The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 114, Naaman The Leper, Part Three

Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram, has come to see the prophet Elisha in hopes of being healed of leprosy. He arrives in an impressive caravan with his servants, with gold and silver, and with ten fine robes. He expects to have to pay the prophet for his services and has brought what amounts to well over one million dollars in today's money and what is the equivalent of ten of the finest designer business suits. 

But when Naaman and his retinue arrive at Elisha's door, the prophet does not even come out in person to speak with him. Naaman is going to receive his healing but not in the manner he expected. He's not going to interact with Elisha in the way he expected. He's used to being treated like the right-hand-man of the king of Aram. He's used to the methods of Aramean healers who put on a great show of chanting spells and burning incense and dramatically calling upon their gods for help. But Elisha doesn't even step outside the door to greet the man who is used to having people bow to him as he passes by. "So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, 'Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.'" (2 Kings 5:9-10)

Naaman is deeply offended. "But Naaman went away angry and said, 'I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?' So he turned and went off in a rage." (2 Kings 5:11-12)

His pride---which I believe is immense---is wounded. He may have leprosy but he is still being treated almost like a king by his people and he cannot believe that the most famous prophet of Israel doesn't even open the door of his humble shack to speak to him in person. Naaman's leprosy has not humbled him or caused him to seek the Lord in a spiritual sense; he's only seeking the help of the Lord for his physical affliction because he's already tried everything else. It's vitally important that his pride be humbled because Naaman cannot come to a saving knowledge of the Lord until he comes to the point where he must admit his utter helplessness. He cannot be made right with the Lord until he acknowledges that he can no more make his soul clean from sin than he can make his body clean from leprosy. These things can be accomplished only by the Lord.

Naaman stomps away from Elisha's house in a rage and says to his servants, "This man didn't even come out to speak to me! He didn't speak an incantation in the name of his God. He didn't wave his hands over me and call upon the God of Israel to remove my affliction. As if this wasn't insulting enough, he instructed me to go down and dip myself in the dirty waters of the Jordan River seven times! How can uncleanness be made clean by muddy waters? If dipping in a river will heal me, I can find purer waters in my homeland. This guy is a charlatan like everyone else I've visited for help. We might as well head back home."

Naaman is a proud man but I don't think he's a cruel or unreasonable man. You'll recall that the Israelite slave girl who is a lady's maid to his wife was very concerned for him in his illness. She is the one who suggested he go to see Elisha. I don't believe she would have had sympathy for him or offered a solution if he had been an unkind and unreasonable master. Because he is a man willing to listen respectfully to his subordinates, his servants have the confidence to advise him not to be hasty in rejecting the prophet's words. "Naaman's servants went to him and said, 'My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed!'" (2 Kings 5:13) 

This sensible advice gets through to him. In tomorrow's study he will dip seven times in the Jordan River because he knows his servants are correct when they say something like, "If he'd demanded all the gold and silver with you, plus the ten fine robes, you'd have gladly given them in exchange for healing. If he'd asked for all our horses and chariots you'd have willingly handed them over, even though that would mean we'd have to walk all the way back to Aram. If he'd asked you to sacrifice a hundred sheep to his God, you'd have done it as quickly as it could be accomplished. But instead he told you to do something simple. He told you to do something anybody could do. What do you have to lose by trying it?"

Our healing and our breakthroughs may not come by the method we expect. They may not even come by the method we want. They will come only by doing things God's way. Naaman would have followed man's instructions with no questions asked, no matter how complicated or costly those instructions may have been. It will take leap of faith for him to follow the Lord's simple instructions. But in return for this faith, he will receive what he seeks of the Lord. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 113, Naaman The Leper, Part Two

Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram, has contracted leprosy. He is fully aware of what's in store for him with this incurable disease and he would do anything to rid himself of it. His wife's maid, who was taken captive from Israel, made the statement in yesterday's text that if only Naaman would "see the prophet that is in Samaria" (Elisha) he would be healed.

Naaman's wife reported these words to him and in desperation this polytheistic idolater decides he will go see the prophet of the God of Israel. As we discussed yesterday, he has probably already tried every medical potion and every magical spell available to him, with no results. He leaves God for last but at least he does not reject altogether the notion of going to Him for help. But before he seeks help from the God of Israel he must secure permission from the king of Aram to leave the nation. 

It does not appear that Israel and Aram are currently at war or else going to Israel for help would be impossible at this time. Hostilities between the two nations have settled down somewhat since the death of King Ahab during the last battle between Aram and Israel. I don't know whether King Joram of Israel and the king of Aram (who is still Ben-Hadad) have made an official truce with each other or whether they are in a state of unofficial cease fire at this time. 

"Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 'By all means, go,' the king of Aram replied. 'I will send a letter to the king of Israel.'" (2 Kings 5:4-5a) Naaman is a very valuable person to the king. He is the chief commander of the entire army and many successful battles have been won under his leadership. The king respects him as a warrior, as a battle strategist, and maybe also as a friend. He gives Naaman permission to go and he does what he can to ensure him an audience with the king of Israel and with Israel's chief prophet, Elisha. 

"So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter he took to the king of Israel read: 'With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.'" (2 Kings 5:5b-6) It is generally assumed by scholars that the money and clothing Naaman takes with him are not from his own bank account and wardrobe but are given to him by the king of Aram to be used as payment for the services of the prophet of Israel. I am sure that the physicians and magicians of Aram charged payment every time they mixed a potion or cast a spell, and the richer their patient was the more they charged. The king of Aram assumes that a prophet of Israel will demand payment just like a heathen prophet would. Not knowing exactly how much payment the prophet will demand, the king sends Naaman with what is close to $1,500,000 in today's money and the equivalent of ten designer business suits.

King Joram of Israel is thrown into distress when he reads the letter Naaman brings with him. He does not believe the Lord will heal this leper and he expects Naaman's visit to Israel to be a failure, leading to renewed conflicts between Israel and Aram. "As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, 'Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!'" (2 Kings 5:7) 

We must keep in mind that Joram's father King Ahab received a mortal wound while in battle with the Arameans. Joram is deeply fearful of this nation. Whatever cease fire is currently going on between Israel and Aram is tenuous at best and Joram knows that war could break out with the slightest provocation. When he reads the letter he feels like he's being set up. He exclaims that the king of Aram is putting him in a position where he cannot win. He either does not believe the Lord can cure leprosy or he believes the Lord won't cure a man from Aram of it. If he sends Naaman back to Aram still suffering from leprosy, he expects Ben-Hadad to declare war.

Joram does not call for Elisha to see if he can do something about the situation, though Elisha's presence is what Naaman seeks. The Arameans wouldn't be aware of this but it's highly doubtful that Joram has a good relationship with the prophet since he adheres to the religious practices of Jeroboam who set up the golden calves and their altars at Dan and Bethel. Ben-Hadad probably assumes that the chief prophet of Israel is one of the king's closest advisors but that is not the case. Joram doesn't seem to bear as much animosity toward the prophets of God as did his father Ahab but Joram and Elisha have very little in common from a spiritual standpoint. Elisha finds out about the letter delivered to Joram. He knows what the letter says and he knows that the king is distraught over this predicament. He sends a messenger to the king instructing him to direct Naaman to his house where he will find the cure he seeks.

