Gilgal, the place from which Elijah and Elisha started out, was a place that was very important in Israel’s history. It was the place of circumcision, where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away when the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan. It is that which figures the death of Christ, and it was there that Israel were set apart for God. This is the starting point of faith, but what did it mean as a place or name only, when the true meaning had been lost, for now it was a scene of wickedness. (Hosea 9:1515All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. (Hosea 9:15).) How sad it is to see, even today, that the cross which is the place of blessing, has become little more than a name or an emblem to many, and what evil is practiced under the name of religion around us! Such is man! If Gilgal were to have any real meaning it must be through Christ alone — Christ dead and risen, as typified in the crossing of the Jordan. And if the death of Christ is to have any meaning to us, we must know Him personally as the One who has died and risen again for us. We must have to do with Him personally, as Elisha did in following Elijah. May we be delivered from empty formalities which are so natural to our hearts.
Israel, as we have remarked, could never obtain the blessings of which these places spoke, by their own faithfulness. Just as Elijah was rejected, so Israel rejected the Lord Jesus who alone could bring blessing to them, and that through His death. We, like Elisha, are to follow that rejected One. If others go on with Christendom’s empty formalities (and alas, how much evil is connected with them as we have remarked), we find ourselves outside of all this when following our rejected Saviour. Elisha moved on to Bethel, following Elijah. Bethel means the house of God, and was the place where the Lord had made wonderful promises of blessing to Jacob. But how could these blessings be enjoyed by a guilty nation who had put themselves under law. Could Israel receive them through any merits of their own? Alas, there were false gods in Bethel, set up by Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28-3028Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. (1 Kings 12:28‑30)), so Elijah passed on. The sons of the prophets who lived at Bethel came out to meet these two men and said to Elisha, “Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today?” But Elisha replied, “Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.” In a word he told them not to speak of the truth, if they were not prepared to walk in it. How empty is such talk!
No doubt we could take these sons of the prophets as a picture of those who are intelligent as to the truth and can speak freely about it, but it does not touch their hearts nor affect their walk. How often this is true of the children of Christian parents, as well as many others in Christendom who remain in an unscriptural position, though they know better. These sons of the prophets remained in Bethel with its false gods, associated with its evil, and would not stir themselves up to follow the rejected Elijah. It is easy to be satisfied with the truth we know, and yet be unwilling to follow a rejected Christ. Christendom today wants a popular and easy path, but the path of obedience, like Elisha’s path here, leads one “outside the camp” bearing Christ’s reproach. May the Lord cause each one of us to be more exercised to walk in the truth we know, for He wants reality. He desires the company of those whom He died to redeem to Himself at such great cost.
ML 09/30/1956