And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Ver. 9. Ask what I shall do for thee before.] Not after I am gone, but before I go up. We have a communion with the saints departed, not a commerce.
Let a double portion,] i.e., Two parts of three, saith Vatablus: the portion of the firstborn, say others, which was double to his brethren; so would Elijah have a larger measure of the gifts of the Spirit, than any ordinary prophets inasmuch as he was to succeed his master. 1Ki 19:16 Some read it thus, Let the double portion of thy spirit be upon me: and then he wisheth no more than to be like his master Elijah. Thus Irenaeus proved very like Polycarp, John the Evangelist's disciple. Thus Paraeus succeeding his master Ursinus in the College of Wisdom at Heidelberg, expressed him to the life: whence Paulus Melissus, the poet,
“ Sacra docente Pareo,
Vividus Ursini spiritus ora movet. ”