Category Archives: Elijah/Elisha

Winds in the Bible – The Bible and Science

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Winds and directions are frequently written together in the Bible. Wind(s) are a tool that the Lord uses for His purposes. There is a metaphorical side of winds, but the physical aspect of air movement should not be downplayed, this includes the geographical location of the speaker.

The Science

Air moving can be pretty or a problem, but why can it move? Hot and cold, convections, high and low pressures, and the Coriolis Effect are drivers that put air into motion. Forgive me for breezing through this but all of those boil down to Sonshine and spin. The sun heats land and water and the air rises, if something goes up something comes down. The spinning of the earth causes rotary motion in the slower-moving air. (If a term is highlighted, please click on that, it is another post that may add to the topic.)

Location, location, location is important. Many of the references to wind are in Israel, so the Mediterranean Sea, deserts, mountain ranges, and the Sea of Galilee all influence the weather. Now to be a little geo-specific, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Job are not in Israel, Moses is in Egypt, and Noah and Jonah are near Turkey, Paul and much of Acts deal with the Mediterranean. Yes, all of those are in the same region, which is the area of the prevailing westerlies or 30 to 60 degrees north latitude. Into all of that throw in seasonal weather and winds becomes more of a complex issue. Remember if you are south of the Equator storms and wind directions may not be the same as in Israel. PS winds are usually named for where they are coming from not where they are going to.

Father God vs Mother Nature and the other guy  

How many times have you acknowledged someone for the weather? Mother Nature frequently gets the credit for nice weather and some rainy weather. Let it be a destructive storm and God usually gets the blame, even from nonbelievers. Ephesians 2:2 has an interesting phrase that Paul says about the air. There is a spirit that is the prince and power of the air, or Satan. Please notice how Satan never is credited with bad weather; think steal, kill, and destroy. Much of our weather is because of physical factors but there are times.

I try to think of Father God and not Mother Nature, just to give the credit where it is due.

There are six more topics to cover and I will try not to be blustery about them. So, study and use a concordance and Bible search tool, as I will not try to mention all of the references. I encourage you to use a parallel function in your tools as there can be small differences.

Four Winds or the Four Corners of Heaven

So, is this a metaphor, actual winds, or both? I will give examples of each and let you decide. Oh, get out your Bibles as I am giving only the reference.

Both 

  • Jeremiah 49:36 has Elam being pushed by the four winds and its people being sent everywhere.
  • Revelations 7:1 is a terrifying picture where angels are stopping the winds blowing all around the world. The hot air would rise and create a heat dome, which should play into 8:5 and provide the violent weather.

Real Winds

  • Ezekiel 37:9 is the verse where Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the four winds to give breath to the slain bodies.
  • Daniel 7:2 is a “night vision” where he sees the great sea being churned by winds from four directions.

Four Directions or All the Earth

  • Daniel 8:8 and 11:4
  • Zechariah 2:6 and 6:5
  • Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 tell of when Jesus’ Church will be called by a loud trumpet call from all the earth.

West Wind

A very strong west wind in Exodus 10:19 pushes the locust from Egypt into the Red Sea. The NASB has the words west and wind in the same verse, but most translations say flood or a rushing stream, and the wind could be from the east. These are the only two verses I found.

North Wind

  • Ezekiel 1:4 is God’s introduction to the prophet. A strong wind from the north is pushing a huge lightning storm with something glowing on the inside; the Father knows how to make an entrance. Remember a sky full of angels singing to some shepherds.
  • The “hurricane” that pushed Paul to start a church in Malta, Acts 27:14, is called a Northeaster in some translations.
  • A north wind is frequently paired with a south wind as in Job 37:9. Solomon does this in several places in the Bible – Song of Songs 4:16 and Ecclesiastes 1:6.

South Wind

  • A south wind in Israel is coming from the desert, so it will be warm or hot.
  • Job uses many weather references, see 37:9 and 17 for south winds.
  • Luke, who adds great details, does it again in both his Gospel and Acts. Luke 12:55 has Jesus linking a south wind with it being hot. Acts 27:13 and 28:13 are on board the ships that take them to Rome. In Luke 11:31 he joins Matthew in talking about the Queen of the South. The word is notos or south wind.  

