And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
Smote the waters. The waving of the mantle on the river, and the miraculous division of the waters consequent upon it, was an evidence that the Lord God of Elijah was with him; and as this miracle was witnessed by the scholars of the prophets from Jericho, they forthwith recognized the pre-eminence of Elisha, as now the prophet of Israel. The mantle of an old sooffee bequeathed to a young one, is equivalent to making him heir or successor. 'The mantle of a dervish is considered as sacred, and valued as a precious legacy, if it had belonged to a dervish of note. Such, ideas have been always prevalent in the East,' (see instances in Joseph Wolff's 'Missionary Labours,' p. 493, etc.)