Elisha
Elisha (Hebrew: אֱלִישַׁע, Standard Elišaʿ Tiberian ʾĔlîšaʿ ; "My God is salvation") was a powerful biblical prophet. The successor of Elijah the Tishbite, Elisha was an absolute enemy of Baal worship and one of the most powerful miracle workers in the Bible. He healed the sick, raised the dead, parted the waters of the Jordan, and struck whole armies with blindness.
Elisha was also a powerful political actor. He was instrumental in the defeat of armies and the lifting of seiges. He also brought about the assassination of three kings by his agents and instituted a major purge against the descendants of Israel's King Ahab. After the ascencsion of Elisha's candidate, Jehu, to the throne of Israel, Baal worship was strongly repressed for a time.
Even on his deathbed, Elisha continued to prophesy, and at least one miracle was reported in association with his remains. While critical scholarship considers much of the Elisha story to be legendary, rabbinical tradition holds him to be a great mystic and one of the originators of the kabbalah, or Jewish mystical tradition.
Biblical biography
Background
Elisha's ministry took place against the background of troubled times for the prophets of Yaweh, for they faced persecution under the influence of Jezebel, queen of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The prophet Elijah was Jebebel's chief antagonist in this struggle and had been forced into exile in the south by Jezebel after conducting a slaughter of 450 the prohets of Baal at Mount Carmel.
Elisha was the son of Shaphat dwelling in a place called Abel Meholah. Unlike most prophets, Elisha was not called by God directly but was summoned from his farm work by Elijah. God's prophecy concerning Elisha was a dire one, involving political intrigue and bloodshed. God said to Elijah:
- Go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram (Syria). Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. (1 Kings 19:15-17)
As it turned out, Elijah completed only the last of these missions himself. On his way from Sinai to Damascus, Elijah found Elisha plowing a field with his oxen. Elisha responded immediately to Elijah's call, pausing long enough only to kiss his parents goodbye and slaughter his oxen. For the next seven or eight years, Elisha became Elijah's close attendant until Elijah was taken up into heaven. The Bible is silent concerning Elisha's activities during this period, and the biblical chronology is difficult to follow since the stories of Elijah and Elisha have apparently been interspersed into the narrative by a later editor. (see "Critical view," below.)
In any case, by the time Elisha emerged in his own right, King Ahab had won two important military victories against Israel's enemy, Ben-Hadad of Syria, with God's support. However, Ahab also ran afoul of Elijah over the matter of Naboth's vineyard (see article on Ahab). Ahab repented to God before Elijah, and God grated him a reprieve. However, when Ahab joined forces with King Jehoshaphat of Judah and marched once more against the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead he was mortally wounded. His son Ahaziah of Israel had died, and another son, Joram, now reiged in his stead. During this period, under the influence of the Phoenicia-born Jezebel, Baal worship was allowed to flourish alongside that of Israel's God, much to the disapproval of prophets such as Elijah and Elisha.
Early ministry
As Elijah's life drew near its end, Elisha went with his master from Gilgal to Bethel, to Jericho, and then to the eastern side of the Jordan River, apparently on a final tour to meet their fellow "sons of the prophets" in these areas. At each stop, Elijah commanded Elisha to stay behind while he went on, but Elisha, passing his master's test, refused to leave. At the Jordan, Elijah touched the waters of the river with his mantle (or cloak) and the two prophets, like the Israelites at the Red Sea before them, passed over on dry ground
Elisha was granted one final request by his master. "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied. Elijah then said, "If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours-—otherwise not." Elisha then beheld Elijah in a fiery chariot, taken up by a whirlwind into heaven (see image above).
Using the special power of the mantle that Elijah had let fall as he ascended, Elisha miraculously recrossed the Jordan. The prophets at Jericho thus recognized him as Elijah's successor and their spiritual superior. (2 Kings 2:1-15). He then won the gratitude of the people of Jericho for healing its barren ground and purifying its waters.
