Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter 2. Synopsis of the Chapter
Elias is taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot; Eliseus cries out to him: My father! the chariot of Israel and the driver thereof. Then, verse 14, dividing the Jordan with the mantle of Elias, he crosses it dry-shod. Thence, verse 19, he heals the very bad waters by casting in salt. Finally, verse 23, he has forty-two boys who mocked him, saying: Go up, thou bald head, torn in pieces by two bears sent upon them.
1. And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elias into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elias and Eliseus were going from Galgal. 2. And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay thou here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were come down to Bethel, 3. The sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he answered: I also know it: hold your peace. 4. And Elias said to Eliseus: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And when they were come to Jericho, 5. The sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Eliseus, and said to him: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he said: I also know it: hold your peace. 6. And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on together, 7. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance: but they two stood by the Jordan. 8. And Elias took his mantle, and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground. 9. And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt, that I may do it for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit. 10. And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it. 11. And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12. And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own garments and rent them in two pieces. 13. And he took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him: and going back he stood upon the bank of the Jordan, 14. And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias, that had fallen from him, and they were not divided, and he said: Where is now the God of Elias? And he struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over. 15. And the sons of the prophets at Jericho, who were over against him, seeing it, said: The spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus. And coming to meet him, they worshipped him, falling to the ground, 16. And said to him: Behold, there are with thy servants fifty strong men, that can go and seek thy master, lest perhaps the spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said: Send not. 17. But they pressed him, till he consented, and said: Send. And they sent fifty men: and they sought three days, but found him not. 18. And they came back to him, for he stayed at Jericho, and he said to them: Did I not say to you: Do not send? 19. And the men of the city said to Eliseus: Behold the situation of this city is very good, as thou, my lord, seest: but the waters are very bad, and the ground barren. 20. And he said: Bring me a new vessel, and put salt into it. And when they had brought it, 21. He went out to the spring of the waters, and cast the salt into it, and said: Thus saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them death or barrenness. 22. And the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Eliseus which he spoke. 23. And he went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying: Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24. And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them forty-two boys. 25. And he went from thence to Mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.
2. STAY HERE.—Elias, out of modesty and humility, wished to conceal his rapture and therefore to send Eliseus away from himself, lest he should become a partaker of the blessing and of the zeal and spirit. For the gifts of God, says Abulensis, which pertain to some excellence of the person, ought to be hidden, lest men seem to glory in them; since it belongs to God to make them manifest, as here He made known the rapture of Elias through the sons of the prophets. Wherefore Elias does not so much command as exhort Eliseus, saying “stay,” that is, remain “here;” it is not necessary that thou accompany me. But Eliseus wisely would not depart from the side of Elias, as being his heir; whence he says:
AS THE LORD LIVETH, AND AS THY SOUL LIVETH (that is, I swear by the life of God and of thy soul), I WILL NOT LEAVE THEE.—Hence it is clear that God had revealed to Eliseus that Elias was soon to be taken up, and had suggested to him to take care not to desert him.
3. THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS CAME FORTH.—These were disciples of Elias, Eliseus and the other Prophets, who, like religious men, gave themselves wholly to God: many colleges of whom there were already at Galgal, Bethel, Jericho, Carmel, etc., founded by Elias and others; and therefore Elias before his rapture visited them here, to confirm his disciples in the true faith and in the austere hermit manner of life, to give them last counsels of salvation and perfection, and to proclaim Eliseus as his successor. Salianus graphically represents here the exhortation of Elias to them. Moreover among them were some true prophets, who received from God the revelation of this rapture of Elias, and revealed it to Eliseus and others, as is plain from what follows.
7. AND THEY (Elias and Eliseus) STOOD BY (that is, near) THE JORDAN,—that Elias might divide it, and cross dry-shod.
9. I BESEECH THEE THAT IN ME MAY BE THY DOUBLE SPIRIT.—“Double,” that is, twice as great, say some with Theodoret, Question VII, and the Greeks. To this agrees Blessed Peter Damian, sermon 2 On the Nativity of St. John the Baptist: “In Eliseus, he says, there was a double spirit of Elias, a double spirit, not by a heap of merits but by the display of miracles, because he worked 24 miracles, whereas Elias worked only 19,” although others count fewer. Whence Anastasius of Nicaea, Question LV, counts seven signs of Elias, and fourteen of Eliseus. To this agrees St. Ambrose: “A precious inheritance, in which more is left to the heir than is held; he who receives obtains more than he possessed who gives! A plainly precious inheritance, which, while it passes from father to son, is doubled by a kind of interest of merits! Therefore Elias, though he himself had a single spirit of holiness, left a double one to Eliseus. Wonderfully, then, Elias left more grace on earth than he carried with him to heaven; and though he himself is wholly translated in body to higher things, yet he remains with his son in greater holiness.” Others say: “double,” with respect to a third part of the remainder; so that if the spirit of Elias were divided into three parts, Eliseus asked two for himself, and the Hebrew “the mouth of two” seems to hint at this. Whence Pagninus translates: Let the measure of two parts of thy spirit be upon me. Better do others assign the double to Elias, as if to say: I pray, O Elias, that I may succeed thee, as a son, in thy double spirit, that is, manifold and strong, in thy eminent spirit as in a spiritual inheritance, and defend with the same zeal as thine the worship of the true God against the Baalites. Whence Angelomus: “The double spirit,” he says, “is the spirit of prophecy and of miracles.” This is proved, first, from the Hebrew, which has: Let the mouth of two be in thy spirit; for the firstborn had a double portion of the paternal inheritance, but the other sons a single one only; as if to say: I ask that I, as thy firstborn, O Elias, may succeed thee in both thy spirits. Second, because Ecclesiasticus xlviii, 4, it is said of Elias: “Who can glory like to thee?” Therefore he had a greater spirit than Eliseus; third, because in the same place, verse 13, it is said: “And in Eliseus his spirit was fulfilled.” See what was said there.