Jehoram continues the wickedness of Ahab. Jehoshaphat wrongly joins in with Jehoram. The kings and their armies are in serious trouble in the wilderness of Edom. Yet, they win the battle completely. Why? Because Jehoshaphat had enough spiritual sense to seek the Lord in the time of trouble. Do you have that much sense?
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. O, that we might follow hard after God (Psalm 63:8) as Elisha followed hard after the spirit of Elijah!
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.
From now on out, all the kings of Israel do evil in the sight of the Lord and only some of the kings of Judah do good. Asa is especially interesting.
The phrase “the word of the LORD” occurs ten times in this chapter. This chapter is about the power and the importance of the word of God.
