The sudden disappearance of the prophet Elijah in a heavenly storm leaves his followers deeply confused. Even though they had advance knowledge of his departure, they struggle to accept the finality of the separation and ask to launch a search party. This request is puzzling, as these same disciples had previously prophesied that God would take Elijah away that very day.
Two main perspectives explain why they suddenly want to look for him. The first suggests that the request itself points to a drop in their spiritual awareness. From the moment Elijah was taken, the divine spirit began to leave the prophets, causing them to lose sight of his true, spiritual location [רש"י]. Alternatively, the disciples might not have believed Elijah actually ascended into the heavens. Instead, they thought the spirit of God merely separated him from society, carrying him off to a hidden location. This matched his past behavior of isolating himself for forty days, and echoed earlier accounts of God's spirit carrying him away to unseen places [רד"ק, רלב"ג].
Building on this second idea, there are differing views on what exactly the disciples hoped to find. Some suggest they believed Elijah was still alive, simply hiding somewhere in the mountains [רלב"ג, רד"ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Others propose they fully understood his soul had returned to God, but assumed his physical body had fallen back to earth, much like his dropped cloak. In this view, the search was a mission to find his remains and provide a proper burial [מלבי"ם, מצודת דוד].
To carry out this search, the disciples offer to send fifty capable men. The commentators agree that these are not soldiers, but men of exceptional physical strength and endurance. They are chosen for their ability to quickly cover vast areas, driven by the fear that the spirit might have cast Elijah onto a mountain or into a deep valley.
Elisha firmly rejects their proposal. He knows with absolute certainty that the search is pointless, having seen with his own eyes that Elijah ascended to heaven in both body and soul. Yet, out of profound humility, Elisha chooses not to boast about the magnificent vision he witnessed, simply telling them not to send the men [מצודת דוד].