Exhortation, May 29

The first two chapters of 2 Kings match in many ways. In both, Elijah is seen �going up�E�Efirst to the top of a hill, and then to heaven. In both passages, things happen in threes �Ethe oracle of Elijah is delivered three times and three sets of fifty men appear in chapter 1, and in chapter 2 Elijah tells Elisha three times to stay behind and three times he refuses. In chapter 1, Ahaziah sends fifty men to search for and arrest Elijah; in chapter 2, fifty sons of the prophets search the transJordan unsuccessfully for Elijah�s body.

With all these links between the two chapters, it make sense that the recurring question of chapter 1 is still in the air in chapter 2. That question, you�ll recall, was �Is there no God in Israel that you should inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?�E The answer to that question is that there is a God, and that Elijah is His spokesman and His agent. When the man of God sends the fire of God on Ahaziah�s men, he demonstrates that he is the human god in Israel.

A form of that question is asked again in chapter 2: After Elijah has gone into heaven, Elisha returns to the Jordan and asks the fifty sons of the prophets who watched him leave, �Where is Yahweh, the God of Elijah?�E Now that Elijah is gone, the question must be repeated: Is there a God in Israel? And Elisha�s initial actions show that the answer is Yes, because everything Elisha does imitates Elijah�s power. There is a God in Israel, and Elisha is His spokesman and agent. What Elisha says and does, Yahweh says and does.

In the New Covenant, Jesus has gone away, but He has not left us alone. The incarnate God Jesus has gone into heaven, but the Spirit has come so that the church can embody God�s presence in the world. Still, even now, the transition from one leader to another is always a crisis for the people of God. When a great leader, a human god like Elijah, leaves the scene, we are always forced to ask the question �Is there a God in Israel? Where is Yahweh God of Israel?�E

God�s presence among His people is the source of all blessing and good. God is the eternal source of fount of all good. If He is not with us, we have nothing and we are nothing. And God�s presence among His people is an incarnate presence. God is present Himself, by His Spirit, but He is present in and through particular words, rites, and people. We must therefore be in constant prayer that God the Spirit would give His church leaders not only in our day, but in the days of our children and grandchildren and to a thousand generations, so that the answer to the question �Is there a God in Israel?�Ewill always be �Yes.�E

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, May 29, 2005 at 08:23 AM

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