One of the delights of studying scripture is getting to see how it all fits together. It never ceases to amaze me how we can hear echoes of one part of scripture in another part. I’ve heard exploring scripture compared to peeling back the layers of an onion. There’s layer after layer, meaning after meaning. But maybe it’s more like a good movie soundtrack with certain melodies and variations bringing echoes of past parts of the story.

I think that to really understand what’s going on in this passage between Elijah and his successor, Elisha, we have to reach back in scripture to the book of Exodus. There are some scripture passages that have such roots in previous parts of Scripture that they can be difficult to fully understand without reaching back to the history.

In the book of Exodus we find the Hebrew people enslaved to Pharaoh and working at making bricks. They are under Pharaoh’s influence and power. On a whim Pharaoh can up their brick quota or make their life all around miserable. Then, through a complicated turn of events that only God could make come about, Moses enters the picture. Some of you may remember Bible school songs of Moses telling, "Old Pharaoh, let my people go."

After much arguing and ten plagues, the Hebrew people were released and flee Egypt with the Egyptian army on their tails. Then they run up against the Red Sea. All of a sudden the people are stuck between an army and the sea. Following God’s instructions, Moses uses his staff to strike the water and the sea is parted. The people walk across the seabed as though it’s dry land and are saved from their enslavement to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh’s army was defeated but the legacy of Pharaoh lived on. Much later in the history of the Israelite people, they asked for a king to lead them. All the other people around them had kings to rule them and they wanted one too. So kings were appointed but after a while some of the kings forgot what God had done for the people. They didn’t remember the story of how God had rescued the people from slavery. They didn’t hear the echoes of God’s promises and commandments.

Some of the kings began to lead the people in the wrong direction. They began to worship other gods. Through these bad kings, Pharaoh was re-born. Now I’m not talking re-born as in reincarnated. But the treatment and the attitude brought that Pharaoh theme music back into the soundtrack. The kings were playing a variation on the Pharaoh theme. Just as the people were oppressed under the rule of Pharaoh, the people were oppressed under these bad kings. The leaders were leading in the wrong direction.

In the Friday the 13^th series of movies, the villain, Jason, keeps coming back. Movie after movie, Jason is defeated but then the next sequel comes along and "he’s baaack." Just when you think he’s vanquished for good, the scary music comes on and there he is again.

But then again maybe Pharaoh is more like the terminator – the second terminator, the evil one that can change into different forms. At first you don’t realize that the pretty girl behind the counter is really the villain or the man in the car is the bad guy. But soon enough the true colors of the terminator come out and you realize that you’ve got a villain on your hands.

Whichever metaphor works for you, in scripture the archetype villain of Pharaoh continues to come back, he just has different names. Whenever one of the people entrusted with power uses that power in ways that lead the people away from God, then Pharaoh is coming back. Elijah’s main nemeses were Ahab and Jezebel – the king and queen at the time.

Ever since the worshiping of idols had been allowed in the kingdom, Elijah had been preaching against it. No doubt, some of the people were lead astray but others remained faithful to God. Nevertheless, Elijah acted as Moses to Ahab and Jezebel’s Pharaoh. Elijah preached God’s judgment upon them and called the people back to faithfulness in God. Elijah was leading the people through the wilderness of idols and back to God.

But now, the time had come for a change of leadership. Elijah had helped see to the dethronement of Ahab and Jezebel. Moses led the people through the wilderness for forty years. With all the complaining and whining, the people still followed Moses. But when Moses was quite old the time came for him to pass the mantle of leadership on to someone else. That’s when a fellow by the name of Joshua came into the forefront.

Joshua had remained faithful to God throughout the time in the wilderness. So, he was appointed as the person to finally lead the people into the Promised Land. And so with echoes of the escape from Egypt, Joshua led the people across the Jordan River. And following the way that God had said it would happen, the waters of the Jordan parted and the people walked across the riverbed as though it was dry land.

