Elijah & Elisha, Jesus & John

Kings 2 2:14

Elijah and Jesus - two men who may or may not have died. What’s the deeper link and story here? What’s the role of the cloth - the outer fabric of their bodies and being that may be hiding hints as to what’s under the skin and below the surface?

Elijah’s Mantle - likely an furry animal skin used as the prophet’s shawl, is one of the most puzzling pieces of fabric within these pages, becoming a speculative symbol and eventually the title of several mystical books. When Elijah, a few chapters ago, first picks Elisha to be his successor, the deed is done with the throwing of the seer’s mantle at the young farmer who picks it up and joins the elder’s journey. This is a rite of passage echoing in many other world traditions where the garment represents not just the uniform of the elected but also a new skin, a shamanic shape-shifting mode. 

In today’s chapter Elijah will cross the Jordan river, Elisha by his side, using the mantle to cut the river into two, as Moses has done with his rod and as Joshua did with the power of the ark, generations ago. 

Once they’ve crossed over to the east, watched by fifty young prophets from Jericho who somehow know that a big drama is about to descend - Elijah suddenly ascends to heaven.

But before a chariot with horses, all made of fire, grabs him like a UFO into the twilight zone, Elisha begs his master for one more gift: Twice as much spirit as Elijah has to give. And when Elijah vanishes into the air, leaving a fire trail behind, he also leaves behind a gift: His mantle. 

Elisha tears his own clothes into shreds, moaning the mysterious words that will forever be used in funerals as great teachers depart this earth “Father, Father - The chariot of Israel!” 

And then he puts the mantle on and takes on his master’s role as religious leader. His first task is to once again the sacred river on his way back home: 

וַיִּקַּח֩ אֶת־אַדֶּ֨רֶת אֵלִיָּ֜הוּ אֲשֶׁר־נָפְלָ֤ה מֵֽעָלָיו֙ וַיַּכֶּ֣ה אֶת־הַמַּ֔יִם וַיֹּאמַ֕ר אַיֵּ֕ה יְהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֵלִיָּ֑הוּ אַף־ה֣וּא ׀ וַיַּכֶּ֣ה אֶת־הַמַּ֗יִם וַיֵּֽחָצוּ֙ הֵ֣נָּה וָהֵ֔נָּה וַֽיַּעֲבֹ֖ר אֱלִישָֽׁע׃

“Taking the mantle which had dropped from Elijah, he struck the water and said, “Where is YHWH, the God of Elijah?” As he too struck the water, it parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.”

Kings 2 2:14

From here on, Elisha will become the healer and the wonder-man, with strength and wrath, puzzling choices and the power to impact policies and feed multitudes. He will dominate the next few chapters and it’s interesting to note that whoever wrote this book, within the section devoted to prophets probably thought he was really important - maybe even more than his master. In future generations the meaning of these two men’s tale, their roles, relationship and impact will become linked to another pair of wild men who brought about wonder: John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. 

Daniel Matt links the legacies in his book Becoming Elijah:

“Not constricted by mortal time nor by measured space, Elijah also overleaps religious boundaries. Beyond Judaism, his sway extends to its daughter faiths: Christianity and Islam. Elijah is the only personality in the Hebrew Bible who became a popular Christian saint. Already in the New Testament, he plays a significant role, being associated with both John the Baptist and Jesus. 

John was an ascetic Jewish prophet who appeared in the Jordan valley, proclaiming, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! (Matthew 3:2). The imminent, fiery judgment would engulf all of Israel; the only protection was to turn back to God, reform one’s life, and receive baptism from John (hence his surname). John referred vaguely to an eschatological figure (the one who is more powerful than I or the one who is coming after me), who would show his superiority by baptizing not with mere water but with the Holy Spirit.

 Many Jews, including Jesus, flocked to the Jordan for John’s protective baptism. The ruler Herod wanted to execute John, but he feared the crowd, because they regarded him [John] as a prophet (Matthew 14:5). Before long, though, John was arrested, imprisoned, and beheaded. 

The figure of John recalls Elijah. The Baptist is described as wearing a garment of camel’s hair with a leather loincloth around his waist (Matthew 3:4). The hairy mantle typifies a prophet, but John’s appearance also resembles Elijah’s: a hairy man, with a leather loincloth bound round his waist (2 Kings 1:8).

 The resemblance between the two prophets becomes something more when Jesus indicates that John the Baptist is Elijah. Speaking to the crowds about John, Jesus says, If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come (Matthew 11:14). Jesus speaks more cryptically in the Gospel of Mark (9:13): I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased. 

The parallel in Matthew explicates Jesus’s hint: “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. . . .” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist (Matthew 17:12–13).

 For the early Christians, John the Baptist was Elijah, who had returned to earth to proclaim the Messiah. Yet in his own lifetime, the Baptist probably did not see himself as Elijah; in the Gospel of John, he denies the identification explicitly. There is someone else, though, whom many considered as Elijah: Jesus himself.

As an itinerant prophet in northern Israel, reputed to be working miracles, Jesus would naturally conjure up images of Elijah and his disciple, Elisha. In one account, he identifies with both of them. In his first sermon in his local synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus taught, No prophet is accepted in his own hometown. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus demonstrated this by recalling certain miracles of Elijah and Elisha. Various New Testament stories of Jesus’s own miracles are modeled on the tales of that earlier prophetic pair. Like Elijah, Jesus revives the son of a widow; like Elisha, he feeds the multitude with a few loaves of bread and cures a leper. Finally, Jesus’s ascent to heaven (after temporarily dying) recalls the ascent of Elijah.”

 I don’t think that many Jews know how deep this river runs between the two traditions, and I’m not sure how many Christians realize the depth of layers linking one prophetic message to its earlier roots. The mantle of Elijah, handed down in one way or another through the generations and religions may be still out there, awaiting its next role, somewhere between fact and fiction, in a world thirsty for miracles, salvation, healing, and hope.  Mantle of not, let’s hope we honor our teachers, be each other’s healers, and magnify the mythic secrets that will help us all deal with losses, yearn for better, and respect the wisdom of the unknown.

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