Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 2 Kings 2:9 ¶ When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Kings 2:9 ¶ And when they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." |
Bible Question:
Greetings in Christ Jesus, charis et al. Somewhere back down the line many years ago I came across the following definition of the "double portion". (If this has already been discussed in this thread I apologize for the redundancy of my post.) The "double portion" indeed was the inheritance of the first-born. But it was not twice the possessions of the father (this would be impossible--nobody can give away more than they actually possess); rather, it was two-thirds of the total inheritance. Now, if we take a "whole" and divide it into three parts, the one that gets two-thirds of the whole is considered to have received the "double portion", because in fact he has received twice the amount of the remainder of the inheritance. When I was a child I remember hearing men say that Elisha performed twice as many major miracles as Elijah because he received a "double portion" of his spirit. I think such reasoning is very superficial. I do not believe Elisha had "twice" the anointing of Elijah, nor do I believe he only had two-thirds of the anointing of Elijah. I believe Elisha asked for and received the inheritance of the first-born; i.e., even though he was not the literal son of Elijah, he became his spiritual successor--just as a literal first-born son would become the natural successor to his father. Oh well, this is just my 2 cents' worth--which is a double portion of one-third of three. :) Kind regards, Tim D. Cormier Tennessee Preacher |
Bible Answer: Greetings Tennessee Preacher! After reading your post I was reminded about something I learned from Tim Keller (NYC Pastor) about the inheritance in the story of the Prodigal Son. The father divided his estate between the two sons (the older son got the two thirds and the prodigal got the reamining third). Since the father's estate had been distributed and the younger son squandered all of his inheritance, from whose portion did the father obtain the ring, the robe and the fatted calf? Remember that the Father said, "All that I have is YOURS!" So all those things to celebrate the younger brother's return really belonged to the older son! Just a little food for thought. I'm so thankful that Jesus, our "older brother" freely gives all that He has to celebrate us "prodigals!" Blessings, Mommapbs |