Apostle of Western Kentucky, born Madison County, Kentucky, February 1, 1800; died Shelbyville, Kentucky, 1887. He was ordained in 1822, and his missionary career lasted for over 60 years during which he erected churches, established stations, formed congregations, and visited isolated families.

(a) (d. 663 BCE) Elijah's student and successor. Before ascending to heaven, Elijah granted him double the prophetic powers that he himself possessed. The Tanach records many of the miracles he preformed. Among them: purification of Jericho's drinking water, transformation of a single cruse of oil into many vessels' worth, resurrecting a dead child, and curing a Gentile general of leprosy. (b) A common Jewish name.

God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19 ). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his successor (1 Kings 19:16 ). This was the only one of the three commands then given to Elijah which he accomplished. On his way from Sinai to Damascus he found Elisha at his native place engaged in the labours of the field, ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen. He went over to him, threw over his shoulders his rough mantle, and at once adopted him as a son, and invested him with the prophetical office (Compare Luke 9:61,62 ). Elisha accepted the call thus given (about four years before the death of Ahab), and for some seven or eight years became the close attendant on Elijah till he was parted from him and taken up into heaven. During all these years we hear nothing of Elisha except in connection with the closing scenes of Elijah's life. After Elijah, Elisha was accepted as the leader of the sons of the prophets, and became noted in Israel. He possessed, according to his own request, "a double portion" of Elijah's spirit (2 Kings 2:9 ); and for the long period of about sixty years (B.C. 892-832) held the office of "prophet in Israel" (2 Kings 5:8 ). After Elijah's departure, Elisha returned to Jericho, and there healed the spring of water by casting salt into it (2 Kings 2:21 ). We next find him at Bethel (2:23), where, with the sternness of his master, he cursed the youths who came out and scoffed at him as a prophet of God: "Go up, thou bald head." The judgment at once took effect, and God terribly visited the dishonour done to his prophet as dishonour done to himself. We next read of his predicting a fall of rain when the army of Jehoram was faint from thirst (2 Kings 3:9-20 ); of the multiplying of the poor widow's cruse of oil (4:1-7); the miracle of restoring to life the son of the woman of Shunem (4:18-37); the multiplication of the twenty loaves of new barley into a sufficient supply for an hundred men (4:42-44); of the cure of Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy (5:1-27); of the punishment of Gehazi for his falsehood and his covetousness; of the recovery of the axe lost in the waters of the Jordan (6:1-7); of the miracle at Dothan, half-way on the road between Samaria and Jezreel; of the siege of Samaria by the king of Syria, and of the terrible sufferings of the people in connection with it, and Elisha's prophecy as to the relief that would come (2 Kings 6:24-7:2 ).). We then find Elisha at Damascus, to carry out the command given to his master to anoint Hazael king over Syria (2 Kings 8:7-15 ); thereafter he directs one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, instead of Ahab. Thus the three commands given to Elijah (9:1-10) were at length carried out. We do not again read of him till we find him on his death-bed in his own house (2 Kings 13:14-19 ). Joash, the grandson of Jehu, comes to mourn over his approaching departure, and utters the same words as those of Elisha when Elijah was taken away: "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Afterwards when a dead body is laid in Elisha's grave a year after his burial, no sooner does it touch the hallowed remains than the man "revived, and stood up on his feet" (2 Kings 13:20-21 ).

