“So He . . . Found Elisha . . . and Cast His Mantle upon Him”
1 Kings 19:19–21
19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
Dr. Ellis T. Rasmussen wrote:
“The temporary passing of Elijah’s mantle to Elisha symbolized his calling; later it was permanently bestowed (2 Kgs. 2:8, 13–14). Note that Elisha was required to leave all that he had to perform his new calling [compare Matt. 4:18–22].”
(A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament [1993], 295.)
