The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 455

were extinct and he was left alone is opposed h1m [Heb. to 1iim. The ideo. that ho may the ordination of a successor, and the men- have " crossed the stream of the Jorden" tion of the " seven thousand" in ver. 18.) (Rawlinson) is extremely improbable. The Ver. 18.-Yet I have left me [So St. Pan!, cun·ent is strong, and it is not everywhere Rom. xi. 4, i.:a,,X,,rov ; but the LXX. fordable, especially in winter), and cast h1s (i.:a,a>..,,./,,.d and all the versions translnte mantle upon him. [Heb. to him ,171'.', But the word as fnture, as in the margin, I will leavrJ, and so the l conversive seems to re- LXX. ,,r' avrov. Already, it wonld seem, the :i_ui·:e. See Gesen., Gram. § 124-26) seven rough hairy mantle bad COD.le to be recog- tb'Jusand [not so much a round as a sym- nized as the garb of e. prophet (cf. Zoch. lY,lical number-" the i,cXoyri of the godly" xiii. 4). " The prophet's cloak was a sign of /Keil). "The remnant according to the the prophet's vocation" (Keil). To cast the election of grace " (Rom. xi. 5). It is like cloak to or upon Elisha was therefore an the 144,000 and the 12,000 of Rev. vii. 4-8. appropriate and significant way of desig- The prominent idea is perhaps this: Though nating him to the prophetic office. "When the children of Israel have forsaken My Elijah went to heaven Elisha had the mantle covenant, yet I have kept and will keep it. eutire" 2 Kings ii. 13 (Henry). The Ger- It also suggests how the still small voice had mans use the word mantel-kind of an adopted been speaking in the silenceJ in Israel, all child.] the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, Ver. 20.-And he left the oxen [As, being and every mouth which hath not kissed the last in the line, he could do, without stop- him. [We gather from Job xxxi. 26, 27 ping the others. It is probable too that, that it was customary to kiss the hand to Elisha being the last, Elijah's action would the idol, or object of worship, and from not have been observed by the rest], and Hosea xiii. 2 to kiss the image itself. Most ran after Elijah [It is cle.ar that Elisha both of the co=entators adduce Cicero in Ver- understood the act, and made up his mind rem iv. 43, where he speaks of the statue of at once. No doubt he too had long sighed and Hercules at Agrigentum, the lips and chin of prayed over the demoralization of his coun- which were a little wom by the kisses of try and the dishonour done to his God. devotees.] Elijah, after casting the IIlll.ntle, strode on, Ver. 19.-So he departed thence, a.nd leaving it for Elisha to take or reject it, found [Nothing can be concluded from this The latter soon showed bis choice by run- word as to previous acquaintance] Elisha ning after him], and said, Let me, I pray the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing thee, ldse my father and my mother, and [It was in the winter, consequently (Prov. then I will follow thee. And he said unto :a:. 4. See Conder, p. 328). "Elisha is found him, Go back again [Heb. go, return] : for not in his study, but in the field: not with what have I done to thee 7 [There is not a word of reproof here, as Wordsworth and a book in his hand, but the plough " (Hall) Rawlinson imagine. Indeed, it would have with twelve yoke of oxen [Heb. ploughing been strange if there bad been. A greater twelve yoke, from which Ewald gathers that readiness to obey the prophetic summons, he was ploughing twelve yoke of land- Elisha could not well have showed. Forth- it;,'l! like jugum, is used as a measure of with, as soon as he realized hie co.11, "be left lrui.d in 1 Sam. xiv. 14, Isa. v. 10-and was the oxen and ran after" his new master. True, then at work on the twelfth and last. But he asks permission-and why should he not 7 the meaning of the '' twelve yoke" here is for" grace is no enemy to good nature"- surely settled by the" yoke of oxen;" cf. ver. to give a parting embrace to the father and 21 and see below] before h1m [This word mother to whom be owed bis life, and whom also points to animals, not land. The twelve he bad been required by God to honour. pair of oxen, it is generally tbonght, are But there is no proof of "a divided heart " mentioned to show that Elisha was a man here. If he bad begged to be allowed to of substance. It is not certain, however, stay and bury his mother and father (St, that all the twelve belonged to him. See Lake ix. 69-61) it might have been other- next note], a.nd he with the twelfth ['' I wise. But be suggests nothing of the kind. have seen more than a dozen plongba thus at He says : " One kiss, one farewell, and then work. To understand the reason of this, I will follow thee." It is a complete mis- several things must be taken into account. take, consequently, to interpret Elijah's First, that the arable land of nearly all vil- words to mean, " Go, return to thy plough- lages is cultivated in co=on ; then that ing, for why shouldst thou quit it? . . . Arab farmers delight to work together, Thou canst remain as thou art " (Rawlin- partly f<>r mutual protection, and partly son). Their true meaning, as evidenced by from their love of gossip," &c. Thomson, the sequel (ver. 21), clearly was, "Go back L. and B. i. 208) : and Elijah pasBed by and kiss them ; why shouldst thou not? For OB, XIX, 1-21.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 465