Elijah had reached the end of his time on earth and it was time for him to pass along his prophetic mantle of leadership. On his final journey with his apprentice, Elisha, Elijah leads him to the Jordan River, that body of water separating the promised land from the not promised land. And with a touch of his rolled up mantle, Elijah and Elisha walk across the dry riverbed and into what could be called the wilderness.

Admittedly, most scholars are confused about what to make of the chariot of fire being pulled by fiery horses and Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind. Needless to say, this was a most dramatic transition of leadership. The mystery of the whirlwind and chariots of fire have influenced artists and musicians for thousands of years.

But from out of this mysterious event the mantle is passed and Elisha finds himself as inheritor of the prophetic calling. Now, as Elijah called out Ahab and Jezebel, Elisha would call out others who were leading the people astray. And so with the mantle rolled up like a staff, Elisha crosses back into the Promised Land to his calling as prophet. Like Joshua, Elisha will work to lead the people to hear God’s calling.

Elijah sought to lead the people away from worshiping false idols. Elisha will work to lead the people back to God. When we talk about repentance, we talk about it as a two-stage process. First, you have to turn away from evil. Second, you have to turn toward God. Elijah worked for the first stage of turning people away from evil and now Elisha will work toward the second stage of pointing people back toward God.

One of the important makings of a villain is to make him or her seem like they cannot possibly be defeated. Let’s take a look at some contemporary villains. Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter books and movies, seems to be indestructible. His minions defeat the good wizards left and right. He himself seems totally invincible and with the two sides facing off against one another, the odds are in Voldemort’s favor.

Then look at the Titans who are the villains in the Percy Jackson series of books. They seem totally invincible and if we were making bets, the odds would certainly be in favor of the Titans. Even Jason, Freddy Krueger, and the villain from Scream just won’t be defeated. They keep coming back in the sequels. Even Godzilla and Jaws were hard to defeat and the odds seemed stacked in their favor.

Things that can lead us away from following God are persistent, many, and can seem at times invincible. They are pervasive and can take many different forms. And maybe even something that looks like it might lead away from God can be twisted around to take you right back home to God. It can be very confusing – to put it mildly.

Many times what leads us away from God is not as easily recognizable as a guy in a hockey mask or a giant lizard stomping on New York City. But then again we are not left without a guide.

The people in Elijah’s time were facing many powerful temptations drawing them away from God. So God provided Elijah to lead the people away from these temptations. Elijah spoke out to the-powers-that-be and said, "Let my people go." Then when Elijah’s time was over, God provided Elisha to continue the work and lead the people back to God. God did not leave the people without a mediator of God’s word then and we are not without a mediator of God’s word now.

There are still many that play variations upon the theme of Pharaoh. Sometimes we hear the music loud and clear but sometimes the Pharaoh melody is so intertwined with music that sounds good and tempting that we can get confused. The good news is that we are not alone and we are not left without a guide in this sometimes confusing maze of temptations.

Though the prophets of today rarely come from out of the wilderness wearing camel skin clothes and eating grasshoppers like Elijah did, there is still a prophetic spirit among us. The most amazing gift we have from God is the Holy Spirit. Christ promised that the Holy Spirit would act as a guide, a teacher, a prophet for us and future generations.

But just like it can be confusing to sometimes pick out the Pharaoh melody from all the music surrounding us, at times it can be hard to pick out the prophetic theme. That is why we gather together to listen to the music. We gather as individual churches, as Bible study groups, and as denominations, such as in our General Assembly, and we listen to the music. We listen for Pharaoh’s theme and the melody of the Holy Spirit weaving in our life and in our world. And with all these people listening, we can get a better idea of what is the music of Pharaoh and what is the music of God.

Please pray this week as our General Assembly commissioners travel to Minneapolis and as the General Assembly is called to order on Saturday. Pray that this group of gathered Presbyterians and other denominational representatives will hear God’s music over the sometime cacophonous sounds of Pharaoh’s theme.