Amichai had studied at the prophets’ guild in Jericho for years. Sons of the prophets, he and his classmates were called, all mentored by an anointed man, Elisha.
Elisha, in turn, served the prophet, Elijah. One afternoon in Jericho, both Elijah and Elisha appeared. Amichai and his classmates followed them to the Jordan where, as casually as an ordinary man might shoo a fly, Elijah removed his mantle, struck the river’s surface and made the waters part.
Then a chariot vaulting behind a team of flaming stallions appeared suddenly in the sky.
“Who is this man of miracles?” a classmate asked. “No one ever knew him.”
That, Amichai knew, was not true. Elijah had befriended a beardless boy who had served him on Mount Carmel (as the prophet summoned fire from the sky and ended four years of drought). And that same boy had been with the prophet at Jezreel years later when Elijah publicly cursed Ahab, the king, for murdering the vintner, Naboth.
How had Elijah and the lad become friends? Amichai had no time to inquire; Elijah had crossed the river; the heavenly chariot had landed and was about to take him away.