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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

ELISHA

Prophet in Israel during the ninth century BC.

Background and Call

Elisha is first mentioned in 1 Kings 19:16, where he is described as the son of Shaphat, who lived at Abel-meholah. That place has been tentatively identified with the modern Tel Abu Sifri, west of the river Jordan, though many scholars place it to the river’s east. The prophet Elijah had been ordered by God to anoint Elisha as his successor, but the narrative does not make it clear whether Elisha was already one of Elijah’s disciples. When the two met, Elisha was busy plowing a field, and he does not seem to have greeted Elijah with the respect that a disciple would normally show to his teacher.

Elisha’s use of 12 yokes of oxen in his agricultural work has been taken as a sign that he was wealthy, for normally two yoked oxen would be handled by one person. When Elijah passed by and placed his cloak on Elisha’s shoulder, the latter man knew it was a sign that he should inherit the great prophet’s mission. The nation needed a prophet, for it was increasingly indulging in Canaanite idolatry with the encouragement of King Ahab and his Phoenician wife, Jezebel.

After Elijah commissioned him symbolically and strode away, Elisha hurried after the prophet to request a brief interval of time to announce his new vocation to his parents before leaving home. The prophet’s reply, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?” (1 Kgs 19:20, rsv), helped Elisha to make up his mind immediately. Delay in implementing his vocation would almost certainly have been fatal for Elisha (cf. Mt 8:21-22; Lk 9:61-62).

To mark the change in his way of life, Elisha made a great feast for his neighbors, roasting two oxen. This is another hint that he came from a wealthy family. From that time, he was no longer a farmer; by associating with Elijah, he began to prepare for his own ministry. There is no record of Elisha being anointed to the prophetic office, but the transfer of prophetic authority by means of the cloak would leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that Elisha was the next official prophet in Israel.

“Sons of the Prophets”

That there could have been some question of Elisha’s authority is implied by the existence of groups of people known as “sons of the prophets.” The phrase meant that those persons were heirs of the prophetic teachings and traditions, though apparently none of them was a major prophet. The prophet Amos even denied any connection with such groups, which seem to have died out in the eighth century BC (Am 7:14). In the time of Elisha, the “sons of the prophets” were located in Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho, and seem to have exercised a primarily local ministry. They may have gone out under the instructions of Elijah and Elisha to teach people God’s law and to pronounce divine revelations, as in the days of Saul (cf. 1 Sm 10:5, 10).

Just before Elijah was taken to heaven, he and Elisha visited such prophetic groups, and Elijah tried in vain to persuade Elisha to stay behind at Gilgal and at Bethel (2 Kgs 2:1-4). The prophetic group at Bethel may have been warned by God that Elijah would be taken from them, for they questioned Elisha about the matter and ascertained that he also was aware of the situation.

Successor to Elijah

After miraculously parting the waters of Jordan, Elijah asked his successor what he might do for him (2 Kgs 2:9). Elisha requested a “double share” of his spirit as they parted, the share of an inheritance normally given to a firstborn son (Dt 21:17). His request was granted when Elisha saw his master taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, and it took immediate effect when Elisha parted the Jordan’s waters and crossed over (2 Kgs 2:14).

His prophetic authority now recognized, Elisha began his ministry to Israel at approximately the end of King Ahab’s reign (c. 853 BC). His work lasted for half a century, and in contrast with the harried, austere, and sometimes dramatic ministry of Elijah, the activities of Elisha were mostly quieter and took place among the ordinary people of Israel. But he also addressed the royal court, though not in conflicts with Canaanite priests, such as Elijah had experienced.

Miracles

The miraculous element was prominent in Elisha’s ministry. When the people of Jericho reported that the local springwater was brackish, Elisha purified it (2 Kgs 2:19-22). To this day, it is the only significant freshwater spring in the area (Tell es-Sultan).

As the prophet left for Bethel, he encountered a group of youths who mocked his baldness (2 Kgs 2:23-24). He cursed them in the name of the Lord, and two bears came from the woods and mauled the offenders. What at first sight seems to be an immoral act on God’s part was actually full of foreboding for the nation. The youths at Bethel were a generation of Israelites who had so absorbed the immoral, pagan culture of their city that they rejected both the person and the message of God’s prophets. They were not merely irreligious but also unbelievably discourteous, according to ancient Near Eastern standards, in ridiculing a bald man instead of respecting his seniority.

The curses Elisha pronounced “in the name of the Lord” were not his own reactions to the treatment he had received, but instead were covenant curses (Dt 28:15-68) that would come upon all who rejected the Sinaitic laws and went back on their promises to God (see Ex 24:3-8). The two bears were also symbolic of Assyria and Babylonia, which would tear apart the nation at different times. One small incident was thus a somber forecast of what the future held for a wicked and disobedient people.