"When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: 'Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.'" (2 Kings 5:8) The tearing of the robes is an age-old display of great emotion. Sometimes that emotion is one of offense on behalf of God or "the gods"; upon hearing words of blasphemy against one's deity, a person might tear his robes. Other times it's due to the emotion of grief, such as when a loved one dies. Other times it's to express despair and hopelessness, such as in the case of King Joram who thinks nothing can be done for Naaman and that war is unavoidable. But Elisha admonishes the king for falling into despair. If there were not a prophet of the Lord in Israel who (through the power of the Lord) can heal this leper, then the king would have a reason to despair. The king would have a reason to begin planning how to defend his nation from invasion. The king would have a reason to be shaking in his boots at the prospect of facing the army that killed his father. But there is a God who can do all things! 

All is not lost because Elisha serves the God for whom nothing is impossible. The Lord will heal Naaman and thereby prevent imminent attack from Aram. With the Lord on anyone's side, that person can say what the Apostle Paul was able to confidently say in an era when the church was undergoing great persecution. We will close with Paul's encouraging words from 2 Corinthians 4:8: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 112, Naaman The Leper, Part One

Chapter 5 tells us the story of Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram (Syria), who was a leper. He will hear of a prophet in Israel who might be able to help him through the power of Israel's God. Our chapter has a great deal of material in it and it will take us several days to study this portion of the Lord's word. 

"Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy." (2 Kings 5:1) Ancient rabbinic tradition has it that Naaman is the man who shot the random arrow that struck King Ahab of Israel in 1 Kings 22. 

You'll recall that Ahab died of his wound as predicted by the prophet Micaiah. This was the judgment of God upon Ahab because he instituted the state religion of Baal worship and because he was guilty of the blood of Naboth. Naboth was falsely accused and executed so Ahab could take his land from him. We studied this event in 1 Kings 21. Another reason Ahab's life came to an abrupt end is because the Lord had delivered King Ben-Hadad of Aram into Ahab's hands so this enemy of Israel could be put to death but instead Ahab made a treaty with him. We took a look at this story in 1 Kings 20. The Lord, through an unnamed prophet, confronted Ahab with his failure to obey His instructions regarding Ben-Hadad, saying, "You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people". We don't know for certain that Naaman is the man who shot the arrow that ended the life of King Ahab but it's safe to assume he was the man who led that successful battle. This would have made him the most famous man in Aram, second only to the king of Aram.

Naaman has everything going for him except he's contracted what was in those times a progressive, incurable disease: leprosy. Known in today's world as Hansen's Disease, it is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium Leprae and it usually begins as a series of small red lesions on the skin that progress into sores. It also affects peripheral nerves in the arms and legs, sometimes including nerves in the eyes and nose. Over time it can cause numbness, muscle weakness, blindness, weeping open sores, and many other permanent life-altering symptoms and eventually death. But it's important to note that ninety-five percent of the world's population is naturally immune to it and, should a person be of that five percent of the population who cannot fight off their exposure to leprosy, the disease is curable in our era. 

But in Naaman's day, though it may have been the case even then that ninety-five percent of people exposed to leprosy would not contract it, he was one of the unlucky ones whose immune system was not able to fight off the exposure. There was nothing available to treat his condition, since antibiotics weren't even discovered until 1928, so he's facing not only a debilitating and disfiguring illness but probably eventual death from it.

In ancient times leprosy was often regarded as a judgment from God, or from "the gods" if you were of a pagan nation. People afflicted with this disease were treated as if they had committed some especially heinous offense and that the higher power whom they'd offended had chosen to smite them with one of the worst diseases of the ancient world. This idea may have been due in part to the fact that only five percent of people exposed to leprosy actually succumbed to it. Leprosy is mentioned a number of times in the Bible but that doesn't mean it was a widespread contagion; it was likely as rare as it is now to actually come down with the disease. This probably contributed to leprosy being regarded as judgment for offending whatever higher power the people of that region believed in. There are cases in the Bible where we are told that a person's leprosy was a result of their sin; in fact, at the end of our current chapter we'll find just such a case. But in other places in the Bible we aren't told the reason for the person's affliction and it could be they came down with leprosy through no fault of their own. We live in a fallen world where bad things like illnesses and accidents happen to the godly and to the wicked both. 

In modern times it has been proven that it takes prolonged contact (several months at least) with the bacteria that causes leprosy before a person can contract it. Most people's immune systems will fight it off, never becoming carriers of it and never becoming ill with it. It will appear from our text that although Naaman is among the minority of people whose immune systems does not fight it off, and although his symptoms have been confirmed to be those of leprosy, he is still able to have some form of contact with his family, with his servants, and with the king of Aram. It may be that he speaks to them from a distance with his face covered but it does not seem as if he has yet been relegated to a leper colony. Naaman knows that nothing good is in his future, not with this incurable disease, and he'd be correct in assuming things will keep going from bad to worse---except that there is a God who can do the impossible. The Lord is about to have mercy on Naaman, not just for Naaman's sake alone but for all the people of Aram who will not be able to deny that a miracle has been performed for him by the God of Israel.

"Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, 'If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.'" (2 Kings 5:2-3) This young girl has been taken against her will by the Arameans and sold into slavery. This is a terrible thing but she seems to have been treated kindly by Naaman and his wife because she displays concern for his illness. As she goes about her duties as a lady's maid for Naaman's wife, she remarks that if her master could only see the prophet Elisha he could be healed of his dreadful disease.

Naaman's wife passes this information along to her husband who will go to the king of Aram in tomorrow's text to ask permission to go to Israel to see Elisha. Has Naaman ever called upon the Lord before or had anyone call upon the Lord on his behalf? That's doubtful but he's desperate now. There is no known cure in the ancient world for leprosy. If a person's immune system was not capable of fighting it off altogether or keeping it down to a mild level, there was no hope. Naaman may have already, in his desperation, tried various "cures" that did nothing but relieve him of much of the cash in his wallet. He may already be in a similar position to the New Testament woman who had been ill for twelve years and had tried everything: "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." (Mark 5:26) At last, in her desperation, this woman reached out and took hold of the edge of Jesus' garment and was miraculously made whole. Naaman is willing to try anything if there's even a slim chance he might improve, even if that means seeking the prophet of a God he does not serve. 

Naaman is going to the Lord as a last resort. I believe in availing ourselves of medical expertise when we are sick but I also believe in seeking the Lord's help at the same time. We shouldn't leave Him for last. Naaman has left Him for last but at least he didn't leave Him out altogether. In our next study session we will find him traveling to Elisha's house to see if there is anything the prophet (through the power of the Lord) can do for him.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 111, Elisha Treats Poisoned Stew And Multiplies Bread For One Hundred People

The remaining seven verses of Chapter 4 contain two miracles performed by Elisha. The first miracle involves a pot of stew made from toxic gourds. The second miracle involves multiplying twenty-four small loaves of bread to feed one hundred people.

