The Cloak That Fell from the Whirlwind

Ever since the day Elijah threw his cloak over him in a plowed field, Elisha had gone wherever Elijah went. Now the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, and somehow everybody knew it.

"Stay here," Elijah said at Gilgal. "The LORD has sent me on to Bethel."

"As surely as the LORD lives, and as you live," said Elisha, "I will not leave you."

At Bethel a crowd of young prophets came hurrying out. "Do you know the LORD is taking your master away from you today?"

"Yes, I know," said Elisha. "Hush."

Elijah tried twice more, at Bethel and at Jericho. "Stay here." Each time Elisha said, "I will not leave you." At Jericho still more prophets rushed out with the same news, and got the same "Hush!" (Prophets could hear things from God. Keeping them to themselves was harder.)

At the Jordan, while fifty prophets watched from far off, Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water. SMACK! The river split in two, and the two men crossed over on dry ground.

On the far bank Elijah turned. "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"

"Let me have a double share of your spirit," said Elisha.

(In those days the oldest son got a double share of everything his father left. Elisha was asking to carry on Elijah's work as his son.)

"You have asked a hard thing," said Elijah. "But if you see me when I am taken, it will be yours."

They were still walking and talking when a chariot of fire, pulled by horses of fire, came between them, and a whirlwind swept Elijah up into heaven.

Elisha saw it all. "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"

Then the sky was empty. Elisha tore his clothes in two, the way people did when someone they loved was gone.

Elijah's cloak lay on the ground where it had fallen. Elisha picked it up, walked back to the Jordan, and struck the water.

"Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he shouted.

The river split, just as before, and Elisha crossed over alone.

The prophets from Jericho bowed down to the ground. "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha!" they said. "Let us send fifty strong men to look for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the LORD dropped him on some mountain or in some valley."

"No," said Elisha. "Don't send them."

They kept asking until he was too embarrassed to say no. The fifty men searched for three days and came back empty-handed. (Elijah was not on any mountain. He was a good deal higher up than that.)

"Didn't I tell you not to go?" said Elisha.

Elijah never died. But he could not take Elisha with him, and one day Elisha, double share and all, grew sick and died like everyone else. A cloak can rest on only one pair of shoulders.

After Elisha, the prophets went on handing God's word from one to the next, and through the prophet Joel God made a bigger promise: one day he would pour out his Spirit on all his people, young and old.

One day another teacher sat at a meal with his friends in Jerusalem. "Stay in the city," he told them, "until you are clothed with power from heaven." Then he led them out to a hill, and while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud hid him from their eyes. They stood staring at the empty sky.

A few days later, flames of fire rested on each of them. Jesus had gone up, and his own Spirit had come down.