The next wind is the most named and is associated with judgment and correction. Use a Bible search tool as I will give a few examples. I have used Bible Gateway.

East Wind

  • Hosea 13:15 Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. (ESV) I feel this verse says a lot.
  • Genesis 41:6 Pharaoh’s dream about the coming drought.
  • Exodus 10:13 the wind that brought the locusts on Egypt.
  • Jonah 4:8 is the wind that dried Jonah’s vine.
  • Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Job, and Psalms are other books that have the east wind doing the Lord’s work.

Yes, in word searches there will be overlap.

Wind or Winds

  • 1 Kings 19:11 a strong wind is tearing apart a mountain where Elijah is.
  • Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7 link angels and winds as ministers of God.
  • Ezekiel 5 repeats the idea of being cast to the winds.

The New Testament has more generic winds than named ones.

  • Matthew 7:25 the parable of the house that will stand.
  • Matthew 8, Mark 4, and Luke 8 have Jesus calming the winds while He was in a boat.
  • Jude 1 and James 3 use winds as metaphors.

May the wind always be at your back as you sail on in your studies of wind, breath, storms, and weather in the Bible.

CROSSING JORDAN

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Crossing Jordan has been a metaphor for dying and going to Heaven (the Promised Land). I have heard that metaphor stems from Joshua leading the Children from the east bank to the west bank of the Jordan River. Going across the Jordan was part of life in Israel and is mentioned many times from Judges to David. There were no bridges, it seems, and people waded across at fords or shallow spots.

There are Biblical characters that crossed the river in the same direction as Joshua at key times in Israel’s history. I am looking at their stories in this post. I will start with someone who went contrary to the metaphor and had his way back blocked with a flaming sword and cherubim.

Adam and Eve – They started in Paradise and were sent to the East (Genesis 3:24). I believe there was a Garden with five rivers, and two very important trees, and Adam was responsible for tending it. God has always shown an interest in this region. Terah was sent there but he did not go, Abram did. Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God was in the area. I said that because it makes more sense to think the Garden was here because this place means something to God. Before the objections start, I live in America, and we have recycled names pinned on many cities, rivers, and regions so renaming four rivers is a high possibility. I can see Noah’s grandchildren using things he told them just to honor him. My God has mysteries that He has not shared, but the world changed after Adam and Eve ate the fruit and Noah’s Flood.

If the land of Canaan (Noah’s grandson by Ham, Genesis 9:18-24) was part of the Garden; Adam would have traveled over where the Jordan was or would be. East is an important direction in Genesis 2 and 3.

Jacob and Family – When Jacob ran from Esau, he was by himself. Genesis 28:10 says he left Beersheba to go to Haran. He stopped at Luz (Bethel) and spent the night. That is the end of his route until he is with the “eastern people” in Haran. I believe from Luz (28:18) he had three routes he may have taken: 1. The road along the seashore, 2. The highway through the mountains that went above Lake Galilee, and 3. to cross the Jordan and go through the Bashan/Gilead. I would have taken the coast road, but in Genesis 32:10 Jacob says he crossed the Jordan with just his staff.

When Jacob ran from Laban, he had four wives, eleven sons, a daughter, and a lot of possessions. After the ordeal of Chapter 31, Jacob’s camp made it to Mahanaim. There he was met by a camp of angels (reminds you of Elisha). Sometime after meeting Esau Jacob’s camp(s) crossed the Jordan and went to Shechem. Jacob had returned to his land which was part of the promise to Abraham from God. It makes me wonder what route Abram took to get to Canaan.

Thoughts on Jacob – 1. He had many experiences with angels. 2. He is older than you might expect. I had to work backward from his death and consider every timestamp that was given during his life. I made mistakes in How Old Were These Guys. I did better in the Patriarch Timeline and the Tribes of Israel Timeline. 3. Angel of the Lord or Metatron means angel of countenance this is a theophany.

