A PERTINENT PRESCRIPTION

          While the prophet Elijah felt all alone (1Kgs.18:22 & 19:10 & 14), he really wasn’t.  God was with him and, although perhaps unknown to him, there were 7,000 among the Israelites who had not bowed their knees to Baal (1Kgs.19:18).  Yet God saw fit to meet Elijah’s “felt needs” by giving him a partner in the person of Elisha.  From the text of 1Kgs.19:19-21 one can deduce that Elisha was young and strong and not afraid of work.  His devotion is apparent (as both a son and in his eagerness to ve Jehovah God).  He possesses a sense of decisiveness - - no arguing with Elijah or God; no ambivalence.  He sacrificed (to the Lord) his oxen and burned his plow in the process, as there would be no turning back.  He celebrated his new calling and promptly arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him (1Kgs.19:21).  For Elisha, no service was too small or beneath him (2Kgs.3:11).

          Elijah’s mantel was passed on to Elisha and what a team they became.  The next decade was marked with rather ordinary acts of ministry.

Comparatively speaking, these days of Elijah differed considerably from his first four years, with far fewer whistles and bells.  Although he had left his oxen behind, Elisha became to Elijah a true “yokefellow” (to borrow a term from Paul / Philp.4:3).  WHAT A RICH BLESSING TO HAVE PARTNERS!  

Two are better than one…for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion (Eccl.4:9-10).

Terry Siverd / Cortland Church Of Christ