Elisha was in Shunem when we last saw him, raising the Shunammite's son from the dead. Now he goes to Gilgal to meet with the school of prophets there. "Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region." (2 Kings 4:38a) This may be the seven-year famine mentioned later in Chapter 8.

Elisha and the men are hungry. But food is scarce and the most they can hope to make is a pot of herb stew. They end up with what is probably Colocynth (known as "wild cucumbers" or "wild gourds") in the stew. "While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, 'Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.' One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were." (2 Kings 4:38b-39) You've probably heard the saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures." The men don't know for certain what these gourds are but most gourds are edible even though not all gourds actually taste good enough to eat. The famine must already be quite severe if the men are reduced to trying unfamiliar plants.

If this is the gourd known as Colocynth then it looks like small watermelons. It is very seedy on the inside and the seeds can be rinsed of all pulp, roasted, and then eaten. The flowers and stems can be eaten as well. But eating the pulpy part of the fruit can produce an extreme laxative effect capable of causing death if eaten in large enough quantities. When the men taste the stew they know immediately that it is not safe to eat because the pulpy part of this gourd is bitter. "The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, 'Man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it." (2 Kings 4:40)

Apparently there is nothing else on hand to eat. Not being able to consume the stew means the men will continue to go hungry. Elisha heals the stew. "Elisha said, 'Get some flour.' He put it into the pot and said, 'Serve it to the people to eat.' And there was nothing harmful in the pot." (2 Kings 4:41) The flour itself is not capable of rendering the stew safe to eat; the flour simply provides a visual focus for the miracle Elisha is performing, just like when he threw salt into a spring of bad water in Chapter 1. As he threw the salt into the water, the water was healed but not by the salt---by the power of God. Likewise, the stew is healed not by the flour but by the power of God. 

A day or several days may go by before this next thing happens. In a time of famine this next event must have been especially welcome. "A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain." (2 Kings 4:42a) This is a "firsfruits" offering and it is supposed to be brought to the priests at the Lord's house but this is the northern kingdom. Many in the northern kingdom still worship Baal following the reign of King Ahab. Many others still bring offerings to the sinful calf idols at Dan and Bethel by King Jeroboam. The man who brings the firstfruits offering is clearly faithful to the Lord and does not want to place the offering into the hands of the pagan priests serving at unauthorized altars. He feels that placing the offering into the hands of the Lord's chief prophet is as close as he can get to giving the offering to the Lord. Elisha graciously accepts it on behalf of the Lord and then instructs his servant to do something with it that sounds impossible. "'Give it to the people to eat,' Elisha said. 'How can I set this before a hundred men?' his servant asked." (2 Kings 4:42b-43a) 

Elisha and his servant Gehazi are presumably still at Gilgal at this time and these two men, plus the other prophets and servants, number a hundred. The "loaves" of barley could more accurately be described as "rolls" of barley, similar to the loaves we find Jesus multiplying in the New Testament. These cannot be compared to the king-sized loaves of light bread we can purchase in our stores today. They are closer to the size of one of those square dinner rolls on the Golden Corral buffet or like a six-inch hoagie roll at the local deli. There's no way one hundred men could have one bite each, if that much, from twenty of these. But as we stated earlier this week, "Little is much if God is in it." If we remove God from the equation, then certainly Gehazi cannot divide this small amount of bread among one hundred men and have each man feel like his hunger has been satisfied. But with God in the equation, nothing is impossible! Not only will each man have enough to eat, but there will be leftovers. "But Elisha answered, 'Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: 'They will eat and have some left over.' Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord." (2 Kings 4:43b-44)

It is not the Lord's intention for us to go through life running on empty. He will give us our daily bread and He will supply all our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. (Matthew 6:11, Luke 11:3, Philippians 4:19) He will also supply our spiritual needs. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31) "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him." (Psalm 28:7) The Lord will give us whatever we need to keep on going. If it's food we need, He will give us food. If it's spiritual strength we need, He will give us a boost in faith. We must look to Him as our power source. If we look to the things of this world to fulfill us, those things will fall short. If we look to our own human willpower, we will grow weary and run out of steam. But if we look to the Lord we will find a continual source of help and comfort. "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame...The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them...Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him." (Psalm 34:5,7,8)

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 110, A Son Brought Back To Life, Part Two

In return for her kindness to the prophet Elisha, the unnamed woman of Shunem received a miracle. She and her childless husband finally had a son after many years of marriage and after her husband had grown old. But then in our last study session her young son complained of a headache while he was out in the fields with his father. His father, not suspecting his son's discomfort was anything other than an ordinary headache (or simply a young child's desire to be back at home with his mother) had a servant carry the child home for his mother to comfort him. She cuddled him on her lap until suddenly and unexpectedly he passed away around noon. 

This woman and her husband are godly people. They've been faithful servants to the Lord and they've shown a great deal of kindness to the Lord's prophet Elisha. But bad things happen in this fallen world. Bad things happen even to good people, don't they? Being a faithful follower of the Lord does not mean we won't experience troubles in this world but being a faithful follower of the Lord does mean this: "In all things God works for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:28) The Bible doesn't say that everything that happens to us is good in itself; the death of the child in 2 Kings 4 is not a good thing. But the Bible says that the Lord is able to take everything that happens in the life of a believer and make something good come out of it. The Shunammite woman places the body of her son on the bed the prophet uses when he's in town, shuts the door, and tells no one that the child is dead. Then she sets off to find Elisha because she expects the Lord to make something good come out of the tragedy that's just happened.

"So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, 'Look! There's the Shunammite! Run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?' 'Everything is all right,' she said." (2 Kings 4:25-26) In our last study session we found her traveling in haste, telling the servant with her not to stop for anything, and I think when Gehazi reaches her she doesn't pause long enough to tell him anything. She is not going to tell anyone but Elisha what has happened. No one but Elisha---through the power of the Lord---can help her.

"When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, 'Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.'" (2 Kings 4:27) This woman has held herself together until she reached the prophet but now, overcome with emotion, she throws herself onto the ground weeping, grasping his feet. She is saying no words because her grief is too deep for words. I think perhaps Elisha is asking her what's wrong but she isn't answering. Gehazi finds her behavior undignified. He moves toward her with the intention of making her unhand the prophet but Elisha tells him to back off. In his mind he's asking the Lord what the trouble is, since the woman is unable to say, but the Lord doesn't tell him.

At last the woman is able to speak. "'Did I ask you for a son, my lord?' she said. 'Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes?'" (2 Kings 4:28) This woman has never asked Elisha for anything, as far as we know. Instead she's always had the attitude of, "What can I do for you?" In serving the Lord's prophet she was serving the Lord and it never occurred to her to ask anything in return. It was Elisha who asked her what he could do for her and in response she said she had everything she needed. This was true, materially speaking, for earlier in our chapter the author informed us that she and her husband were well off financially. But Elisha's servant pointed out to him that she had no son and that her husband was getting old, which meant that she would have no one to continue providing for her someday when she was widowed, so Elisha announced to her that she would have a son. In response she begged him not to say it if it wasn't true. Her hopes had been dashed time and time again over the years and she had come to accept that she would never have a child. She didn't think she could stand it if she allowed herself to hope once more and nothing happened. As she weeps at Elisha's feet she says something like, "I never asked you for a son! I begged you not to even mention a child to me if you could not make my heart's greatest desire come true! Is the child I was granted going to be taken from me now? This is worse than if I'd never been given him at all!" By this Elisha knows something has happened to the boy. The woman cannot make herself say the awful words, "My son is dead," but Elisha knows by what she did say.

