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The BibleTexts.com Bible Commentary Copyright 1996-2005 Robert Nguyen Cramer THE BOOK OF SECOND KINGS |
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2.9 Elisha's request for a double share of your spirit refers to the legal provision that a firstborn son must receive a double portion of the inheritance (Deut 21:15-17). Elisha thus asks to have the status of Elijah's firstborn and to inherit more of his spirit than any other prophetic heirs. Elisha is not requesting more of the spirit than Elijah had but only a fraction of it.
If a Jewish father had two sons, the older son would inherit twice as much property as the younger son, which would provide the older son with two-thirds of the father's property. Professor Rofe's statement that Elisha asked to inherit "two thirds of his master's spirit" would apparently assume that a second son or the other children would inherit the other third of his master's spirit; however, there is no biblical mention of Elijah having been married or having any children. So the assumption may be made that Elijah was making his request in the context of the prophets, meaning in a literal sense that Elisha was requesting two-thirds of Elijah's spirit and requesting the other prophets divide up the other third of Elijah's spirit.
Norman H. Snaith, in his exegesis of 2 Kings in The Interpreter's Bible (edited by George Arthus Buttrick, Nashville: Abingdon, 1954, Volume 3, page 194), writes:
9. The double share is the portion of the heir, the first-born. Elisha desires to succeed to the leadership of the prophetic guilds ("the sons of the prophets"), and so to have the authority and power which belonged to his master. The meaning is not that he should be two thirds as great as Elijah (so Ewald [H.G.A. von Ewald, Commentary on the Prophets of the Old Testament, 5 Volumes, Edinburgh: ET, 1875-1881]), nor on the other hand that he should be twice as great as Elijah (so Ecclus. 48:13, Vulg.), but that he should he should be his successor. The word ruah (spirit) is not used here of phophetic inspiration so much as in the sense of more-than-human power.
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(i) The poor widow (4:1-7). 1. wife: The story indirectly shows that members of the prophetic guilds married despite the fact that they sometimes lived in community (cf. 4:38-41). slaves: The law did not permit one Israelite to enslave another permanently (Lv 25:46). Israelites could, however, be sold into slavery for a limited time to satisfy debts (Ex 21:7; Is 50:1), and in many cases Israelites were probably reduced to permanent slavery despite the law and the strong sentiment against it (cf. Neh 5:1-13; Jer 34:14; Ex 21:16; Dt 24:7; see De Vaux, AI 82-83).
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Copyright
1996-2005 Robert Nguyen Cramer
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