Joshua and Israel – The event that gave the name of this post is found in Joshua 3 and 4. God exalted Joshua in the people’s eyes because of this event (3:7). He also dried up the Jordan to show Israel and the world His power (4:24). We tend to focus on the human aspect of this day, but I believe it was much more important to the Father. He was bringing His children home.

This day was an end and the beginning for Joshua and Israel. With years of learning to trust God behind them, they were facing a new test of their faith. They now had to fight for the land promised to Abraham for his family. In the crossing of this Jordan, they left behind the Moabites and Midianites and now had to face the giants and walled cities that had intimidated their forefathers. When we cross the spiritual Jordan, our fighting is done. Metaphors are limited and this is a good example of that.

This is a good time to compare and contrast the passage out of Egypt and the entrance into Canaan. (Please, ignore Exodus through Joshua and look at the rest of the Scriptures.) Passing through the Red Sea has more references than going through the dried-up Jordan River. I found two – Psalms 114:5 and 74:15. (If you know of others, please share.) If you use that as an indicator, leaving Egypt (baptism) is more important than the crossing at the Jordan. I have used the crossing of the Jordan as a shadow of baptism, I will not do that anymore. Israel went through two walls of the sea; the Jordan was dry. Remember, the water was stopped about twenty miles above the crossing site, they were not flanked by walls of water. You could stretch that and say the Dead Sea was on one side and the water at Adam (man or red) was on the other side. (Some bullet points.)

  • Both Crossings had enemies just before going through.
  • The oldest people at the Jordan were Joshua and Caleb. The nineteen-year-olds were now fifty-seven. It seems that the men thirty-eight and younger were not circumcised.
  • Some of the people had seen both crossings.
  • The people took memorial stones from the Jordan. Solomon may have built a memorial on the eastern side of the Red Sea.
  • The Red Sea was after Passover. The Jordan was just before. They crossed on the day they were to choose the lamb for the meal, the tenth day of the first month. (That could be a preaching point.)
  • The direction of travel was different for the two crossings.

This crossing happened at Jericho/Gilgal. Gilgal was the first campsite where they were circumcised and celebrated Passover.

David, His Family, His Officials – David and those fleeing from Absalom left the west bank and traveled east to Mahanaim, 2 Samuel 17:22. (The same city Jacob named. It was also a refuge city.) David returned, east to west, in 2 Samuel 19 and proceeded to Jerusalem. Jesus would follow the same path in Matthew 20 + 21. Both had a mess to clean up when they reached Jerusalem.

This crossing occurred at the fords or shallow spot near Gilgal. Even the king’s return caused an uproar that had to be fixed.

Elisha – Elijah and Elisha crossed the Jordan near Jericho, going west to east. Elisha, a shadow of Jesus, returned east to west at the same spot. Both of these crossings were done on dry land with the waters dividing for the men. 2 Kings 2

This set of crossings involved the fewest people and the least amount of material goods. Elisha crossed back to the west with a well-used cloak and a double anointing. The entire scene is a shadow of John the Baptist (Elijah) diminishing before Jesus (Elisha) took center stage.

Jesus, His Disciples, His Camp – Jesus’ final pilgrimage to Passover started in Matthew 19:1, Mark 10, Luke 17:11, and John 10:40. (Matthew is my main reference.) He left Galilee crossing the Jordan and went to the area across from Jericho, where he taught and healed the people. If you compile all of the Gospels, it is clear He crossed back and forth several times before going to Jerusalem for Palm Sunday.    

I blame too many movies about Jesus for the idea that just twelve men followed Jesus as He preached about the Kingdom. Mark 15:41 talks about women in Galilee, Luke 24:9 speaks of others that were with the Eleven after the resurrection and Acts 1:21+22 mentions the requirements for taking Judas’ position, so there had to be more than just the Twelve.

This parade started big with His Camp at the Jordan and got larger. The only parade for Jesus that was bigger was the one in Heaven after He disappeared in the clouds when He ascended.

