2 Kings, Chapter 2 - The Mantle Passes | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] Shalom friends. Welcome back to the Prophets of Israel Daily. We are delving into the new book of the Bible, the [music] book of Second Kings. This is chapter 2. I'm Jeremy Gambell here with my dear friend and Karuta Ary Bramwoods and this series is brought to you by the land of Israel Network at the land of Isisrael.com. All right, >> just to make it clear, it's not a new book of the Bible. >> It's a new book for us. >> It's a new book for us, but >> that's what I'm saying. [laughter] We have this is not like a new book that we're writing where it's a new book we're learning together. >> Right. Right. All right. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that for those that are jumping on in this chapter. >> You know, that's exactly what we needed with this banter because this is going to be one of the longer episodes. So, thank you for that, Ari. This is going to be one of the most beloved chapters that I'm going to be giving over in the entire Tanakh. That's the truth. And we're going to take a little bit more time than usual today because we're going to say goodbye to my favorite prophet in the Bible. This is the story of Elijah the prophets leaving the world and the rising of his successor Alicia. It's the chapter about endings and beginnings, about mentorship and legacy. It's really what it takes to inherit a mission from a great man and continue it forward. And [snorts] you know, it's a day that seemingly everyone around knows something's going down. All the prophets sensed that it was Elijah's time to go. his like time on earth was up and it was time for him to depart. And by this time, Alicia and Elijah, they're inseparable. Alicia follows Elijah everywhere. But now Elijah on his final journey keeps trying to leave his disciple behind. Three times it happens. So verse two, stay here please, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bel. But Elisha says, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you." "Stay here, Eliu tells Alicia." And Elijah answers by swearing in God's name. I will not leave you. It happens again in Belle, I will not leave you. Again in Jericho, I will not leave you. Three times the master tells his disciple to stop following. And three times the disciple refuses to be left behind. Yeah, Jeremy, that three-fold refusal. I will not leave you. I will not leave you. I will not leave you. People in our fellowship already know where I'm going with this. Okay, the it's the key to this chapter. And it tells us everything about why Alicia and not someone else becomes the heir to Elijah. Elijah's testing him. At least that's what I think. Three times he gives Alicia an easy, honorable way out. Stay here. You've done enough. You don't want this. Right? And every single time Alicia refuses. The companies of prophets at Bethl and Jericho knew Elijah was being taken that day. The text tells us they all knew, but they stayed back at a distance. Only Alicia refused to leave. And friends, we've seen this before. Right over these mountains that I'm looking at right now, Naomi returning to the land of Israel tells her daughter-in-law three times, "Go back, my daughters." And Ruth, a Moabitete, clings to her. the root da and Ruth cleave to her and she says don't hurt me by forcing me to leave you the same [clears throat] word Alicia uses to leave our sages learned from Ruth that when someone from the nations comes to join Israel we push them away three times not to reject them but to see who will cling the spirit of Elijah didn't go to the one who was merely aware of it or interested in it or standing nearby it went to the one who would not let go And Ruth, the outsider, wouldn't let go of Naomi. She wouldn't let go of Israel, of Israel's God. And she became the great grandmother of King David. And friends, I think there's something here, not only for Israel, but for the precious people from the nations of the world who, like Ruth, have chosen to cling to the God of Israel and the people of Israel. The world may give you a thousand reasons to walk away. Sometimes even Israel may seem to push you away, but Ruth stayed. Alicia stayed because [clears throat] the deepest things in life don't belong to the casually curious. They belong to those who cling, who follow all the way, who refuse the easy exit. Alicia did inherit did not inherit the mantle simply because he was talented. He inherited it because he would not let go. You know, that's exactly it, Ari. It's because he refused to leave. And Alicia, for that reason, was there for the climax of Ela Hanavi's life. I mean, they reach the Jordan and Elijah takes his mantle, the prophet's cloak, rolls it up and strikes the water and the Jordan River parts and the two of them cross on dry ground. And of course, that's an echo of Moses at the sea. That's Joshua at the very same Jordan. And what strikes me about this like nonchalant miracle performed by Elijah is the amount of fanfare that went into Joshua's crossing the Jordan. It took up a couple of chapters in the book of Joshua and now Eli just strikes the water with his rolledup cloak. The water splits and he and Alicia walk through on dry land. It's like they're casually walking down the boardwalk in Tel Aviv. And it it's at this point, I mean, they had already visited the Bananim, these communities that were aspiring prophets um that seemingly were established all throughout Israel in the days of Eliaim. And they were it was like they were almost like littlemies places where people devoted themselves to learning to spiritual growth and preparing themselves for prophecy. And you know I once a long time ago had a dream of establishing an academy in Israel called Benim. I I'm not even sure what we would have taught there but there's something >> I don't think we would have taught there Jeremy. >> No I don't know what would have been taught there but I just say that's not the point. the point of just establishing a place like that with that name in the land of Israel in our generation. It's a place saying that prophecy isn't just something buried in our past, but something that we still yearn to become worthy of. Again, to me, that statement alone would be worth building up the entire institution. It's not only worthy of again the Hashem tells us, the