The towns that Elijah and Elisha visited were rich with memories and with life lessons as well.
“So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken. Because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place, in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah” (2 Ki 1:17). Did you follow that? There are now two Jehorams (or Jorams). Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, is king of Judah. Because Ahaziah had no sons, his brother, “Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel” (3:1). But something even more momentous was in the works. “The Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind” (2:1)! But before that, Elijah decided on a whirlwind tour himself: from Gilgal to Bethel, to Jericho, and then across the Jordan River. Elijah, whether wanting to be alone for this epic journey or testing Elisha’s determination, kept asking him to stop following. But each time Elisha responded, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” (vv 2, 4, 6). At each stop, men called “sons of the prophets” (vv 3, 5) warned Elisha of the impending separation. “Yes, I know,” he would respond, but nothing could dissuade him from being a faithful servant right to the end. It would be beneficial for every believer to take the tour with them. We start at Gilgal, the place of separation. Here the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. We say, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles” (1 Pet 4:3)—far too much time, in fact. Then we come to Bethel, the place of fellowship. We are not only separated from evil, but to God. We say with Jacob in surprise, “The Lord is in this place” (Gen 28:16)—where I am, He is! Then it’s on to Jericho, the place of victory. You only possess what your feet claim, what you put your weight on, says the Lord.