Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Kings 19:19 - 19:19

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Kings 19:19 - 19:19


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Call of Elisha to be a prophet. - 1Ki 19:19. As he went thence (viz., away from Horeb), Elijah found Elisha the son of Shaphat at Abel-Meholah, in the Jordan valley (see at Jdg 7:22), occupied in ploughing; “twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he himself with the twelfth” (a very wealthy man therefore), and threw his cloak to him as he passed by. The prophet's cloak was sign of the prophet's vocation so that throwing it to him was a symbol of the call to the prophetic office.

1Ki 19:20

Elisha understanding the sign, left the oxen standing, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “Let me kiss my father and my mother,” i.e., take leave of my parents, and when I will follow thee. For the form אֶֽשָׁקָה see Ewald, §228, b. As he has ploughed his earthly field with his twelve pair of oxen, he was not to plough the spiritual field of the twelve tribes of Israel (Luk 9:62). Elijah answered, “Go, return, for what have I done to thee?” שׁוּב לֵךְ belong together, as in 1Ki 19:15; so that Elijah thereby gave him permission to return to his father and mother. כִּי signifies for, not yet (Thenius); for there is no antithesis here, according to which כִּי might serve for a more emphatic assurance (Ewald, §330, b.). The words “what have I done to thee?” can only mean, I have not wanted to put any constraint upon thee, but leave it to thy free will to decide in favour of the prophetic calling.

1Ki 19:21

Then Elisha returned, took the pair of oxen with which he had been ploughing, sacrificed, i.e., slaughtered them (זָבַח used figuratively), boiled the flesh with the plough, gave a farewell meal to the people (of his place of abode), i.e., his friends and acquaintance, and then followed Elijah as his servant, i.e., his assistant. The suffix in בִּשְּׁלָם refers to הַבָּקָר צֶמֶּד, and is more precisely defined by the apposition הַבָּשָׂר, “namely, the flesh of the oxen.”