("God for salvation".) ELISEUS in New Testament. Shaphat's son, of Abel Meholah ("meadow of the dance"), in the Jordan valley. See his call: ELIJAH. He was engaged at field work, 12 yoke before him, i.e. himself with the 12th while the other 11 were in other parts of the field; or, as land was measured by "yokes of oxen," he had plowed land to the extent of nearly 12 yokes, and was finishing the 12th: either view marks his being a man of substance. Hengstenberg regards the twelve as marking him the prophet of the whole covenant nation, not merely of the ten tribes. Whether formally "anointed" with oil or not, he was really anointed with the Spirit, and duly called by his predecessor to the prophetic office by Elijah's crossing over, and hastily throwing upon him the rough mantle, the token of investiture, and then going as quickly as he came. Elisha was one to act at once on God's first call, at all costs. So bidding farewell to father and mother (contrast Matthew 8:21-22; "suffer me first to go and (tend my father until his death, and then) bury my father"; and Luke 9:61-62, where the "bidding farewell" involved in that particular case a division of heart between home relations and Christ, Luke 14:26; Matthew 10:37; Philippians 3:13), and slaying a yoke of oxen and boiling the flesh with the wooden instruments (compare 2 Samuel 24:22), a token of giving up all for the Lord's sake, he ministered to Elijah henceforth as Joshua did to Moses. His ministry is once described, "Elisha who poured water on the hands of Elijah." He was subordinate; so the sons of the prophets represent it: "Jehovah will take away thy master (Elijah) from thy head" (2 Kings 2:3). Yet his ministry made an advance upon that of his master. The mission of Elijah, as his name implied, was to bring Israel to confess that Jehovah alone is God ('Εel ); Elisha further taught them, as his name implies, that Jehovah if so confessed would prove the salvation of His people. Hence, Elisha's work is that of quiet beneficence; Elijah's that of judicial sternness upon all rebels against Jehovah. Contrast 1 Kings 18:40 with 2 Kings 5:18-19. Elisha, the healer, fitly comes after Elijah, the destroyer. The latter presents himself with the announcement, "as Jehovah God of Israel liveth ... there shall not be dew nor rain these years": the first miracle of the former is, "thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters (by casting in salt, the symbol of grace and incorruption), there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land." The large spring N.W. of the present town of Jericho is the traditional object of the cure (Ain-es-Sultan). Elijah, like a Bedouin, delighted in the desert, the heights of Carmel, and the caves of Horeb, and avoided cities. Elisha on the contrary frequented the haunts of civilization, Jericho (2 Kings 2:18), Samaria (2 Kings 2:25), and Dothan (2 Kings 6:13), where he had a house with "doors" and "windows" 2 Kings 4:3; 1 Kings 19:15-160; 2 Kings 4:24; 2 Kings 6:32; 2 Kings 13:17). He wore the ordinary Israelite garment, and instead of being shunned by kings for sternness, he possessed considerable influence with the king and the "captain of the host" (2 Kings 4:13). At times he could be as fiery in indignation against the apostate kings of Israel as was his predecessor (2 Kings 3:13-14), but even then he yields himself to the soothing strains of a minstrel for the godly Jehoshaphat's sake, and foretells that the ditches which he directs to be made should be filled with water (the want of which was then being sorely felt), coming by the way of Edom; this took place at the S.E. end of the Dead Sea; the route of the confederates Judah. Israel, and Edom, in order to invade the rebelling Moabite king Mesha from the eastern side, since he was (according to the Moabite stone) carrying all before him in the N.W. Like Elijah, he conquered the idols on their own ground, performing without fee the cures for which Beelzebub of Ekron was sought in vain. At Bethel, on his way from Jericho to Carmel (2 Kings 2:23), where he had been with Elijah (2 Kings 2:2), he was met by "young men" (narim , not "little children"), idolaters or infidels, who, probably at the prompting of Baal's prophets in that stronghold of his worship sneered at the report of Elijah's ascension: "Go up" like thy master, said they, "thou bald head" (qereach , i.e., with hair short at the back of the head, in contrast with Elijah's shaggy locks flowing over his shoulders; gibeach is the term for bald in front). Keil understands, however, "small boys" to have mocked his natural baldness at the back of his head (not with old age, for he lived until 50 years later, 2 Kings 13:14). The God-hating spirit which prevailed at calf-worshipping Bethel betrayed itself in these boys, who insulted the prophet of Jehovah knowingly. The profanity of the parents, whose guilt the profane children filled the measure of, was punished in the latter, that the death of the sons might constrain the fathers to fear the Lord since they would not love Him, and to feel the fatal effects recoiling on themselves of instigating their children to blaspheme (Exodus 20:5). Elisha, not in personal revenge but as Jehovah's minister, by God's inspiration, pronounced their doom. Two Syrian she-bears (corresponding to the Arctic bear of northern Europe) "tare forty-two of them" (compare and contrast Luke 9:54-55). A widow (Obadiah's widow, according to Josephus), when the creditor threatened to take her sons as bondmen, cried to Elisha for help on the ground of her deceased husband's piety. Elisha directed her to borrow empty vessels, and from her one remaining pot of oil to fill them all, shutting the door upon herself and her sons who brought her the vessels. Only when there was no vessel left to fill was the miraculous supply of oil stayed. A type of prayer, with "shut doors" (Matthew 6:6), which brings down supplies of grace so long as we and ours have hearts open to receive it (Psalms 81:10; Ephesians 3:20). Only when Abraham ceased to ask did God cease to grant (Genesis 18). On his way from Gilgal (not the one which was near Jericho, but N. of Lydda, now Jiljilieh) to Carmel, Elisha stayed at Shunem in Issachar, now Solam, three miles N. of Jezreel, on the southern slopes of Jebel ed Duhy, the little Hermon. "A great woman" (in every sense: means, largeness of heart, humility, contentment) was his hostess, and with her husband's consent provided for him a little chamber with bed, table, stool, and candlestick, so that he might in passing always "turn in there." In reward he offered to use his interest for her with the king or the captain of the host; with true magnanimity which seeks not great things for self (Jeremiah 45:5), she replied, "I dwell among mine own people." At Gehazi's suggestion without her solicitation, Elisha promises from God that she should have what was the greatest joy to an Israelite wife, a son. When he was old enough to go out with his father, a sunstroke in the harvest field caused his death. The mother, inferring from God's extraordinary and unsought gift of the child to her, that it could not be God's design to snatch him from her for ever, and remembering that Elijah had restored the widow's son at Zarephath, mounted her she-ass (hathon , esteemed swifter than the he-ass), and having left her son on the bed of the man of God, without telling her husband of the death, rode 15 miles, four hours ride, to Carmel. There Elisha was wont to see her regularly at his services on the "new moon and sabbath." Seeing her now approaching from a distance, Elisha sent Gehazi to meet her and ask, "Is it well with thee? ... with thy husband? ... with the child?" Her faith, hope, and resignation prompted the reply, "It is well." Gehazi, like Jesus' disciples (Matthew 15:23; Matthew 19:13), would have thrust her away when she clasped Elisha's feet (compare Matthew 28:9; Luke 7:38), but Elisha with sympathetic insight said, "Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and Jehovah hath hid it from me." A word from her was enough to reveal the child's death, which with natural absence of mind amidst her grief she did not explicitly men. lion, "Did I desire a son from my lord?" Elisha sends on Gehazi with his staff; Gehazi is to salute none on the way, 'like Jesus' 70 sent before His face, but lays Elisha's staff on the child's face without effect. (So the law could not raise the dead in sins (Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:21); Jesus Himself must come to do that.) Elisha, entering the room, shuts to the door (Matthew 6:6), and there stretching himself twice on the child, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, and hands to hands (compare Acts 20:10; antitypically the dead stoner must come into contact with the living Jesus, 1 John 1), after Elijah's pattern, and praying to Jehovah, proved the omnipotence of prayer to quicken the dead; then he delivered the resuscitated son to the happy mother. In a time of dearth (2 Kings 4:38), perhaps the same as that in 2 Kings 8:1-2, one of the sons of the prophets brought in a lap full of gourds or wild cucumbers, off a plant like a wild vine, the only food to be had; the effect in eating was such that one exclaimed, "There is death in the pot." Elisha counteracted the effect by casting in meal. Next, a man of Baal Shalisha brings firstfruits (paid to the prophets in the absence of the lawful priests: Numbers 18:8; Numbers 18:12; Deuteronomy 18:3-4), namely, 20 small loaves of new barley, and full green ears of grain roasted, esteemed a delicacy (Leviticus 2:14; Leviticus 23:14), in his garment (margin) or bag. In reply to his servitor's unbelieving objection," What, should I set this before an hundred men?" Elisha replied, "Give the people ... for thus saith Jehovah, They shall eat, and leave thereof": a forerunner of Christ's miracle of feeding more men with fewer loaves, preceded by like want of faith on the disciples' part (Luke 9:18-17; John 6:9-13), and followed by a like leaving of abundance, after the multitude were fed. Naaman's cure follows. His leprosy was of the white kind, the most malignant (2 Kings 5:27). In Syria it did not, as in Israel, exclude from intercourse; and Naaman was "great" in the presence of his master, and honored as "a mighty man in valor," because of being Jehovah's instrument in giving Syria victory. But withal (as all human greatness has some drawback) he was a leper. A "little maid" of Israel, carried captive to Syria in a foray, and brought to wait on Naaman's wife (so marvelously does God's providence overrule evil to good, and make humble and small agents effect great good) was the honored instrument of informing Naaman of the prophet of God. A lesson to us that none should plead (Matthew 25:24-30) inability to serve God and man in some form or another. Benhadad, with oriental absolutism, wrote as though the Israelite king could at will (compare Matthew 8:9) command Elisha's services. At the same time he sent much gold, silver, and the rich raiments (lebush , robe of ceremony) of Damascus; as though "God's gift may be purchased with money" (Acts 8:20). Joram showed no less want of faith, than Benhadad showed want of religious knowledge. Had he believed as did the little maid his former subject, he would have felt that, though he was "not God to, kill and to make alive," yet there was in the midst of the people one by whom God had both killed and made alive (Deuteronomy 32:39). Elisha rectifies his error, sending a dignified message of reproof to the king, and desiring him to let Naaman come, and he should know "there is a prophet in Israel." Naaman came with horses and chariots, not yet perceiving that true greatness lies not in earthly pomp and, wealth (2 Kings 5:1; 2 Kings 5:9; 2 Kings 5:11). Elisha, to teach him humility as the first step to any favor from God, sent a messenger, instead of coming in person to the door: "Go, wash in Jordan seven times." But, like men offended at the simplicity of the gospel message of salvation, Naaman having expected a more ceremonial mode of cure, and despising Jordan in comparison with the magnificent waters of his own Damascus, went off in a rage. His slaves, however, suggested the reasonableness of obeying so easy a