Elijah and the Whirlwind

Q. In 2 Kings 2.11-12 it says that Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind to Heaven. What does that mean and what are the chariot of fire and the horsemen?

A. This is a very interesting verse and there is a lot being said here. I’m sure we have all seen a picture of Elijah riding up to heaven in this chariot and so on, but what is really happening here is your question. Elijah knows he is leaving and he is talking to his assistant Elisha. They are making a “farewell” tour of the schools for prophets that they had a hand in. As they came to Jericho and the school there, it seems they already knew that Elijah was leaving (2K 2.5).

He leaves Jericho going east and comes to the Jordan, wraps his mantle into a tight “club” and hits the Jordan and it parts. Now they walk on the other side and Elisha asks for a double-portion of the anointing, which is the right of the first-born son which spiritually he was in regards to Elijah. As they walk and talk they see a chariot of fire and horseman coming towards them on the ground. It separates the two and Elijah is taken to heaven and Elisha says “My father, my father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen.” So briefly, that’s what happened so what is going on? Elijah is a picture of the believer translated to heaven “in a twinkling of an eye.”

Elisha is a type of the 144,000 who see the Natzal (rapture) and receive a double anointing. The chariot and the horseman were not necessarily real, but God was communicating something by these symbols. Psalm 104.3-4 says that clouds are like His chariot, which this may have been a glimpse of, and He makes the wind His angels and fire His ministers. So angels can appear in this form. Remember Yeshua was taken up “in a cloud” in Acts 1.9. Then Elisha says that Elijah was his teacher (father) and a great defense (chariot and horsemen) to Israel through his teaching, his life and service. In Num. 4.3 it says that the duties the Kohathites performed in the Mishkan is seen as a “service” in English.

In Hebrew the word for service is “tzva’a” which means army or warfare. They were entering into the service, army or warfare of the Lord by doing the things that God wanted them to do in the Temple /Tabernacle. This was seen as spiritual warfare. When we obey the Lord He is our “shield” and our defense. So, Elisha is saying that Elijah’s service (warfare) and life in obedience to God on behalf of Israel was a better defense than chariots and horsemen. There is no coincidence that Elijah is seen as a type of the Prophets and Moses the Torah. They appear with Yeshua at the transfiguration as symbols of the Law and the Prophets, the 2 witnesses if you will.

Later in 2 Kings13.14 the same thing is said of Elisha at his death but there is no indication Joash the King of Israel saw anything. He quotes what Elisha said about Elijah (2 K 2) and recognized what a valuable asset he was and a great defense to Israel, just like Elijah was, and now that is gone. All the chariots and horsemen in the land were not as valuable as one true prophet of the Lord and he knew it. He was the “chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof “, in other words, behind Elijah and Elisha was the Lord, their chariot (Ezek 1, Psa 104) and horsemen (strength).