As Elijah was about to take leave of his faithful servant and disciple, he gave Elisha the privilege of asking for whatever was in his heart. Elisha might have asked for temporal or material favor—riches, fame, wisdom, worldly honor and glory, a place among the great leaders of earth, or a life of ease and pleasure as contrasted with Elijah’s life of hardship and privation. But he asked for none of these. What he wanted most was to carry on the same work that Elijah had carried on, and in the same spirit and power. To do that he would need the same grace and the same help of the Spirit of God.

 The request of Elisha reminds us of Solomon’s petition. He asks for no worldly advantage, position, or gain, but for the spiritual power necessary to discharge aright the solemn responsibilities to which he had been called. By asking for a “double portion” of the spirit of Elijah, Elisha was not asking for double the power of Elijah. He was not asking for more than had been given to the older prophet, nor was he asking for a higher position or more ability than had been given to Elijah. The Hebrew phrase employed is the same as that in Deut. 21:17, denoting the proportion of a father’s property that was to be given to the eldest son. So the request of Elisha was only that he might be treated as the eldest son of the departing prophet, and that he might receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit as compared with that which would be given to any others of the sons of the prophets. What he was asking for was an acknowledgment of a spiritual birthright, that he might be regarded as the first-born spiritual son of the elder prophet, and that he might thus be enabled to continue the work begun by Elijah.