command, since had it been a "great" one he would have complied. The mode of cure was wisely designed to teach him to unlearn his false ideas of greatness. He dipped seven times as he was told, "and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child"; typifying the spiritual new birth through washing in the "fountain opened for uncleanness" (Job 33:25; Zechariah 13:1; John 3:5). Elisha by refusing his presents shows that the minister of God is not influenced by filthy lucre (1 Timothy 3:3), as Naaman's master had supposed (2 Kings 5:5, compare Genesis 14:28). Naaman desires to take away two mules burden of earth, wherewith to make an altar to Jehovah of the holy land, a sensible memorial to remind him perpetually in his pagan country of Jehovah' s past favor bestowed on him in Israel (compare Joshua 4:20-21, and the mediaeval campo santos). He further asked God's pardon if, when in attendance on the Syrian king, he bowed in Rimmon's temple as a mark of respect to his master's religious feeling, not to the idol. Elisha, without sanctioning this compromise, but tacitly leaving his religious convictions to expand gradually, and in due time to east off the remains of idolatry still cleaving to him, bade him farewell with the customary "Go in peace." So the Lord Jesus "spoke the word as they were able to hear it" (Mark 4:33, compare Mark 8:23-25; John 16:12). Nothing is precipitately forced; principles planted in germ are left to their own silent development in due course. Gehazi's covetousness stands in sad contrast to Elisha's disinterestedness. The man of God's servant is as faithless as the pagan Naaman's servants were faithful; the highly privileged often fall far below the practice of those with scarcely any spiritual privileges whatever. He even makes it a merit not to "spare" a pagan, "this Syrian," and dares to invoke God: "my master hath spared this Syrian ... but, as Jehovah liveth, I will take somewhat of him." By lying he gains two talents and two changes of raiment from Naaman; but lying is of no avail before Elisha: "went not my heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? is it a time to receive money?" etc.; compare 1 Peter 4:3. If Gehazi must have Naaman's money he shall have also Naaman's leprosy, and that for ever. In this miracle too Elisha foreran the Lord Jesus, the cure of leprosy being exclusively God's work. This must have been at least seven years after raising the Shunammite's son (2 Kings 8:1-4). During Elisha's residence at Jericho, the numbers of the sons of the prophets increasing, the place became "too strait" for them. So they removed to the Jordan, and there felled the trees densely growing on its banks. The iron axe-head, a borrowed one, fell into the water. By a stick cast in, Elisha raised the iron to swim. God teaches His children to trust Him in small as in greater difficulties. He who numbers our very hairs regards nothing as too small to be brought under His notice; "God can as easily make our hard, heavy hearts, sunk down in the world's mud, to float upon life's stream and see heaven again" (Trapp). Benhadad, while Elisha resided at Dothan, half-way between Samaria and Jezreel, tried to surprise Israel from different points, but was foiled by Elisha warning the Israelite king, "beware that thou pass not such a place." Benhadad suspecting treachery was informed (probably by one who had witnessed Elisha's cure of Naaman)," the prophet in Israel telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber" (2 Kings 6:12); compare Christ's ministers, Luke 12:3. The Syrian king therefore sent horses and chariots to compass Dothan by night. Elisha's ministering servant (not Gehazi) rising early was terrified at the sight; "alas, my master! how shall we do?" Elisha replies, "they that be with us are more than they with him" (2 Chronicles 32:7; Psalms 55:18; Romans 8:31), and prays, "Lord, open his eyes"; then he saw "the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (Psalms 34:7; Zechariah 9:8.) Thus the same heavenly retinue attended Elisha as his master (2 Kings 2:11). At Elisha's prayer the investing host was smitten with blindness (mental, Keil, Genesis 19:11), and Elisha went out to meet them as they came down from their encampment on the hill E. of Dothan, and led them into Samaria. There Jehovah opened their eyes; and when the king of Israel would have smitten them, Elisha on the contrary caused him to "prepare great provision for them, and send them away." Compare Romans 12:2.). Untaught by this lesson, Benhadad, in disregard of gratitude and prudence, tried, instead of the previous marauding forays, a regular siege of Samaria. Israel was reduced to the last extremities of famine, unparalleled until the Roman siege of Jerusalem, a woman eating her own son, fulfilling the curse (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57). Joram, in language identical with his mother Jezebel's threat against Elijah (1 Kings 19:2; 2 Kings 6:31), makes Elisha the scape-goat of the national calamity, as though his late act in leading the blinded Syrians to Samaria and glorifying Jehovah above Baal were the cause, or suspecting it was by Elisha's word of prayer, as it was by Elijah's formerly (1 Kings 17), that the famine came (See JEHORAM); "God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha shall stand on him this day." Seeing the executioner's approach Elisha said to the elders sitting with him to receive consolation and counsel, "this son of a murderer (i.e. of Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 18:21) hath sent to take away my head"; "hold the messenger fast at the door," "his master's feet (are) behind him," namely, hastening to revoke his hasty order for Elisha's execution. "Behold," said the king, "this evil is of Jehovah; what, should I wait for Jehovah any longer?" (as thou exhortest me, Psalms 27:14.) Compare Malachi 3:14; Proverbs 19:3. Elisha replies that as "this evil (the famine) is of Jehovah," so the suddenness of its removal by the morrow at "the word of Jehovah" would prove it not to be futile, as Joram said, to "wait for Jehovah." The Lord will not allow Joram's perversity to stop the current of divine mercy. A lord on whose hand the king leaned answered that this could only be "if Jehovah would make windows in heaven." His sentence was according to his unbelief; "thou shalt see it ... but shalt not eat thereof." Tantalus like, his seeing should only aggravate the bitterness of his exclusion from the blessing. A panic at a fancied sound of Hittite and Egyptian foes, by God's appointment, caused the Syrians to leave theft' camp and all its contents, and flee for their life. Four lepers discovered the fact, and at first hid their spoil (Matthew 13:44; Matthew 25:25); afterward fearing mischief from selfishness (Proverbs 11:24), they held their peace no longer, but, feeling it a day of good tidings, told it to the king's household. Compare spiritually as to the gospel Isaiah 52:7; Isaiah 62:6-7; Matthew 28:19; Romans 13:12. The thronging crowd trode down the unbelieving lord who had charge of the gate. By Elisha's advice the Shunammite woman had gone to sojourn in the grain-growing seacoast plain of the Philistines during the seven years famine already alluded to (2 Kings 4:38). In her absence her house and field had been appropriated, and she on her return appealed with loud cry to the king. He at the very time, by God's providence, had been inquiring from Gehazi (long before his leprosy, 2 Kings 5; 2 Kings 8, a proof that the incidents of Elisha's life are not recorded in chronological sequence, but in their spiritual connection) concerning Elisha's miracles, and was hearing of her son's resuscitation when she herself appeared. Her land, and all she had lost, were restored. Elisha, when Joram and Israel failed to be reformed by God's mercies, proceeded to Damascus to execute Elijah's commission (2 Corinthians 2:14). Benhadad respectfully inquired by Hazael, who brought a kingly present, 40 camels laden with every good thing of Damascus, "thy son (regarding Elisha as a father and lord) saith, Shall I recover of this disease?" "Then mayest certainly (i.e. in the natural course): howbeit Jehovah showed me he shall surely die." Elisha, intensely gazing at Hazael's countenance, discerned his unscrupulous cruelty, and wept at the thought of the evil he would do to Israel. Hazael in the common view repudiated the possibility of being capable of such atrocities, "is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing?" But the Hebrew requires "what" to be the predicate, and "the dog" connected with "thy servant" the subject. "What is thy servant (the dog as he is) that he should do this great thing?" Not the atrocity, but the greatness of it, is what startles him as something beyond his ability to accomplish, "dog (i.e. low, not cruel) as he is." "Dog" is the eastern phrase for meanness, not cruelty. Hazael, in the common view, murdered Benhadad with a wet cloth, whether "the bath mattress" (Ewald) or the thick woolen quilt or mosquito net. Others, from "Hazael" being named at the end of 2 Kings 8:15 as if distinct from the previous "he," think Benhadad placed it wet on himself to cool the fever, and died of the sudden chill. Elisha next proceeded to Ramoth Gilead in the hills east of Jordan, which Hazael had tried to occupy (2 Kings 8:28). Joram was wounded, but the fortress still resisted Syria. There Elisha anointed Jehu, by the hand of one of the children of the prophets, to take vengeance on Ahab's guilty seed, having been witness of that monarch's wicked seizure of Naboth's vineyard and of Elijah's awful sentence on him (2 Kings 9:26). Elisha's last recorded act was when Jehu's grandson, Joash, wept over his deathbed in the words which Elisha had used of the departing Elijah: "my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof," i.e., in losing thee Israel loses its main defense. Elisha, putting his hands on the king's (for God's hand must strengthen ours if we are to prosper, Genesis 49:24), bade Joash shoot toward the hostile land, saying, "the arrow of Jehovah's deliverance ... thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek." Joash's half heartedness deprived him of complete triumph; for when told to smite the ground, he smote but thrice, instead of five or six times. Spiritually, if we fainted not in shooting the arrow of prayer (Psalms 5:3), we should smite down our spiritual foes more completely (Isaiah 43:22). Even when dead and buried, Elisha's body was made by God the means of revivifying a dead body cast hastily sideways into his sepulchral cell, upon a sudden inroad of the Moabite bands; a type of the vivifying power of Christ's dead body (Isaiah 26:19). Other antitypical resemblances are (1) Christ's solemn inauguration at the Jordan. (2) His dividing death's flood for us: Isaiah 51:15. (3) By his "covenant of salt" healing the "naught water" and "barren ground" of the condemning law and of afflictive chastisements: Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 35:6. (4) His making the barren church mother of spiritual children: Isaiah 55:1. (5) Multiplying the oil of grace: Isaiah 61:3. (6) Reviving the spiritually and the naturally dead: John 5:25-29. (7) Curing those bodily and those spiritually lepers. (8) Feeding multitudes with bread for the body, and the bread of life for the soul. (9) Being the church's "chariots and horsemen," "always causing us to triumph": 1618451895_73. (10) Setting the captives free: Isaiah 61:1. (11) Inflicting judgments on mockers. Acts 13:41; and on lucre-loving Gehazi-like ministers, as Judas; giving up to judicial blindness the willfully blind, John 9:39-41; and to seeing without tasting bliss those who disbelieve the gospel promise of the heavenly feast; so the rich man in hell saw Lazarus afar off in Abraham's bosom, an impassable gulf excluding himself (Luke 16:23-26). The gentle features of his character attracted the poor and the simple to him in their troubles, whereas sternness characterized Elijah. In Herod and Herodias Ahab and Jezebel are reproduced, as in John the Baptist Elijah is reproduced; as Elijah, the representative of the law, foreruns the gentler Elisha, so John the greatest prophet of the law foreruns Jesus the gracious Savior.

