2 Ki. 13: Elisha Dies

2 Kings 13:23 "But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence."

With the litany of kings Israel had that did evil in the sight of the LORD, there is apparently one common thread. The Bible compares them all to Jeroboam. A dubious distinction, to have your own evil deeds be the benchmark of despotism and wrongdoing. Chapter 13's Jehoahaz and Jehoash, who followed Jehu, were no exception. However, God did listen to Jehoahaz's appeal to give relief temporarily to Israel from the oppression of Hazael. 

Jehoash was on the throne in Israel at the death of Elisha. As the final guidance, Elisha instructs Jehoash to shoot an arrow out the East Window. This was the LORD's Arrow. It signified defeat of Aram. Next, Jehoash was told to strike the ground with the arrows. He did so three times, and an angry Elisha told him that he should have done it like 5 or 6 times. Now they would only defeat Aram three times. That stinks.  Like Jehoash had any clue what Elisha was driving at. Possibly because he didn't know what God was driving at. He didn't consult the Urim or Thummim. That's what happens when a king's (nation's) relationship with God deteriorates. They are clueless and can't read the signs. But what I take away here is that the remembrance of the covenant with the forefathers comes from God. Usually it's a king or a priest that resets the covenant, but here God is the rememberer.

So Elisha dies, and he isn't taken as Elijah was, and even in death, he has the touch of life. Apparently some dudes were burying some guy, and when the Moabites came on their annual spring raid, they tossed the corpse into Elisha's grave. And when it touched his bones, the man sprang to his feet. Yiy. Can you imagine? If I was that guy, I'd say, "What, you guys just toss me into some random grave? No respect." Anyway, what happened to this guy? Did he go rest  with his fathers? Then comes back? What happens here!?

Eventually Hazael dies, and his son, Ben-Hadad, succeeds him. Yeah. Ben-Hadad. That was the guy Hazael murdered and overthrew. Then he names his son the same thing. High strangeness man. Can you imagine Barack Obama naming his son George when he becomes president?

2 Ki. 6: Swing that Gospel Axe

2 Kings 6:16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

So Elisha's out with the prophets, and they tell him where they meet is too small, so they build another bigger meeting place. An axe falls apart (they had Wal-Marts back then, too) and the head flies into the river. Gone. Work done, everyone chills. Wrong. Elisha cuts a stick, throws it into the river, and the axhead floats to the service. No, the axhead it wasn't made of balsam. Probably iron.

So that's a miracle, which is neat.

Aram eventually goes to war with Israel, and sneak attacks don't work, because Elisha, the prophet keeps telling the king. Easy, thinks the king of Aram. He'll just send everyone, and forego surprise for sheer numbers. Elisha's servant freaks out when he sees how many of the enemy are outside. Elisha's like Mr. Miyagi, though...cool. God sends an army of flaming angels and chariots. How awesome is that. It says the hills were filled with them. Elisha prays and has the eyes of the servant opened to see them. So...are the non-prophets eyes closed by God to certain things? How much more confident would you be if God showed you everything you could not see otherwise.

Then Elisha prays and has the eyes of the attacking Aramean army closed with blindness. Then this army is led to Samaria, where, in an act of grace, Elisha has the king feed them instead of slaughter them. Weird change of course for a nation that typically slaughters their enemies completely. I imagine the enemy army had to be trembling in fear as they were led all that way...

Then a famine happens which leads to cannibalism. Which...I don't recall was explicitly condemned in the Bible at this point. But it sounds like something...something that happens when you don't follow God completely...oh yeah. The king naturally blames the man of God, and sends hitmen to kill him. Of course Elisha sees it. So, we'll see what happens.

2 Ki. 4: All I Need Is 4 Miracles

2 Kings 4:35 "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."

Elisha has this whirlwind of miracles. The renewing oil, the widow's son, saving the stew, and feeding 100 people. There doesn't appear to be a recurring theme in all four stories, other than that they are miracles. In three of the four, there is more or plenty where there was nothing, or not enough.

The first one is with the oil. This widow tells Elisha that her husband is dead, and a creditor is coming to take her two boys as slaves. I don't know what that's all about. Slavery was not forbidden, and Israelites could own other Israelites as slaves. At least until Jubilee. Anyway, Elisha has her collect as many jars from her neighbors as she can, and then has her pour her little container of oil into all the jars. Her little jar fills all these other jars up. I don't know how many, but the sale of it was enough for her sons to live on, so it must have been a lot.

