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The Change of Garments
After the magnificent demonstration of God’s power at Mount Carmel, Elijah complained that he was the only one left who loved the Lord. The Lord, it seems, ignored Elijah’s whining, but when he finished his speech, the Lord then gave him instructions: he was to anoint two kings and Elisha.
Following the Lord’s directions to find a successor, Elijah went to the farm of Shaphat, Elisha’s father, and found Elisha plowing with oxen. Maybe Elijah waved to Elisha to get his attention, and Elisha stopped his work and waited to hear Elijah’s message.
Read 1 Kings 19:19. How was the call of Elisha demonstrated there in the field?
We aren’t given the exact words of Elijah, or Elisha’s response to the call of Elijah, but we do know that he responded positively. Elijah now cast his mantle, a symbol of his responsibilities as a servant of God, on Elisha’s shoulders (see Num. 20:28). The symbolism is pretty obvious. Elisha was now given a sacred calling.
In other incidents of the Bible, a mantle (or cloak or some similar garment) was not always used as an indication of God’s invitation to serve Him. How is the idea of a “mantle” used in these verses: Job 1:20; Psalms 109:29; Jude 22, 23 ; 2 Samuel 10:3, 4; Ezekiel 16:15, 16;?
Elijah’s mantle here meant devotion, commitment, and dedication. “As Elijah, divinely directed in seeking a successor, passed the field in which Elisha was plowing, he cast upon the young man’s shoulders the mantle of consecration. During the famine the family of Shaphat had become familiar with the work and mission of Elijah, and now the Spirit of God impressed Elisha’s heart as to the meaning of the prophet’s act. To him it was the signal that God had called him to be the successor of Elijah.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 219, 220.
Think about how a single object can have both good and bad connotations, depending on how it is used. What are you doing with the things in your own life? What kind of meanings are you, by your actions, giving them? What have they come to symbolize to you, and why?
| MONDAY | May 2 |
After the magnificent demonstration of God’s power at Mount Carmel, Elijah complained that he was the only one left who loved the Lord. The Lord, it seems, ignored Elijah’s whining, but when he finished his speech, the Lord then gave him instructions: he was to anoint two kings and Elisha.
Following the Lord’s directions to find a successor, Elijah went to the farm of Shaphat, Elisha’s father, and found Elisha plowing with oxen. Maybe Elijah waved to Elisha to get his attention, and Elisha stopped his work and waited to hear Elijah’s message.
Read 1 Kings 19:19. How was the call of Elisha demonstrated there in the field?
We aren’t given the exact words of Elijah, or Elisha’s response to the call of Elijah, but we do know that he responded positively. Elijah now cast his mantle, a symbol of his responsibilities as a servant of God, on Elisha’s shoulders (see Num. 20:28). The symbolism is pretty obvious. Elisha was now given a sacred calling.
In other incidents of the Bible, a mantle (or cloak or some similar garment) was not always used as an indication of God’s invitation to serve Him. How is the idea of a “mantle” used in these verses: Job 1:20; Psalms 109:29; Jude 22, 23 ; 2 Samuel 10:3, 4; Ezekiel 16:15, 16;?
Elijah’s mantle here meant devotion, commitment, and dedication. “As Elijah, divinely directed in seeking a successor, passed the field in which Elisha was plowing, he cast upon the young man’s shoulders the mantle of consecration. During the famine the family of Shaphat had become familiar with the work and mission of Elijah, and now the Spirit of God impressed Elisha’s heart as to the meaning of the prophet’s act. To him it was the signal that God had called him to be the successor of Elijah.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 219, 220.
Think about how a single object can have both good and bad connotations, depending on how it is used. What are you doing with the things in your own life? What kind of meanings are you, by your actions, giving them? What have they come to symbolize to you, and why?
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