He stands a head and shoulders over each of the oxen he is plowing with. Elijah comes near where he is working but stays out of sight so he can watch him for a while.Įlisha appears to be a strong man who is used to hard work. It doesn’t take long for him to recognize the field that was described or to spot the man working it. It is a large parcel and he will most likely be out working it” offers an inn keeper.Įlijah thanks him and heads towards the place indicated. “His land is beyond the hill on the right.

Elijah makes his way about town, asking everyone he encounters as to the whereabouts of the man Elisha, son of Shaphat. Now remains the task of finding this man. This is where the Lord said Elisha would be from. He wants as much time with him as possible to train him in the ways of the Lord.Įlijah arrives at Abel-meholah. The part of meeting his successor though he will do as soon as possible. He realizes this is a ‘long term’ plan and not something that he is to go and do this very day. It didn’t matter though because as long as the journey was with the Lord ALL was good.Īs Elijah makes his way towards Damascus he mulls over what the Lord wants him to do. The last time he set out on a journey with the Lord he didn’t know his destination or what to expect when he got there. He knows what the Lord has asked him to do and where he is supposed to go. Let’s rejoin our story and walk in the shoes of the men God used.Įlijah is excited to be traveling with a direction in mind. What was the difference between Elisha and this man? Why was one allowed to have a ‘farewell party’ and the other verbally chastised by Jesus? Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). When Jesus was walking one day a man asked to follow Him but also asked first to go home and say good-bye to his family. The last thing that struck me is Elisha’s request “Let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you” (verse 20b). Was this by someone pointing out Elisha, by description, or by leading of the Spirit? I like how he tossed his cloak on Elisha as he walked on by. But there was no doubt in Elijah’s mind as to the identity of the man he approached. It is possible that the Spirit opened Elisha’s eyes to who had just ‘tapped him for duty’.Įlijah, on the other hand, knew Elisha’s name and general location. I don’t know if Elisha had seen Elijah in action, had heard about him and knew him by description, or if everything was imparted to him when Elijah threw his cloak over his shoulders.

The second thing I noticed is that Elisha appears to know who Elijah was.

In doing this he also ‘burned his bridges’ by stripping himself of his wealth. And the oxen were his because he killed them, broke up their yokes for firewood and offered them as a sacrifice (and food) before following Elijah. Although Elisha wasn’t so rich that he stayed home while the ‘help’ did all the work.Įlisha was in the field doing the work. Either way that is a LOT of power on the hoof! And you wouldn’t need that many oxen if you didn’t have a sizable field to plow. I’m not certain if this means 12 oxen yoked together or 12 yokes with two oxen each. I don’t know a lot about life in Israel at that time but Elisha had TWELVE yoke of oxen. The first is that Elisha seems to be a wealthy man. After our time with them I MIGHT be able to remember who did what and when, but I’m making NO promises.īefore we jump into our story I want to note a couple of things I found interesting in this story.

I have learned to google the story points and see which name comes up in my search. I am forever getting these two men’s names mixed up. Elijah walks up and calls Elisha by throwing his cloak on him and walking away.Įlijah told God how he was feeling overworked and under appreciated by the people.

1 kings 19 elijah bible study questions