0019. The Aftermath
The Aftermath
"Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send" (2Ki_2:16-17).
The desire of these students seems unheard of. They certainly were of a different fiber, in their conception of things than was Elisha. They insisted that Elisha permit their search, until Elisha was shamed at their request and granted it.
Of course, the result was just as Elisha knew it would be. "They * * found him not", and gave up the search.
Is it not true that these sons of the prophets could not accept the miraculous? They perhaps wanted to explain that it was a simple whirlwind that caught away Elijah, and that he was dropped somewhere on mountain or valley, and would lie exposed and unburied, a prey to the vultures.
In the schools of the prophets today, there is, alas, much of the same rationalistic conception. The miracles must be explained upon some reasonable and scientific basis.
Schools are always searching the woods for some tangible basis for every miraculous act of God. The dead were not really raised, the lame did not really walk, the dumb did not really speak. The waters of the sea did not stand up a wall on each side of the Red Sea, nor did the Jordan permit the Israelites to go through dry shod. Daniel was not miraculously kept from the lions’ mouths, nor were the three Hebrew children actually walking in the midst of the flames.
Too bad that the schools of the prophets cannot accept the miracles. If they would only believe "In the beginning God", they would find it easy to believe all the rest.
Why could not the same God who spoke worlds into existence by His creative power, make a big fish that could swallow and keep Jonah during three days and three nights?
Away with this infidelity that robs God of all His power and leaves Him no more than the creatures whom He created.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR