Elijah had just enjoyed one of the greatest victories in the Bible record. He follows it up with a great defeat.
Elijah was a prophet of God during the reign of Ahab; he is mentioned 99 times in the Bible. Nine is the number of fruit in the Bible and Elijah certainly had a fruitful ministry.
This passage tells of the translation of Elijah to heaven, but the real story is about Elisha. He is determined to follow his master to the end and he desires a double portion of Elijah’s blessing. We see that he gets the blessing and begins to perform some of the miracles for which he is known.
Elijah received mighty answers to his bold prayers. The text before us provides insight into why these audacious prayers were answered by God. We would do well to learn from Elijah’s example.
Ordination is first of all a simple confirmation that God has indeed called a man and that he has faithfully shown the evidences of this call. It places some honor from those who do the ordaining upon the man who is being ordained.