On his way north toward Bethel, however, he was jeered by a group of boys, who taunted him and called him "bald-head." Elisha cursed them for this, and immedately "two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths." (2 Kings 2:23-25)
Political intervention
Before he settled in the northern capital of Samaria, the prophet spent some time on Mount Carmel, the site of his master's great victory of the prophets of Baal. (2 Kings 2:25) We learn that King Joram had moved somewhat closer toward the prophetic attitude than his forebears, "removing the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made," but failing shut down the shrine at Bethel that competed with the Temple of Jerusalem. Like Ahab before him, Joram had also maintained an effective alliance with King Jehoshaphat of Judah, considered one of the "good" kings. Thus, when the armies of Judah, Israel and Edom, made war against the Moabite king, Mesha, in an effort to force him to renew his status as a vassal to Joram, Elisha consented to intervene. Employing a harpist to aid him in his prophecy, he predicted both relief from drought and victory over the Moabites. His oracle was fulfilled on the following morning. (2 Kings 3:4-24)
Miracle worker
That Elisha inherited the wonder-working power of Elijah is shown throughout the whole course of his life.
- When the widow of one of the prophets was threatened by a hard creditor, Elisha multiplied a small portion of oil so greatly as to enable her not only to pay her debt, but to provide for her family's needs. (2 Kings 4:1-7)
- To reward a childless Shunamite lady of for her hospitality, he prophesied that she would have a son. A few years later, when the child suddenly died, Elisha miraculously resurrected him. The dramatic scene is recounted this way:
- He got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy's body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. (2 Kings 4:34-35).
- At Gilgal, to nourish the local prophets who had been pressed by famine, Elisha miraculously transformed a pottage made from poisonous gourds into an edible stew. (2 Kings 4:38-41)
- At Baal Shalishah, he fed 100 men with a mere 20 loaves of barley bread.
- When Elisha's sevant Gehazi sought payment from Naaman against the prophet's wishes, Elisha then cursed Gehazi with the leprosy he had removed from Naaman. (2 Kings 5:20-27)
- When a group of prophets lost a valuable axe-head in the Jordan, Elisha miraculously recovered it. (2:6-7)
Elisha foils Ben-Hadad
In a more political vein, Elisha warned King Joram of Israel several times of impending military danger from Syrian forces, enabling him to escape the threat. (2 Kings 6:8-23)
Enraged at Elisha's activities a kind of spiritual spy, Ben-Hadad of Syria surrounded the town of Dothan in order to capture or kill the prophet. Seemingly hopelessly outnumbered, the defenders were aided by heavenly armies: "horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." The prophet struck the Syrian army with blindness and then tricked them into marching helplessly into Samaria, the very capital of Israel. The grateful King Joram asked, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?" But Elisha commanded that Joram prepare a feast for them instead. Afterward, "the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory." (2 Kings 6:13-23)
We are soon informed, however, that Ben-Hadad was not so easily dissuaded from his warlike purpose. He surrounded the captial and mounted a seige that lasted so long that Samaria's residents were about to resort to cannibalism. Joram blamed Elisha for the situation (perhaps for not allowing him to destroy the Syrian army earlier) and sought to execute him. Elisha, however, predicted that the siege would be lifted immediately. His prophecy was quickly fulfilled, and one of the king's officers who doubted Elisha's words was trampled to death for his lack of faith.
Kingmaker
At long last, Elisha now began to fulfill the mission given to Elijah many years previous: to make Hazael king of Syria and Jehu king of Israel. Elisha traveled to Damascus, where Ben-Hadad lay seriously ill. Ben-Hadad sent his lieutenant, Hazael, to inquire of the prophet about his prognosis. Elisha instructed Hazael to tell the king "You will certainly recover." In the same breath, however, the prophet confided: "the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die." Elisha then began to weep, forseeing great suffering for Israel at Hazael's hands and telling him: "The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram." Thus encouraged, Hazael returned to Ben-Hadad, informed him that would recover, and then suffocated him to death, succeeding him as king. (2 Kings 7:1-20)
Elisha then directed one the prophets to anoint the military leader Jehu—stationed at Ramoth-Gilead—as the future king of Israel. The young prophet obeyed, pouring oil on the head of Jehu and declaring God's words:
- You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord's servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. (2 Kings 9:1-10).
Jehu promptly rode to Jezreel, where King Joram (Ahab's son) was recovering from his wounds. "Do you come in peace, Jehu?" the king asked. Jehu replied: "How can there be peace, as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?" Jehu then shot Joram in the back with an arrow as he turned to flee. Joram's ally, Ahaziah of Judah, was also put to death in the coup.
