I'll Never Be The Same!
Text
1 Kings 19:19-21
Background
Elisha’s Calling and Training by Elijah
The call of Elisha is unique in biblical narrative (1 Kgs 19:19–21). The backstory that the book of Kings provides is that while Elijah is hiding in a cave from the wrath of Queen Jezebel, he expresses his loneliness as a servant of the Lord. In response, God tells him to get up and anoint Hazael as king over Aram (later known as Syria), Jehu as king over Israel, and Elisha as his own successor. Together, these three are to purge Israel of God’s enemies, yet 7,000 shall be spared for their loyalty to the Lord (1 Kgs 19:14–18). While Elisha, unaware of this plan, is plowing his field with 12 pairs of oxen, Elijah passes by and casts his cloak upon Elisha (1 Kgs 19:19).
The plow they used was a rude affair, far inferior to modern plows. It did not enter deep into the soil, and was of light simple constructions, sometimes made merely of the trunk of a young tree having two branches running in opposite directions. Most plows, however, were not quite so primitive in structure. Some of them had one handle and some two handles, and they were usually drawn by oxen. Often the plowman worked in company. In his book (The Land and the Book, 1860), Dr. W. M. Thompson reported seeing more than a dozen plows at work in the same field, each having its plowman and yoke of oxen, and all moving along in single file. Rev. Joseph Anderson (Bible Light from Bible Lands, 1856) makes a similar statement. So we can see how Elijah “was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen.” He had not, as some have imagined, twelve-four ox yoked to a single plow, but there were twelve plows in a file, each having its own oxen and plowman, and he “was driving the twelfth pair”—that is, he had charge of the last plow in the file.
Big Idea
Promotion
19:19–21 Elijah accepts the Lord’s reassurances and anoints Elisha. Like the widow (17:24), the people on Mount Carmel (18:39–40), and Ahab (18:41–19:1), Elijah has experienced the power and healing of God. So he sets out to obey God, fully aware that God is his strength and his word will not fail.39 Elijah throws his cloak, or mantle, upon Elisha, a symbolic way of transferring the prophetic power from one man to the next.
Pursuit
1 Kings 19:20. Elisha understanding the sign, left the oxen standing, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “Let me kiss my father and my mother,” i.e., take leave of my parents, and then I will follow thee. For the form אֶשָׁקָה see Ewald, § 228, b. As he has ploughed his earthly field with his twelve pair of oxen, he was now to plough the spiritual field of the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 9:62). Elijah answered, “Go, return, for what have I done to thee?” לֵךְ שׁוּב belong together, as in v. 15; so that Elijah thereby gave him permission to return to his father and mother. כִּי signifies for, not yet (Thenius); for there is no antithesis here, according to which כִּי might serve for a more emphatic assurance (Ewald, § 330, b.). The words “what have I done to thee?” can only mean, I have not wanted to put any constraint upon thee, but leave it to thy free will to decide in favour of the prophetic calling.
emphatic assurance (Ewald, § 330, b.). The words “what have I done to thee?” can only mean, I have not wanted to put any constraint upon thee, but leave it to thy free will to decide in favour of the prophetic calling.
Past Erased
Elisha says farewell to his family, then slaughters his oxen and burns his plow, which demonstrates the clear break between his old and new lives. Jesus reflects on this type of separation when he states, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Elisha seems to know he must take a single-minded approach to the difficult task he will assume.
Elisha’s response. Kissing is more often used in greeting than in saying goodbye (a word supplied here by the NIV translators, not in the Hebrew text). Kissing between a father (or grandfather) and a son or daughter is found in several contexts as a prelude to receiving a blessing (Gen 27:26; 31:28, 55; 48:10) and may be implied here. The butchering of the oxen supplies the meal for the celebration that also accompanied the blessing. It would appear, then, that Elisha has requested the opportunity to receive his parents’ blessing.