(d. 100:140) Mishnaic sage, pupil of Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakaneh. As a child, he was rescued from Roman captors by Rabbi Joshua ben Gamla and brought to Judea, where excelled in Torah learning. He is famous for his enumeration of the thirteen principles of halachah hermeneutics. He authored the Halachic Midrash, the Mechilta. He is one of the Ten Martyrs brutally killed by the Romans

(e li' sshuh) Personal name meaning, “my God is salvation.” A ninth century B.C. Israelite prophet, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah (1 Kings 19:16 ). His Name and Call Experience Elisha was plowing one day when “Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.” (1 Kings 19:19 ). This action symbolically manifested God's plan to bestow the prophetic powers of Elijah upon Elisha. The chosen one understood the call of God for, “he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah” (1 Kings 19:20 ). That Elisha felt the call of prophetic succession is again clear following Elijah's dramatic ascent into heaven. There Elisha “took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him” (2 Kings 2:13 ). The beginning of Elisha's ministry should be dated to the last years of King Ahab's rule (1 Kings 19:1 ) or approximately 850 B.C. The prophet then served faithfully during the reigns of Ahaziah (about 853 B.C.), Jehoram or Joram (852 B.C.), Jehu (c. 841 B.C.), Jehoahaz (c. 814 B.C.), and Jehoash or Joash (798 B.C.). 2 Kings 1-13 preserves the details of Elisha's ministry which ranged from about 850-800 B.C. His Miracles After Elijah insisted to his chosen successor that he, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you,” Elisha answered, “Let me inherit a double portion of spirit” (2 Kings 2:9 NIV). Taking up the mantle of the departed prophet, he parted the Jordan River. Following this miracle the prophetic order or “sons of the prophets” declared, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha” ( 2 Kings 2:15 ). Soon thereafter, Elisha made bad water wholesome (2 Kings 2:19-22 ). His reputation soon assumed so sacred an aura that harassment of the prophet merited severe punishment. For mocking the bald prophet, 42 boys were attacked by two she-bears (2 Kings 2:23-24 ). The prophet used his power to provide a widow with an abundance of valuable oil to save her children from slavery (2 Kings 4:1-7 ). He made a poisonous pottage edible (2 Kings 4:38-41 ), fed a hundred men by multiplying limited resources (2 Kings 4:42-44 ), and miraculously provided water for thirsting armies (2 Kings 3:13-22 ). Once he made an iron ax head float (2 Kings 6:5-7 ). Some of the miracles of Elisha are quite well known and loved. Who has not been moved by the story of the Shunammite woman and her son? This barren woman and her husband who had graciously opened their home to the prophet had in turn been given a son by the Lord. One day while the boy worked in the field with his father, he suffered an apparent heartstroke and died. The compassion and tenacious hope of the mother met its reward when she sought and found the man of God and pleaded for help. God's power through Elisha raised the boy from the dead (2 Kings 4:8-37 ). Yet another well-known story is the healing of Naaman the leper and the subsequent affliction of Gehazi the dishonest servant of Elisha (2 Kings 5:1-27 ). The miraculous powers of the prophet were prominently displayed still further in the war between Syria and Israel. The Syrian soldiers were blinded, then made to see. Then, at last, divine intervention totally foiled the Syrian siege of Samaria (2 Kings 6:8-7:20 ). Elisha's power did not end at death. For when a dead man was thrown into Elisha's grave and touched his bones, “he revived, and stood up on his feet” (2 Kings 13:21 ). In carrying out the second and third commands of the “still small voice” to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11-16 ), Elisha enhanced his legacy beyond the realm of miracle worker. He played a major role in Hazael becoming king of Syria (2 Kings 8:7-15 ) and also in the anointing of Jehu as king of Israel (2 Kings 9:1-13 ). Powerful enough to perform miracles and appoint kings, yet sensitive enough to weep over the fate of Israel (2 Kings 8:11-12 ), Elisha, disciple and successor to Elijah, proved to be both prophet and statesman. Chosen by God and hand-picked by Elijah in the latter half of the ninth century B.C., Elisha directed the historical drama of Israel. See Miracles; Prophet-Prophecy; History of Israel; Baal Worship. J. Randall O'Brien

ELISHA . Elisha was a native of Abel-meholah, which was situated in the Jordan valley 10 Roman miles from Scythopolis, probably on the site of the modern ‘Ain Helweh . His father was a well-to-do farmer, and so Elisha is a representative of the newer form of Hebrew society. On his return from Horeb, Elijah cast his mantle upon the youth, as he was directing his father’s servants at their ploughing. The young man at once recognized the call from God, and, after a hastily-devised farewell feast, he left the parental abode ( 1 Kings 19:16 ; 1 Kings 19:19 ), and ever after he was known as the man ‘who poured water on the hands of Elijah’ ( 2 Kings 3:11 ). His devotion to, and his admiration for, his great master are apparent in the closing scenes of the latter’s life. A double portion of Elijah’s spirit (cf. the right of the firstborn to a double portion of the patrimony) is the summum bonum which he craved. In order to receive this boon he must be a witness of the translation of the mighty hero of Jehovah; and as Elijah is whirled away in the chariot of fire, his mantle falls upon his disciple, who immediately makes use of it in parting the waters of the Jordan. After Elisha has recrossed the river, he is greeted by the sons of the prophets as their leader ( 2 Kings 13:20-2157 ). After this event it is impossible to reduce the incidents of Elisha’s life to any chronological sequence. His ministry covered half a century (b.c. 855 798), and during this period four monarchs, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash, sat on the throne of Israel (2 Kings 3:1 ff; cf. 2 Kings 13:14 ff.). The story of Elisha was borrowed by the author of the Book of Kings from some prophetic work of the Northern Kingdom; and, without any regard for sequence in time, he has arranged his material according to subject-matter. In our canonical Book of Kings, the larger part of Elisha’s activities is placed within the reign of Jehoram ( 2 Kings 3:1 ff; cf. 2 Kings 9:1 ff.). He may have reached the zenith of his career in these twelve years, but all the recorded events of his life cannot be crowded into this short period. His name, Elisha (= ‘God is salvation’), like that of his master, tersely describes his character and expresses his mission. Elijah’s was a flint-like nature, which crushed its opponents and won its victories by hard blows. Elisha is a gentler and more gracious man, and gains his ends by diplomacy. He loves the haunts of men, and resides in cities like Dothan and Samaria. His miracles are deeds of mercy, and, like that of the Prophet of Nazareth, his ministry breathes a spirit ‘of gracious, soothing, holy beneficence.’ We find him at the headquarters of the sons of the prophets, making his benign presence felt. He sweetens a spring of brackish water at Jericho ( 2 Kings 2:19 ff.) at a time of drought; he renders a poisonous mess of pottage harmless for the members of the prophetic guild ( 2 Kings 4:38 ff.); he multiplies the oil for the prophet’s widow, who finds herself in dire extremity ( 2 Kings 4:1 ff). At the prophet’s command, as at the bidding of a greater than Elisha, the loaves are multiplied ( 2 Kings 4:42 ). His sympathy goes out in a practical way for the man who has lost his axe ( 2 Kings 6:1 ff.). One of the most beautiful stories in the whole range of Scripture is that of the entertainment of Elisha in the home of the Shunammite. Her hospitality and the practical manifestation of gratitude on the part of the prophet form a charming picture. In the restoration of her son to life, Elisha performs one of his greatest miracles ( 2 Kings 4:8 ff., 2 Kings 8:1 ff.). In his treatment of the Syrian troops which had been despatched to capture him, he anticipated the spirit of the Saviour ( 2 Kings 6:14 ff.). The familiar incident of the healing of the leprosy of Naaman not only gives an idea of the influence and power of the man of God, but the story is suggestive of the pro-foundest spiritual truths ( 2 Kings 5:6-17 ). The contrast between the spirit of master and disciple may be over-emphasized. Elisha could be as stern as Elijah: at Bethel he treats the mocking youth in the spirit of Sinai (2 Kings 2:23 ), and no touch of pity can be detected in the sentence that falls on Gehazi ( 2 Kings 5:27 ). The estimate of Sirach ( Sir 48:12 ) is according to all the facts of the OT narrative: ‘Elijah it was who was wrapped in a tempest: And Elisha was filled with his spirit: And in all his days he was not moved by the fear of any ruler, And no one brought him into subjection.’ This severer side of the prophet’s character appears in his public rather than in his private life. In the Moabitish campaign, the allied kings seek his counsel. His address to Jehoram of Israel. ‘What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of thy mother,’ indicates that Elisha had not forgotten the past and the conflicts of his master (2 Kings 3:13 ff.). Later, the relations between the reigning monarch and the prophet seem more cordial, for the man of God reveals the plans of the Syrians to Israel’s king ( 2 Kings 6:8 ff.). This change of attitude on the part of the prophet may be due to the fact that Jehoram attempted to do away with Baal worship ( 2 Kings 3:2 ); but Elisha has not forgotten the doom pronounced upon the house of Ahab by Elijah. While Jehu is commanding the forces besieging Ramoth-gilead, Elisha sends one of the sons of the prophets to anoint the general as king, and thus he executes the commission which Elijah received from Jehovah at Horeb ( 1 Kings 19:16 ). Elisha’s relations with the Syrians are exceedingly interesting. On one occasion he appears to be as much at home in Damascus as in Samaria. Ben-hadad, suffering from a severe ailment, hears of his presence in his capital, and sends Hazael to the man of God to inquire concerning the issue. The prophet reads the heart of the messenger, and predicts both the king’s recovery and his assassination by Hazael (2 Kings 8:7 ff.). Nothing is said of a formal anointing, but in this connexion Elisha seems to have carried out the commission of Elijah ( 1 Kings 19:17 ). The blockade of Samaria ( 2 Kings 6:24 to 2 Kings 7:20 ) probably falls in the reign of Jehoahaz. That the prophet is held by king and statesmen responsible for the straits to which the city has been reduced, is an eloquent tribute to his political influence. In this connexion Elisha’s prediction of deliverance is speedily fulfilled. Under Joash, Israel was hard pressed, and her might had dwindled to insignificance ( 2 Kings 13:7 ), but Elisha was still the saviour of his country. Joash weeps over him as he lies on his deathbed: ‘My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.’ Directing the monarch to perform a symbolical act, the prophet gives him assurance of victory ( 2 Kings 13:15 ff.). Even after his burial his bones had the power to perform a beneficent miracle ( 1618451895_3 ). An incident in the life of Elisha throws light on the prophetic state. Before declaring the final result of the campaign to the three kings, he asks for a minstrel. The music induces the ecstatic state, and then he prophesies (2 Kings 3:15 ). The supernatural abounds in his life; in many instances he manifests the power of prediction ( 2 Kings 4:16 , 2Ki 5:26 , 2 Kings 6:8 ff., 2 Kings 7:1 ff., 2Ki 8:10 ; 2 Kings 8:12 ff., 2 Kings 9:6 f., 2 Kings 13:15 ff.). But some of his deeds are not miracles in the modern sense ( 2 Kings 2:19 ff., 2 Kings 4:38 ff., 2 Kings 6:6 ff.). James A. Kelso.

