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One-sentence summary: Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha receives a double portion of his anointing, and more miracles happen through Elisha than Elijah.
Moab rebels against Israel after Ahab's death. Ahaziah falls through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and is injured, so he has messengers to inquire of a "god" to see whether he will recover. The Lord tells Elijah to meet them and tell them to give a message to the king of Samaria and ask him if it is because there is no God in Israel that he is going to inquire of Beelzebub? Therefore, God says he will not rise from his bed but surely die. After Elijah talks to them, they return immediately. The king asks why they have returned, and they give him the news and the message. He asks who the man was, and they say it was a hairy man wearing a leather belt, and the king realizes it was Elijah. The king sends a captain of fifty with his men to Elijah, who is sitting atop a hill, and he asks him to come down by the king's orders. Elijah says that if he is a man of God, then let fire come down and consume the captain and his fifty men, and it does. Then, the king sends another captain with his fifty, with the same orders, and the same thing happens again. It happens a third time, and the third man falls on his knees before Elijah and pleads with him, "Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight." And the Angel of the Lord tells Elijah to go down with him and not be afraid of him, and so he goes to the king with God's message. He says because he sent messengers to inquire of another god, he will surely die, and Ahaziah dies according to the word of the Lord. Because he has no son, Jehoram becomes king in his place, Jehoshaphat's- the king of Judah's- son.
When the Lord is about to take up Elijah to heaven by a whirlwind, he goes with Elisha from Gilgal and asks him to stay because the Lord has sent him on to Bethel, and Elisha promises not to leave him. They go to Bethel, and the sons of the prophets come to Elisha and ask if he knows that the Lord will take away Elijah from him that day. He answers that he does know and tells them to keep quiet. Then, Elijah tells him to stay because the Lord has sent him on to Jericho, and he promises again not to leave him. At Jericho, the same thing happens with other prophets, and he answers the same. Then, Elijah tells him again to stay, because the Lord has sent him to the Jordan, and he promises a third time. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets face them at a distance while they are facing the Jordan. Elijah takes his mantle, rolls it up, and strikes the water, and it is divided so that they cross over on dry ground. After they cross, Elijah tells Elisha to ask what he may do for him before he is taken away, and he asks for a double portion of his spirit. Elijah says he has asked a hard thing, but that if he sees him when he is taken up, then it will be so; if not, it will not be so. As they continue talking, suddenly, a chariot of fire appears with horses of fire and separates them, and Elijah goes up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha sees it and cries out, "Father! My father! The chariots of Israel and horsemen!" He tears his clothes and takes up Elijah's mantle that had fallen from him. He goes back to stand by the bank of the Jordan and strikes the water with the mantle and says, "Where is the Lord, God of Elijah?" The water is divided again, and he crosses over. The sons of the prophets see him and say that the spirit of Elijah rests on him, and they bow before him. They ask if they can send men to search for Elijah because the Lord may have put him on a mountain or valley. Elisha tells them no, but it says they press him to the point of embarrassment, so he consents. Fifty men search for three days but cannot find him. When they return to Elisha in Jericho, he basically says, "I told you so." They tell him that the "situation of the city is pleasant," but the water is bad and the ground barren. He asks for a new bowl with salt in it, and he goes to the water source and puts in the salt, saying that the Lord has healed the water so that there will be no more death or barrenness. He goes on to Bethel, and some youths from the city come up and mock him, calling him a "bald-head." He curses them in the name of the Lord, and two female bears come up out of the woods and maul 42 of them. He goes on to Mt. Carmel and then Samaria.
Jehoram becomes king over Israel at Samaria in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and reigns 12 years. He does evil in God's sight, but he puts away the pillar of Baal his father made. He still walks in Jeroboam's ways and causes Israel to sin. The king of Moab is a sheep breeder and pays the king in lambs and the wool of rams, but after Ahab dies, he rebels against Israel, so Jehoram musters Israel and sends to Jehoshaphat, asking if he will go up against him, and Jehoshaphat declares they are one, so they devise a plan to go up. There is no water for the army and animals after marching seven days. Jehoram declares they have been called together to be delivered to Moab, but Jehoshaphat asks for a prophet of the Lord. One of Jehoram's servants tells him Elisha has the word of the Lord, so the two of them with the king of Edom go down to him, but he tells them to go to the prophets of his parents. Elisha says he would not even look at them if it were not for Jehoshaphat. He asks for a musician, and when one plays, the hand of the Lord comes upon him, and he says the valley will be filled with water so that the men and animals may drink, and that it is a simple thing for the Lord, that He will deliver the Moabites into their hands. In the morning, the land is filled with water. When the Moabites hear Israel has come against them, they gather and stand at the border. They see the sun shining on the water, but to them, it looks red as blood, and they think the kings have killed each other, so they run to take the spoil at the camp. Israel attacks, and they flee, and they enter their land and kill them, destroying the cities. They stop up the springs and cut down the good trees. When the king of Moab sees the battle is fierce, he takes 700 men with swords to break through to the king of Edom, but he cannot, so he takes his eldest son and offers him as a burnt offering on the wall. Then, they depart to their own land.
A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cries to Elisha that her husband is dead, and the creditor is coming to take her two sons to be his slaves. Elisha asks what she has in the house, and she says just a jar of oil. He tells her to borrow empty vessels from all her neighbors and then to pour the oil into all the vessels. When they are all full, she tells her son to bring her more, and when he says there is no more, the oil ceases. She tells Elisha, and he tells her to sell it and pay her debt and live on the rest. Elisha goes to Shunam where there is a "notable woman," who persuades him to eat food, so he does whenever he passes by. She tells her husband he is a holy man, so she asks him to make a small upper room and prepare it for him. One day, he is lying in the upper room, and he tells his servant to call the woman. She stands before him, and he tells her to ask her what he can do for her. The servant says she has no son and her husband is old, and Elisha says that by this time next year, she will have a son. She tells him not to lie to her, but she conceives just as he has said. The child grows, but one day, he goes to his father, complaining of a headache, and a servant carries him to his mother. He sits on her knees until noon and then dies. She lays him on the bed of the man of God, shuts the door, and calls her husband. She asks for a young man and a donkey, and she saddles it and has her servant drive to Elisha at Mt. Carmel. When he sees her from afar, he tells her servant it is the Shunammite woman and to run ahead and ask if it is well with her and her family. She catches Elisha by the feet, and his servant wants to push her away, but he tells him to let her alone, that she is in deep distress, but the Lord has not revealed it to him. She asks him if she asked him for a son and if he deceived her. He orders the servant to run ahead and lay his staff on the child, but she says she will not leave Elisha, so he follows. The servant lays his staff on the child but gets no response and goes back to tell Elisha. When Elisha comes in, the boy is dead. He goes in and shuts the door and prays and puts his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on eyes, and his hands on hands, and he stretches himself over the child, and the child's flesh becomes warm. Elisha walks back and forth and stretches himself on the child again. Then, the child sneezes seven times and opens his eyes, and he tells the servant to call his mother. She falls at his feet and takes her son. Elisha returns to Gilgal, where there is a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets are sitting before him, and he tells his servant to boil stew for them. Some gather herbs and wild gourds and put them in the stew. As they are eating, they cry out and say, "There is death in the pot!" and they cannot it eat. He commands flour be put in it, and then it is not harmful anymore. A man comes and brings Elisha 20 loaves of barley bread and newly ripened grain (the first fruits), and he tells him to give it to the people that they may eat. The servants wonder that it is not enough, but he tells them it will be, and there is even some left over.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Elijah and Elisha walked in expectancy that nothing is too hard for the Lord. In Christ, we can do the same.