2Ki 2:8-14 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 8. Took his mantle ] τηνμηλωτηναυτου, his sheep-skin , says the Septuagint . The skins of beasts, dressed with the hair on, were formerly worn by prophets and priests as the simple insignia of their office. As the civil authority was often lodged in the hands of such persons, particularly among the Jews, mantles of this kind were used by kings and high civil officers when they bore no sacred character. The custom continues to the present day; a lamb's skin hood or cloak is the badge which certain graduates in our universities wear; and the royal robes of kings and great officers of state are adorned with the skins of the animal called the ermine . They were divided hither and thither ] This was a most astonishing miracle, and could be performed only by the almighty power of God.

‏ 2 Kings 2:8-14

Verse 8. Took his mantle] τηνμηλωτηναυτου, his sheep-skin, says the Septuagint. The skins of beasts, dressed with the hair on, were formerly worn by prophets and priests as the simple insignia of their office. As the civil authority was often lodged in the hands of such persons, particularly among the Jews, mantles of this kind were used by kings and high civil officers when they bore no sacred character. The custom continues to the present day; a lamb's skin hood or cloak is the badge which certain graduates in our universities wear; and the royal robes of kings and great officers of state are adorned with the skins of the animal called the ermine.

They were divided hither and thither] This was a most astonishing miracle, and could be performed only by the almighty power of God.

Verse 9. A double portion of thy spirit be upon me.] This in reference to the law, De 21:17: He shall acknowledge the first-born, by giving him a DOUBLE PORTION of all that he hath-the right of the first-born is his. Elisha considered himself the only child or first-born of Elijah, as the disciples of eminent teachers were called their children; so here he claims a double portion of his spiritual influence, any other disciples coming in for a single share only. Sons of the prophets means no more than the disciples or scholars of the prophets. The original words pi shenayim, mean rather two parts, than double the quantity.

Verse 10. A hard thing] This is what is not in my power, God alone can give this; yet if thou see me taken away from thee, it shall be so. Perhaps this means no more than, "If thou continue with me till I am translated, God will grant this to thee;" for on the mere seeing or not seeing him in the moment in which he was taken away, this Divine gift could not depend.

Verse 11. A chariot of fire, and horses of fire] That is a chariot and horses of the most resplendent glory, which, manifesting itself in coruscations or shooting rays, seemed to be like blazing fire, or like the sun in his strength. Some think that this circumstance, know in the heathen world, gave rise to the fable of Apollo, or the sun, being seated in a blazing chariot, drawn by \@horses which breathed and snorted fire. These horses were four\@, and called Pyroeis, Eous, AEthon, and Phlegon; all which words signify fire or resplendent light. So OVID:

Nec tibi quadrupedes animosos ignibus illis

Quos in pectore habent, quos ore et naribus efflant,

In promptu regere est: vix me patiunur, ut acres

Incaluere animi; cervixque repugnat habenis.

OVID, Met. Lib. ii., 84.

Interea volucres Pyroeis, Eous, et AEthon,

Solis equi, quartusque Phlegon, hinnitibus auras

Flammiferis implent, pedibusque repagula pulsant

Ib. 153.

Meanwhile the restless horses neighed aloud,

Breathing out fire and pawing where they stood,

Nor would you find it easy to compose

The mettled steeds, when from their nostrils flows

The scorching fire, that in their entrils glows.

Even I their headstrong fury scarce restrain,

When they grow worm, and restiff to the rein.

DRYDEN.

Perhaps the whole of this fable, which represents Phaethon son of Apollo requesting to drive the chariot of his father (\@the horses and chariot of fire) for one day, was borrowed from the request of Elisha\@

to his spiritual father Elijah, whom he afterwards saw borne away \@by a whirlwind, in a chariot of fire drawn by fiery steeds\@.

Elijah went up-into heaven] He was truly translated; and the words here leave us no room to indulge the conjecture of Dr. Priestley, who supposes that as "Enoch, (probably Moses,) Elijah, and Christ, had no relation to any other world or planet, they are no doubt in this;" for we are told that Elijah went up into heaven; and we know, from the sure testimony of the Scripture, that our blessed Lord is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for us.

Elijah went up-into heaven] He was truly translated; and the words here leave us no room to indulge the conjecture of Dr. Priestley, who supposes that as "Enoch, (probably Moses,) Elijah, and Christ, had no relation to any other world or planet, they are no doubt in this;" for we are told that Elijah went up into heaven; and we know, from the sure testimony of the Scripture, that our blessed Lord is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ever living to make intercession for us.

Verse 12. The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.] The Chaldee translates these words thus: 'My master, my master! who, by thy intercession, wast of more use to Israel than horses and chariots." This is probably the sense.

In the Book of Ecclesiasticus 48:1, &c., the fiery horses and chariot are considered as an emblem of that burning zeal which Elijah manifested in the whole of his ministry: "Then stood up Elijah the prophet as fire, and his word burned as a lamp," &c.

And rent them in two pieces.] As a sign of sorrow for having lost so good and glorious a master.

Verse 13. He took-the mantle] The same with which he had been called by Elijah to the prophetic office, and the same by which Elijah divided Jordan. His having the mantle was a proof that he was invested with the authority and influence of his master.

Verse 14. Where is the Lord God of Elijah?] The Vulgate gives a strange turn to this verse: Et percussit aquas, et non sunt divisae; et dixu, Ubi est Deus Eliae etiam nunc? Percussitque aquas, et divisae sunt huc et illuc. "And he smote the waters, but they did not divide; and he said, Where is the God of Elijah even now? And he struck the waters and they were divided hither and thither." The act of striking the waters seems to be twice repeated in the verse, though we get rid of the second striking by rendering the second clause, when he also had smitten the waters: which has the same Hebrew words as the first, and which we translate, he smote the waters. The Vulgate supposes he smote once in vain, perhaps confiding too much in his own strength; and then, having invoked the God of Elijah, he succeeded. This distinction is not followed by any of the other versions; nor is the clause, et non sunt divisae, "and they divided not," expressed by the Hebrew text.