Hands on the Plow, Eyes on the Fire
The Calling and Legacy of God’s Miracle Prophet
Before a mantle ever fell across a plowman’s shoulders, a wild man from the crags of Gilead tore the sky open. Elijah locked the heavens, called fire down on Carmel, and later collapsed under a broom tree begging to die. Heaven answered with quiet bread, a long walk to Horeb, and a command to turn north—to find the one already working.
That one was found in the meadow of the dance. Elisha, son of Shaphat, had his hands on the twelfth plow when the sheepskin landed. He slaughtered the oxen, burned the wooden implements, and walked away from an estate at the exact moment the drought-broken earth was ready to yield again. For years afterward he simply poured water on the hands of Elijah. Then the whirlwind came, the mantle fell a second time, and the water-bearer stepped into a ministry defined not by wilderness isolation but by daily grace: sweet springs, flowing oil, bread for the hungry, sight for the blind, and life for the dead.
This series follows that road.
It is the story of the transition from fire to water, from the solitary mountain champion to the prophet who lived among the people—in their homes, their cities, their palaces, and their crises. It is about the hidden years that forged public authority, the plowman’s discipline of keeping the eyes fixed, and the firstborn’s request for a double portion so he could carry the weight his master was about to lay down.
These are immersive retellings, not summaries. They stay in the dust of Abel-meholah, the heat of the burning plows, the hush outside the cave, the roar of the chariot, and the moment a new prophet strikes the river alone and asks, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
The work is still being woven. The opening movements are here.
The book is also available on Amazon as Hands on the Plow, Eyes on the Fire, by F.M. Jones. Get the book on Amazon.
The Stories
- Part I — The Call and the Crucible
Prologue: The Fire, the Silence, and the Mantle
Chapter 1: The Meadow of the Dance
Chapter 2: The Cast Mantle and Burning the Plow
Chapter 3: The Man Who Poured Water
HANDS ON THE PLOW, EYES ON THE FIRE – Part 1 - Part II — Succession and the First Signs
Chapter 4: The Road to the Whirlwind
Chapter 5: “My Father, My Father!”
Chapter 6: Salt in the Spring and Bears in the Woods
HANDS ON THE PLOW, EYES ON THE FIRE – Part 2 - Part III — The Ministry of Daily Grace
Chapter 7: Water Without Rain
Chapter 8: Empty Vessels and Flowing Oil
Chapter 9: The Upper Room and the Sneezing Child
Chapter 10: Death in the Pot and Bread for the Hundred
HANDS ON THE PLOW, EYES ON THE FIRE – Part 3 - Part IV — Foreign Powers and Sovereign Eyes
Chapter 11: The River of Humility
Chapter 12: The Secret Greed of Gehazi
Chapter 13: The Floating Iron and the Chariots of Fire
Chapter 14: Feasting with the Enemy
Chapter 15: The Siege, the Lepers, and the Day of Good News
HANDS ON THE PLOW, EYES ON THE FIRE – Part 4 - Part V — Politics, Legacy, and Unfinished Business
Chapter 16: Tears for the Tyrant
Chapter 17: Anointing the Furious Driver
Chapter 18: The Arrows on the Floor
Chapter 19: Life from the Bones
Chapter 20: The Anatomy of a Prophet of Grace
HANDS ON THE PLOW, EYES ON THE FIRE – Part 5
May these pages help you feel the grit of the furrow, the weight of the mantle, and the God who answers both by fire and by the quiet filling of empty things—and who still has the last word over the grave.