The Call of Elisha pt 2:
A New Prophet is Called
1 Kings 19:19-21
Recap
The Prophet Elijah was exhausted and discouraged, so God gave him one final ministry task to accomplish – to anoint the men who would complete the work that Elijah had begun.
As I mentioned last week Elijah only managed to anoint one of the three – Elisha, who would take up his prophetic mantle. There were a number of other very interesting things that Elijah did before God took him home, and you can read about those in the chapters following 1 Kings 19, up to 2 Kings chapter 2 where we read of how Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, accompanied by a chariot and horses of fire.
Today we are going to focus on Elisha, and how his ministry commenced.
1 Kings 19:19-21
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.[1]
Farmer Becomes Prophet!
There’s one thing I find particularly interesting about God’s selection of Elisha to carry on Elijah’s prophetic ministry – He chose someone completely out of the frame! There were already at least one hundred other prophets that God could have chosen from – men who had been trained in prophetic ministry and who had some experience already. Surely there must have been at least one from this group ready to step up and take on increased responsibility.
In fact, as we read the last chapters of 1 Kings we discover several stories where nameless prophets faithfully deliver the word of the Lord to King Ahab and to other people also. One prophet is named, Micaiah in chapter 22. He is one fearless dude! He took on King Ahab of
I wonder how those prophets may have felt about Elisha’s appointment? It must have been tempting to feel a little jealous or resentful.
Have you ever seen someone promoted to a position of prominence or authority and felt that way? I have! The Bible calls that “selfish ambition”, and speaks very strongly about it.
James 3:13-16 says:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice
I remember sitting in a group where a speaker at a large Christian even was being criticised, and I remember the awful feeling I had as I listened. The people criticising sounded so wise as they listed point after point describing why the person had done a lousy job, but in reality it was their own selfish ambition that was on display. They each thought they knew better than the one who actually had the responsibility for the task, and I think each one secretly wished that they had been the one on stage before all those people. So instead of building up the body of Christ they set about destroying one of it’s servants.
Just as God told Elijah to appoint Elisha to succeed him as the foremost prophet in
In Mark 13 we read of Jesus teaching about the end of this age. In verses 32 to 34 we read:
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
In 1 Corinthians 3:5 Paul picks up this thought and says:
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
In chapter 7 Paul goes on to say that even our situation in life has been assigned to us by God! (v.17)
What no-one else yet knew was that God had already been preparing Elisha for the work that lay ahead of him. The family that he grew up in, the work that he had been doing, the lessons learned, the mistake made – God was at work in all of this. The appointment of Elisha was not God’s off-the-cuff response to Elijah’s meltdown – He already knew and was already prepared.
Psalm 139:16 tells us:
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be
Now I want you to imagine this: Elisha is busily working through his seeding programme. The pressure is on to get the seed in the ground while the conditions are ideal. Verse 19 tells us:
He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair.
The way this story is told implies that Elisha was the man in charge. He had 12 pair of oxen, and we read in verse 21 that he had the right to kill one pair, as well as use the plowing equipment for firewood. The fact that he was wealthy enough to have 12 teams, with servants or siblings driving them, yet also joined the work himself shows us that he was a hard-working man. He did not use his wealth to indulge himself and he did not consider himself above menial labour.
So God direct Elijah to this wealthy yet humble and hard-working man Elisha…
Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”
Elisha obviously understood the significance of what Elijah had done. We don’t know a lot about how Old Testament prophets were attired, but it seems that it was common practice for a prophet to have a distinctive coat made from animal hair. Zechariah 13:4 calls this a “prophet’s garment of hair”, and we know that John the Baptist’s clothes for example were made from camel’s hair (Matt. 3:4). As soon as Elijah put this prophet’s cloak on Elisha, Elisha comprehended what was being said – he was being called to become a prophet and succeed Elijah.
Put yourself in Elisha’s shoes. He’s a successful, busy, middle aged man, a pillar of his community and responsible not only to look after his parents but those who work for him. He’s being asked to leave behind all that he has worked for and take over for the guy who has been basically hiding out for more than 3 years because the king hates him and the queen wants him dead.
Amazingly, Elisha takes up the offer! He runs after Elijah and asks to have some time to say goodbye to his parents first.
This will remind many of you of a time when a man asked Jesus the same thing – to first go home and say goodbye to his family, then he would come and follow Jesus.
Luke 9:62
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the
Jesus, who knows people’s hearts, could tell that this man was actually more committed to his own family than he was to following Jesus. There was probably a good chance that if his family begged him to stay that he would do so.
Jesus’ reply shows that when God calls you to something, you can’t keep looking back at what was behind you. People who are controlled by their past or who long to return to their past are unfit to serve God faithfully and effectively. You can just imagine the wonky furrows that would be produced by a ploughman who was looking backwards instead of forwards! We naturally move toward what we are looking at.
I remember watching Tim at the swimming carnival. He loves swimming, and it was great to watch him swim. In one race in particular, there was one thing that held him back from doing as well as he could have – he kept looking back at a friend who was behind him. He stayed in front of that friend, but not in front of those who were on the other side of him, out of his view. I’m sure that if he just focused on the finish line and strained to get there as fast as he could, that he would have recorded a better time.
Now, as much as I want Tim to do well in races, it’s not really a big deal. I mainly just want him to enjoy the experience. However in the race that God has marked out for us, the stakes are higher.
Paul says in Acts 20:24
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
Paul considered the task God had given him to be more important than even his life.
As we discover in this story, Elisha had the same sort of attitude.
21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.
Elisha wanted everyone to know that he had left his old life behind him. He left the life of a wealthy farmer and chose to become the servant and successor of a despised prophet. His heart was not divided, he had chosen his course and would follow it.
Now let’s turn the spotlight onto us!
We know about the Elisha and Paul; but what about you?
What has God already called you to do?
Are you doing it, or is your hand at the plough but your eyes facing backward?
What is it that controls you? Is it the calling of God on your life, or is it your family, your job, your hobbies, your worries, your plans, your friends, your laziness, pride, jealousy, resentment, stubbornness?
Please don’t allow anything to hold you back from serving God and following His call on your life. We can all make excuses, God is looking for people who will take up their cross and follow Him.
Remember as Jesus spoke about in Mark 13, the Master is going to return, and all His servants will give an account for what they have done. He won’t be interested in excuses or our opinions of other people’s efforts, He will be looking at whether we have done what He has asked us to do or not.
This week I want to encourage you to do 2 things:
· Evaluate your own life. Are you doing what God wants you to do? Do you have a peace that comes from the Holy Spirit, or is the Spirit quietly convicting you of things that need to change?
· Clarify your calling. Are you clear on what you should be doing? Are you clear about what God requires of all His children? Are you clear about what He has asked specifically of you?
[1] All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984.
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