prophets tell us that when we return, Jews return to Judea and the nation of Israel returns to the land of Israel, we will have that spirit of prophecy gifted back to us. >> Well, I'm saying that instead of it just being gifted back to us, someone should make an academy that's actually preparing people for it. But that's neither here nor there. By this time, there's about, I don't know, 50 prophets in training that are following Elijah and Alicia as they stand by the Jordan at a distance. And on the other side, um Elijah turns to his disciple Elisha and offers him a parting gift. This is verse na. Ask what I shall do for you before I'm taken from you. And Alisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. And so I want to point out something here. I learned from Yakov Maidan just a really interesting interpretation when I studied with him at Herzog here in Israel. Pishnim is almost always translated as a double portion twice Elijah's prophetic spirit. But there's another possibility that's worth knowing. That exact phrase pishnim appears again in the prophet Zechariah in chapter 13:8 where it clearly means two/3 two parts. Pishnim shall be cut off and die and the third shall remain. So if we carry that meaning here, Alicia possibly wasn't asking to be twice the prophet Elijah was. He was asking for twothirds of his master's spirit. He made like a humble request, not a presumptuous one. And that fits with what we actually see. Alicia, for all his greatness, was never quite the towering, fiery, iconic, worldshaking figure that Elijah was. He never called down fire on a mountain before all of Israel. You know, it's like 400 prophets against one. You know, he was quieter, gentler, and his prophecy was much more healing than it was fire and thunder. And so this reading, Alicia knew exactly who his master was and asked not to surpass him but simply to be worthy of a fraction of him to carry on his mission humbly with twothirds of that spirit. Anyway, nonetheless, the majority view is that he asked him for two times his spirit. And in the end, by the count, Alicia did perform more miracles than Elijah. And so even if they were less iconic, there were more miraculous realities around Alicia. So either way, um Elijah answers, "You have asked for a hard thing, but if you see me as I'm taken from you, it will be yours." >> Yeah. And Jeremy, I I also I love what Alicia asks for because what of what it reveals about his heart, and it's the opposite of what almost anyone else would request, right? Elijah says, "Ask whatever you want. An open offer from the greatest prophet of the age on on his very last day." Alicia could have asked for anything. power, protection, honor, the ability to perform wonders. And what does he ask for? Let's just go with the conventional definition. A double portion of your spirit. He asked for more of exactly the thing that made Elijah who he was. More of the ruach, more of the prophecy, more closeness to God, more capacity to serve. He doesn't want Elijah's fame or Elijah's status. He wants Elijah's spirit. He wants to be able to continue the mission at an even greater level. And what would Elijah want him to ask for than double that? What do I do? I want my own son to be greater than I. Well, it won't be that hard for him to be. But yes, of course. Anyways, friends, that tells you the measure of the man. When God offers us our heart's desire, what we ask for reveals who we really are. It's the same test Solomon faced when he asked for a listening heart instead of riches. Alicia, given a blank check, asks only for more spiritual substance, more ability to do God's work. And notice what Alicia what what Elijah tells him. The condition is if you see me as I am taken. The double portion depends on the the double portion depends on Alicia keeping his eyes fixed on his master to the very end on staying present on staying attentive not looking away at the critical moment. The inheritance comes to the one who watches who stays spiritually awake who doesn't blink when the heavens open. Right. Alicia has to see it to receive it. And so do we. The deepest gifts come to those who keep their eyes open to the holy, to the sacred, to the kadosh right up to the last second. You know, I think that's why every synagogue in the world is built with an architect facing Jerusalem. Like we should always be praying toward Jerusalem. Not a day should go by that our eyes don't go back to the theater of God's plan. Anyway, um Alicia does see it and it's one of the most spectacular scenes in all of the Tanakh. Verse 11, as they walk along talking, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appear and separate the two of them. And Elijah the prophet goes up in a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha sees it and he cries out, "Ai, aviar, my father, my father, the chariots of heaven and its horsemen." And then Elijah is gone. Alicia takes hold of his own clothes and tears them in grief. But look what's lying there on the ground. Verse 13, the mantle of Elijah, the cloak that had fallen from him, or what I would like to think is the cloak he left behind. And when I was really young and Star Wars had just come out, I loved Jedi and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. And I have no doubt that their Jedi cloaks were inspired by Elijah and Alicia the prophet. And Alicia picks up the cloak and he walks back to the Jordan and he strikes the water the way his master did. And he cries out one question. Verse 14, I hashem Eloho, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And the waters part and Alicia crosses over. >> Yeah, I have to tell you, Jeremy, just last night, this is a very emotional day for me. My beloved uncle, he passed away. And the first words that his son Zakaria said was exactly that. He said, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen." That was the first words he said right as we're going through these chapters, which really touched me deeply. And so I do want to dedicate our learning for today to the aliat, the ascension of the soul of my uncle Aron ben yavali. Anyways, um that's a moment, you know, at the at the Jordan, Alicia picking up the fallen mantle and crying, "Where is the God of Elijah?" It's one of the most important moments in the whole Tanakh for understanding how holiness survives from one generation to