Read the introductory post on 1 & 2 Kings here and the post on 1 Kings here. 

The initial chapters of 2 Kings shift the attention from Elijah to his successor Elisha. Although, less famous, Elisha will exceed the works of Elijah.  Elisha is actually introduced in 1 Kings 20. His calling comes immediately after Elijah’s encounter with the Lord on Mount Horeb, where the Lord instructs Elijah to anoint him his successor by name (1 Kings 20:16).

The passing of the torch comes in one of the most famous scenes of scripture as Elijah is assumed into heaven on a fiery chariot. However, just before he goes, Elijah tells Elisha to ask for anything he wishes. 

“Elijah said to Elisha, “Request whatever I might do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”

He replied, “You have asked something that is not easy. Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.”

As they walked on still conversing, a fiery chariot and fiery horses came between the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and Elisha saw it happen. He cried out, “My father! my father! Israel’s chariot and steeds!” Then he saw him no longer.”

(2 Kings 2: 9-12)

Thus, Elisha’s request is then fulfilled. This is reinforced by the narrative which recounts 16 miraculous works by Elisha as compared to 8 miracles worked by Elijah. Hence, it was a true double spirit which Elisha received. 

Elisha Foreshadows Christ

More importantly, Elisha foreshadows Christ. In theology, we refer to this as typology. Typology is the study of how people, historical events, and institutions in the Old Testament prefigure greater realities fulfilled by Christ in the New Testament. These people and events serve as a “type” or prefigurement of the greater reality. 

Elisha is clearly set forth as a “type” of Christ who is to come. Several of Elisha’s miracles have direct parallels in the ministry of Christ. For instance, Elisha makes a heavy axe head float (2 Kings 6:6) foreshadowing Jesus walking on water. He multiplies 20 loaves of bread to feed 100 prophets (2 Kings 4:42-44) foreshadowing the feeding of the 5000. Elisha raises a young boy from the dead (2 Kings 4:34-35) while Christ raises Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:41-42), a widow's son (Luke 7:14-15), and Lazarus (John 11:43-44).

Two other miracles are very important. The first is Elisha’s purification of a poisoned spring (2 Kings 2:21). He purifies this spring by throwing salt into the water. This is echoed each Easter in the opening rites of the Easter Vigil in which the Easter Candle representing the light of Christ is plunged into the baptismal fount representing the purification of the baptismal water by Christ. 

A second key miracle is the healing of Naaman the Aramean (2 Kings 5:14). Not only does it foreshadow Jesus’s healing of the leper and God’s ability to make the unclean clean, but it also foreshadows the extension of the Kingdom of God to the Gentiles. 

The End of 2 Kings and Two Kingdoms

Unfortunately, Elisha’s ministry as a prophet is filled with the same royal intrigues that Elijah faced. Elisha dies in 2 Kings 13. The rest of the book recounts the record and actions of the various Kings of Israel and Judah until the two kingdoms fall (Israel in 722 B.C. and Judah 586 B.C.). Both kingdoms ultimately suffer the same fate. Israel falls first as a warning sign to the kingdom of Judah. Unfaithfulness as personified by the kings of Israel to leads to destruction. 

Judah survives a while longer, primarily because of several good kings. Two are especially noteworthy, Josiah and Hezekiah. Both are key reformers who restore right worship to Judah. Both also serve as a “type” of Christ. It is actually Hezekiah’s father Ahaz, to whom Isaiah prophesies the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) and many scholars argue that the immediate fulfillment of the sign was Hezekiah’s own birth which symbolized that God was still with Judah. Unfortunately, the reforms are short lived, and the kingdom returns to idolatry and is eventually conquered by Babylon. 

The book ends with one of the saddest moments in the history of Israel. 

“But the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the desert near Jericho, abandoned by his whole army.

The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him.

They slew Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes; then they put out his eyes, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon.

On the seventh day of the fifth month (this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem as the agent of the king of Babylon.

He burned the house of the LORD, the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem (every noble house); he destroyed them by fire.

The Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem, and Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, led into exile the last of the army remaining in the city, and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the last of the commoners.”

(2 Kings 25:5-11)

And so, Judah and the Kingdom of God is left hopeless. That is until Matthew announces the return of the king with his great genealogy in Matthew 1: 1-17. For all of us who know the story of 2 Kings, Mathew’s announcement should come as a restoration of hope for beginning in Matthew 1:12-17 we find the announcement of the return of the king. 

“After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud,

Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.”

(Matthew 1:12-17)

Long live the King of Kings!