Why did the Lord not reveal to Elisha that something has happened to the boy? I think maybe, for the sake of her faith, the woman has to make a request for help. It's true that the Lord knows what we need whether we tell Him or not, but for the sake of growing a deeper relationship with Him we have to come to Him and lay our troubles at His feet. If we never spoke a word to the Lord about what we need or want in this life, and if many of our problems work out, would we credit Him for this or might we begin thinking that things just naturally have a way of working out? It's impossible to develop a close relationship with any of our fellow human beings if we don't talk to them and spend time with them; the same is true with our relationship with the Lord. If we muddle along in life expecting Him to just work things out, never telling Him about the things that concern us, we are not going to develop a deep and satisfying relationship with our Creator. A deep and satisfying relationship with our Creator is what He created us for!  

"Elisha said to Gehazi, 'Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and run. Don't greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy's face.'" (2 Kings 4:29) I don't believe Elisha is being disrespectful toward the woman by telling Gehazi to go with her instead of going himself. Gehazi is likely younger and swifter than Elisha. We also don't know what business of the Lord's that Elisha is presently engaged in at Mount Carmel; he may have been conducting a religious service with many people or prophets assembled when the woman made her appearance. Whatever his reason for intending to send Gehazi in his place, he is not being insensitive to the woman's feelings or indifferent to her distress. 

She will reject the help of anyone but Elisha himself. No one but Elisha will do because he is as close to the Lord as she can get. She can't see the Lord with her own eyes or touch Him with her own hands so she wants His chief prophet of Israel to come with her. This man has more of the anointing of the Lord on him than anyone on earth at this time and being in his presence makes her feel close to the Lord. "But the child's mother said, 'As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.' So he got up and followed her." (2 Kings 4:30) Would Gehazi have been able to raise the child from the dead by doing what Elisha told him to do? Perhaps, perhaps not. Elisha obviously believed this would work. I hesitate to say that Elisha may have been mistaken so I will say that I think something else is going on here. Maybe the Lord intended all along for the miracle to be performed by Elisha in person. This may be because performing such a miracle will cause Elisha's word as a prophet to be taken more seriously by more people. Or perhaps Elisha himself needs encouragement in the faith---encouragement he may not even know he needs. Or it may be that Gehazi doesn't have enough faith to believe that using Elisha's staff will bring the boy back to life. Or maybe the woman doesn't have enough faith to believe that the Lord can heal her son without Elisha present. Whatever the reason for it being necessary for Elisha to accompany her to the house, I believe the Lord used these circumstances to grow the faith of everyone involved. 

Gehazi arrives at the house before the woman, her servant, and Elisha get there. "Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, 'The boy has not awakened.' When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, his body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes." (2 Kings 4:31-35) 

In 1 Kings 17 the prophet Elijah stretched himself out on the widow's dead son three times and he came back to life. Elisha only stretches himself out on the Shunammite's dead son twice, maybe because he received the request he made of the Lord that he would have a double portion of Elijah's spirit. I assume the lying upon of the body is an expression of each prophet's intense desire to impart life into it, to symbolize their prayer for the Lord to breathe the breath of life back into the body. 

It has been suggested by unbelievers that by their actions these men unknowingly performed CPR on the bodies---that they performed compressions of the heart by getting on and off the bodies and that they performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by breathing into the mouths and lungs. This would be within the realm of possibility if each of these men had already been at the house when each child expired. The Bible doesn't tell us how quickly Elijah came onto the scene but in the case of Elisha he was about eighteen miles from Shunem when the boy died. When the boy died, his mother placed him in Elisha's room, went out to her husband in the fields to ask for a servant and a donkey to accompany her to Mount Carmel, then rode the eighteen miles to Mount Carmel, wept for a time before she was able to communicate her problem to Elisha, then rode back to Mount Carmel. This would have taken hours. There's no way her child was simply resuscitated. He'd been dead so long that his body was cold. (The Bible tells us his skin had no warmth until Elisha lay upon his body.) Even in today's times with all of our modern medical equipment we could not resuscitate the child by the time he'd been dead as long as he'd been dead when Elisha arrived. This is a genuine miracle that no one could doubt unless they want to doubt the word of the boy, the boy's mother, the prophet Elisha, and Elisha's servant. 

"Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, 'Call the Shunammite.' And he did. When she came, he said, 'Take your son.' She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out." (2 Kings 4:36-37) This woman struggled for what was likely decades with being childless. She must have wondered many times why this was happening to her. Then she was given the miracle of a son only to have him die of a sudden illness. She must have wondered why this was happening to her. But for the rest of her life and for the rest of her son's life I am sure they gave their testimonies far and wide about what the Lord had done for them. The Bible doesn't tell us what happened after Elisha raised the child from the dead but I feel certain many people heard and believed their testimonies and that they gave their hearts to the Lord based on these testimonies. When the boy was grown he may have become a preacher of God's word or a prophet for all we know. He may have led an untold number of people to the Lord because he died and was raised to life again. 

We won't always know why bad things happen to us. There are cases where, as time goes by, we can look back and see why God allowed certain things to happen. There are other cases where we won't know the full story until we get to heaven and the Lord tells us Himself. But I don't believe any hardship in the life of a believer ever goes to waste if we decide in spite of our troubles to trust the Lord and submit ourselves to Him. What if the Shunammite woman had not believed the Lord could turn her circumstances around? What if she'd bitterly cursed the Lord instead? If that had happened then she'd have been burying her son, not raising him to adulthood. She'd have been visiting a grave regularly, not having her grown son take care of her in her old age while she enjoyed not only the company of her son but also her son's children and maybe even her son's grandchildren. Because this woman had faith, the Lord turned her mourning into dancing. We don't find people being raised from the dead in our times because this type of miracle happened to give authority to the word of the Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles, and the Lord Jesus Christ. But we do have the assurance of the resurrection of the dead when the eternal kingdom of our Lord comes. And we have the assurance of the help and comfort of the Lord while we live in our mortal bodies on earth. He still does miracles. He still heals many sicknesses after the doctors give up hope. He still puts marriages back together. He still brings prodigal children home. He still saves souls. We won't always know why certain troubles come but we know He has a purpose and plan for them.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 109, A Son Brought Back To Life, Part One

In Monday's study we learned that a wealthy woman, with her husband's blessing, fixed up a guest room for Elisha so he and his servant Gehazi would have a nice place to stay on their travels to and from the schools of the prophets. Elisha wanted to do something for her in return for her kindness so he asked the Lord to give her the one thing she didn't have: a son. A few years later this young son dies and his mother goes to Elisha for help.

