The Stubbornness of Sentimental Unbelief Text: 2 Kings 2:15-18
Introduction: When Seeing Isn't Believing
We come now to the immediate aftermath of one of the most spectacular events in the Old Testament. Elijah, the prophet of fire, has been taken up into heaven in a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen of fire. Elisha, his designated successor, was the sole human witness. He has received the double portion he requested, which was not a request for twice the power, but the inheritance right of the firstborn son. He was asking to be confirmed as the heir of Elijah's ministry. And God has just confirmed it, emphatically. Elisha picked up Elijah's mantle, struck the Jordan, and the waters parted, just as they had for Elijah moments before.
This is a transfer of power, a passing of the torch. The authority of God's prophetic office does not die with the man. God's kingdom work is never dependent on one individual. Leaders come and go, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. The spirit of Elijah now rests on Elisha, and the watching world, specifically the sons of the prophets, are the first to recognize it. But their recognition is immediately tested. They see the evidence, they make the right theological confession, and then, in the very next breath, they propose something utterly foolish. This is a perennial problem for the people of God. We confess with our mouths that God is sovereign, and then we immediately act as though we need to send out a search party to make sure He hasn't dropped something.
This passage is a powerful lesson on the nature of spiritual authority, the difference between sight and faith, and the peculiar foolishness that comes from a sentimental attachment to the past that refuses to accept God's plain working in the present. It is a warning against the kind of piety that honors God with its lips while its heart is busy second-guessing His providence. It is the temptation to trust our own well-meaning, fifty-man plans over the revealed Word and work of God.
The Text
Then the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him and said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
Then they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty excellent men, please let them go and search for your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.”
But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched three days but did not find him.
So they returned to him while he was staying at Jericho; and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”
(2 Kings 2:15-18 LSB)
Right Confession, Wrong Direction (v. 15-16)
We begin with the initial, and correct, response of the sons of the prophets.
"Then the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him and said, 'The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.' And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him." (2 Kings 2:15)
These men were witnesses from a distance. They saw Elisha part the Jordan. They saw the mantle, they saw the miracle, and they drew the right conclusion. The power that was on Elijah is now on Elisha. God's man is now before them. Their response is appropriate. They come and bow to the ground. This is not worship; it is the recognition of his God-given authority. They are submitting to him as the new head of the prophetic company in Israel. So far, so good. Their theology is orthodox. Their confession is sound. They have processed the available data and have come to a truthful proposition.
But true faith is not merely assenting to a set of correct propositions. The devil has a perfectly orthodox theology. True faith acts in accordance with the truth it confesses. And this is where the sons of the prophets immediately stumble. Look at their very next words:
"Behold now, there are with your servants fifty excellent men, please let them go and search for your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley." (2 Kings 2:16)
This is a staggering disconnect. In one moment, they acknowledge that the Spirit of Elijah, the Spirit of God, is now resting on Elisha. In the next, they propose a plan based on the assumption that this same Spirit is clumsy. Their proposal is a mixture of sentimental piety and low-grade unbelief. They can't quite let go of Elijah. They have this lingering, nagging thought that maybe the grand ascension wasn't the final act. Maybe God just sort of flung him somewhere. Maybe he's dazed and confused on a mountainside, and God needs fifty strong men to go finish the job properly.
Notice the contradiction. They just saw Elisha, the man of the Spirit, part the Jordan. They know Elijah was taken in a whirlwind. They know Elisha was there. And yet, they trust their own committee-driven wisdom over the testimony of the man they just acknowledged as God's prophet. Their problem is that they are operating by sight, but a very selective sight. They saw the miracle at the Jordan, but their minds are still filled with naturalistic possibilities. They can't fully embrace the supernatural reality of what has occurred. So they offer a compromise. "We believe God is powerful, but let's send fifty men just in case." This is the essence of so much of what passes for faith in the modern church. We say we trust in God's sovereignty, but we still buy all the insurance. We say we believe in prayer, but we exhaust every human stratagem first.
A Gracious Rebuke and a Foolish Insistence (v. 16b-17)
Elisha's response is direct and clear, a simple prohibition.
