Elijah, the prophet, was now an old man. He had been a wonderful man. He had worked hard to destroy the worship of Baal out of the land of Israel, and he had tried to turn the people back to serve the true God. But now he was old, and his work on this earth was ended. He was ready to go to heaven.
God had chosen another brave man to do the same kind of work as Elijah had begun. This man was Elisha, the friend of Elijah, who often went with him on his journeys. And Elisha knew the time had come when God was going to take away the old prophet. Elisha loved Elijah very much, and he felt unwilling to let the old prophet leave him. But the time had come when God wished to take Elijah up to heaven. And Elijah seemed eager to go. He visited the schools where the young prophets were studying about God, and perhaps he bade them all good-by. Then he urged Elisha to stay with them. But Elisha answered, “I will not leave you.” So they two went on together, and the young prophets followed far behind; for they knew that Elijah, their faithful old teacher, was going to heaven that day. And they wished they might see him go;
When the two men, Elijah and his friend, came to the River Jordan, the old prophet took off his mantle, wrapped it together, and struck the waters of the Jordan with it. The waters parted at once, and a dry path appeared through their midst. Then the two walked across to the other side.
The young prophets soon lost sight of what was taking place on the other side of the river. They were too far away to hear Elijah ask Elisha what he should do for him before he should be taken away. And they were too far away to hear Elisha ask that a double portion of the old prophet’s spirit might rest upon him. Elijah knew that only God could bestow such a gift upon Elisha. So he answered his friend, “If you see me when I am taken away, then you shall know that God will give you a double portion of my spirit.”
On and on the two men went, when suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire pushed between them and separated them. Then a great whirlwind came, and Elisha saw his dear old friend leave this world and start upward toward heaven in the whirlwind. Elisha knew that Elijah was leaving him forever. He looked up and cried, “My father! my father!” Then the great whirlwind and the chariot and horses of fire and the old prophet Elijah disappeared in the clouds, and Elisha could not see them any more.
But lying on the ground at Elisha’s feet was the old mantle that Elijah used to wear. And Elisha picked it up and started back to the land of Israel.
The young prophets stood watching by the side of the River long after they had lost sight of the two men. And when Elisha came back alone, they saw him. They saw him wrap Elijah’s mantle together, just as the old prophet himself had done, and they saw him strike the waters with it. Then they saw the waters part, just as they had parted before when Elijah struck them. And the young prophets said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting upon Elisha.” So they hurried out to meet him and bowed down at his feet, just as they had bowed down before the old prophet who had gone up to heaven in the whirlwind.
Elisha was now master, or teacher, of the young prophets. And the young men wished to send some of their number across the Jordan to look for the body of Elijah. They thought that perhaps the old prophet’s body might be left on top of one of the mountains in that land. Elisha said, “Do not send, for you can not find Elijah’s body.” But when the young prophets kept urging him to let them send of their men, finally he said, “Let them go.”
For three days the servants searched everywhere for the body of Elijah. But they could find no trace of him. Then they came back, and Elisha said, “Did I not tell you that you should not send?” “And Elisha stayed for a while with the young men at the school of the prophets in Jericho.