In one of his contacts with royalty Elisha gave a message (although unwillingly) from God to King Jehoram of Israel (853–841 BC). The king had allied with King Jehoshaphat of Judah (872–848 BC) and the Edomite ruler against Mesha, king of Moab. The allied forces were deep in Edomite territory when they ran out of water, and in despair they turned to Elisha, the local prophet. He refused to say anything at first, but finally predicted ample supplies of water and victory for the coalition. Both occurred on the following day (2 Kgs 3:1-27).

Miracles of Charity

The kind of work for which Elisha was justly renowned was usually performed for people who could not help themselves. Such a person was a poor widow who had almost pledged her two children to a creditor. Her only asset was a jar of oil. Elisha instructed her to borrow empty jars from her neighbors and fill them with the oil from her own jar. In a miraculous manner every jar was filled. Elisha then told her to sell the oil, pay her debts, and use the balance of the money for living expenses (2 Kgs 4:1-7).

A similar act of charity was performed for a Shunammite woman, who had persuaded her husband to provide a room where the prophet could stay when in the area. In return for her kindness Elisha predicted that the woman, previously childless, would have her own son. About a year later it happened (2 Kgs 4:8-17). The boy later contracted a severe ailment, perhaps meningitis, and died suddenly. His mother laid the body on Elisha’s bed while she hurried to Mt Carmel to seek the prophet. Elisha was apparently unaware of the situation until the distraught mother informed him of the boy’s death. As an emergency measure Elisha dispatched his servant Gehazi to put the prophet’s staff on the child’s face. That did not revive the child, but when Elisha arrived and lay down on the body, the boy was healed and returned to his parents (vv 18-37).

Another beneficial incident was the correction of a potentially disastrous situation. When some poisonous gourds were accidentally cooked and served, Elisha rendered the mixture harmless by adding meal to the contents of the cooking pot (2 Kgs 4:38-41). A miracle similar to Christ’s multiplying of the bread loaves (see Mt 14:16-21; 15:32-38) occurred when someone brought the prophet several loaves of bread and fresh ears of corn. Elisha instructed his servant to set the food out for 100 people, and when that was done, the people ate and had food left (2 Kgs 4:42-44).

The healing of Naaman, a Syrian commander, came through the influence of a Hebrew maid in the man’s household, who persuaded Naaman’s wife that Elisha could heal her husband. The Assyrian king sent his general to the Israelite ruler with instructions for Naaman to be healed. The afflicted man was sent to Elisha, who ordered him to wash in the Jordan River. Reluctant at first, Naaman finally obeyed and was cured of his affliction. In gratitude the Syrian leader acknowledged the power of Israel’s God (2 Kgs 5:1-19).

Encounters with Royalty

When Syria attacked Israel, Elisha revealed the movements of the Syrians to the Israelite king. Syrians tried to capture the prophet at Dothan, but God blinded them and Elisha led them to the Israelite capital of Samaria. Their sight returned, and Elisha advised the Israelite king to spare the captives, feed them well, and send them home. Because their evil was rewarded with good, the Syrians did not attack Israel for a while (2 Kgs 6:8-23).

When the Syrian king Ben-hadad besieged Samaria years later, famine conditions there became so severe that the king threatened to execute Elisha. In response, the prophet promised an abundance of food the following day. The Syrians fled from their camp for some unspecified reason, and the prophecy was fulfilled (2 Kgs 6:24–7:20). In an unusual encounter with the ailing king of Syria, Elisha was visited by Hazael, servant of Ben-hadad, who had been sent to ask about the prospects for his master’s improvement. Elisha sent back a reassuring reply, but at the same time said that Hazael would shortly succeed Ben-hadad (8:7-13). On another occasion Elisha sent a prophet to Ramoth-gilead to anoint Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, as king of Israel to replace Joram, whom Jehu proceeded to kill in battle (9:1-28).

Elisha’s final contact with Israelite rulers came at the time of his own death, when Joash the king visited him to lament the prophet’s illness. On that occasion, by the symbolic handling of arrows, the dying prophet promised Joash that he would defeat the Syrians in battle but would not exterminate them (2 Kgs 13:14-19).

The prophet also intervened a second time on behalf of the Shunammite woman whose son he had healed, instructing her to move her household into Philistine territory during a seven-year famine in Israel. When she came back, her house and property had apparently been occupied by others, so she appealed to the king for help in recovering it. Elisha’s servant Gehazi told the ruler about her, and on interviewing her himself, the king ordered all her property to be returned (2 Kgs 8:1-6).

Continuing Influence

Elisha’s final miracle occurred after his death, when a corpse that was tossed hurriedly into the prophet’s tomb came abruptly to life (2 Kgs 13:21). Jesus mentioned Elisha once in connection with the healing of Naaman; Jesus declared that God’s mercy was not restricted to the Israelites (Lk 4:27).