2 Ki. 2: Elijah Flies Away, O Glory.

2 Kings 2:11 "As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."

This chapter is spectacular. Elijah is apparently ready go, and Elisha will succeed him as THE prophet. Apparently there were THE prophets and there were some prophets. Elijah tells Elisha to stay where they are, in Gilgal. But Elisha insists on coming with Elijah. I imagine that made Elijah feel like an annoyed big brother. Elijah may have just wanted to be alone. He knew something huge was about to take place, and maybe he didn't feel like he should share it with anyone else. Why would he keep telling Elisha to stay where he is? Instead, Elisha refuses, and goes with Elijah to Bethel, to Jericho, and finally to the Jordan.

Elijah has finally had it with Elisha following him around, and I imagine is question about "What can I do for you before I go?" is more out of exasperation than actually offering something. What could Elijah offer Elisha? What was Elijah actually going to do? Elisha takes full advantage of this opportunity, and asks for a double portion of the spirit Elijah had. Which may not have been Elijah's to give. Perhaps this was a request of God? So that is how prophecy works... It's God doling out portions of spirit? God gives however much He sees fit. It is not learned. It isn't taken. It's given. At God's discretion, regardless of who asked for it.

The text says Elijah was taken up to heaven. He didn't die. He wasn't gathered to his fathers. Why? Until this point, and relative to the litany of other figures, Elijah was rather minor. There were greater names, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Joshua, David, Solomon, etc. Why does Elijah get a flaming horse and chariot ride up to heaven? Why are these other figures in the grave? Why aren't they in heaven? When do they go to heaven? Will they?

And I don't know yet if Elisha received that double portion. He saw what happened to Elijah, but it doesn't say he saw Elijah, which was Elijah's stipulation for receiving that double portion.

Even at that time, the other prophets who saw that the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha were skeptical as to what happened. They thought maybe God set him down somewhere, and despite Elisha's admonishing, they looked for Elijah for three days. Elisha's like, "I told you not to go looking for him." I love that.

Elisha heals the land of Jericho's water with salt in a bowl. Salt makes it all better. Didn't salting the land make it unproductive? And wasn't unproductive land a result of sin, according to the warnings in Deuteronomy? Yeah. So that makes it even more amazing.

Elisha may have been hurting from the loss of someone who was clearly his mentor and friend, so he probably was in no state of mind to be jeered by a bunch of punks, calling him a "baldhead." He calls down a curse on these kids, and 2 bears ran out of the woods and mauled 42 of them. Which is pretty...transmundane. You respect the office of prophet, lest you go the way of Timothy Treadwell. For an in-depth summary of this final passage, check this out. (Not Safe For Church language...)