(d. 100:140) Mishnaic sage, pupil of Rabbi Nechunia ben Hakaneh. As a child, he was rescued from Roman captors by Rabbi Joshua ben Gamla and brought to Judea, where excelled in Torah learning. He is famous for his enumeration of the thirteen principles of halachah hermeneutics. He authored the Halachic Midrash, the Mechilta. He is one of the Ten Martyrs brutally killed by the Romans

ELISHA (Authorized Version Eliseus).—The famous disciple, companion, and successor of Elijah. In NT he is only once referred to, viz. in Luke 4:27. Jesus, preaching in the synagogue at Nazareth, reminds His fellow-townsmen, who were unwilling to receive His teaching because He was one of themselves, that Elisha, who was an Israelite, healed but one leper, and he was a Syrian. He leaves them to draw the obvious inference as to the probable consequence of their rejection of Him. It is clear, however, that in this warning our Lord was looking far beyond Nazareth, and that He had in view the casting away of the Jews through unbelief, and the call of the Gentiles. J. Cromarty Smith.

1 Kings 19:16 (c) He is a type of CHRIST as the Saviour. The word means, "GOD is the Saviour."

Son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah. Elijah was instructed by God to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his stead. Elijah cast his mantle over him, but we do not read of the anointing: doubtless it was realised in receiving a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Elisha was not prepared then to take up Elijah's mantle, but first he made a feast for his people, and then he followed Elijah and ministered unto him. When God was about to take Elijah to Himself, it became known to the sons of the prophets, and they told Elisha, but he knew it already; and when Elijah suggested to him to remain behind he refused and followed him from place to place, until he had traversed Jordan (figuratively death) with Elijah. Being thus proved to be knit together in spirit, Elijah asked Elisha what he should do for him before he was taken. Elisha said, "Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." Elijah replied that, though he had asked a hard thing, it should be so if he saw him when he was taken up. A chariot and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven; and Elisha saw it. Elisha took up the mantle that fell from Elijah, which before he had failed to do, and went to the Jordan and smote it with the mantle, and the waters divided, and he passed over into the land, with the spirit of the ascended Elijah resting on him. Elisha's first miracle was healing the waters at Jericho, the cursed city, by means of salt in a new cruse: type of the purifying power of grace. His mission was grace as from an ascended one; the waters were permanently healed, and the ground was no longer barren. But as he went to Bethel some boys out of the city mocked him, saying, "Go up, thou bald head." He cursed them in the name of the Lord, and two she bears tore forty-two of them. God vindicated the authority of His servant. Elisha had come as it were from heaven, into which Elijah had entered, and he came in grace, and if this was despised, judgement must follow, as it will be with Israel by-and-by. Elisha went to Carmel, where the priests of Baal had been destroyed, and thence to Samaria, the seat of the apostasy, and where his testimony was most needed. Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined with Jehoram king of Israel, and the king of Edom, to attack Moab; but they had no water. Elisha was sought for, and he boldly told Jehoram to go to the gods of his father and mother: if Jehoshaphat had not been there he would not have helped them, nevertheless there was grace for them. Ditches, or pits were made, and in the morning the valley was full of water; victory over Moab followed. 2 Kings 2,3 . A widow ofone of the prophets appealed to Elishato save her two sonsfrom the grasp of a creditor. She had nothing but a pot of oil. She was told to borrow vessels 'not a few,' and fill them with oil. On her doing this the oil was increased until there was not a vessel more to fill. Thus according to her faith in borrowing was her supply from God. The creditor was paid, and she and her sons lived on the remainder, showing how God far exceeded her request. A great woman at Shunem bestowed hospitality on Elisha, and provided a chamber for his use whenever he passed that way. For this she was rewarded with a son; but when grown old enough to go into the fields he died. The woman laid him on Elisha's bed, and hastened to inform him of what had happened, but piously added 'It is well.' Elisha returned with the woman, and the child was raised to life and restored to his mother. Thus was manifested the power of God over death and a broken heart was bound up. Two more miracles followed. In gathering herbs for a meal because of the dearth, a poisonous weed was included and there was 'death in the pot.' Elisha cast in some meal, and the pottage was cured. The other miracle was the increase of the bread so that a hundred men were supplied from twenty loaves, or cakes, and there was some left: similar to the Lord feeding the multitudes when He was on earth. 2 Kings 4 . The next miracle was healing Naaman the Syrian of leprosy. This was grace extending beyond the land, even to their enemies. Naaman had to be humbled as well as blessed, and to learn that there was "no God in all the earth but in Israel," as he himself confessed. Gehazi, Elisha's servant, was, alas, tempted with a lie in his mouth to take of the Syrian some of the presents which he had brought for Elisha, but which had been refused. This was revealed to Elisha, and the leprosy of Naaman cleaved to Gehazi and to his seed. The one nearest to the means of blessing, if he turns from it, suffers most. Elisha next made the iron head of the axe to swim, thus reversing the laws of nature: the axe was borrowed, and the trust must not be violated. 2Kings 5,2 Kings 6:1-7 . The Syrians had now to learn a lesson of the power of the God of Israel, but still in grace. They laid traps for the king of Israel, but Elisha warned him again and again of the danger, and he escaped. On this being made known to the king of Syria he sent an army to seize Elisha. He was at Dothan, and they compassed the city. Elisha prayed that his servant's eyes might be opened to see that they were surrounded with horses and chariots of fire which were otherwise invisible: cf. Hebrews 1:13,14 . The army was then smitten with blindness, led to Samaria, fed with bread and water, and dismissed to their master with the wonderful tale. It was no use laying plots against people whose God protected them like this. "The bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel;" that is, the marauding bands that laid plots to seize the king; for immediately we read that Ben-hadad king of Syria came with a great army and besieged Samaria. The famine became so severe that a woman's child was boiled and eaten. The king was greatly moved at this and threatened to take the life of Elisha, apparently linking the famine with God's servant. This was revealed to Elisha as he sat in the house. The king followed the messenger and he said, "This evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?" Elisha had a message of deliverance: by the next day a measure of fine flour should be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for the same. An unbelieving lord scoffed at this; but he saw it, though he did not eat of it, for he was trampled to death in the crowd. Thus judgement followed unbelief in the gracious provision of God. 2 Kings 6:8 - 2 Kings 7 . Elisha prophesied that there wouldbe a seven years' famine, and he told the Shunammite woman to sojourn where she could during the time. She dwelt among the Philistines seven years, and on her return she cried to the king for the restoration of her house and land. God so ordered it that just at that time Gehazi was relating to the king the great things that Elisha had done. He recognised the woman as the one whose son Elisha had raised, and the king ordered the restoration of her property. The prophet went to Damascus, and Ben-hadad, being sick, sent Hazael to inquire if he should recover. The answer was that he might certainly recover, yet he should die: an apparent enigma; but it was fully explained by Hazael causing his death when he would otherwise have recovered. Elisha prophesied that Hazael would be king over Syria, and he wept as he told the dreadful things he would do to Israel. Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu to be king over Israel: he was to execute God's judgement on the house of Ahab and on Jezebel, which had been prophesied by Elijah. 1 Kings 21:23,24 . What had been foretold Jehu fulfilled. 2Kings 8,2 Kings 9 . The time now approached for Elisha's death. He was sick and Joash king of Israel went to visit him. Elisha prophesied that Joash should smite the Syrians till they were consumed, but he was angry with the king's want of energy and said he should smite them but three times. Elisha's work was now done and he died and was buried. When a corpse was let down into the same tomb, as soon as it touched the bones of Elisha life was restored. Type that though Israel is now dead towards God (cf. Daniel 12:2 ), when they are brought into connection with God's true Prophet they will be restored to life as unexpectedly and as powerfully. As we have seen, Elisha's mission was grace, and his history to the end is stamped with the power of life. 2 Kings 13:14-21 . He is called ELISEUS in Luke 4:27 .

