The reading for Thursday, April 6, 2023 , is 2 Kings 1 – 3

2 Kings 1 – 3 

Elijah's response to the messengers is interesting. We don't have to respond to authority for it's own sake. Also, the 3rd Captain was humble and asked for his life, but after that, God told Elijah not to be afraid of him. Was it fear that Elijah was feeling when he called fire down and killed the other captains and their men? I guess it kinda makes sense. If Elijah had got up and went with the first 2, he would have been in their power. In going with the 3rd captain, who asked for his life, Elijah went willingly. 

I wonder what the phrase "the sons of the prophets" means? Did they prophesy, too? If so, wouldn't they be called prophets? 

Here we see water parted again so that Elijah & Elisha could go over on dry ground. Just 2 men this time, not all of Israel. I was kinda bothered by this. Now I see that Elisha goes back with the cloak that Elijah had used to part the waters. Elisha does the same thing and walks through on dry ground. Elisha had asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit (What does that even mean??) and I guess this substantiates that Elijah's spirit was now with Elisha.

This story of the boys in effect calling Elisha "baldy" has always intrigued me. Clearly, if we are being bullied/ called names we don't just have to take it. Having 42 of them killed by bears does seem a bit much to me. Also, if there were 42 killed how many of them were there altogether? What were they doing? or supposed to be doing. 

The king of Moab sacrifices his own son, his heir, in hopes of winning the battle. Sounds terrible. But it also shares similarities to the Easter story. 


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