1 Kgs 19:19-21 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, on Mount Horeb, Elijah said to God, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kgs 19:10). God did not argue with him. He sent him back, told him to anoint two kings, and said: “anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place” (1 Kgs 19:16).
This lesson is only three verses long. Elijah goes to find the one who will take his place.
19So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and put his mantle on him.
20Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?”
21He returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, killed them, and boiled their meat with the oxen’s equipment, and gave to the people; and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him.
Doing what God said. “So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat” (v. 19). At the end of the last lesson God sent him back; at the start of this one, he goes. The passage does not record how Elijah felt; it only records that he went and did it.
In the field. Elisha “was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth” (v. 19). The passage does not say Elisha was waiting for a call. He was doing his daily work — like Moses keeping sheep in the wilderness.
A mantle. Elijah “went over to him and put his mantle on him” (v. 19). The passage records no words from Elijah, only this action. On Horeb, God had said to “anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah” (1 Kgs 19:16); here the passage describes a mantle. This mantle also appeared in the last lesson: on Horeb, Elijah “wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave” (1 Kgs 19:13). In the next lesson, it appears again.
Going back first. Elisha “left the oxen and ran after Elijah”, and asked him, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you” (v. 20). Elijah answered, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?” (v. 20). This can be read as letting him go, or as reminding him to think about what had just happened. The passage does not record the tone, and this lesson does not decide it for the passage.
Killing the oxen. Elisha went back, “and took the yoke of oxen, killed them, and boiled their meat with the oxen’s equipment, and gave to the people; and they ate” (v. 21). The plowing oxen and their equipment all went into this one meal. The passage goes on: “Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him” (v. 21).
No longer alone. On Horeb Elijah said, “I, even I only, am left” (1 Kgs 19:10). God answered him: “Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel” (1 Kgs 19:18), and he also gave him someone to take his place. By the end of this lesson, Elijah has someone beside him who serves him.
Later, Elisha was known among the Israelites in a particular way. When King Jehoshaphat wanted to inquire of the LORD, one of the king of Israel’s servants said, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here” (2 Kgs 3:11).
The last words of this lesson are “Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him” (v. 21). Years later, when people spoke of Elisha, they still remembered him as the man who had served Elijah.
Many of us are sometimes like Elijah on Horeb, feeling that we are the only one left. This lesson does not tell you that feeling is wrong. It only lets you see that God did not argue with Elijah; he gave him someone to walk with.
Perhaps you are the one who thinks it is all yours to carry alone. Perhaps you are the one still out in the field, not yet knowing you will be called to follow.
This week: Think of something you have been carrying alone. Write down the name of someone you could ask to share it with you, or someone you could pass your experience on to, and talk with them this week.
Scripture: World English Bible.