The successor, in the prophetical office, of Elijah. His name is also highly significant, meaning the salvation of my God. I must pass over many interesting circumstances in the history of this man of God, for the same reasons as in the former. But I beg to notice one event in Elisha's ministry, because it is not so generally regarded, and yet seems to lead to a profitable subject of meditation. The event I refer to, is that of his healing the waters of Jericho. (See 2 Kings 2:19-22) The reader will not forget, that Jericho is the city Joshua cursed before the Lord. (See Joshua 6:26 with 1 Kings 16:34) There evidently appears from this history, the tokens of divine displeasure upon Jericho in the days of Elisha. For we read, that the men of the city said unto the prophet, "Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth, but the water is naught, and the ground barren." In the margin of our Bibles the barren ground is explained, in causing to miscarry. Hence it should seem that the divine displeasure was manifested in this way, in the rendering the climate unfavourable to the increase of children. I do not presume to decide upon the subject, neither do I say as much, when I ask in order to determine the point, as to enquire. But I humbly conceive, if by the naughtiness of the water of Jericho, barrenness was induced among the females, there was somewhat in this analogous to the Lord's appointment in Israel concerning the waters of Jealousy. In both cases, the matter is the same in relation to the cause. (See Numbers 5:23-31) That the barrenness mentioned of Jericho referred to the sterility of the women, or their miscarriages, which is the same thing in effect, I have no doubt. The same word Sheceleh, is made use of in this place, as in the instance of Jacob's expostulating with Laban: "Thy she-goats" (Genesis 31:38) "have not cast their young." And the Lord, when speaking in promises to his people, saith, "He" (Exodus 23:25-26) "shall bless thy bread and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land." It appears then, that amidst all the pleasantness of Jericho, which abounded with palm trees (and, indeed, on that account was called the city of palm trees,) (See 2 Chronicles 28:15) there was still a certain somewhat, unfavourable to that which to the children of Israel (looking forward to the types that the promised seed would be in their lot), was among the most distressing of all calamities, the want of children. This was the state of Jericho. The prophet's cruse of salt cast into the waters, under the Lord's blessing, healed the land. Elisha cast the cruse into the spring, saying,"Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more, death, or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha." I have thought it worthwhile to enter into the particulars of this interesting account, concerning the barrenness at Jericho healed by the cruse of salt cast into the spring of the waters, by way of introducing an infinitely more interesting observation on the subject itself. The cruse of salt, like the tree at Marah (Exodus 15:25) were both beautiful types of Jesus and his salvation. Both the cruse and the barrenness are effectually cured when Jesus takes them away. The waters of Marah lose their bitterness when his cross is put in them to sweeten and sanctify. The barrenness of Jericho is healed, and children are born, even in Jericho, when Christ's cruse of grace is applied. A Rahab and harlot is found in Jericho; and Æthiopia, and Seba, and the multitude of isles, shall stretch forth their hands unto God. Jesus hath taken out the curse when he was made a curse for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21) Hallelujah!

ELISHA, the servant and the successor of Elijah, was the son of a prosperous farmer in Israel. Shaphat, the father of Elisha, was a man of substance, but, like all true Israelites, rich and poor, he had brought up his son Elisha to a life of hard work. And thus it is that we come upon Elisha standing in the office of superior over his father's ploughmen, while he is, at the same time, one of those same ploughmen himself. One spring day, when all Shaphat's ploughs were at work in the spring-time meadow, and Elisha's plough the foremost among them, Elijah, the old prophet, came up suddenly behind Elisha and cast his rough mantle over Elisha's shoulder. In a moment the young ploughman saw and understood what it was that had happened to him. Elijah had not spoken a single word to Elisha. But Elijah's solemn silent act was sufficiently clear and eloquent to Elisha. 'When a great teacher dies,' says Sir John Malcolm in his History of Persia, 'he bequeaths his patched mantle to the disciple that he most esteems. And the moment the elect disciple puts on the holy mantle he is vested with the whole power and sanctity of his predecessor. The mantles which were used by ascetics and saints have always been the objects of religious veneration in the East. The holy man's power is founded upon his sacred character, and that rests upon his poverty and contempt of worldly goods. His mantle is his all, and its transfer marks out his heir. Some of these sacred mantles can be traced for several centuries, and their value increases with their age.' This is an old and superstitious tradition now; but in the ploughed field of Abel. Meholah we are back at its very beginning and first performance, when Elijah comes up behind Elisha and casts his cloak of camel's hair over the shoulders of Shaphat's son. And, as if to make it impossible for himself ever to turn back from following Elijah, Elisha made a fire of the wood of his familiar plough, and slew his favourite oxen and made a feast of the flesh, and thereby proclaimed openly to all men that he had put his hand to another plough than that plough of wood, from which he would never draw back. Elisha burned his ships that day, as the Romans would have said. Shaphat, Elisha's father, was growing old, and Elisha would soon have inherited the rich meadow he was then working in; but, in a moment, all that was for ever changed; and Shaphat may now cast his husbandman's mantle over what young farmer he will; his son Elisha is henceforth dead to all that Abel-Meholah has to hold out to him. For the next fifty years Elisha is to be a spiritual ploughman in the Lord's meadows, which are the hearts and lives of the men of Israel. Elijah's mantle is one of our most expressive proverbs, and so is Elisha's request for a double portion of his departing master's spirit. 'Ask what I shall do for thee,' said Elijah, 'before I be taken away from thee.' And Elisha said, 'I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.' Not the double of all the gifts and all the graces that Elijah had possessed and had so well employed. That is an impossible explanation of Elisha's petition. I can easily imagine Elijah feeling now that life was over with him, that he had been an unprofitable servant. All true men so feel. I can easily imagine Elijah seeking of God in prayer that his successor should be twofold, should be tenfold, more gifted and more successful than he had been. But I cannot imagine a humble and loyal soul like Elisha so insulting his master on his deathbed as to say to him: 'I hope to have double thy success to show when I come to die.' No; the thing is inconceivable. What Elisha really asked for was simply the fulfilment of what had been already promised him when Elijah's mantle fell on his shoulders. That act of Elijah was the sign and the seal of Elisha's adoption. And the adopted son had always allotted to him the double portion that belonged to the first-born. Not the double of what the adopting father possessed himself; for no man can put into his testament the double of what he has of his own. But he can double the portion that would properly have belonged to one of his younger children. And thus it is that, when it is put to him, Elisha simply, and dutifully, and humbly asks that the divine law of adoption and primogeniture may immediately begin to hold and to take effect in his spiritual sonship to the departing prophet. The world and the church live and thrive and grow from generation to generation under the guiding and upholding hand of God. All the time that Elijah was repining and meditating death under the juniper tree, God was preparing the young ploughman of Abel-Meholah to wear Elijah's mantle, and to carry forward Elijah's work. And when we are prognosticating the headlessness and the collapse of the church when this man and that man shall have fallen asleep, all the time God has His hidden servants, quite well known to Him, and quite ready to take up this man's and that man's great office when they shall demit it. There may be to be seen following the spring plough in Strathmore or in the Lothians at this moment, some young man who shall be as well known and as great in a few years in Scotland as Elisha was in Israel. There are certainly at school, at college, in the shop, in the office, on the hills, in the mine, young men who, five-and-twenty years after this, shall be as great preachers, as great writers, as great statesmen, as great administrators, and as great discoverers as any of those who are now in such fame, and far better suited for the time to come. Elisha was not Elijah. But he was the gift of the living God to the living Israel of his day. And I would have you all keep your dejected hearts in perfect peace, sure of this, that God will look after both the church and the world far better than the most anxious-minded and censorious-minded of His people. And let all our prophets, and all the sons of our prophets, go to school in manners and in morals to those fifty sons of the prophets in that day in Israel. Look at them as they hail and bow down before a better man than themselves, though he is as young as themselves, and withal, has not had their schooling for his office. There is blessing in store for Israel, from such young ministers. Elisha had been a ploughman till he became Elijah's servant. And, yet, in a moment, and without a murmur, the fifty sons of the prophets at once accept Elisha as the true successor of Elijah, and as their young master. The old men who had not had great success themselves did not cast up Elisha's youth to him when his success began, nor did the sons of the prophets keep up against him his humble origin, or his lack of letters. There must have been good Divinity Halls in those days when there were fifty probationers just come out of them of such humility, and admiration, and belief in better men than themselves. These prophetical graces are beautiful to us to read about at a distance, but they are far more beautiful to God when they are seen in everyday men like ourselves. Those fifty students must have had good tutors and governors in ministerial morals and in pastoral theology. About dead men's mantles. Elisha's first instinct was to bury and blot himself out under Elijah's coat of camel's hair and his leathern girdle. And he did actually begin his public life wearing those ancient coverings and austere accoutrements. But Elisha was far too simple and far too sincere a man to continue long wound up in such cerements. He set out, and I do not wonder at it, in Elijah's mantle, and he did his first prophetical work in it; but he wore it awkwardly, and he soon laid it aside. Elisha was an altogether smaller and more homely man than Elijah, and he wisely preferred before long to put on much less startling and outstanding clothes. Elisha was a gentle, homely, kindly lowland minister; as unlike Elijah as the green meadows of Abel-Meholah were unlike the savage solitudes of mountainous Gilead. And we must not demand of our young preachers that they shall all stride out with the same step, and pronounce just with the same accent as the Elijah of our youth. We had Elijah, and he fulfilled his day, and did his work. And no men among us need more to be men of today, and not of yesterday, than they who preach the Word of God to us and to our children. Even the Elijah you so often go back upon, were he here again, he would not be exactly the same man, with exactly the same mantle, the hem and the hair of which you were so wont to kiss. Every ill-brought-up boy who calls names at old people and at odd people must he reminded of those miserable boys and girls of Bethel who called bad names at Elisha till two she-bears came out of the wood, and tore forty and two children of them. The Areopagus on one occasion sentenced a Greek boy to death only for plucking out a quail's eyes, because, they said, if that boy was let live, he would do widespread cruelty and mischief when he grew up, and he had better die at once; and so they sent him to the executioner. On December the 21st, 1719, Thomas Boston writes this in his journal: A poor boy came into the house begging, having such a defect in his speech that he pronounced the words father and mother fao and moa, at which my wife and others smiling, desired him to speak over again what he had said. In the meantime my little daughter stood looking on with tears in her eyes and in great distress, and at length she came up to her mother, and said, 'Mother, did God make that laddie?' 'Yes, my dear, He did.' 'Will He not then be angry at us all for laughing at the laddie, for my lesson says, "He that mocketh at the poor, reproacheth his Maker"?' She was in mighty concern also to let the boy have some old clothes. With all that the sacred writer has given us about Elisha, I am not satisfied. I would have liked some more about Elisha's father and mother. I always regret hearing Elisha calling Elijah his father, and no more word of honest Shaphat. Fathers, come with me, and let no man run away with our best name from us! Let no man, no, not Elijah himself, take our crown. Let us determine to be the fathers of our children in the spirit also. Let us be specially jealous of our best ministers, lest our children pass us by, and claim any other man whatsoever as their spiritual father. Let our children be able all their days to say-it was my father; it was my mother. We feed them, we clothe them, we send them to school, and we work and lay up for them. O let no other man, the very best, cast the mantle of the Christian calling and the Christian spirit on the shoulders of our children. Let us do that ourselves; let us do it early; let us do it now. Here am I and the children which Thou hast given me!

