“A double portion of your spirit”
Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit. (2 Kings 2:9 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A request for twice as much spiritual power as Elijah had.
The cultural key
The phrase is routinely misread as a bid for double the anointing. But 'double portion' (pi shnayim) is a legal term: under Israelite inheritance law the firstborn son received two shares of the father's estate where each other son got one (Deuteronomy 21:17). Elisha, speaking as a son to his 'father' Elijah, whom he calls exactly that in the very next verse, is asking to be designated the firstborn heir, the true successor who carries on the prophetic office. It is a claim to inheritance, not a request to be twice the prophet Elijah was.
Recovered meaning
'Double portion' is the firstborn's inheritance share, so Elisha asks to be named Elijah's heir and successor, not for twice the power. He calls Elijah 'father' to make exactly that point.