2 Kings / Question
They thought the Spirit of the LORD might have carried Elijah and thrown him onto a mountain or into a valley. Elisha told them not to send, but they urged him until he allowed it. They searched three days and did not find him (2 Kings 2:16–18).
After Elijah’s departure, the prophets at Jericho urge Elisha to allow a search party, imagining Elijah may have been carried off and dropped somewhere. Elisha refuses, but they press him until he yields. Fifty men search for three days and find nothing. Returning to Jericho, they meet Elisha, who reminds them that he had already told them not to go. This scene follows the moment when Elijah is taken from Elisha, and Elisha begins to act publicly as Elijah’s successor. Just before this, Elisha has crossed the Jordan and is recognized by other prophets as carrying the same prophetic authority (2 Kings 2:9–15).
This scene assumes Elijah’s departure was extraordinary and not a normal travel plan. The prophets at Jericho can imagine a supernatural relocation (“the Spirit of Yahweh… cast him”), but they still treat Elijah as potentially recoverable. Elisha, by contrast, is confident that a search is pointless, and the narrative proves him right.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with 2 Kings 2:16-18, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
16They said to him, See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray you, and seek your master, lest the Spirit of Yahweh has taken him up, and cast him on some mountain, or into some valley. He said, You shall not send.
17When they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but didn`t find him.
18They came back to him, while he stayed at Jericho; and he said to them, "Didn`t I tell you, `Don`t go?`"