2nd Kings Chapter 2 verse 9 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. - And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. Elijah knows that the time is growing now very short. He will soon have left the earth. A yearning comes over him, before he goes, to leave his faithful follower, his trusty, persevering adherent, some parting gift, some token of his appreciation, some sign of his love. What does his "minister" desire? Let him ask what he will, and his master will, if it be possible, grant it. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Elisha's request has been variously explained. The older commentators regarded him as having asked for twice as much spiritual and prophetical power as Elijah had possessed; and this interpretation is certainly favored by the reply of Elijah, as recorded in the next verse. But it is objected (1) that Elisha's modesty would prevent him from asking so much; and (2) that double the spirit and power of Elijah certainly did not rest upon him. This latter fact is quite undeniable. As Keil says, "It is only a quite external and superficial view of the career of Elisha that can see in it a proof that double the spirit of Elijah rested upon him" ('Commentary on Kings,' ad loc.). To one who looks beneath the surface, and regards something besides length of life and number of miracles, Elisha is a very faint and feeble replica of Elijah. Ewald's judgment is here correct: "Elisha is great only so far as he continues and carries out with more force than any other man of his time the work which Elijah had begun with new and wonderful power... he did not possess any such intensity of inward power as his master" ('History of Israel,' vol. 4. p. 82, Eng. trans.). Accordingly, Ewald, rejecting the old explanation, suggests one of his own - that Elisha asked for "two thirds of Elijah's spirit" (ibid., p. 81); but this would be a very strange and unusual request, even if the Hebrew could be made to mean it. Who ever asks for two-thirds of a thing? The third explanation, to which most modern commentators incline (Keil, Thenius, Patrick, Clarke, Pool, Bottcher), is that Elisha merely requested that he might receive twice as much of Elijah's spirit as should be received by any other of the "sons of the prophets." He made a reference to Deuteronomy 21:17, and asked for the "double portion" (literally, "double mouthful") which was the right of an eldest son. The only objection to this view is Elijah's answer (see the next verse).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9) I pray thee, let . . .--Literally, And (i.e., well, then) let there fall, I pray thee, a portion of two in thy spirit, unto me.A double portion.--The expression used in Deuteronomy 21:7 of the share of the firstborn son, who by the Mosaic law inherited two parts of his father's property.Elisha asks to be treated as the firstborn among "the sons of the prophets," and so to receive twice as great a share of "the spirit and power" of his master as any of the rest. "Let me be the firstborn among thy spiritual sons;" "Make me thy true spiritual heir;" not "Give me twice as great a share of the spirit of prophecy as thou possessest thyself," as many have wrongly interpreted. The phrase, "a mouth of two," seems to be a metaphor derived from the custom of serving honoured guests with double, and even greater, messes (Genesis 43:34).Ask what I shall do for thee . . . from thee.--As a dying father, Elijah might wish to bless his spiritual son ere his departure (Genesis 27:4). (Comp. 2Kings 2:12 infra, "My father, my father.") . . .