The Mantle

2 Kings 1; 1Ki_19:15-21
Ahaziah who succeeded his father Ahab in the
throne of Israel, did not reign more than two
years. He was fully under the influence of his
mother, and sanctioned the idolatries she had
introduced. His death was the result of a disaster
that befell him, described as a fall through a lattice
that was in his upper chamberwhich would
suggest that he fell through the open window into
the court below. Some think he fell through a skylight on the top of his palace; but there are no skylights to eastern houses. The word rendered
lattice may be a rail,which may suggest that,
in leaning against the railforming the inner fence
of the house-top (the outer towards the street,
being usually a wall, and the inner, towards the
interior court, a light rail of wood), it gave way,
and he fell into the court below. Such accidents
frequently occur in the East, and the liability to
their occurrence is constantly presented to the
mind of one who walks on the house-tops, until
use begets insensibility to the danger.

The hurts which the king received in his fall were

serious enough to occasion doubts of his recovery;
and he therefore, like one thoroughly imbued with
idolatrous sentiments, sent messengers to the
oracle of Baalzebub, the fly-god of Ekron, Note:
This idol has been noticed already under Week
Forty-Five, Thursday (page 206). Although Ekron
was in the territory of the Philistinesnot in that of
the Phoenicianstheir idolatries seem to have
been in most respects identical; and it is
remarkable that we find on a silver coin of Aradus
(the Arvad of Scripture), which belonged to the
Phoenicians, an insect figure, which may be
presumed to have some reference to this idol. to
inquire if he should recover. They came back much
sooner with an answer than he expected; for they
had been encountered by a prophet, who sent
them back with the doom that he should never
more rise from his bed, seeing he had forgotten
there was a God in Israel, and had sent to learn his
fate from the paltry idol of Ekron. It is clear that
his proper course would have been to send to a
prophet of the Lord to inquire of himif the proud
stomach of a king of Israel could not brook the still
more becoming course of sending to the temple of
Jerusalem, to inquire of the Lord through the
appointed agencies and regular ministers. To send

to Baalzebub implied, or left it to the heathen to

infer, that there was no God in Israel who could or
would satisfy him, and was therefore a deep
affront to Jehovah.
Baalzebub on Silver Coin of Aradus

The men did not know who it was that had met
them; but on their describing his dress and
appearancea hairy man, girt with a girdle of
leather about his loinsthe king at once said, It
is Elijah the Tishbite. It is understood that the
hairiness ascribed to the prophet is to be referred,
not to his person, but his mantlemade of hair,
which, with the girdle of leather, formed the cheap,
durable, and humble attire of the prophets.
Instead of having its proper effect upon Ahaziahs
mind, this discovery only exasperated him; and he
forthwith sent an officer with fifty men to bring
Elijah before him. What was his purpose we know
not; but from his sending a troop of soldiers, and
from the result that followed, it could not have

been good. Very likely it was meant to destroy

him, unless he recalled the sentence he had
pronounced; for by this time there had come to be
a strong conviction throughout the land that
whatever the prophet said must come to pass. The
awful destruction by fire from heaventhat is, we
suppose, by lightning, at the word of Elijah, of the
two first parties sent to apprehend himmust have
tended powerfully to impress upon the nation the
fact that the Lord still asserted his right to reign
over them, and would be known to them in his
protesting judgments, since they would not know
him in his mercies. His cheerful going with the
third party, the leader of which approached him
with humble entreaties, must have suggested that
the door to those mercies was still open to those
who becomingly approached it. This was practical
preaching of the kind that this people could most
easily understand. The fearless prophet repeated
in person to the king the words of rebuke and
death that he had sent by the messengers; and
the doomed king was too awe-struck, after what
had passed, to make any attempt, upon his liberty
or life.

According to his prediction, Ahaziah died soon

after, and, as he had no son, was succeeded by his
brother Jehoram.
Elijah had now, and for some time before, a
personal follower or attendantone of those so
well known in the East, and in ancient history, who
are the disciples and followers of a holy or learned
man, and who, although they may themselves be
persons of some consideration in the world, feel
glad and honored in being allowed to discharge for
their master the light servile duties which his
habits of life require, but which they would feel it a
degradation to render to any other man. This
person was Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel
Meholah beyond the Jordana name scarcely less
illustrious than that of Elijah. The latter had in
Horeb received the command to anoint Jehu as
king of Israel, Hazael as king of Syria; and this
Elisha to be prophet in his own room. The latter
office only he performed in person, leaving the rest
to his successor. This Elisha was the son of a
substantial land-owner, as appears by the fact
that, although the prophet found him personally
engaged in the field, he was plowing with no less
than twelve yoke of oxen. This is no doubt
intentionally mentioned, for to this day in Syria a

mans wealth is estimated by the number of plows

which he works, or, which is the same thing, by the
yokes or pairs of cattle he employs in drawing
them. As Elijah passed, he, without any previous
intimation, slipped his mantle from his shoulders
and threw it over those of Elisha. This was a
summons equivalent to that which our Savior
addressed to his disciplesLeave all, and follow
me!and it was more than this, for it implied the
fact that he was to succeed the man who called
him. It was his investiture with his present heirship
to, and the assurance of the future possession of,
that very mantle; and to this day in the East, a
reputed saint, when departing from life, indicates
his successor by bequeathing to him his mantle,
the symbol of his spiritual power; and although
that mantle may be dirty, patched, tattered, or
threadbare, it is deemed to be of higher price than
the brocade robes of kings; and the older it is the
more precious it becomes. Elisha well understood
the sign, and appreciated the distinction conferred
upon him at its true value, by leaving his home to
follow the prophet, after he had given an
extemporaneous feast to the field-laborers, and to
others who had come from the town, by slaying a
yoke of the oxen, and burning the agricultural
instruments to dress the meat.

He then took his departure with Elijah, who must

have been much comforted by the company of
such a friend and follower; and he was doubtless
most thankful to the Lord for thus providing for
him one much better suited to be his helper than
the servant he had left behind at Beersheba.
Until Elisha became distinguished on his own
account, he was known as the Elisha who poured
water on the hands of Elijah. This was a servile
office, and might be understood of any servant.
The Easterns, in washing, never, if they can help it,
dip their hands in water unless it be running water,
as they abhor the idea of using in this form
repeatedly water already soiled. To pour the water
upon the hands from a vessel, however, requires
the assistance of another, and this is usually the
office of a servant, and the most frequent one he
has to render to the person of his masterwhich
fact renders it appropriate as the description of a
personal attendant. Friends, neighbors, and fellowtravellers often, however, pour water on each
others hands in the absence of a servantas it is
exceedingly inconvenient to fill one hand
repeatedly with water from a vessel held in the
other, and which is laid frequently down to be

taken up again. No one washes thus who can find

any one willing to pour water on his hands.
Egyptian Basin and Ewer

Indoors, an ewer and basin of turned copper are

commonly used. The water poured from the ewer
upon the hands, falls into the basin field below
them, and which usually has a perforated false
bottom through which the used water passes out
of sight. The same kind of ewer and basin as are
now in use, we find represented on the most
ancient monuments of Egypt.