a cloak is cast

So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.

1 Kings 19:19

When Elijah felt overwhelmed by the pressures of ministry, God called him to develop a leader. The prophet was called to find an apprentice to mentor, to begin training for leadership another person to what he did, And Elijah quickly obeyed the specific call of God to anoint Elisha with this task of a new prophetic ministry.

There are some interesting elements to Elisha’s call. He was a farmboy, but not just any old farmboy. His family was evidently wealthy and farmed a large field. There were twelve yoke of oxen (that’s at least 24 heavy livestock) all pulling plows that day. This means that Elisha was out working with a large group of people, perhaps all the men of his town. This was a very public call that Elijah made of Elisha.

Elisha’s response to this call was equally public. He stopped the plow, sacrificed his yoke of oxen to the Lord, burning their wooden yoke to boil their flesh, in answer to the call. Then he fed the crowd and probably the entire town of Abelmeholah as he officially said goodbye to farming and entered into obeying the call of God to be a prophet under Elijah’s care and training.

Elijah’s strange way of making this call is unique. He threw his cloak over Elisha and walked on. Elijah’s cloak would be an identifying image of his ministry (see 1 Kings 19:3; 2 Kings 2:8, 13-14). It became symbolic of the Lord’s power and presence with him, and to entrust that cloak to Elisha somehow showed how God’s presence and power would pass to him as well.

There is something powerful in the investment of mentoring leaders. And it is part of my own call. The gospel is propelled forward in this fashion from generation to generation. Jesus invested in discipleship and in about three years time left all that would become His church into the hands of His chosen twelve. And I am called as a Christian and as a pastor to be sure to do the same. I need to always be on the lookout for those on whom God calls me to cast my cloak.