reading is a fairly quiet story of the calling of Elisha to be Elijah’s student – his “prophet-in-training.” The two books of Kings are history books and their function is to provide a somewhat cohesive story about the various kings who reigned in Judah and Israel over a course of years – not to tell the stories of prophets. Stories about Elijah and Elisha come about whenever they support the stories of the kings. It is therefore a little confusing to try to find a timeline for the lives of either of them.
Our reading about Elijah from last week, if we look back that far, ended, after their meeting at the cave in the silence, with God instructing him to...”go to the wilderness near Damascus...” and that is exactly where our story begins today. He is further instructed to anoint Hazael as king of Syria; and anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel... and then finally to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat to succeed him as prophet.
Elijah announces this news to elisha by draping his cloak over his shoulders. We assumes that Elisha knew exactly what this meant. This is not the moment of the actual passing of the mantle – one assumes Elisha had to give it back to Elijah at this point, since he was only in training. There are many more Elijah stories – many more battles, many more good kings and bad kings before Elijah’s work for God is finished. The actual passing of responsibility comes several chapters later in 2nd Kings when, after a scene reminiscent of Moses parting the Red Sea, Elijah uses his mantle to part the waters of the Jordan. After crossing over he gives his cloak to Elisha, this time to keep, and is swept up in a whirlwind and lifted up in the heavens. This is another unique point in the lives of Elijah and Elisha.
Quite often prophets were called out of the blue – no training, no support. Isaiah, for instance, saw a vision in which he was called out and his lips were cleansed by a seraph with a burning coal. Jeremiah was told in a vision that God had formed him even in the womb and had been shaping him for his ministry since before birth. Amos was just a fig farmer, minding his own business when he was called..
There are instances of mentoring in scripture – Moses trained up Joshua to lead the people when Moses was no longer allowed to do so; Eli the high priest and second to last Judge in Israel recognized a calling in the child Samuel and raised him up to eventually replace him as the last of the Judges; Paul mentored Timothy – but if there is another instance of a prophet training up their replacement I cannot recall it.
Like every other story of God interacting with God’s people, this one is unique – a sign that God sees each one of us as individuals and never as just a category of creation.
We’ve mentioned before that in the Old Testament there were professional prophets who were quite often nothing but shills for their employers. The “real” prophets, the ones who made it into scripture, almost always begin their stories by declaring they were not prophets before this calling fell on them – making it clear that they are called by God to this strange work, rather than this being something they chose for themselves. Amos, as example, says flat out “I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet.” He is only doing this because God calls him to it.
God appears to work for each individual need with who and what is there to work with – both in biblical times and today. Sometimes prior training helps, sometimes we are left to wing it. But we are never really left alone. Whoever, whenever, wherever we are called, God is with us to equip us we the tools and most especially the courage we need to answer that call.
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