2 Kings 2:17

17 But they kept pressing him until finally, embarrassed, he said to send them. So they sent fifty men. For three days they searched, but they didn't find him.

2 Kings 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 2:17

And when they urged him until he was ashamed
To deny them any longer, being so very pressing and importunate:

he said, send;
lest they should think he had not the respect for his master he should have had; or was so fond of his office, that he did not choose he should be found alive if he could, and return and reassume it:

they sent therefore fifty men;
some one way, and some another:

and they sought three days, but found him not;
and then returned.

2 Kings 2:17 In-Context

15 When the guild prophets of Yericho saw him in the distance, they said, "The spirit of Eliyahu does rest on Elisha." Advancing to meet him, they prostrated themselves on the ground before him

16 and said to him, "Here now, your servants include fifty strong men. Please let them go and look for your master, in the event that the Spirit of ADONAI has taken him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley." He answered, "Don't send them."

17 But they kept pressing him until finally, embarrassed, he said to send them. So they sent fifty men. For three days they searched, but they didn't find him.

18 On returning to him where he was waiting in Yericho, he said to them, "I told you not to go, didn't I?"

19 The men of the city said to Elisha, "My lord can see that this is a pleasant city to live in; but the water is bad, so that the ground is causing miscarriages."