Elisha

Following Elijah

The LORD told Elijah to “anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place” (1 Kgs 19:16). Elijah found Elisha plowing, “went over to him and put his mantle on him” (1 Kgs 19:19); Elisha killed a yoke of oxen and boiled their meat for the people, and “Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him” (1 Kgs 19:21). This is in Elijah, Lesson 6.

When Elijah was about to be taken up, he asked Elisha what he wanted, and “Elisha said, ‘Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me’” (2 Kgs 2:9). “Behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kgs 2:11); Elisha cried, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (2 Kgs 2:12). He took up Elijah’s mantle and struck the waters of the Jordan; “they were divided apart, and Elisha went over” (2 Kgs 2:14). These things are in Elijah, Lesson 7. The sons of the prophets at Jericho saw him and “said, ‘The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha’” (2 Kgs 2:15).

Among the Sons of the Prophets

The men of Jericho said: “Behold, please, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is barren” (2 Kgs 2:19). Elisha threw salt into the spring, “So the waters were healed to this day, according to Elisha’s word which he spoke” (2 Kgs 2:22).

He went up to Bethel, and “some youths came out of the city and mocked him” (2 Kgs 2:23); “He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the LORD’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of those youths” (2 Kgs 2:24).

There was a famine at Gilgal, and the sons of the prophets were making stew; someone gathered wild gourds and cut them into the pot, and “they cried out and said, ‘Man of God, there is death in the pot!’” (2 Kgs 4:40). Elisha threw meal into the pot, “And there was nothing harmful in the pot” (2 Kgs 4:41). A man brought “twenty loaves of barley” (2 Kgs 4:42); the servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” and Elisha said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for the LORD says, ‘They will eat, and will have some left over’” (2 Kgs 4:43); “they ate and had some left over, according to the LORD’s word” (2 Kgs 4:44).

The sons of the prophets went to the Jordan to cut wood for a place to live, and one man’s ax head fell into the water; “he cried out and said, ‘Alas, my master! For it was borrowed’” (2 Kgs 6:5). Elisha “cut down a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float” (2 Kgs 6:6).

Shunem and Naaman

The wife of one of the sons of the prophets had “nothing in the house, except a pot of oil” (2 Kgs 4:2), and the oil did not stop until “There isn’t another container” (2 Kgs 4:6). This is in Lesson 1. A woman of Shunem made a little room on the roof for him, and later had a son; the child died, she said “I will not leave you” (2 Kgs 4:30), and the child came back to life. This is in Lesson 2.

Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, “was a leper” (2 Kgs 5:1); he washed seven times in the Jordan as Elisha had said, “and he was clean” (2 Kgs 5:14), and said: “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel” (2 Kgs 5:15). Elisha’s servant Gehazi ran after Naaman and asked him for a gift, and “He went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow” (2 Kgs 5:27). These things are in Lesson 3. Jesus also spoke of Naaman at Nazareth (Luke 4:27); see Lesson 3.

Later, Elisha said to the woman of Shunem: “Arise, and go, you and your household, and stay for a while wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine. It will also come on the land for seven years” (2 Kgs 8:1). When the seven years were over, she came back to appeal to the king for her house and her land; at that moment the king was saying to Gehazi, “Please tell me all the great things that Elisha has done” (2 Kgs 8:4). “When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, ‘Restore all that was hers’” (2 Kgs 8:6).

Among the Kings

The king of Israel, Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and the king of Edom went out to war together, and there was no water for the army. Jehoshaphat asked for a prophet of the LORD, and someone said: “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here” (2 Kgs 3:11). “When the musician played, the LORD’s hand came on him” (2 Kgs 3:15), and he said: “You will not see wind, neither will you see rain, yet that valley will be filled with water” (2 Kgs 3:17); “In the morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water” (2 Kgs 3:20).

Again and again the king of Syria planned where to camp, and each time Elisha warned the king of Israel beforehand; the king of Syria sent horses, chariots, and a great army to surround Dothan, and Elisha asked the LORD to open his servant’s eyes, “and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha” (2 Kgs 6:17). This is in Lesson 4.

Later the king of Syria besieged Samaria, and there was a great famine in the city (2 Kgs 6:24-25). Elisha said: “Hear the LORD’s word. The LORD says, ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria’” (2 Kgs 7:1). The next day, “a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the LORD’s word” (2 Kgs 7:16).

“Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick” (2 Kgs 8:7), and the king sent Hazael with gifts to meet him. “He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept” (2 Kgs 8:11). Hazael asked him why he wept, and he said: “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel” (2 Kgs 8:12).

“Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, ‘Put your belt on your waist, take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead’” (2 Kgs 9:1), to anoint Jehu king over Israel (2 Kgs 9:3).

His Last Days

“Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, ‘My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’” (2 Kgs 13:14). Elisha himself had once cried out these same words (2 Kgs 2:12).

Elisha told the king to take a bow and arrows, and to shoot an arrow toward the east (2 Kgs 13:15-17); “He said, ‘Take the arrows;’ and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground;’ and he struck three times, and stopped” (2 Kgs 13:18). “The man of God was angry with him, and said, ‘You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you had consumed it, but now you will strike Syria just three times’” (2 Kgs 13:19).

“Elisha died, and they buried him” (2 Kgs 13:20). Later, as some men were burying a man, they saw a band of raiders, “and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched Elisha’s bones, he revived, and stood up on his feet” (2 Kgs 13:21).