We were told yesterday that the woman gave birth to her son approximately one year after Elisha told her this was going to happen. We don't know how much time passed between the child's date of birth and the story that takes place in today's text. The child is old enough to accompany his father to the fields to observe the harvest but he is small enough to be carried easily. "The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. He said to his father, 'My head! My head!' His father told a servant, 'Carry him to his mother.'" (2 Kings 4:18-19)

The child complains of a headache and his father doesn't know that it's anything other than an ordinary headache. The harvesttime heat would have more of an effect on a young child than on a grown man and many scholars think the boy is experiencing a heat stroke. But his father does not know it. It could be that the boy is in the habit of making some sort of complaint when he's missing his mother and wants to go home. Or it could be that his father is very busy and distracted and thinks the boy will feel all better as soon as he's cuddled by his mother. I do not believe for a minute that the man would have remained with his workers if he'd had any idea this was an emergency situation. This is his one and only son, the son he longed to have for so many years, the son he had given up on ever having! There's no way he would order a servant to carry the child home while he keeps working if he had any inkling the boy's life was in danger. I think he expects to return home for the evening meal to find the child feeling fit as a fiddle.

I doubt the child's mother realizes the seriousness of the situation either. She simply places the boy on her lap and comforts him as mothers do. I don't think we can possibly blame her for believing nothing bad would happen to her son; after all, his very existence is a miracle. But now she needs another miracle and she knows just where to get it. "After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out. She called her husband and said, 'Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.'" (2 Kings 4:20-22) Elisha is not currently at residence in her guest room. She places the child on Elisha's bed and shuts the door to his room and then sets out to fetch the prophet home with her.

You'll recall from our study of the prophet Elijah that when he raised the son of the widow of Zarephath back to life, he laid the boy on his own bed in the guest room of the home. The woman who has been showing hospitality to the prophet Elisha expects him to perform the same type of miracle for her that his predecessor performed for the other woman. In preparation to receiving this miracle, she goes ahead and places her son on the prophet's bed. She closes the door and leaves him there, where no one will think to look for him. Her household servants likely assume the child has gone someplace with her.

She doesn't tell her servants or her husband that the child is dead. When her husband hears she wants to visit Elisha, he asks her why. "'Why go to him today?' he asked. 'It's not the New Moon or the Sabbath.' 'That's all right,' she said. She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, 'Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell you.' So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel." (2 Kings 4:23-25a) Why doesn't she tell her husband that their son is dead? I think it's because she fully believes he will be raised back to life and she does not want to cause her husband needless heartbreak. You may also recall that we were told yesterday that her husband is old. We don't know how elderly he is but he's been working under the hot sun for hours. Being hot and tired and thirsty takes a greater toll on an older man than on a younger man. If we combine these factors with the dreadful shock of hearing that his son is dead, we can surmise that his wife fears his heart may fail him. He might drop dead right where he's standing. Why risk telling him his son is dead if Elisha is going to raise the boy back to life? 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 108, The Miracle Of A Son

There are several similarities between the life of the prophet Elisha and the life of the prophet Elijah. We saw one example of this yesterday when Elisha multiplied the oil for a poor widow woman, for Elijah had also multiplied oil for a poor widow woman. 

Another thing these two men have in common is that they both stayed in rooftop guest rooms for a time. During a drought in Israel the Lord instructed Elijah to go to Sidon and dwell with a widow woman and her son. In today's study we will find Elisha being made welcome in the rooftop guest room of a childless woman and her husband. In gratitude for her kindness toward him, Elisha will grant this woman her heart's desire: a son. And in tomorrow's study we'll find yet another similarity between the life of Elisha and the life of Elijah. Just as Elijah brought back to the life the son of the woman in whose home he was a guest, Elisha will do the same.

"One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat." (2 Kings 4:8) It would have been necessary for Elisha to pass through Shunem when visiting some of the schools of the prophets. The unnamed woman wanted to do something good for him to refresh him on his journeys to and fro, so she invited him to eat at her home. This became a regular thing, with Elisha having a standing invitation to stop by for a meal. 

Elisha and the woman are not dining alone at her house. Nothing improper is going on here, for she is a married woman and her husband is present and approving of her generosity toward the prophet. "She said to her husband, 'I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let's make a small room on the roof and put it it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.'" (2 Kings 4:9-10) 

The author does not provide us with her husband's answer but it's clear that he agreed with his wife's wishes because next we find Elisha using the room on his travels. I want to point out that while it's true that women had few rights in many ancient cultures, this does not mean they were all treated poorly by their husbands. The Shunammite woman and her husband respect each other. She is not afraid to suggest making Elisha a regular guest at their home and her husband is pleased to agree to something she wants. I believe this was a happy marriage and that there were many happy marriages in ancient times. A lot of societies were patriarchal in nature but there were plenty of godly men who loved and respected and protected their wives. In the New Testament we find husbands being commanded to love their wives: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it." (Ephesians 5:25) The Apostle Paul is speaking of a sacrificial, unselfish love. I think the Shunammite's husband loved her with a sacrificial, unselfish love. 

This is a happy marriage but the couple is lacking something they feel would make their life together complete. Elisha doesn't know what their heart's desire is but he wants to do something for them in return for the wife's hospitality, so he instructs his servant to find out what he can do. "One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, 'Call the Shunammite.' So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, 'Tell her: You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on behalf to the king or the commander of the army?' She replied, 'I have a home among my own people.'" (2 Kings 4:11-13) 

Elisha comes to lodge at her house and rest from his travels and as he lies on the bed he begins thinking about how grateful he is to her for her kindness. He instructs his servant to speak with her at the doorway to the room; it wouldn't be appropriate for her to enter his bedchamber while he is in it. The servant passes Elisha's questions on to the woman. Does she have any legal matters that the king (probably King Jehoshaphat of Judah, not King Joram of Israel) can settle for her? Elisha offers to get her an audience with the king. Or would she like her husband appointed to some political or military office? Elisha evidently has a great deal of influence with the commander of the army and can secure a well-salaried position for her husband. But the woman replies that she has all she needs, materially speaking. Then she withdraws to her own portion of the house.

Elisha is still mulling the matter over in his mind. He very much desires to do something good for her. Out of the kindness of her heart she has gone out of her way to make sure he's comfortable as he travels through her town. She did not do anything in the hope that she might gain something from him. She made him welcome because she loves the Lord and appreciates the work of the prophets of the Lord. While Elisha discusses this matter with his servant, the servant points out one thing he has noticed that this prosperous woman does not have. "'What can be done for her?' Elisha asked. 'Gehazi said, 'She has no son, and her husband is old.'" (2 Kings 4:14) We don't know the age of this woman but her husband is getting up in years. He is not too old to oversee the work in his fields, as we will learn tomorrow, but he is past middle age and if he dies without a son he will be leaving his wife with no one to manage the estate and take care of her for the rest of her life. In calling upon the Lord to grant this woman a son, Elisha will be securing the future of the woman who has been so kind to him.

