This is a pretty well known story. But, as I read thru it, I was surprised that the taking of Elijah up to heaven is actually a very small portion of the entire story. Interesting.
15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
They are missing it! They are bowing down to Elisha....when the power is coming from God. They should be worshiping God, not the vessel.
that's it nothing grand or life changing today.
tp
I found the healing of the waters interesting but did not have a clear interpretation myself. I found a lot of writing on it but I liked this piece I found--
ReplyDelete1) He needed salt: Elisha knew that he needed salt for this problem. Salt, in the Bible, is often a picture of the indwelling life of God. Salt, as you may be aware, was used as a preservative in those days[2] as refrigerators hadn’t been invented yet! They would place their meat and other food in layers of salt to prevent it from corruption. As such, the Bible often uses salt as a type of God’s life within man. It is God’s presence that preserves us and keeps us from corruption! It was salt that this city needed. It is salt (God’s life) that we need.
2) He needed a new vessel: As mentioned above, Salt was what was needed, but it could only be contained within a new vessel! So it is with humanities problems. It needs the salt of God’s indwelling presence once again – that which it forfeited oh so long ago in the garden. But the life of God can only be contained in a new vessel. One that is clean. The Bible doesn’t tell people to try to clean up their old lives. It tells them to be born again and become a new creation, a new vessel indwelt by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Only He can truly change a person and make them “productive” again.
3) He needed to go to the source of the problem: He didn’t look to the outward manifestation of the problem, nor did He try to just get each tree to be more fruitful. He didn’t try to give the trees more fertiliser and care, or double the town folk’s effort in trying to replant new trees in an effort to get more fruit. No way. Total waste of time! He went straight to the spring of water that was the source of the problem. The moral of the story? Well, the problem is not what we do. It is what we are. You can spend all of your life trying to tackle some outward sins but if you do not see and acknowledge what the source of the problem is, then you will never truly find the right solution.[3]
not my own unique take--but I liked it.
knut