Wednesday, October 25, 2006 AD
The chariots of Israel and its horsemen
An excellent site that I don't make enough use of is Beginning With Moses, a site devoted to "biblical theology": that is, an approach to the Bible that seeks to put every biblical text in the context of the "big picture" of the Bible. The site takes its name from Luke 24:27, one of the key texts teaching that the whole Bible is about Jesus Christ:
This includes a helpful diagram showing the parallels between Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist on the one hand, and Joshua, Elisha and Jesus on the other (and it's worth noting how many incidents from Elisha's ministry are paralleled, though surpassed, by that of Jesus: feeding a multitude, raising the dead, etc).
But the point I particularly wanted to highlight in this post concerns Elisha's exclamation in verses 11-12:
This is confirmed by the fact that the next verses do not describe a battle between angels and Arameans, but instead the prayer of Elisha - that is, the exercise of an aspect of his prophetic ministry - leading to the blinding of the Aramean army.
This interpretation has the benefit of focusing our attention on the word of God and on prayer as the means by which we are to work in the world, rather than becoming obsessed (as some corners of the church have become) with spiritual warfare, "battling the principalities" and so on. The parallels referred to above between Elijah/Moses and Elisha/Jesus also mean we recognise that, for all that we gratefully acknowledge the work of angels, it is Jesus who is truly the "chariots of Israel and its horsemen" for us today.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.I've been reading the early chapters of 2 Kings over the past few days, and this led me to recall a very helpful "biblical theology briefing" from BWM on 2 Kings 2:1-25, the account of Elijah's ascension into heaven in a whirlwind.
This includes a helpful diagram showing the parallels between Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist on the one hand, and Joshua, Elisha and Jesus on the other (and it's worth noting how many incidents from Elisha's ministry are paralleled, though surpassed, by that of Jesus: feeding a multitude, raising the dead, etc).
But the point I particularly wanted to highlight in this post concerns Elisha's exclamation in verses 11-12:
As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.A similar reference is found in 2 Kings 6:15-19, where Elisha's servant is dismayed to find the city in which they are staying surrounded by "an army with horses and chariots" sent by the king of Aram (i.e. Syria):
His servant said, ‘Alas, master! What shall we do?’ He replied, ‘Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.’ Then Elisha prayed: ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Strike this people, please, with blindness.’ So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.These references are, I think, typically taken to be an unveiling of angelic activity, normally unseen, that surrounded the activities of the visible people of God. Now angels undoubtedly do exist and are active on God's behalf, but this interpretation of these passages can encourage a "Frank Peretti" view of angels and their activities. Graham Beynon suggests a different meaning, and one which I personally find highly persuasive: that the "chariots of Israel and its horsemen" refers not to angelic "warriors", but to Elijah himself:
[Elisha's] cry at [in verse 12] is often taken to be [a] reference to the chariot and horses of verse 11. However, this would have the oddity of Elisha pointing out the presence of chariots/horses once Elijah had gone. Also the words used are different - chariot is the same but the second reference is to horsemen, not horses.To my mind, the reference to 2 Kings 13:14 is conclusive on this question, but this interpretation also holds for the passage in 2 Kings 6 quoted above. The vision of the "horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" is not the unveiling of an angelic army assisting Elisha by countering the Syrian army, but instead is the unveiling of Elisha's own role as "the chariots of Israel and its horsemen", in succession to Elijah.
The more natural explanation is that this [is] a cry with reference to Elijah himself - he is the father, and he is the chariots and horsemen of Israel. This interpretation is confirmed by 13:14 which uses the same expression of Elisha on his death-bed (with no vision of chariots present). Elisha’s cry is therefore focussing on the loss of Elijah, both personally, and to Israel. He is God’s ‘army’ on behalf of Israel, and his loss now is devastating.
This is confirmed by the fact that the next verses do not describe a battle between angels and Arameans, but instead the prayer of Elisha - that is, the exercise of an aspect of his prophetic ministry - leading to the blinding of the Aramean army.
This interpretation has the benefit of focusing our attention on the word of God and on prayer as the means by which we are to work in the world, rather than becoming obsessed (as some corners of the church have become) with spiritual warfare, "battling the principalities" and so on. The parallels referred to above between Elijah/Moses and Elisha/Jesus also mean we recognise that, for all that we gratefully acknowledge the work of angels, it is Jesus who is truly the "chariots of Israel and its horsemen" for us today.