Thoughts – Crossing Jordan is a beautiful metaphor. I admit that my thoughts have changed as I have grown older. But for these crossings, work, warfare, and new experiences waited for those that crossed from east to west over the Jordan.

Bible 911 Zechariah

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This installment of Bible 911 is from Zechariah and is a word of hope. It is part of the foretelling of Jesus’ Easter/Passover mission starting with His Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem (verses 9-13). I will start with the focus verse and then fit it all into Easter. Have your Bibles handy as I will put down a lot of verses you may want to look up. I use the NIV, so that may help in your quest.

9:11

Blood of the covenant – If you search in a Bible app the best thing you will find in the Old Testament is Exodus 24:8. The setting is Mount Sinai and Moses is finally offering the sacrifice that Pharaoh would not let them, go do. Before the blood of this covenant was sprinkled on the people, Moses read to them the Book of the Covenant. I will go back in time from this offering and give other blood sacrifices and covenants that are types and precursors to this one and that look ahead to Jesus on the Cross.

God made a covenant with blood in Genesis 15:18 with Abram, which was binding to all of his unborn children. In this story, a burning torch and smoking firepot passed through the slain animals. This is very much like the Children passing through the Red Sea after killing the Passover lamb and on their way to Mount Sinai.

We need to travel back to Genesis 4 and the first spilling of blood by a man. Hebrews 12:4 brings up the blood of Able in connection with the new covenant and sprinkled blood. (Remember he had made a proper sacrifice to the Lord.)

We need to step further back and point out what must have been an animal sacrifice, even though the terms we are looking for are not present. Genesis 3:21 has hides of animals being used to cloth, Adam and Eve. I believe that these animals were sheep. (They are not identified.) If they were Adam and Eve were clothed in a lamb because of their sin. This may be the blood and sacrifice of the covenant. (We have hints of things going on “before the foundations of the world” (KJV) but that would be another post.)

New Testament verses for you to look up-Matthew 26:28 (Mark 14:24), 1 Corinthians 11:25, Hebrews 9:20, 10:29, 13:20. these are references to Jesus, blood, and the covenant which is the point of His death on the cross.

Waterless Pit – The other part of Zechariah 9:11 is the waterless pit or cistern (CJB). It has also been translated as a dungeon. I like cistern the best, it brings to mind where Joseph and Jeremiah were thrown when they were imprisoned. It was a common thing in Israel to dig holes and store water in them. They are in other stories in the Bible. we are set free of our pits when we accept and walk in the grace of Jesus. the love of the Father, and fellowship with the Spirit.  

Before going to the Easter connection, there is one more thing I found. This is not in Zechariah. It concerns salt and its connection to the covenant and sacrifice. This is my “think about” assignment for this post, why is salt referenced with these two things?

The King Rides In

There are many God-given types and shadows and metaphors in the Bible. It seems that their importance has been pointed out to me quite a bit lately. So, when I thought about Zechariah 9:9 and how this relates to our Easter/Passover stories it made me reflect on these gems throughout the Bible. God really is a God who likes to hide things so we can search them out. The triumphant ride into Jerusalem and all of the events of this week have been shadowed starting in Genesis and laid out for us in every book of the First Covenant.  

Zechariah 9:9 is one of several stories about kings returning to save and restore peace to the Daughter of Zion and Jerusalem.

  • 2 Samuel 19 has the account of David returning to Jerusalem after the defeat of Absalom. Even though the country was in chaos, I have to believe that there was still a parade that started on the Mount of Olives. This is the same path that Jesus followed as He left the Jordan River.
  • Revelations 7:9+10, 6:2, and 19:11 also tell of Jesus’ second return to Jerusalem to claim His Bride and how that time will look. It is an interesting “comparison and contrast” to Zechariah. He will be on a war horse, not a colt.
  • These two were leaders but not kings. Joshua followed a similar route after Israel crossed the Jordan. Elisha also traveled this path as he went back to Mount Carmel (possibly looking for Elijah). It is a retracing of Elijah’s trip to the Jordan River before he was taken by the fiery chariot.

