God had bidden Elijah anoint another to be prophet in
his stead. "Elisha the son of Shaphat . . . shalt thou
anoint to be prophet in thy room" (1 Kings 19:16), He had
said; and in obedience to the command, Elijah went to find
Elisha. As he journeyed northward, how changed was the
scene from what it had been only a short while before! Then
the ground was parched, the farming districts unworked,
for neither dew nor rain had fallen for three and a half
years. Now on every hand vegetation was springing up as
if to redeem the time of drought and famine.
Elisha's father was a wealthy farmer, a man whose household
were among the number that in a time of almost
universal apostasy had not bowed the knee to Baal. Theirs was
a home where God was honored and where allegiance to the
faith of ancient Israel was the rule of daily life. In such
surroundings the early years of Elisha were passed. In the
quietude of country life, under the teaching of God and
nature and the discipline of useful work, he received the
training in habits of simplicity and of obedience to his
parents and to God that helped to fit him for the high position
he was afterward to occupy.
The prophetic call came to Elisha while, with his father's
servants, he was plowing in the field. He had taken up the
work that lay nearest. He possessed both the capabilities of
a leader among men and the meekness of one who is ready
to serve. Of a quiet and gentle spirit, he was nevertheless
energetic and steadfast. Integrity, fidelity, and the love and
fear of God were his, and in the humble round of daily toil
he gained strength of purpose and nobleness of character,
constantly increasing in grace and knowledge. While
co-operating with his father in the home-life duties, he was learning
to co-operate with God.
By faithfulness in little things, Elisha was preparing for
weightier trusts. Day by day, through practical experience,
he gained a fitness for a broader, higher work. He learned
to serve; and in learning this, he learned also how to instruct
and lead. The lesson is for all. None can know what may
be God's purpose in His discipline; but all may be certain
that faithfulness in little things is the evidence of fitness
for greater responsibilities. Every act of life is a revelation
of character, and he only who in small duties proves himself
"a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" can be honored
by God with higher service. 2 Timothy 2:15.
He who feels that it is of no consequence how he performs
the smaller tasks proves himself unfit for a more honored
position. He may think himself fully competent to take
up the larger duties; but God looks deeper than the surface.
After test and trial, there is written against him the sentence,
"Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."
His unfaithfulness reacts upon himself. He fails of gaining
the grace, the power, the force of character, which is received
through unreserved surrender.
Because they are not connected with some directly
religious work, many feel that their lives are useless, that they
are doing nothing for the advancement of God's kingdom.
If they could do some great thing how gladly they would
undertake it! But because they can serve only in little
things, they think themselves justified in doing nothing.
In this they err. A man may be in the active service of God
while engaged in the ordinary, everyday duties--while felling
trees, clearing the ground, or following the plow. The
mother who trains her children for Christ is as truly working
for God as is the minister in the pulpit.
Many long for special talent with which to do a wonderful
work, while the duties lying close at hand, the performance
of which would make the life fragrant, are lost sight
of. Let such ones take up the duties lying directly in their
pathway. Success depends not so much on talent as on energy
and willingness. It is not the possession of splendid talents
that enables us to render acceptable service, but the conscientious
performance of daily duties, the contented spirit, the
unaffected, sincere interest in the welfare of others. In the
humblest lot true excellence may be found. The commonest
tasks, wrought with loving faithfulness, are beautiful in
God's sight.
As Elijah, divinely directed in seeking a successor, passed
the field in which Elisha was plowing, he cast upon the
young man's shoulders the mantle of consecration. During
the famine the family of Shaphat had become familiar with
the work and mission of Elijah, and now the Spirit of God
impressed Elisha's heart as to the meaning of the prophet's
act. To him it was the signal that God had called him to be
the successor of Elijah.
"And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let
me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then
I will follow thee." "Go back again," was Elijah's answer,
"for what have I done to thee?" This was not a repulse,
but a test of faith. Elisha must count the cost--decide for
himself to accept or reject the call. If his desires clung to
his home and its advantages, he was at liberty to remain
there. But Elisha understood the meaning of the call. He
knew it was from God, and he did not hesitate to obey, Not
for any worldly advantage would he forgo the opportunity
of becoming God's messenger or sacrifice the privilege of
association with His servant. He "took a yoke of oxen, and
slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of
the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then
he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him."
1 Kings 19:20, 21. Without hesitation he left a home where
he was beloved, to attend the prophet in his uncertain life.
