Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 2:13–18, “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. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?”
The fearless and rugged prophets who brought the Lord’s message to Israel during the time of their spiritual decline were extremely courageous men. Imagine what a person could expect today if they went to a prosperous nation full of self satisfied and self righteous people and told them that they are sinners. That is just about the best way to get a good hard hit in the head. Well, the Lord’s prophets in Old Testament times were like that. Many of them were beaten and treated with scorn, some were also killed for their obedience to the Lord. Some of these brave people are mentioned in the New Testament. (see Heb 11:32–38, “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”) Many of there courageous prophets wore rough coats as a uniform showing their dedication to the Lord. Elisha noticed that Elijah’s coat had fallen down from the chariot of fire so he took that coat and assumed his position as another one of the fearless servants of the Lord by wearing the uniform. He came back to the Jordan River, called out to the Lord, Elijah’s God, struck the water with his prophet’s coat and crossed the river bed just like Elijah (and Joshua with Israel many years before) had done. When the trainee prophets, the men who were training in the prophet school saw Elisha they were worried about Elijah and wanted to look for him. Elisha told them not to because he knew that no one would ever find him as he was in heaven. However the students persisted so that Elisha let them go but they didn’t find Elijah or his body.
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