Elijah at Horeb
9 Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
11 So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
15 The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17 It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. 18 Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. 20 He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.
Elijah’s response after he throws his mantle on Elisha always surprises me, “what have I done to you?”. Elijah, a prophet of God who called down fire from Heaven, goes and throws his mantle on someone, and doesn’t expect them to make a big deal out of it?
If Elijah was “under-dramatic”, perhaps Elisha was a little over-dramatic, as he goes and sacrifices 24 oxen and holds a farewell feast with the meat.
At any rate, when Elisha says “Please let me kiss my father and my mother…”, it reminds me a lot of the man who would later tell Jesus, “Let me just go and bury my father…” Jesus response was basically that he couldn’t follow unless he hated his father and mother, but obviously that wasn’t the point. It is suspected by folks smarter than I, that his father wasn’t dead yet, and the man was afraid of what his father would think if he followed Jesus. So he was really saying, just wait until my dad passes, and then I’ll follow you.
This is a stark contrast to Elisha, who was ready and willing, but only wanted to take a moment to say farewell to friends and family. What sort of excuses do we use which prevent us from following where God leads? Are we ready and willing like Elisha, or do we let the “fear of man” (or “what others will think”) deter us from our true calling.
No, Jesus doesn’t want us to hate our father and mother, but He does expect us to value a relationship with Him far more than the opinion of even our nearest and dearest. That can be a hard road to take, and it was too much for the man whom Jesus called. Is it too much for you?