Had Elisha asked Elijah what was expected of him,--what
would be his work,--he would have been answered:
God knows; He will make it known to you. If you wait
upon the Lord, He will answer your every question. You
may come with me if you have evidence that God has called
you. Know for yourself that God stands back of me, and
that it is His voice you hear. If you can count everything
but dross that you may win the favor of God, come.
Similar to the call that came to Elisha was the answer
given by Christ to the young ruler who asked Him the
question, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have
eternal life?" "If thou wilt be perfect," Christ replied, "go
and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me." Matthew
19:16, 21.
Elisha accepted the call to service, casting no backward
glance at the pleasures and comforts he was leaving. The
young ruler, when he heard the Saviour's words, "went
away sorrowful: for he had great possessions." Verse 22.
He was not willing to make the sacrifice. His love for his
possessions was greater than his love for God. By his refusal
to renounce all for Christ, he proved himself unworthy of
a place in the Master's service.
The call to place all on the altar of service comes to each
one. We are not all asked to serve as Elisha served, nor are
we all bidden to sell everything we have; but God asks us
to give His service the first place in our lives, to allow no
day to pass without doing something to advance His work
in the earth. He does not expect from all the same kind of
service. One may be called to ministry in a foreign land;
another may be asked to give of his means for the support
of gospel work. God accepts the offering of each. It is the
consecration of the life and all its interests, that is necessary.
Those who make this consecration will hear and obey the
call of Heaven.
To everyone who becomes a partaker of His grace, the
Lord appoints a work for others. Individually we are to
stand in our lot, saying, "Here am I; send me." Whether
a man be a minister of the Word or a physician, whether
he be merchant or farmer, professional man or mechanic,
the responsibility rests upon him. It is his work to reveal to
others the gospel of their salvation. Every enterprise is
which he engages should be a means to this end.
It was no great work that was at first required of Elisha;
commonplace duties still constituted his discipline. He is
spoken of as pouring water on the hands of Elijah, his master.
He was willing to do anything that the Lord directed, and
at every step he learned lessons of humility and service. As
the prophet's personal attendant, he continued to prove
faithful in little things, while with daily strengthening purpose
he devoted himself to the mission appointed him
by God.
Elisha's life after uniting with Elijah was not without
temptations. Trials he had in abundance; but in every
emergency he relied on God. He was tempted to think
of the home that he had left, but to this temptation he gave
no heed. Having put his hand to the plow, he was resolved
not to turn back, and through test and trial he proved true
to his trust.
Ministry comprehends far more than preaching the word.
It means training young men as Elijah trained Elisha, taking
them from their ordinary duties, and giving them responsibilities
to bear in God's work--small responsibilities at first,
and larger ones as they gain strength and experience. There
are in the ministry men of faith and prayer, men who can
say, "That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word
of life; . . . that which we have seen and heard declare
we unto you." 1 John 1:1-3. Young, inexperienced workers
should be trained by actual labor in connection with
these experienced servants of God. Thus they will learn
how to bear burdens.
Those who undertake this training of young workers
are doing noble service. The Lord Himself co-operates
with their efforts. And the young men to whom the word
of consecration has been spoken, whose privilege it is to
be brought into close association with earnest, godly workers,
should make the most of their opportunity. God has
honored them by choosing them for His service and by
placing them where they can gain greater fitness for it, and
they should be humble, faithful, obedient, and willing to
sacrifice. If they submit to God's discipline, carrying out
His directions and choosing His servants as their counselors,
they will develop into righteous, high-principled, steadfast
men, whom God can entrust with responsibilities.
As the gospel is proclaimed in its purity, men will be
called from the plow and from the common commercial
business vocations that largely occupy the mind and will be
educated in connection with men of experience. As they
learn to labor effectively, they will proclaim the truth with
power. Through most wonderful workings of divine providence,
mountains of difficulty will be removed and cast into
the sea. The message that means so much to the dwellers
upon the earth will be heard and understood. Men will
know what is truth. Onward and still onward the work
will advance until the whole earth shall have been warned,
and then shall the end come.
For several years after the call of Elisha, Elijah and Elisha
labored together, the younger man daily gaining greater
preparedness for his work. Elijah had been God's instrument
for the overthrow of gigantic evils. The idolatry which,
supported by Ahab and the heathen Jezebel, had seduced
the nation, had been given a decided check. Baal's prophets
had been slain. The whole people of Israel had been
deeply stirred, and many were returning to the worship
of God. As Elijah's successor, Elisha, by careful, patient
instruction, must endeavor to guide Israel in safe paths. His
association with Elijah, the greatest prophet since the days
of Moses, prepared him for the work that he was soon to
take up alone.
