And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
When they kept insisting until he felt embarrassed to keep refusing, he said, 'Go ahead and send them.' So they sent fifty men who searched for three days, but they couldn't find him.
The writer is showing how Elisha finally gave in to pressure from other prophets who wanted to search for Elijah, even though he knew they wouldn't find him.
📚 Historical Context
This verse follows immediately after Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, which Elisha witnessed but the other prophets did not see directly. The company of prophets at Jericho wanted to send a search party to look for Elijah, thinking he might have been dropped somewhere by God's Spirit, as had happened before with other prophets.
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