The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

Received as Elijah’s Successor

With this comforting and inspiring assurance, Elisha crossed Jordan and directed his steps toward the school of the prophets at Jericho. Before he reached the school, he was met by fifty “sons of the prophets” who had previously come part way to Jordan with the hope that they might witness the translation. When these students saw that Elijah had been taken, and that his mantle had been transferred to Elisha, and with it the power of God that had parted the river of Jordan, they said, “The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.” Verse 15. Thus Elisha was promptly recognized as Elijah’s successor. AGP 107.3

Without delay Elisha entered upon the work of carrying forward the reform in Israel that Elijah had begun. The great wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel in leading Israel into idolatry had been widely exposed and sternly rebuked by Elijah. The judgments of heaven had fallen upon the land. The extermination of the house of Ahab had begun. The conscience of Israel had been awakened and alarmed. The schools of the prophets which Samuel established had been revived. The apostasy of Ahab and Jezebel had been checked. A reformation had set in. All this Elisha was to foster and carry forward, and he did so with marked earnestness and success. AGP 107.4

The marvelous change that had been wrought in the nation by Elijah called for a different manner of life and for different methods of service than those adopted by Elijah. The situation which Elijah met when he entered upon his work had been beyond the power of man to change. The word of the king and the queen was supreme. AGP 108.1

The queen was of the Oriental type—despotic. She came from a people who despised Israel, and who were bent on their subjugation. What could not be done by force might be done by turning Israel away from the living God to Baal, the sun-god of the Phoenicians. The apostasy which Ahab and Jezebel had set on foot had made rapid progress. The complete substitution of Baal for Jehovah—of heathenism for the gospel of salvation—seemed so certain to Ahab and Jezebel that they treated Elijah’s first warning with the utmost contempt. No voice, no argument, could reach them. Evidence, even of a miraculous kind, availed nothing. Their reaction to the mighty manifestations of Jehovah that day on Mount Carmel was a threat to take the life of Elijah. AGP 108.2

Some writers have criticized Elijah’s methods, especially his isolation and the sternness with which he delivered his messages. But in what other way could he have dealt with those despotic rulers who would have ended his career at the beginning of his work if they could have laid hands on him? AGP 108.3