Jehu turned next to Jezebel, and the queen-mother dies after being thrown down from a high window by her own eunuchs at Jehu's command. Following this, he engineered the killing of 70 of Ahab's male descendants, ordering their heads left in piles at the gates of Jezreel. Turning toward Samaria, Jehu encounted 42 relatives of Ahaziah of Judah who were on their way, so they thought, to greet Joram and Jezebel; and these, too, he slaughtered. Arriving at Samaria, Jehu continued the bloodbath ordered by Elisha: "he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family." (2 Kings 10:17)
Carrying Elisha's program to its logical conclusion, Jehu then summoned the priests of Baal to a solemn assembly in the capital, saying, "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much." Once they assembled in Baal's temple, Jehu proceeded to have them all slaughtered, demolishing the temple and turning it into a public latrine.
Elisha's death
Many years intervene with no biblical record of Elisha's activities. The man whom he made king, Jehu, has long since died himself; and Elisha now lies on his death-bed in his own house (2 Kings 13:14-19). King Joash, the grandson of Jehu, comes to mourn over his approaching departure. In one last prophetic act, Elisha orders a bow brought and commands that Joash shoot an arrow toward the east. "The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declares. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek." (2 Kings 13:17) As Elisha breathes his last, Joash utters the same words Elisha himself had declared on the passing of Elijah: "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof."
Elisha's miracles, however, have not quite ended. Long after his burial, a dead body is laid in Elisha's tomb. No sooner does it touch Elisha's remains than the man "revived, and stood up on his feet." (2 Kings 13:20-21)
Rabbinical tradition
Both Elijah and Elisha are considered great rabbinical masters, as well as great prophets. Their last journey together is the subject of much rabbinical speculation. According on one rabbi they discuss the Shema (the holiest Jewish prayer); according to another the speak of Jerusalem; others assert that they spoke of the mysteries of creation. However, the greatest number believe that they discussed the "mysteries of the chariot"—the first supposed discussion of the Jewish mystical tradition known as the kabbala. (Yer. Ber. 8d; comp. Sotah 49a)
Having received a double portion of the prophetic spirit, Elisha is believed by the rabbis to have worked twice as many miracles as Elijah (Kimchi's commentary to II Kings 2:14). One tradition holds that the hospitality of the Shunammite woman shows that a woman knows the character of a guest better than a man does. (Ber. 10b) Some hold that the victims of Elisha's curse who were attacked bears were irreligious people and not childen at all. (Sotah 46b) Others blame the episode on the residents of the last city visited by Elisha, for they should not have sent the great prophet on his way unescorted. (Sotah 46a) Others declare that Elisha was punished by God for harming the children, and also for his cruel treatment of Gehazi (Sanh. 107b).
Critical View
The critical school holds that the account of Elisha's life and activity is taken from an old cycle of Elisha stories and later incorporated into the Books of Kings. The contents are more legendary than historical. Much of the Elisha story is a rehashing of the Elijah cycle, with similar miracles and circumstances.
Contradictions also occur. A state of peace between Israel and Damascus in 2 Kings 5:1 contradicts the state of war indicated in 2 Kings 6:8. In one chapter, (5) Gehazi is a leper; in another (8) he appears before the king as if nothing has happened. Elisha's place of residence also shifts without explanation. Most striking of all is the contradiction between 1 Kings 19, in which Elijah is commanded anoint Jehu and Azael as kings and the rest of the story. Elijah's important task is left to Elisha, and he does not bother to get around to it for many years.
Despite the clearly legendary character of some of the Elisha stories, others parts of the drama provide significant historical data. How reliable these are is another matter. In any case, modern scholars agree that the Elisha cycle can not be considered as a coherent production of one author. A more probable explanation is that various stories arose about the prophet from several sources and were later compiled into one or more documents. The final editor of Kings, later still, incorporated these stories into his narrative, splicing them in where he thought they best belonged.
Even more difficult than the historical and literary issues of the Elisha cycle, however, are the moral ones. Elisha, the great propeht of God, is also a moody, vindictive man who causes serious harm to children and curses his own servant with leprosy. He commissions the assassination of two kings (Ben Hadad and Joram). His agent, Jehu, takes it upon himself to murder a third, Ahaziah of Judah. Elisha also orders a bloodbath against the descendants of Ahab that in any modern context would make him a criminal of the first degree. While all of this may be justified with reference to God's will, it leaves the modern reader with a moral dilemma: does a God of goodness truly order political assassinations and mass murder?
Relics
The relics of the prophet Elisha are claimed to be among the possessions of the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in Scetes, Egypt.[1]
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