Verse 10 reflects the promise in Exodus 24 about peace and the territory that would belong to Israel. This area was probably realized under David and Solomon. Ephraim and Jerusalem represent the North and South Kingdoms but also speak of the blessings given by Jacob in Genesis. Judah was made the family leader and Joseph got the firstborn son’s blessing.

Verse 12 tells the “prisoners of hope” that there is a double restoration coming. I have always seen Noah as the first prisoner of hope when he was in the ark.

Verse 13 makes reference to Greece as an enemy. To put this in some context, Zechariah was alive in the time of Darius (this could be the last book of the Old Testament written). He did attack Greece and lost. It could also speak of the time of the Maccabees. We could even extend that to Paul’s “conquering Greece” with the Gospel.  

I hope you have learned something new from my Bible 911 of Zechariah, remember the assignment on salt.

Elisha – The Man of God

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Elisha the “Man of God”.  His name means “God of supplication or riches” (Strong’s #477).  Elisha is mentioned once in the New Testament in the Book of Luke.  God chose him to follow Elijah as the prophet to Israel, the wayward Northern Kingdom.  He served many years “pouring water” on the hands of Elijah.

Elisha came into his own in 2 Kings 2 when he saw Elijah taken away to Heaven.  He asked for a double portion of Elijah’s “ruwach” and he received it. (Note – this has for a long time been transferred to miracles.)  “Ruwach” means spirit or life, power/miracles are implied and there are many people who count miracles and make a case for this happening.  In Elijah, I started looking at the miraculous happenings not just miracles, and began to focus on “life” and the things in these men’s lives. 

This is one of “those” things that for some reason I don’t seem to get “right”.  I counted twenty-four miraculous things for Elijah and twenty-eight for Elisha.  (I have heard 8/16 and even 17/34 for a count.)  I tried and even redid Elisha – I will list verses at the end of the post.  BUT the Bible says he got a double portion!  I feel he did get a double of “ruwach” and things that are involved in life.  Please bear with me, here are some things Elisha had more of than Elijah.

  1. Length of ministry – 24 or 25 years of ministry for Elijah and 47 to 50 years for Elisha.  (I determined this by looking at the years of the kings that were in their lives.)
  2. Elijah – 2 kings of Israel; Elisha – 4 kings of Israel and 1 from Judah.
  3. Completed instruction of God to Elijah in the cave.  Elijah – 1 (anointing Elisha); Elisha – 2 (anointing Jehu and telling Hazael he would be king)
  4. Influence/servants.  Elijah – 2 servants, one unnamed (possibly the widow’s son) and Elisha.  Elisha – At least Gehazi and a company (at least one) of prophets, that may have been fifty or more men in each.

Concerning miracles, I noticed this and it is worth mentioning!  I am choosing not to quantify this topic.  Many of the miraculous things that accompanied Elijah are by angels, or “the Lord says”.  Most of the things Elisha did are not!  The Bible simple states that the “man of God” spoke.  To me that indicates that Elisha had a different type of relation with God than Elijah had during his life.  Elisha also had many things happen that concerned water.  Elisha, also helped “his kings” more with advice and warnings than Elijah.  I will leave the argument of who is greater to someone else, we just need the miraculous again in our churches!

This list is intentional not pretty!  Some of these I felt like I was “pushing it”.  At times I picked one verse out of the story and did not give a range of verses for that story.  All of these are in 2 Kings and I used the NIV translation – 2:12,14, 21, 23; 3:11,15; 4:1,16, 33, 41, 43; 5:14, 26, 27; 6:6, 9, 10 17, 18, 20; 7:1,2; 8:1, 7, 10; 9:1; 13:15, 21.

Elijah – Questions, Observations, Comments

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This post is because of the studying done for Study of the Kingdom – Elijah.  It is in note form and not meant to be complete statements or thoughts.  You, probably, will need your Bible open as you go through this.       