During these years of united ministry, Elijah from time
to time was called upon to meet flagrant evils with stern
rebuke. When wicked Ahab seized Naboth's vineyard, it
was the voice of Elijah that prophesied his doom and the
doom of all his house. And when Ahaziah, after the death
of his father Ahab, turned from the living God to Baal-zebub,
the god of Ekron, it was Elijah's voice that was heard once
more in earnest protest.
The schools of the prophets, established by Samuel, had
fallen into decay during the years of Israel's apostasy. Elijah
re-established these schools, making provision for young
men to gain an education that would lead them to magnify
the law and make it honorable. Three of these schools, one
at Gilgal, one at Bethel, and one at Jericho, are mentioned
in the record. Just before Elijah was taken to heaven, he
and Elisha visited these centers of training. The lessons
that the prophet of God had given them on former visits, he
now repeated. Especially did he instruct them concerning
their high privilege of loyally maintaining their allegiance
to the God of heaven. He also impressed upon their minds
the importance of letting simplicity mark every feature of
their education. Only in this way could they receive the
mold of heaven and go forth to work in the ways of the Lord.
The heart of Elijah was cheered as he saw what was
being accomplished by means of these schools. The work
of reformation was not complete, but he could see throughout
the kingdom a verification of the word of the Lord,
"Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees
which have not bowed unto Baal." 1 Kings 19:18.
As Elisha accompanied the prophet on his round of
service from school to school, his faith and resolution were
once more tested. At Gilgal, and again at Bethel and Jericho,
he was invited by the prophet to turn back. "Tarry
here, I pray thee," Elijah said; "for the Lord hath sent
me to Bethel." But in his early labor of guiding the plow,
Elisha had learned not to fail or to become discouraged,
and now that he had set his hand to the plow in another
line of duty he would not be diverted from his purpose.
He would not be parted from his master, so long as opportunity
remained for gaining a further fitting up for service.
Unknown to Elijah, the revelation that he was to be
translated had been made known to his disciples in the
schools of the prophets, and in particular to Elisha. And now
the tried servant of the man of God kept close beside him. As
often as the invitation to turn back was given, his answer
was, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not
leave thee."
"And they two went on. . . . And they two stood by
Jordan. 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. And
it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said
unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken
away from thee."
Elisha asked not for worldly honor, or for a high place
among the great men of earth. That which he craved was
a large measure of the Spirit that God had bestowed so
freely upon the one about to be honored with translation.
He knew that nothing but the Spirit which had rested upon
Elijah could fit him to fill the place in Israel to which God
had called him, and so he asked, "I pray thee, let a double
portion of thy Spirit be upon me."
In response to this request, Elijah said, "Thou hast asked
a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken
from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not
be so. 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." See 2 Kings 2:1-11.
Elijah was a type of the saints who will be living on the
earth at the time of the second advent of Christ and who
will be "changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trump," without tasting of death. 1 Corinthians
15:51, 52. It was as a representative of those who shall be
thus translated that Elijah, near the close of Christ's earthly
ministry, was permitted to stand with Moses by the side of
the Saviour on the mount of transfiguration. In these glorified
ones, the disciples saw in miniature a representation
of the kingdom of the redeemed. They beheld Jesus clothed
with the light of heaven; they heard the "voice out of the
cloud" (Luke 9:35), acknowledging Him as the Son of
God; they saw Moses, representing those who will be raised
from the dead at the time of the second advent; and there
also stood Elijah, representing those who at the close of
earth's history will be changed from mortal to immortal
and be translated to heaven without seeing death.
In the desert, in loneliness and discouragement, Elijah
had said that he had had enough of life and had prayed that
he might die. But the Lord in His mercy had not taken
him at his word. There was yet a great work for Elijah
to do; and when his work was done, he was not to perish
in discouragement and solitude. Not for him the descent
into the tomb, but the ascent with God's angels to the presence
of His glory.
"And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father,
the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw
him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent
them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank
of Jordan; and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from
him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord
God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters,
they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. And
when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho
saw him, they said, The Spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.
And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the
ground before him." 2 Kings 2:12-15.
When the Lord in His providence sees fit to remove from
His work those to whom He has given wisdom, He helps and
strengthens their successors, if they will look to Him for
aid and will walk in His ways. They may be even wiser
than their predecessors; for they may profit by their experience
and learn wisdom from their mistakes.
Henceforth Elisha stood in Elijah's place. He who had
been faithful in that which was least was to prove himself
faithful also in much.