"Then Elisha said, 'Call her.' So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 'About this time next year,' Elisha said, 'you will hold a son in your arms.' 'No, my lord!' she objected. 'Please, man of God, do not mislead your servant!'" (2 Kings 4:15-16) She isn't rejecting his offer or accusing him of being a liar. I think she's just been disappointed so many times that she can't bear to get her hopes up again. She may have already tried many "cures" provided by midwives and physicians only to have month after month and year after year go by with no conception. We don't know how long she's been married but it's long enough to have given up on ever having a child. I imagine she and her husband spent many years praying for a son. Their relatives probably prayed in agreement with them. But nothing ever happened and now she thinks nothing ever will. It's not that she believes Elisha would purposely try to deceive her. It's not that she believes anything is impossible for the Lord. It's that she had finally come to a place of painfully accepting that she would never be a mother. If she allows herself to feel a small glimmer of hope again she doesn't think she can stand it if her hopes are dashed. 

But the promise comes true. "But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her." (2 Kings 4:17) This is a miracle. Either this woman or her husband is infertile, or perhaps both of them are infertile. But the One who created the human body is able to cause the body to do something He designed it to do: reproduce. If the Shunammite woman had never loved the Lord or cared about one of His prophets, this miracle would not have been done for her, because it is in return for her kindness to Elisha that the most important desire of her heart is granted. We have a worldly saying, which is, "No good deed goes unpunished," because there are so many unscrupulous people who will take advantage of our kindness. But the Lord doesn't use this worldly expression. Instead He says through the Apostle Paul: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9) 

I think the reason the Lord tells us not to become weary in doing good is because He knows how easy it would be to become weary in doing good. Doing good exposes us to being lied to and taken advantage of because we live in a fallen world where people do dishonest things. But it's important to note that the Lord doesn't say that the world will reward us for well doing. Our reward comes from Him. The woman in the text we've studied today did nice things for Elisha without asking for or expecting anything in return. In fact, she owns more worldly goods than he does and the only thing he was able to offer her in gratitude was to speak to the king or the army commander to obtain favor for her and her husband. It's not within Elisha's power to do much for her on his own but it's within the Lord's power to do anything, even a thing that seems impossible. This woman did not grow weary in well doing even though life had not turned out for her exactly the way she'd hoped and she reaped a harvest---the son she'd always longed for.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 107, Elisha Multiplies The Oil For A Poor Widow And Her Two Sons

Earlier in our study of the kings we found the prophet Elijah multiplying the flour and the oil for a poor widow of Sidon and her young son. In today's study we find the prophet Elisha multiplying the oil for a different widow---the widow and the two sons of a prophet of Israel.

"The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, 'Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.'" (2 Kings 4:1) It seems clear that Elisha personally knew her late husband; if he did not know him well, he at least knew enough about him to have been aware that he was faithful to the Lord. We don't know what the deceased prophet did for a living but he died owing money he had borrowed. This type of situation could potentially happen to anyone; for example, the primary (or only) breadwinner in the family could pass away before the home mortgage has been paid off, leaving their spouse and children unable to continue making the payments. In modern times we can use life insurance policies to offset some of this risk but as far as we know there were no such things as life insurance policies in the days of Elisha. 

The widow's late husband must not have owed a mortgage loan since it's not the homestead that's in jeopardy. It could be that the debt is owed for the medical care he received during his last months or years on earth. Or he might have borrowed money to invest in his agricultural pursuits, expecting to be able to pay it back out of the next harvest, but he became ill and ended up passing away before he could plant and harvest those crops. The nature of the debt is not provided to us because it's not necessary for the story. All we need to know is that this woman and her children find themselves in dire circumstances and the young boys are about to be seized by the creditor in order to work off the debt. This was allowed under the Mosaic law. A person's child or children could be taken into service for a period of time limited to six years. A person could also voluntarily agree to serve their creditor for that period of time or even longer if they wanted to remain as that person's servant. (Exodus 21:2-11 goes into detail regarding such transactions, as does Leviticus 25:39-43.)

The late prophet's creditor has a right under the law to take the woman's two sons into his service for six years. The law is not in question here. The question that's being asked by the woman is whether Elisha can and will do something to help her. She appeals to him because he knows the character of her late husband was without reproach. She appeals to him because he knows she will find herself in even worse circumstances than she's already in if her sons are taken from her. Not only will she still be suffering the grief and poverty brought about by her husband's death, in addition she will suffer being separated from her sons. Elisha's heart goes out to her when he hears of her predicament and he swiftly takes action. He asks her what she still has so he can multiply it by the power of the Lord.

"Elisha replied to her, 'How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?' 'Your servant has nothing here at all,' she said, 'except a small jar of olive oil.'" (2 Kings 4:2) She has very little left to her name but as the saying goes, "Little is much if God is in it." She's willing to trust the Lord with what little she has left. She's going to do what the Lord says to do even though by human standards it sounds illogical. "Elisha said, 'Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each one is filled, put it to one side.'" (2 Kings 4:3-4)

Her jar of oil is "small". This has led many scholars to conclude that it's not a jar of cooking oil but a jar of anointing oil. That means it probably only holds an ounce or two when it's full. But Elisha tells her to go out and borrow as many empty jars as she can---to think big---and then to take those jars home, close the door, and begin pouring into them from her small jar of oil. She is to expect each jar to fill completely up, for he instructs her to set each one aside as it is filled.

The woman doesn't hesitate to do exactly what the Lord says. She doesn't understand the process by which the Lord will turn an ounce or two of oil into many jars full of oil but she knows nothing is impossible for Him. After speaking to Elisha in some public place, she goes home and enlists the help of her sons in asking for and bringing home as many jars as they can get. "She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another one.' But he replied, 'There is not a jar left.' Then the oil stopped flowing." (2 Kings 4:5-6) They've set up an assembly line in their house and she's been so busy pouring oil into one jar after another that she hasn't noticed they've run out of jars. When one of her sons brings her the last jar and keeps standing there, I think without looking up she says, "Get me the next jar." And he informs her they are all full.

At this news she goes out to find Elisha to ask him what to do next. She didn't even know the final step in the plan but she had the faith to get her to this point. Now she receives the reward of her faith. "She went and told the man of God, and he said, 'Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.'" (2 Kings 4:7) She and her sons are to sell as much as is needed to get them out of debt now and then they are to sell the rest, little by little, to live on. The Bible doesn't say whether this was enough for them to live on forever and I doubt that was the case. For one thing, the widow's home was probably not large enough to accommodate the number of jars necessary to hold that much oil. For another thing, I doubt it was the Lord's intention for the woman's sons to live perpetual lives of leisure without working to contribute to the household and to society. My opinion is that the Lord provided enough oil until the widow's sons were old enough to make a living. Then their duty would be to take care of their mother for the remainder of her life and to marry, have children of their own, and to raise those children to be productive and hardworking members of society. In order to do that they'd need to set a good example for their children to follow, which would include demonstrating a good work ethic.

