Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 3:13-27.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
2 Kings 3:13-14 (NIV) 
13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” “No,” the king of Israel answered, “because it was the LORD who called us three kings together to hand us over to Moab.” 
14 Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you. 

On verses 13-14:  Elisha the prophet is approached by three kings: the idol-worshiping Joram king of Israel, the God-fearing Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom.  Together they ask Elisha for guidance on what to do in their fight against the king of Moab.  Knowing that Joram was a notorious idol worshiper who consistently disrespected the Lord, Elisha wonders, “Why are you coming to me when you can be consulting your idols?” 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 2:13-25.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 2:13-14 (NIV) 
13 He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 

On verse 13:  From their earliest interactions with one another, it was always Elijah’s intent to give Elisha his cloak, that is, his mantle as Israel’s prophet (see 1 Kings 19:19).  And now as Elijah is taken up to heaven, the cloak falls back on earth for Elisha to pick up.  It’s because his cloak fell that Elisha had assurance that Elijah had not been taken to some other place on earth but had gone to heaven.  That’s because Elijah’s cloak represented Elijah’s calling, anointing and gifting.  The fact that it fell back down to earth for Elisha to pick up shows two simultaneously: first, Elijah had finished his task on earth and, second, it was Elisha’s turn to be Israel’s prophet. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 2:1-12.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 2:1-6 (NIV)
1  When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
2  Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

On verses 1-6:   Here we read of how the prophet Elijah is taken from this world.  Presumably in a single day, Elijah and Elisha travel from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho and then finally to the Jordan.  According to my rudimentary calculations, Gilgal appears to be over 20 kilometres away from Bethel and Bethel is over 20 kilometres away from Jericho.  So unless Elijah and Elisha walked or ran the equivalent of a marathon that day together, I would expect that for most of this trip (other than the part from Jericho to the Jordan – v6), Elijah and Elisha traveled by chariot or on horseback to these various places.