“Elisha picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah… and said, ‘Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ And when he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.”
(2 Kings 2:12–14)
I once read a newspaper article in which a publisher quoted the proverb, “Tall bamboo grows in a bamboo grove,” to explain Samsung’s development from Lee Byung-chul to Lee Kun-hee, calling it the “bamboo grove theory.” It is common knowledge among Koreans that without Chairman Lee Byung-chul’s exceptional business leadership—at a time when there was no strong domestic capital—Samsung could not have grown into the corporate giant it is today. Isn’t it said in business that “personnel decisions determine everything”? Lee Byung-chul broke with the traditional practice of passing a company to the eldest son and instead entrusted the business to his third son, Lee Kun-hee, the seventh child overall. He saw leadership potential in him—and the results exceeded expectations. Lee Kun-hee expanded Samsung’s corporate scale hundreds of times beyond that of his predecessor.
The leadership potential Lee Byung-chul (Founder and CEO of Samsung) saw in his son was not only innate but also something intentionally cultivated and passed on. Lee Kun-hee spent his childhood following his father, a businessman, and from the fifth grade onward lived in Japan, away from home. He returned to Korea during his second year of middle school, completed high school there, and then pursued college and graduate studies in the United States. This educational path followed his father’s plan to expose him to advanced nations. His training did not end there. After appointing Lee Kun-hee vice chairman of Samsung C&T in 1978, Lee Byung-chul mentored him intensely for ten years through rigorous successor training. The result was truly “a towering bamboo rising from a bamboo grove.”
In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell calls the ninth law the “Law of Magnetism.” In any organization, the person in charge of hiring is subconsciously searching for people who match an internal image. List the qualities that a decision-maker looks for, then list that leader’s own leadership traits and compare the two. The result is obvious—they are the same. What is the Law of Magnetism? Leaders attract leaders who are like themselves. Conversely, if there are no outstanding leaders around me, it may be because I am not an outstanding leader myself. Do you want to gather leaders around you? The solution is surprisingly simple: develop your own leadership. When you become an excellent leader, excellent leaders will be drawn to you like magnets. Eventually, you will become a leader who mentors leaders. Tall bamboo grows in a bamboo grove.
Elijah was no ordinary prophet. He was a spiritual leader who represented an era in Israel’s history. First Kings 19 records Elijah’s encounter with God on Mount Horeb, a scene strikingly similar to Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. In this way, the Old Testament grants Elijah spiritual authority comparable to that of a second Moses. After this profound experience, one of the first things Elijah did was to identify and raise up the next-generation mentee, Elisha. Elijah approached Elisha, who was plowing a field with oxen, and threw his cloak over him (1 Kings 19:19). That cloak symbolized all of Elijah’s spiritual authority and leadership. Whether Elisha would bend down and pick it up or ignore it was his choice. Just as Adam and Eve had freedom of choice, so did Elisha. And he chose to pick up the cloak.
It was not only Elijah who was drawn to Elisha; Elisha was also drawn to Elijah. Leaders recognize leaders, and leaders are drawn to leaders—this is the Law of Magnetism. Elisha left everything behind and followed Elijah. As he witnessed firsthand Elijah’s fierce confrontation with the prophets of Baal, there is no doubt that Elisha grew into a much larger vessel. This was vivid, field-based successor training—on-the-job training (OJT).
Now, Elijah’s final moment approached. Just as Lee Kun-hee became chairman of the Samsung Group after Lee Byung-chul’s death, Elisha would need to succeed Elijah as Israel’s representative spiritual leader after Elijah’s ascension. Second Kings 2 records Elijah spending his final moments with his disciples in Bethel and Jericho, powerfully demonstrating his passion for mentoring by caring for his mentees until the very end of his life.
Not everyone who is trained by the same mentor grows into an outstanding leader. Finding and training a mentee is the mentor’s responsibility, but faithfully following the mentor to the end and receiving everything from him is the mentee’s calling. Elijah urged Elisha to stop following him, but Elisha insisted on staying with his mentor until the very last moment. His goal was to receive a double portion of the Spirit that rested on Elijah. Success lies at the mountaintop. If you want to succeed, you must endure the pain and discipline of climbing all the way to the top.
Even when the Jordan River blocked their path, Elijah struck the water with his cloak, and the river split, revealing dry ground. This brings Elijah’s story to its climax. Chariots and horses of fire descended from heaven, separating the two, and Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. What remained for Elisha was the cloak that had fallen from his mentor. Elisha struck the water with that cloak, just as Elijah had done, and again the river divided so that he could cross. The highest form of education is not classroom or library learning but demonstration in the field. Elijah did not teach theory about how to part a river—he showed it through demonstration. After that, he left his cloak behind. This was a delegation.
As Elisha struck the river with his master’s cloak, he cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Elisha had learned well, by closely observing his mentor’s life and ministry, that the cloak itself held no power. A mentor should not teach shallow techniques but weighty principles. Elisha understood that the source of power and miracles in Elijah’s life was God Himself. That is why he sought God, not Elijah. The result was complete success—the Jordan River also parted at Elisha’s command.
In The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman categorizes Jesus’ disciple-making process into eight stages: selection, association, consecration, impartation, demonstration, delegation, supervision, and reproduction. “Impartation” means more than assigning tasks; it means planting the mentor’s DNA into the mentee so the task can be fulfilled. Jesus not only imparted His life to His disciples but also said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” and imparted even the authority of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins (John 20:21–23). As a result, the apostles were branded as apostles of “the Lord.”
What Elisha learned from Elijah was not Elijah’s ministry method but God Himself. Yet it was Elijah, the mentor, who imparted the DNA that enabled Elisha to see and know God in that way. Therefore, the God Elisha cried out to was not an abstract God, but “the God of Elijah.” This is powerful branding. Tall bamboo grows in a bamboo grove.
The first thing Elisha did after crossing the Jordan was meet with the company of prophets. Leaders are drawn to leaders. Elisha clearly continued mentoring as his top priority. Elijah’s first miracle became Elisha’s first miracle, and Elijah’s last miracle became Elisha’s as well. This is the beauty of mentoring. A mentee does not have to waste time and energy on trial and error. Trial and error belong to the mentor. The mentee begins not at the bottom but at a higher elevation, benefiting from the mentor’s experiences and principles. When the experiences and principles of one generation are passed on to the next, the probability of success increases dramatically.
As Elisha watched his mentor ascend, he cried out in anguish, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 2:12). The same cry was later uttered by King Joash at Elisha’s deathbed: “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” (2 Kings 13:14). There is no doubt that Elisha, too, became a spiritual leader who represented an era in Israel’s history. This is the power of mentoring. Tall bamboo grows in a bamboo grove.