Here's a case where someone had very little, and God multiplied it, preserving a family. But it wasn't extravagant, or showy. When the jars ran out, the oil ran out. God didn't give her too much.

Then next one is another barren womb. A woman, out of the goodness of her heart, and probably expecting nothing in return, provides a place for the traveling prophet to stay at her house. Because of this generosity, Elisha promises her a baby. Even though she was old, like Sarai was. But that's not the only miracle. One day her son is working in the field and has a fatal migraine or something. Elisha invents CPR, and restores the boy who was dead (v. 20). Its a rather bizarre ritual, Elisha stretching out on top of the boy, completely covering him. It was total. The boy came back to life. Would the Shunnamite woman be satisfied if the only miracle was her actually having a son? If God hadn't restored the boy, what would she have thought, after she was done grieving? I think the faith she had in sending for Elisha is pretty amazing. She knew this wasn't the end of it, as her husband probably did. Also of interest is the inadequacy of the actions of his servant Gehazi, who Elisha sent first to touch his staff to the boy's faith. Why didn't that work? Did Elisha know that this would fail? Its an interesting question to me.

The next one is a little strange. There's this gathering of prophets, and of course they get hungry. The servant gathers gourds to put in the stew, but it freaks out the prophets who calim there is death in the pot? Death? Was it gross? Or too thin? Would people have died? Elisha calls for flour in the pot, and it counteracted the death. Weird, man.

The final miracle is kinda similar to the first but different. A man brings Elisha 20 loaves of barley bread and some heads of grain to feed a hundred men. And at first blush, it looks like enough to me. How big does a loaf have to be to feed 5 men? Pretty big. Apparently, this twenty wasn't going to cut it.

The prophet says the LORD told him, "They will eat and have food left over." In this case, God provides the plenty, but then goes beyond that. Why? Was it important to God to show that he can give more than what we need? Should we expect that from him?

And God solves problems differently than I would. In the first miracle, I'd just poof some gold into existence so the lady could pay the creditor. In the second...I can't really imagine a way I'd do something different, except I wouldn't let the boy have a headache. In the third...I'd just poof some stew into existence. In the fourth...a hundred sandwiches. And why wouldn't the bread just keep appearing in the basket? Maybe it did. I don't know. I'm not God. I didn't write this thing.

1 Ki. 19: New Guy

1 Kings 19:8 "So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God."

What's most interesting to me about Jezebel's predictable reaction to the massacre of Baal's prophets is how Elijah, exhausted from fleeing the wrath of Jezebel's gods, is helped along by the Angel of God. Elijah, who just proved the superiority and Lordship of God at the altar, would surely have been protected. Why would God, who rained fire on a soaked sacrifice turn around and allow Elijah to die at the hand of a pagan? Anyway, that's not the question here. The question is, why does God sustain Elijah in his fleeing? God didn't tell him to go, but Elijah bailed. It must not have looked good for God to the Israelites, who witnessed the miracle, but now watch God's prophet run in fear from idols. I guess to me it shows how God is willing to preserve even those who disobey and turn from him...God had a plan for Elijah, and was going to see it through.

The LORD catches him in the middle part of the chapter. He asks Elijah what he's doing there. This is sort of a strange passage. Elijah answers, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

What follows is a series of huge events. The first being a wind that (apparently) dashes a mountain to pieces. Next there was an earthquake, and then a fire. And then a whisper. The great and powerful displays show God's power, but the whisper shows God's nuance. His subtlety. God was in that huge show at the altar, but where did Elijah miss something? God asks him again. Elijah answers exactly the same way, word-for-word. Did he miss something again? What does he need, God to spell it out? Fortunately, God does.

In fact God gives him very explicit instructions. To anoint a king over Aram, a king over Israel, and Elisha, Elijah's successor as prophet. God had in place a system to preserve order, including a line of succession as to who would kill rebels.

Elisha protests not when met by Elijah. In fact, all he wants to do is kiss his folks good bye, and he's out of there. In fact, he slaughters the oxen he'd been plowing with, and burns the equipments to cook the meat. He wrapped it all up pretty nicely. Then he takes off to follow Elijah. Who I don't think he knew previously. What is with that motivation? He was already going to be a prophet, so my thoughts are that God already appeared to him somehow, and prepared him for Elijah's visit. If not, Elisha is more motivated than me.