Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 32 · February 1
A Hard Thing
“And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.”
Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
The whole chapter is a conversation, most of it two men disagreeing on a road. Elijah keeps trying to send his servant home. Tarry here, at Gilgal. Tarry here, at Bethel. Tarry, I pray thee, here, at Jericho. Three times, and three times the same answer comes back word for word: As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
There is a third voice. At Bethel and again at Jericho the sons of the prophets take Elisha aside with news he has not asked for. Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? Twice he answers the same way. Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. He knows, and he does not want it discussed. Fifty of them end up watching from a distance.
Then the water opens, the two of them cross, and Elijah finally asks the question he has been walking toward all day.
Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. The phrase is an inheritance term out of Deuteronomy, where the firstborn receives a double portion of all that his father has. Elisha is asking to be treated as the eldest son of a man with no property to leave, and you hear him confirm it when the horses of fire come down and he shouts My father, my father.
Thou hast asked a hard thing, Elijah says, and then attaches an odd condition. If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. The test is watching. After a day of refusing to be left behind, the last thing required of him is to keep his eyes open.
What have you asked for that you would still be walking after at the third town?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 32 is His Peace (John 14:27).