Elisha (e-lî'shah), God his salvation. A distinguished prophet of Israel and successor of Elijah. The acts of his earlier ministry are related at considerable length. He is first mentioned as the son of Shaphat, the agriculturist of Abel-meholah in the valley of the Jordan. While occupied in guiding the plow he received the call of Elijah, and appears ever after to have attended on him. 1 Kings 19:16; 1 Kings 19:19-21; 2 Kings 3:11. How deep the affection was with which he regarded his master, the narrative of Elijah's last days on earth sufficiently testifies. At his translation Elisha asked a double portion of the departing prophet's spirit, secured his falling mantle, and had speedily full proof that the Lord God of Elijah was with him. 2 Kings 2:1-15. Elisha, though a young man, was bald. The young persons mocked at the great miracle just performed. Why should not the bald head go up after his master? the world would be well rid of both. Such profanity must have an instant significant punishment. And at the word of the prophet, speaking in God's name, she-bears destroyed a number of these mockers. 2 Kings 2:23-25. Many would hear and fear, and learn to reverence God's ambassador. He was the counsellor and friend of successive kings. He was the opposite to Elijah in most things. He lived in the city or with his students, honored and sought for, a welcome guest in the homes he graced by his presence. And yet he was filled with a "double"—i.e.. an elder brother's—portion of Elijah's spirit, both to work miracles and to give counsel for present and future emergencies. He multiplied the widow's oil, 2 Kings 4:5-8, and when the son of the good Shunammite—God's reward to her for her kindness to his prophet—died, he raised him to life. 2 Kings 4:8-37. He cured Naaman, smote Gehazi with leprosy, misled the Syrians, foretold abundant food, and when dying gave the king the promise of victory. 2 Kings 5:1-27; 2 Kings 6:1-33; 2 Kings 7:1-20; 2 Kings 8:1-29. But God would still put honor on his servant. He was buried, and afterwards, when Moabite bands were ravaging the country, and some one was to be carried to the tomb, the attendants, surprised by the spoilers, hastily thrust the corpse into Elisha's sepulchre. But no sooner had it touched the great prophet's bones than the dead man lived again. 2 Kings 13:20-21. Truly, by all these wondrous works it was abundantly proved that there was a God in Israel.

the son of Shaphat, Elijah's disciple and successor in the prophetic office, was of the city of Abelmeholah, 1 Kings 19:16 , &c. Elijah having received God's command to anoint Elisha as a prophet, came to Abelmeholah; and finding him ploughing with oxen, he threw his mantle over the shoulders of Elisha, who left the oxen, and accompanied him. Under the article Elijah, it has been observed that Elisha was following his master, when he was taken up to heaven; and that he inherited Elijah's mantle, with a double portion of his spirit. Elisha smote the waters of Jordan, and divided them; and he rendered wholesome the waters of a rivulet near Jericho. The kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom, having taken the field against the king of Moab, who had revolted from Israel, were in danger of perishing for want of water. Elisha was at that time in the camp; and seeing Jehoram, the king of Israel, he said, "What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. As the Lord liveth, were it not out of respect to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who is here present, I would not so much as look on thee. But now send for a minstrel; and while this man played, the Spirit of the Lord fell upon Elisha, and he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make several ditches along this valley; for ye shall see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley shall be filled with water, and you and your cattle shall drink of it." The widow of one of the prophets having told Elisha, that her husband's creditor was determined to take her two sons and sell them for slaves, Elisha multiplied the oil in the widow's house, in such quantity that she was enabled to sell it and to discharge the debt. Elisha went frequently to Shunem, a city of Manasseh, on this side Jordan, and was entertained by a certain matron at her house. As she had no children, Elisha promised her a son; and his prediction was accomplished. Some years after, the child died. Elisha, who was then at Mount Carmel, was solicited by the mother to come to her house. The prophet went, and restored the child. At Gilgal, during a great famine, one of the sons of the prophets gathered wild gourds, which he put into the pot, and they were served up to Elisha and the other prophets. It was soon found that they were mortal poison; but Elisha ordering meal to be thrown into the pot, corrected the quality of the pottage. Naaman, general of the king of Syria's forces, having a leprosy, was advised to visit Elisha in order to be cured. Elisha appointed him to wash himself seven times in the Jordan; and by this means Naaman was perfectly healed. He returned to Elisha, and offered him large presents, which the man of God resolutely refused. But Gehazi, Elisha's servant, did not imitate the disinterestedness of his master. He ran after Naaman, and in Elisha's name begged a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. Naaman gave him two talents. Elisha, to whom God had discovered Gehazi's action, reproached him with it, and declared, that the leprosy of Naaman should cleave to him and his family for ever. This is a striking instance of the disinterestedness of the Jewish prophets. Elisha, like his master Elijah, had learned to contemn the world. The king of Syria being at war with the king of Israel, could not imagine how all his designs were discovered by the enemy. He was told, that Elisha revealed them to the king of Israel. He therefore sent troops to seize the prophet at Dothan; but Elisha struck them with blindness, and led them in that condition into Samaria. When they were in the city, he prayed to God to open their eyes; and after he had made them eat and drink, he sent them back unhurt to their master. Some time after, Benhadad, king of Syria, having besieged Samaria, the famine became so extreme, that a certain woman ate her own child. Jehoram, king of Israel, imputing to Elisha these calamities, sent a messenger to cut off his head. Elisha, who was informed of this design against his life, ordered the door to be shut. The messenger was scarcely arrived, when the king himself followed, and made great complaints of the condition to which the town was reduced. Elisha answered, "To-morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria." Upon this, one of the king's officers said, "Were the Lord to open windows in heaven, might this thing be." This unbelief was punished; for the prophet answered, "Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof," which happened according to Elisha's prediction, for he was trodden to death by the crowd in the gate. At the end of the seven years' famine, which the prophet had foretold, he went to Damascus, to execute the command which God had given to Elijah many years before, of declaring Hazael king of Syria. Benhadad being at that time indisposed, and hearing that Elisha was come into his territories, sent Hazael, one of his principal officers, to the prophet to consult him, and inquire of him whether it were possible for him to recover. The prophet told Hazael, that he might recover, but that he was very well assured that he should not; and then looking steadfastly upon him, he broke out into tears upon the prospect, as he told him, of the many barbarous calamities which he would bring upon Israel, when once he was advanced to power, as he would soon be, because he was assured by divine revelation that he was to be king of Syria. Hazael, though offended at the time at being thought capable of such atrocities, did but too clearly verify these predictions; for at his return, having murdered Benhadad, and procured himself to be declared king, he inflicted the greatest miseries upon the Israelites. 2. Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, and grandson of Nimshi, to be king, in pursuance of an order given to Elijah some years before; and Jehu having received the royal unction, executed every thing that had been foretold by Elijah against Ahab's family, and against Jezebel. Elisha falling sick, Joash, king of Israel, came to visit him, and said, "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Elisha desired the king to bring him a bow and arrows. Joash having brought them, Elisha requested him to put his hands on the bow, and at the same time the prophet put his own hand upon the king's, and said, Open the window which looks east, and let fly an arrow. The king having done this, Elisha said, This is the arrow of the Lord's deliverance: thou shalt be successful against Syria at Aphek. Elisha desired him again to shoot, which he did three times, and then stopped. But Elisha with vehemence said, "If thou hadst smitten five or six times, then thou hadst smitten Syria until thou hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria only thrice." This is the last prediction of Elisha of which we read in Scripture, for soon after he died; but it was not his last miracle: for, some time after his interment, a company of Israelites, as they were going to bury a dead person, perceiving a band of Moabites making toward them, put the corpse for haste into Elisha's tomb, and, as soon as it had touched the prophet's body, it immediately revived; so that the man stood upon his feet: a striking emblem of the life-giving effect of the labours of the servants of God, after they themselves are gathered to their fathers.

