2 Kings 2:2-12 - Homiletics

Faithful friendship.

Though Elisha is said to have " ministered " to Elijah ( 1 Kings 19:21 ), and to have "poured water on his hands" ( 2 Kings 3:11 ), yet he was far more Elijah's friend than his servant. There was no broad difference of rank between the two to hinder this. Rather Elisha was, in original worldly position, the higher of the two. The glimpse we get of his early home in 1 Kings 19:19-21 is indicative of comfort and wealth. In education and manners he must have been quite Elijah's equal. A friendship, in the proper sense of the term, was thus possible between them, and seems to have existed, and to have been warm and true. It was a friendship, however, in which a certain disparity was recognized on either side—the φιλία καθ ὑπεροχὴν , of Aristotle. Elijah was the elder man of the two; he had, when the two became acquainted, the higher social position, being familiar with the court at the time when Elisha was a mere well-to-do farmer; and, as the recognized head of the prophetical order, he had a quasi-ecclesiastical position far higher than that which Elisha occupied during his lifetime. The French proverb says, "Darts les amities il y a toujours un qui aline, et l'autre qui est aime;" and, under the circumstances, it was natural that the attachment should be warmest on Elisha's side.

1. Elisha shows his attachment by that continuous ministry which caused him to be designated as "Elisha, which poured water on the hands of Elijah" ( 2 Kings 3:11 )—that constant waiting upon the great prophet, and unceasing service, which lasted from the casting of the mantle at Abel-Meholah to the ascent in the chariot and horses of fire.

2. He shows it by his determination to see the last of his friend, to remain in his company as long as he possibly can.

3. He shows it very remarkably by the sympathy which he displays with Elijah's mood on the journey from Gilgal to the plain east of Jordan, the silence which he keeps, the brief replies which he makes, the care which he takes that his master's meditations shall be kept free from disturbance. 4. Finally, he shows it by his deep grief when the hour of parting comes; the exclamation forced from him, "My father! my father!" and the violent rending of his clothes into two pieces , which was something very different from the conventional rending of ordinary mourners. As David and Jonathan furnish the scriptural model for a friendship between equals, so Elijah and Elisha may properly be regarded as the model for a friendship between unequals, both equally constant, but perhaps not both equally loving—one the protector, the director, the benefactor, the teacher, the master, the guide; the other the dependent, the scholar, the servant, the faithful devotedly attached follower, admirer, almost slave; bound together in a lifelong bond always becoming more and more close, and presented to us, not merely to awaken in us a passing interest, but to stir us under suitable circumstances to imitation.