2 Kings 2:1-3 English Standard Version
Elijah Taken to Heaven
1 Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
The real question here was where is the bad news. Elisha was about to lose Elijah. Elijah cared enough about his disciple that he wanted to save him the pain of watching what was about to happen. The passages indicating the method of Elijah’s removal from this life would have been a vague awareness to those two prophets. No one had been taken in this way before. There was no historical evidence to signify if Elijah would suffer in any way during the event.
These lesser prophets came to pronounce to Elisha that his master was about to be taken away from him. It may be that those prophets were given the knowledge of Elijah’s taking to be witnesses of God’s glory and did not receive instructions to tell Elisha. This is conjecture and has no spiritual context unless we might receive a word of knowledge without being told what to do with it.
Those minor prophets play a minor role in this telling. The main players are Elijah and Elisha. In sharing their knowledge they elevate their own importance. It makes them feel needed in a situation where their sharing has no value for Elisha. Now we have an opportunity to discuss those actions in terms of our own obedience of faith.
God is the God of purpose and perfect timing. We are impatient and often want to share what we have been given with everyone because we haven’t asked of the Lord two important factors.
Who needs a Word and when do they need to receive it?
On the other side of experience, perhaps some out there are minor prophets that have received a word and have not gained the experience in the prophetic and remain silent to the point that they do not share it with anyone.
In that case perhaps it is better to suffer the rebuke of Elisha, “Yes I know it, be quiet.”
In that way we would know the Word came from the Lord and not a vanity of our minds.