We may have very little to work with at times but it doesn't matter how little we have if God is in it! If we are willing to trust Him with what we have, He is a rewarder of our faith. He can multiply what little we have into enough---or more than enough---to change our circumstances. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 106, Moab Defeated By Israel, Judah, And Edom

The military forces of Israel, Judah, and Edom were about to be undone by a lack of water. But in yesterday's study we found Elisha calling on the Lord for help, with the Lord supplying an abundance of fresh flowing water in spite of there being no rain. The three kings, their soldiers, and their horses were all refreshed by the water and are now ready to fight against Moab.

"Now all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them; so every man, young and old, who could bear arms was called up and stationed on the border." (2 Kings 3:21) You'll recall that Moab was defeated by King David and that this nation had been subject to Israel ever since. But after the death of King Ahab of Israel the Moabites stopped paying the taxes levied against them. I don't know whether they thought Ahab's son Joram would let this slide or whether they thought they had enough troops to fight back against Joram's troops. But they don't have enough troops to successfully repel the combined forces of Israel, Judah, and Edom. They call up every man who is able to hold a sword in his hand. 

The water sent by the Lord not only refreshed the men coming against Moab but it will also serve to trick the eyes of the Moabites. "When they got up early in the morning, the sun was shining on the water. To the Moabites across the way, the water looked red---like blood. 'That's blood!' they said. 'Those kings must have fought and slaughtered each other. Now to the plunder, Moab!'" (2 Kings 3:22-23) The water that flowed down from the direction of Edom must have mixed with red clay dust to produce the appearance of pools of blood from a distance. But why do the Moabites assume that the appearance of blood means the three kings and their soldiers have slaughtered each other? 

I think it's because a situation like that actually occurred during the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. You'll recall that in 2 Chronicles 20 his nation was about to be attacked by the combined forces of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites. Jehoshaphat did not have enough men to successfully defend Judah against such a "vast army" as he phrased it, so the Lord informed him through a prophet that Judah would not have to fight the battle at all. The next morning the Lord caused some type of confusion to fall upon the enemy army. The Moabites and Ammonites rose up against the Meunites and slaughtered them, then the Moabites and Ammonites turned on each other. By the time Jehoshaphat and his army reached the overlook where they could see this coalition of armies in the valley below, all the enemy soldiers were dead! The dead soldiers did not represent all of the fighting men of those nations but this was a heavy blow to those nations. Now the Moabites think the same type of thing has happened to the allied forces of Israel, Judah, and Edom: they think these men all turned on each other and slaughtered each other. The Moabites think their gods caused the same type of confusion to fall on Israel, Judah, and Edom as Jehoshaphat's God previously caused to fall on the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites.

"But when the Moabites came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and fought them until they fled. And the Israelites invaded the land and slaughtered the Moabites. They destroyed the towns, and each man threw a stone on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up all the springs and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones in place, but men armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it." (2 Kings 3:24-25) Elisha had predicted that the men would do these things to the Moabites and here we find his prediction coming true. The steps these men take against the Moabites will render a portion of their land unusable for time. The Moabites will have to spend their energies clearing their fields and planting new crops and trees instead of focusing their energies on rebelling against Israel and making war. The only major area the Israelites and their allies did not render useless was the royal city of Kir Hareseth. It is known to have been a very heavily fortified city. When we close today's study we'll learn another reason why the city was left untouched.  

We need to stop here for a moment and think about the fact that the Moabites rejected the Lord long ago. Many centuries earlier they fell into idolatry and are still maintaining this sinful lifestyle. The Lord is not with them in their battles; He is fighting against them. For an example of why the Lord opposes them so fiercely we need only to read the remainder of Chapter 3 to form a clear and horrifying picture of just how far the Moabites have sunk into depravity. "When the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they failed. Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall. The fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land." (2 Kings 3:26-27)

The king of Moab is so wicked that he offers his firstborn son to his heathen god Chemosh on top of the city wall in the sight of the army of Israel and its allies. The men of Israel and Judah and Edom are so sickened by the sight that they do not continue pressing their attack against the royal city but instead return to their own land. The king of Moab is making the statement that he will not surrender under any circumstances. No price is too high for him to pay for victory, not even sacrificing the crown prince in the hope that his god will look favorably upon him. To continue to press the attack against the city might only result in mass casualties for Israel, Judah, and Edom because the king of Moab will keep fighting even if it means the death of every man, woman, and child in his kingdom. More sacrifices might have been made atop the walls if a cease fire had not been called at this time; many innocent children might have lost their lives if the king ordered them sacrificed or if their parents willingly sacrificed them as a plea for help from the abominable deities they believed in. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 105, A Miracle Of Water

The Moabites have been subject to Israel ever since the time of King David but then they began to rebel against Israel after the death of King Ahab. King Ahab's son Joram, who is now king, has allied himself with King Jehoshaphat of Judah and an unnamed king of Edom to suppress the rebellion. But these three combined armies ran out of water during a seven-day march. There is evidently a drought in the land and Jehoshaphat suggested calling upon a prophet of the Lord to see what the Lord would have them do. An officer of Joram's army spoke up and said they could go to see Elisha, who isn't far away. Jehoshaphat likes this plan.

"Jehoshaphat said, 'The word of the Lord is with him.' So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. Elisha said to the king of Israel, 'Why do you want to involve me? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.'" (2 Kings 3:12-13a) King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had maintained out of the royal treasury 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. But as the author informed us earlier this week, Joram rejected the religion of his parents and reverted back to the religion instituted by King Jeroboam who set golden calves in place at Dan and at Bethel. These calves were intended to represent the Lord (though such representations of the Lord were forbidden by the Lord) and the religious sites at Dan and Bethel were sinfully intended by Jeroboam as substitutes for going to the temple. The author of 2 Kings said that Joram is not as wicked as Ahab and Jezebel were. But if Joram is worshiping the Lord at all he is doing it in ways contrary to the Lord's instructions. Elisha taunts him by saying, "Why ask me what to do when you have all of Ahab's and Jezebel's prophets available to you? Your parents trusted in them and not in the prophets of the Lord. Why do you not feel the same?"

I don't believe there's any way Elisha could not have known that King Joram has put away his father's monument to Baal and that he does not engage in the practices of Baal worship or in the worship of Baal's consort, Asherah. A prophet (and especially a major prophet like Elisha) would be wise to keep his finger on the spiritual pulse of the nation, so to speak. So I think he knows Joram has made some reforms, spiritually speaking, and perhaps his words to the king are intended to make him consider abandoning all of the wrong spiritual practices of his predecessors and give his heart fully to the Lord. If that's what Elisha hopes to accomplish with his words, it doesn't happen. Just as in yesterday's passage Joram accused the Lord of intending to kill him and the other men with thirst, he repeats this belief but not in the manner of a person who knows he should repent and ask for mercy. "'No,' the king of Israel answered, 'because it was the Lord who called us three kings together to deliver us into the hands of Moab.'" (2 Kings 3:13b) He clearly believes in the Lord and he clearly fears the Lord (in the way that a person living in the wrong ways fears the Lord) but he does not repent and ask for mercy. He doesn't make any attempt to forge a personal relationship with the Lord but instead asks the prophet to intercede for him.