A prophet of Israel. In obedience to Divine command Elias designated him as his successor by casting his mantle over his shoulders. He accompanied Elias until the latter was translated and his prophetical power was confirmed by many miracles, among them the raising of a child to life and the cure of the Syrian general Naaman of leprosy.

Apostle of Western Kentucky, born Madison County, Kentucky, February 1, 1800; died Shelbyville, Kentucky, 1887. He was ordained in 1822, and his missionary career lasted for over 60 years during which he erected churches, established stations, formed congregations, and visited isolated families.

Salvation of God

The pupil and successor of Elijah, a prophet of Israel during the reign of Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash, B. C. 903-838. He was a native of Abel-meholah, where he was at work ploughing when Elijah called him to become a prophet, 1 Kings 19:16 . Some years afterwards he witnessed the miraculous ascension of Elijah, divided the Jordan with his mantle, and took his place at the head of the schools of the prophets. During his long ministry he acted an important part in the public affairs of Israel. Many miracles also were wrought at his word; some of these were, healing the waters of Jericho; supplying the widow's cruse with oil, and the allied armies of Judah, Israel, and Edom with water; gaining a son for the woman of Shunem, and restoring him to life; healing the leprosy of Naaman; detecting and punishing Ghazi. His history is recorded in 2 Kings 2:1-9:37 13:14-21 . He died lamented by king Joash and the people; and a year afterwards, a corpse deposited in the same sepulchre was at once restored to life.

At the time of the ministry of Elijah and Elisha, Israel’s ancient religion was threatened by the Baalism that Jezebel had brought with her from Phoenicia. Through her husband, King Ahab of Israel, Jezebel had tried to establish Phoenician Baalism as the official religion of Israel (1 Kings 16:30-33). The man who began the long and difficult job of removing this Baalism from Israel was the prophet Elijah (see ELIJAH). By God’s direction Elijah passed on the unfinished task to Elisha (1 Kings 19:16; 1 Kings 19:19), whose ministry lasted through the reigns of six Israelite kings. The extent of his ministry was about fifty years. The period was the latter half of the ninth century BC. Successor to Elijah From the beginning Elisha showed a willingness to succeed Elijah, in spite of the obvious difficulties ahead. Originally a farmer, he gave up his former way of life for the unpopular task of being God’s messenger to the hardened and idolatrous people of Israel (1 Kings 19:19-21). Like Elijah, Elisha would have to move around the country, strengthening the believers and opposing the idolaters. Elijah tested him to see if he would try to avoid some of the difficulties by remaining at one of the schools for young prophets. But Elisha was determined to carry on Elijah’s work. He was Elijah’s spiritual heir, and he remained with Elijah to the end to receive the spiritual inheritance (2 Kings 2:1-12). A miracle at the Jordan River quickly proved that God’s power had now passed from Elijah to Elisha (2 Kings 2:13-14). Many more miracles would follow, showing what a serious threat Jezebel’s Baalism was to Israel’s national life. Elisha’s ministry was to be twofold. It was to be concerned on the one hand with preserving the faithful minority in Israel (the remnant), and on the other with preparing judgment for the unfaithful nation (1 Kings 19:15-18). His first two miracles symbolized these characteristics of blessing and cursing. To those who were in need he brought healing, but to those who rejected his message he brought judgment (2 Kings 2:19-25). A combined Israelite-Judean attack on Moab gave Elisha the opportunity to demonstrate to the two kings his opposition to Baal. He refused to help the Baal-worshipping Israelite king, though he passed on advice to the godly Judean king (2 Kings 3:9-15). Caring for the faithful minority Faithful believers were rare in Israel, and Elisha had to help preserve them, lest the true worship of Yahweh vanish from the nation. He helped the poor widow of one of the godly prophets by giving her a miraculous supply of oil that saved her entire family (2 Kings 4:1-7). He also secured the future for a wealthy believer by giving her a son. When, years later, the son died, Elisha brought him back to life (2 Kings 4:8-37). Many of the faithful were to be found in the schools where young men trained to be prophets. Like Elijah before him, Elisha moved around these schools, with the aim of strengthening those who could later help rebuild the religious life of the nation (2 Kings 2:1-7; 2 Kings 2:15; 2 Kings 4:38; 2 Kings 6:1). These communities were very poor. They had difficulty getting enough food to eat each day, and they lacked even the basic tools to rebuild their inadequate housing. In one place Elisha worked a miracle to save the day’s food from being lost, and in another he miraculously recovered a borrowed tool that had fallen into the river (2 Kings 4:38-41; 2 Kings 6:1-7). On one occasion he miraculously multiplied a gift of food to feed a large group of his followers (2 Kings 4:42-44). By the healing of Naaman, Elisha showed God’s power to the commander of the army (Syria) that God was going to use to punish Israel (2 Kings 5:1-14; cf. 1 Kings 19:15-17). Naaman’s knowledge of the one true God was still imperfect, but at least he had a more sincere faith in Yahweh than did many Israelites (2 Kings 5:15-19). Preparing Israel for judgment God’s intention to use Syria to punish his people did not mean that Elisha had to desert Israel and join the Syrians. In fact, the Syrians saw him as an enemy and tried to capture him. Instead Elisha captured the Syrian soldiers and led them to the Israelite capital, Samaria. When the Israelite king wanted to kill them, Elisha directed him to feed them. The incident brought a temporary peace, and should have taught both nations that God controlled their destinies (2 Kings 6:8-23). Neither king learnt much from the incident. The Syrian king attacked Jerusalem afresh, and the Israelite king blamed Elisha for the suffering that resulted (2 Kings 6:24-31). Elisha assured Israel’s king that the siege would be broken and there would be plenty of food the next day. But when Elisha’s prediction proved to be true, the king was slow to believe (2 Kings 7:1-15). Syria’s partly successful attacks on Israel were only the beginning. The attacks would become increasingly successful and violent. When Hazael of Syria murdered his king and seized the throne, a new era of terror began. Elisha wept when he saw the trouble that Hazael’s cruelty would bring upon Israel (2 Kings 8:7-15; cf. 1 Kings 19:15). With Hazael now king of Syria, the time had arrived for Elisha to carry out his last major responsibility, the anointing of Jehu to be king of Israel. Jehu’s job was to remove Jezebel’s Baalism from Israel’s leadership by destroying Ahab, Jezebel and all their Baal-worshipping family (2 Kings 9:1-10; cf. 1 Kings 19:16-17; see JEHU). Elisha lived to see the divine judgment carried out, first on Ahab’s family and then on Israel as a whole. After that, he saw the beginnings of Israel’s recovery, and might have seen Israel overthrow Syrian power completely had not the Israelite king been lacking in faith (2 Kings 13:14-19). Even after Elisha’s death, dramatic events at his burial place showed that the God he served was still alive and powerful (2 Kings 13:20-21).