the next. You know, because here is Alicia standing alone for the first time, his master gone up to heaven, the whole weight of the prophetic mission now on his shoulders, and he faces the exact same obstacle Elijah faced moments before, the river, and he does what his master did. He takes the mantle, he strikes the water, you know, but listen to the question. He cries out, "Ay, hashem elohahu, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" He doesn't say, "Where is Elijah?" He doesn't try to summon his master's power as if it were some magic in the cloak. He calls on Elijah's god. He understands that the real power was never in Elijah himself. It was in the God who Elijah served. The mantle is just wool. What parts the water is the same God who answered Elijah on Carmel. And friends, that is the secret of how a tradition stays alive alive across generations. Alicia didn't inherit he didn't inherit Elijah's magic. He inherited Elijah's relationship with God. He picked up the mantle, yes, but he reconnected it to its source. And this is the great challenge handed to every generation, including ours. We inherit the mantle, the practices, the traditions, the texts of those who came before us. But the mantle alone is dead wool. The question each of us has to ask standing at our own river is Alicia's question. Where is the God of our fathers? Not just do I have the traditions, but is the living God still inside them for me? Alicia proved worthy of the double portion, not by owning the cloak, but by crying out for the God behind it. And when he did, the waters parted for him just as they had parted for his master. The torch was passed because he reached past the man all the way to God. You know, that's really the beating heart of it. The prophets are watching from Jericho and they see it immediately and they declare the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. It's like the succession is complete. And the chapter closes with Alisha's first acts as the new prophet in town. And the first one is beautiful. It's verses 19- 22. The men of Jericho come to him. The city is lovely now. They say, "But the water is bad and the land is barren." And Alicia takes a bowl of salt, throws it into the spring, and heals the waters in the name of the Lord. And they're made pure until this day. And so his very first act as chief prophet in Israel is around water. It's to bring life, to heal what's broken, to make the bitter waters sweet. And you'll see the same way that Elijah the prophet, fire was his essence, Alicia, water is his essence. And Eli, you know, it's just like Elijah was defined by fire. Fire from heaven in Mount Carmel, fiery chariots taken away to the next world. Alicia's first act. And if you see the following acts, waters become sweet. It's a new prophet. It's a prophet of water. It's a real new era for Israel. And the chapter ends with another story to make sure that we don't misunderstand Alisha. And so the chapter ends, it's it's one of the strangest stories and even troubling episodes if you don't know the Hebrew. verses 23 to 24, Alisha goes up to Betel. Betel is where the golden calf is. Um, and a group of narim narim is sometimes translated into English as youth, but nar is not yadim. Narim really is young men, maybe older teenagers. Um, they come out and they jer it and they say, "Go up bald head. Go up bald head." And so Alicia curses them in the name of Hashem. and two bears come out of the forest and maul 42 of them and so read at face value it's kind of shocking but the sages of Israel teach that it's not what it seems the word for these naim it doesn't mean children it means young men maybe 18 19 years old the same language was used when David went out against Goliath he wasn't like a toddler he was like a young man that could actually go up against Goliath and when they said go up bald head. It wasn't teasing about his hair. The sages understand that they were mocking and a miracle had just happened and they're like, "Go up like your master Elijah went up. Get out of here. We don't want you around." That was the hostile crowd at the gates of Bal, the very heart of golden calf idolatry that's now jeering at God's new prophet and rejecting the prophetic mission itself. And so I want to point out that Alicia didn't strike them down himself. He just cursed them in the name of Hashem. He placed the matter in God's hands and invoking divine judgment rather than acting out of personal anger. And then what followed? The bears came from heaven, not from the prophet's own hand. And then look, the Tanakh places this right after Alisha's first act, healing the bitter waters of Jericho and bringing life. And it's the two of these stories stand side by side on purpose because Jericho welcomed the prophet received blessing. Bate l met him with contempt and faced judgment. And it's teaching us Elisha may be the prophet of healing waters. Compared to Elijah's fire, but he's not a pushover. Young men, idoltors to the golden calin Bal reject God and curse Elisha, they're going to be cursed immediately. And so Elisha learned a thing or two from his master Elijah. And scripture wants us to make sure that we know that he's not just a healer, but Elisha means business. And for me, the chapter calls on our generation to stand like Elisha stood at the Jordan and make a demand. Where is the God of Eli Yahu? We didn't survive 2,000 years of exile because we were just holding on to like these old Jewish traditions and rituals. We survived because in every generation, our fathers demanded a double spirit of their fathers. We demanded miracles from Hashem. We had the tenacity and the amuna to continue on our mission for 2,000 years that brought us to this moment in time. And our mission is to drive the story of Israel forward in this generation. And so may our generation pick up the mantle and watch the waters part for us too. My friends, um before we go, if these daily journeys through the prophets of Israel are touching you, they're inspiring you, I want to invite you to join our global community. I mean, right now we're learning Tanakh together every day, but it's a one-way podcast. Ari and I record. I want to invite you to take your learning to the next level. I want to invite you to experience the land of Israel fellowship live. 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