"And he said, 'You shall not send.'" (2 Kings 2:16b)
This should have been the end of it. The recognized man of God, upon whom the Spirit rests, has given a clear command. He knows what happened. He was there. He is not operating on guesswork. He is speaking from a position of certainty. To disobey this command is not to question Elisha's judgment, but to question the very Spirit they just confessed was upon him. It is to say, "We recognize your authority, but we'd like a second opinion, preferably from our own search party."
But they are persistent in their folly. Their sentimentality is stronger than their submission.
"But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, 'Send.'" (2 Kings 2:17)
They pester him. They press him. The text says they urged him "until he was ashamed." This is a curious phrase. It doesn't mean Elisha was ashamed of his position. It likely means he was embarrassed for them, for their persistent unbelief. Or perhaps it means he relented so that their foolishness would be exposed and they wouldn't be able to say later, "If only you had let us search!" Sometimes God allows us to proceed with our foolish plans so that we can learn from the dead end we run into. Sometimes the best teacher is a bruised shin. Elisha is not endorsing their plan; he is stepping out of the way so that their folly can run its course. He is letting them learn the hard way.
This is a dangerous spiritual condition, to have a heart so set on its own plan that it badgers God's clear direction until it gets a permissive "yes." This is what happened with Balaam. God told him not to go, but he wanted the money, so he kept asking until God said, "Go," and then sent an angel to kill him on the way. We must be very careful not to mistake God's permissive will for His prescriptive will. Just because God allows you to do something foolish does not mean He approves of it.
The Inevitable Result (v. 17b-18)
The result of their mission was, of course, exactly what Elisha knew it would be.
"They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched three days but did not find him. So they returned to him while he was staying at Jericho; and he said to them, 'Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?'" (2 Kings 2:17b-18)
They wasted three days. Fifty men expended their energy, time, and resources on a mission doomed to failure from the start. Why? Because it was born of unbelief. They were looking for a body when God had taken the man. They were searching the valleys when he was in glory. They were operating on earthly logic in the face of a heavenly event.
When they return, empty-handed and exhausted, Elisha doesn't say much. He doesn't need to. He simply asks a pointed, rhetorical question: "Did I not say to you, 'Do not go'?" This is not an "I told you so" gloat. It is a sharp, necessary lesson. It is the rebuke of a loving father. He is driving the point home. Your wisdom is foolishness. Your strength is weakness. Your plans, when set against the revealed work of God, are a waste of time. Listen to the word of the prophet. Trust what God has shown you. Don't let your sentimental attachment to how you think things ought to be blind you to what God has actually done.
Conclusion: Trust the Mantle
This little episode is a microcosm of a much larger spiritual battle. God accomplishes a great work of transition. He takes one servant and raises up another. He demonstrates the transfer of power and authority with an undeniable miracle. And the first response of the religious community is to acknowledge the truth and then immediately act contrary to it.
We do the same thing. God has accomplished the ultimate transition in the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus. He has taken His Son into glory. He has poured out His Spirit upon the church. The mantle of Christ now rests upon His people. We have been given the authority of His name and the power of His Spirit. We confess this. We sing songs about it. We say "amen" to sermons about it.
And then what do we do? We send out our fifty strong men. We put our trust in our programs, our strategies, our budgets, and our "excellent men." We see a problem in the world, and instead of wielding the authority we have been given in the gospel, we form a committee to explore the possibility of maybe finding a solution that won't offend anybody. We act as though Jesus has just been misplaced on some mountain, and it's up to us to find Him, when in reality He is seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning over all things.
The lesson from the sons of the prophets is sharp and to the point. Stop second-guessing God. Stop letting your sentimental attachments to the past, or your naturalistic assumptions about the present, dictate your actions. God has acted decisively in Christ. The Spirit of Christ rests upon His church. The Word of God is clear. The authority has been given. The waters of impossibility will part before us if we will only act in faith. The world does not need another three-day search party looking for answers in all the wrong valleys. It needs a church that will stand by the riverbank, take up the mantle of her ascended Lord, and speak His authoritative word. And when the world, and even our well-meaning brothers, urge us to trust in the arm of the flesh, we must have the courage to say, "You shall not send," and then to stand in the quiet confidence of what God has already said and done.