1 Kings 19.19-21:
| 19.19וילך משם | He walks from there. |
|---|---|
| וימצא את אלישע בן שפט | He finds Eliysha ben Shafat.α |
| והוא חרש שנים עשר צמדים לפניו | He plows, twelve teams before his face, |
| והוא בשנים העשר | he himself in the twelfth. |
| ויעבר אליהו אליו | Eliyahuβ passes over to him. |
| וישלך אדרתו אליו׃ | He throws his cloak at him.γ |
| 19.20ויעזב את הבקר | Eliysha leaves the oxen. |
| וירץ אחרי אליהו | He runs behind Eliyahu. |
| ויאמר אשקה נא לאבי ולאמי | He says, “Please; I kiss my father and my mother. |
| ואלכה אחריך | I walk behind you.” |
| ויאמר לו לך שוב | Eliyahu says to him, “Go. Turn back. |
| כי מה עשיתי לך׃ | For what do I do to you?” |
| 19.21וישב מאחריו | Eliysha turns back to stay there. |
| ויקח את צמד הבקר | He takes his team of oxen. |
| ויזבחהו | He sacrifices them. |
| ובכלי הבקר בשלם הבשר | He uses the oxen’s things to boil their meat.δ |
| ויתן לעם | He gives it to the people. |
| ויאכלו | They eat. |
| ויקם | He gets up. |
| וילך אחרי אליהו | He walks behind Eliyahu. |
| וישרתהו׃ | He ministers to him. |
I should point out that after God orders Elijah to anoint some people, Elijah never actually anoints any of them. In Elisha’s case, he just throws his cloak at him; in Hazael’s case, Elisha anoints him; and in Jehu’s case, one of Elisha’s disciples anoints him. In fact, Elijah comes across a bit snippy after receiving these directions—note how he treats Elisha here. Quite possibly his experience at Horeb was a big disappointment.
Well, anyway. Elijah goes to Avel-mechola. The name means “meadow of dancing,” and Easton’s Bible Dictionary places it near the Wadi el-Maleh, near the Jordan (’cause it’s described elsewhere in scripture as a border town), south of Beit-She’an. Obviously it’s agricultural, ’cause Elisha is plowing.
Elijah walks past the other teams of oxen and throws his cloak at Elisha. Some commentators say that Elijah’s cloak was distinctively that of a prophet. There’s some indication that by this point in Israeli history, prophets were dressing and acting distinctively—they wore prophet’s cloaks, shaved their heads, and created guilds. Elijah is described elsewhere as having a hair cloak and a leather belt; we don’t know if that’s because hair and leather were Elijah’s thing, or whether God’s prophets of the day wore known for wearing hair cloaks and leather belts. To some degree this distinctive dress is an imitation of pagan practices, since God has no special commands regarding a prophet’s dress or facial hair—nothing other than His requirements for all Hebrews—but God hadn’t prohibited such behavior either. I think it’s a bit goofy, but there is an up side to it: If you dress like God’s prophet, you’re sorta forced to behave like you work for God, so as to not dishonor Him. So if this is a distinctive prophet’s cloak, then throwing it at (or upon) Elisha indicates that Elisha has just joined the guild.
Asking to kiss his parents was, to some degree, Elisha’s way of weaseling out of this call. Jesus has a similar comment about this sort of thing in Luke 9.61-62:
Another also said, “I will follow you, Master. First allow me to say good-bye to those in my house.”
Jesus said to him, “Nobody placing a hand to the plow, and looking to the rear, is suitable for God’s Kingdom.”
When you first decide to follow Jesus, what are the chances your pagan family members are gonna be all that thrilled about the idea? And the same idea applies to Elisha—what were the chances his parents, regardless of how much they were following God (or Ba’al), were going to be all that thrilled about their son deciding to enter the thankless, life-threatening career field of professional prophet? Dad and Mom were either gonna talk him out of it, loudly proclaim that he’s lost his mind, or half-heartedly suggest that maybe he could work for Elijah during the winter months, but right now it’s planting season.
Elisha was no dummy. He knew how his parents were gonna respond. He was going to them deliberately so that they would respond this way. But neither was Elijah a dummy—he asked, “What do I do to you?” In other words, “What does what I’ve just done mean?” It’s no small thing for a prophet to recognize your own prophetic call. It’s not quite the equivalent of dumping a hornful of oil over your head, but it’s still pretty significant.
And—since Elisha truly was a prophet—the Holy Spirit had given him enough insight to realize this: He had Elijah’s cloak. More than simply being recognized as a prophet, he was being designated as Elijah’s successor.
It’s not clear whether Elisha or Elisha’s family owns all twelve teams of oxen. Some say yes, and this would indicate that Elisha had a lot of wealth to leave behind, which would have been a temptation for him to ignore Elijah’s call. Some say he just owned his own pair of oxen—the ones he killed—which is considerably more dramatic, because in sacrificing them and burning up their equipment, he left nothing behind. Nothing, that is, but his parents—which, as you’ll notice, he actually doesn’t go back to kiss. He simply goes and follows Elijah.
α. Elisha, son of Shaphat.
β. Elijah.
γ. Usu. “upon him.” It could mean that too.
δ. Lit. “The things of the oxen, he boils the meat.”
