On Elijahs and Elishas

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Request whatever I might do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” -- 2 Kings 2:9 (NAB)

Elijah is looked on as the prototypical Old Testament prophet, a very understandable title. He was the first major prophet in the divided kingdom and operated in great power. It was later prophesied that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah, a prophecy that Jesus said was fulfilled in John the Baptist. He, along with Moses, appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration.

Elisha's request was granted; he received a double portion of Elijah's spirit and performed many mighty deeds. He also seemed to have been better received by the King of Israel than was Elijah. Yet you hear much less of him than of Elijah.

As I reflected on it, it seemed like there were at least three other pairs in Scripture that were similar to Elijah and Elisha. The Elijah tended to be the more famous one, at least initially, and did do many great things, but the Elisha did even mightier deeds and actually got the job done. The Elijah, though, was not an unimportant, publicity-grabbing place-filler, by any means. The Elijah was very important to the Elisha in preparing the way for the Elisha's future success.

I also started thinking of the current generations in term of Elijah and Elisha. I would define the Elijah generation as those born in the roughly 40 years before 1973, while the Elishas are those born in the almost 40 years since. The Elijahs, including all the Baby Boomers, tend to attract a lot of attention and in many cases have done important things for God. But I sense that the Lord has something very special in mind for the Elishas -- so special that the evil one has been trying to destroy them, as he tried to destroy the Christ Child through the murder of the Holy Innocents. The modern Elisha generation will do mighty things for God, I'm sure.

Both the Elijahs and the Elishas have things to learn from their counterparts in the past. I'm going to try to capture some of that in the next few posts, both for my own sake and the sakes of anyone the Holy Spirit may lead to this blog.