“Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle (cloak) on him…,” “…Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.” 1 Kings 19:19,21
There came a moment in the life of Elisha the son of Shaphat, when God made it very clear to him that he was to follow in the steps of Elijah the prophet. That moment was singularly distinguished by an action of Elijah when he was passing by Elisha when he threw his mantle, or cloak, upon him. The signification of this was very clear, for Elisha left his fields, family, to become the servant, and eventual successor to Elijah. Most certainly Elisha knew Elijah before this moment, the Lord haing prepared him in heart to respond in a favorable way. Elisha was God’s servant first and forever before he became that of Elijah.
Elisha walked with, and served Elijah for some time before the day came when Elijah would be taken up to heaven. On that eventful day, the Elisha of old, whose hand held the plow for oxen to till the soil, would now embrace another plow, that being the calling of God, with the power of God to accomplish his task. When Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha, the call of God came loud and clear to Elisha’s heart, and the commitment was embraced. When the moment came for Elisha would bend down and pick up the mantle left by Elijah who had just been swept into heaven in a chariot of fire, another aspect of that commitment was embraced. It was in essence, the grasping of the hand of God, for the power and enabling to fulfill his mission and ministry. It was a commitment of faith in God, believing Him for the realization of the promise given by Elijah, that, if Elisha would see him when he was taken away from him, he would receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. This he did, and upon the word given to Elijah for him, this he believed. Elisha would grasp the cloak, strike the waters of the Jordan River, and ask, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” (2 Kings 2:14) God would at that time confirm His calling of Elisha, by the providing of His power in a double-portioned manner. Everybody who saw this then believed that indeed, “the Spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.”
When Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ servant was spoken to by God after the death of Moses, the call to commitment was loud and clear. By God’s declaration that Moses was dead, He revealed to Joshua that he was no longer the servant of Moses, but only of God, Christ. The call was like that of Elisha, one to arise and go forward to accomplish a mission, a ministry, which would require the intervention of God at every hand. It was a call to not only leave behind the past and enter into a new sphere of responsibility where he was entirely dependent upon God, but where God would provide in abundant measure for the accomplishment of his tasks and mission. For Joshua the moment had come, not only to be living in the objective reality of the calling of God, but that moment of stepping forward, a moment of engagement with God Himself, to take His hand, and to be taken by the hand, so that the authority and power of God would be operating in and through his life.
To Joshua had been given promises of victory over all obstacles and his enemies, every place where he would go in the will of God. No one would be able to stand against him. Accompanying him would not only be a promise of God that God would never leave or forsake him, but that he would succeed in all that he would do. The conditions were simple, but all encompassing. He had to remain faithful to God according to His word in which Joshua was commanded to meditate day and night in order to obey. And lastly, Joshua was to appropriate the all-sufficient power of God.
Dear Father, Make us faithful plowmen today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.