1 Kings

17:7 – the brook dried up.  God changes somethings but lets others run their natural course.  What seems like a trial is really an opportunity.  The brook drying and going to Sidon. 

17:9 – Commanded a widow!  Did she know before Elijah got there?  The ravens were ordered, she was commanded!  This story makes the New Testament in Luke 4:24.

17:13 – a faith action, then a miracle/blessing.

17:18 –   In verse 15 she did as she was told and it started a blessing.  It may have been a year that she enjoyed the miracle.  Illness strikes and both the widow and Elijah are tested/challenged.  She acknowledged the man of God but blamed the source of her blessing.  Had she gotten too comfortable?  She shows a “religious” response – blames God (instead of being thankful), brings up her past, and blames the source of her blessing.

17:24 – miracles reinforced the words of truth that Elijah had brought.  Now she knows!

18:1 – another faith action to bring a miracle. Elijah had to go see Ahab.

Obadiah is a complex character.  His story of faith-in-action is told twice! Usually an indicator of importance. (Elijah has several things that happen twice in his story.)  There was already a myth surrounding Elijah and his ability to “disappear”. 

18:13 How could Elijah know of his story unless God revealed it to him, he was in hiding and it was done in secret.    

18:19 Why Mount Carmel?  Did Jesus ever go to Mount Carmel?  Elisha went back after Elijah was taken.

18: 20b, 24b, 39 The people said, “Nothing; what you say is good; the Lord He is God.”  Maybe a logical progression, but it just sits funny.

18:22 Elijah’s insistence on the fact he is the only one.  This is after Obadiah said he took care of 100 prophets.  He was not alone in serving God, and neither are we.  Paul repeats this story in Romans 11:2 to stress this point.

18:43 Elijah has a servant!  I think he was the widow’s son.

18:44 The cloud is rising.  Yes, that is how it works just you usually cannot see it happening, and then it progresses quickly. 

19:2 Steven Furtick called this an attack when you are in transition.  If Jezebel really had the power to kill him she would have just sent a death squad and not told him it was coming.

19:8 Follows the pattern of the Exodus.  It puts Moses and Elijah or law and prophet together in a similar circumstance.  Miracle food and water, forty days, and meeting God in a cave or cleft of a rock.  Normal travel in that length of time could be 800 to 1600 miles.  The pillar would allow the Children to travel at night.  Ref. Exodus 24:12. Was Elijah hoping he would die on the mountain?

19:11 Wind, earthquake, and fire are similar to what David reports/says in Psalm18 and the idea is also in Psalm 50.  It is also a picture of Law and Grace, harsh then gentle.

19:15 Did Elijah follow the instructions? Probably not!  First, he went to Elisha instead of Damascus.  Elisha had Jehu anointed in 2 Kings 9 and he told Hazel in 2 Kings 8:7. A possible out was that Ahab showed remorse in 1 Kings 21:9.  

19:19 to 21 Elisha is Elijah’s second servant.  He gave up a lot – 12 yoke or 24 oxen was a lot of money.  How big was that plow?  In a straight line, 12 yokes may have been over 100 feet!  That was a huge party with that many cows.  It ended his business.  The cows did not belong to his parents.  Was he married?

Note on Chapter 20. To reinforce that Elijah was not alone there are two unnamed prophets.  They seem to have no connection to Elijah but Ahab knows them and accepts their words.

21:20 Ahab blames everyone but himself and they are them the enemy. 

21:25 + 26 God did carry out the words of Elijah but He showed mercy.

Chapter 22 – Another prophet besides Elijah.  Elijah’s ministry could have been twenty-four years-long – twenty-two years of Ahab’s reign (1 Kings 16:29) and the two years of Ahaziah’s reign 22: 51.  

2 Kings 2

Bethel > Gilgal > Jericho > Jordan This is a reverse trip for Joshua and the children.  It is also the reverse of Jesus going to Jerusalem before His death. 

Elijah, Elisha, and the company of prophets knew he was going to be taken.  I think Elijah knew how he was going.

2:10 Elijah’s statement to Elisha could be – if you see what I see or the way I see.