So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. – 1 Kings 19:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 28, 2019): 1 Kings 19

Completeness. The idea that we have done everything that needs to be done or that we have everything that we need in life. For me, and I think many, completeness is the dream, and I am not convinced that we ever achieve it. There always seems to be more that needs to be done. I struggle to even clear out all of my emails at the end of the day. As I go to bed, there is always a list of jobs I wanted to get done, but remain incomplete.

Whenever we run into numbers, and especially repeated numbers in the Bible, we need to be careful with how we interpret what is written. In the case of the beginning of the tale of Elisha, we see the number twelve repeated in the story. Twelve yoke of oxen would have been unusual in Elisha’s day. It is evidence of the affluence of Elisha’s family. Elisha was driving the twelfth pair, indicated that he had eleven servants that were driving the other eleven pairs of oxen. And we could stop there, but twelve is also a significant number in Jewish thought. It is a repeated number throughout the Bible. There are twelve tribes of Israel, twelve months in the year, twelve houses in the zodiac, and, in the Christian Testament, twelve apostles.

But the number also adds up to the number three. There are three Patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are three pilgrimage festivals; Passover, Shavuot or Pentecost, and Sukkot or Tabernacles. Both the number three and twelve are numbers of completeness. And it likely indicates that beyond the idea that Elisha was affluent, he was also experiencing a completeness in life. The idea of affluence and completeness is possibly what is trying to be communicated here. Elisha was not looking for a second career. And there might not have actually been twelve yoke of oxen.

But as Elijah moves onto the scene and places his cloak, or mantle, on the shoulders Elisha, Elisha realizes that he is being called to something else, something more important. Elisha would have understood the ceremony. He would have also understood that this was not an act of Elijah, but of God. In a manner that many pastors wish they could experience, God was now calling Elisha into a prophetic ministry.

God was calling Elisha out of his imagined wholeness. To follow God, he would have to give up the affluence and completeness symbolized by the oxen. The call had been extended, and now Elijah waited for the reply.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 20