We've all probably known people who don't want to give their lives to the Lord but who are quick to call upon the Lord's people to pray for them when they are in need of help. They believe the Lord exists and that He can do miracles. They also believe He can cause judgment to fall as recompense for sinful living. But somehow they just can't seem to take any steps toward the Lord to repent, ask Him for forgiveness and salvation, and begin forming a personal relationship with Him. So instead of calling out to Him themselves they call upon all their believing friends to intercede on their behalf. It's sad because they are so close to having their lives turned completely around by the Lord and having the eternal safety of their souls secured! I think this is where we find King Joram in today's text. He's not really that far from being able to be transformed by the living God but he just cannot make himself take that step. He never does, I'm sorry to say. And when Elisha sees he isn't getting through to him he points out that it's only for the sake of King Jehoshaphat---who has given his heart and life to the Lord---that he will do anything on behalf of the three kings.

"Elisha said, 'As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. But now bring me a harpist.' While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha and he said, 'This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; He will also deliver Moab into your hands. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.'" (2 Kings 3:14-19) 

The Lord speaks to Elisha through music this time; at other times He speaks to him in other ways. This is the same way the Lord relates to you and to me. He doesn't speak to us by the same method every time and I think it's a good thing that He doesn't or else our spiritual life would grow stagnant and repetitive. If He spoke to us by the same method every time, by habit we would seek Him in the same way every time. But the Lord wants us to seek Him in many different ways: through prayer, through praise music, through the reading of His word, through meditating on all the times He's helped us before, through talking about Him with fellow believers. A relationship with the Lord is never meant to be stagnant. He promised us that a relationship with Him was like being filled with a spring of living (continually flowing and fresh) water: "Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)

Perhaps to symbolize the spring of living water that is forever fresh and new within the heart of the believer, the literal springs of water arrive just as promised. "The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was---water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water." (2 Kings 3:20)

When our spiritual lives begin feeling stagnant and it seems like we are just going through the motions day after day, it's time to seek the Lord in a fresh way. Maybe that means praying to Him in a different place, like on a walk we take by ourselves. Or it may mean listening to some new praise songs we've never heard before and meditating upon His goodness while we listen. It may mean joining a new class at church or downloading a Bible study we've never read or listened to before. Our relationship with the Lord is never meant to grow old and unfulfilling, for we can never learn all there is to know about the Lord. I believe that even though we will spend eternity with Him, we will never learn everything about Him. His intelligence is so much greater than ours that even in our eternal, immortal bodies we will never be able to fully comprehend His mind. And that's a good thing! It means we can never grow weary of being in His awesome presence. We may sometimes grow weary of being in the presence of our fellow human beings here on earth (because their minds are so much like ours) but learning about our Lord will forever be an exciting experience.

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 104, Moab Revolts Against Israel

The prophet Elisha will be involved in the happenings of Chapter 3 when we arrive at tomorrow's portion but first the author sets the scene into which Elisha will come. The narrative switches back to the kings of Israel and Judah who agree to join forces to fight against the Moabites.

Several days ago we learned that after King Ahab of Israel died the Moabites thought it was a good time to rebel against paying tribute to the kingdom of Israel. The Moabites were subject to Israel at that time and had been ever since King David won military victory over them in 2 Samuel 8. We weren't told much about the rebellion during the brief two-year reign of Ahab's son Ahaziah; the information regarding Ahaziah's reign mainly dealt with the serious fall he suffered in his home that led to his death. Ahaziah died without a son to succeed him so his younger brother, Joram, became king in his stead. This is where today's study begins.

"Joram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years." (2 Kings 3:1) We have already looked at the death of King Jehoshaphat but it's necessary for the author to take us back in time a few years in order to study the reign of Joram which began during Jehoshaphat's eighteenth year as king of Judah. We must keep in mind that these two kings have a family connection: Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram is married to Joram's sister Athaliah. 

"He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father and mother had done. He got rid of the sacred stone of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he did not turn away from them." (2 Kings 3:2-3) After King Ahab married Jezebel of Sidon he adopted her religion of Baal worship and made Baal worship the official state-sponsored religion of Israel. When we studied the book of 1 Kings we learned that Ahab's eldest son and successor, Ahaziah, "served and worshiped Baal". (1 Kings 22:53) But Joram rejects Baal, perhaps because he fears coming to a bad end as his brother and his father did, and he reverts back to the religious practices put in place by Jeroboam, the first man to be king over Israel after the ten northern tribes rebelled against Solomon's son Rehoboam. Jeroboam feared his people would go into the southern kingdom of Judah to worship the Lord at the temple and he thought they would be enticed to give their allegiance to Rehoboam, so he made two golden calves and set them up at Dan and at Bethel as centers of worship. He commanded the people to worship at these locations, presenting the golden calves as symbols of the Lord and presenting these two locations as acceptable substitutionary places of worship. (1 Kings 12:28-30) 

Jeroboam's actions were in direct opposition to the Lord's command to worship only at the location He chose and to never to make an idol. The Lord had said, "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them." (Exodus 20:4-5a) When King Joram rejected the Baal religion of his father and mother he reverted back to the golden calves of Jeroboam. Joram is not spiritually as bad of a man as his older brother and father were, but he is not truly devoted to the Lord either. In adopting the calves as symbols of the God of Israel, he is displaying a "form of godliness" (to use a phrase of the Apostle Paul's from 2 Timothy 3:5) but it is a form of godliness without any power. It is superficial and its true purpose may have been to continue maintaining friendly relations with King Jehoshaphat of Judah who faithfully served the Lord all his life. Joram is going to need Jehoshaphat's help to go to war against the Moabites and it was to Joram's advantage to give the appearance of serving the Lord, albeit in a way not prescribed by the Lord. 

"Now Mesha king of Moab raised sheep, and he had to pay the king of Israel a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. But after Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So at that time King Joram set out from Samaria and mobilized all Israel. He also sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: 'The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?'" (2 Kings 3:4-7a) Tribute in those days was often paid in the form of something other than in silver or gold. Taxation was frequently assessed in the form of valuable goods. The Moabites were required to pay their taxes in lambs and in wool. King Mesha of Moab refuses to continue paying these taxes and Joram readies his army to quell this rebellion but he needs more manpower for the fight.

Just as he agreed to go with King Ahab against the Arameans, Jehoshaphat agrees to go with King Joram against the Moabites. "'I will go with you,' he replied. 'I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.' 'By what route shall we attack?" he asked. 'Through the Desert of Edom,' he replied." (2 Kings 3:7b-8) You may have heard the expression, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Joram and Jehoshaphat have little in common spiritually but they have a common enemy and they are willing to put aside their spiritual differences to face this common enemy together. It is never wise for a believer to partner with an unbeliever, but for the sake of the godly King Jehoshaphat and for the sake of the Lord's people Israel as a whole, the Lord will give this combined army victory over the Moabites. But first a hardship occurs that causes all the men of both armies, plus the army of Edom, to have to depend on the Lord for help. The Edomites have not been kind to the tribes of Israel in the past but I think this is yet another example of men putting aside their differences to fight a common enemy. If the Moabites get the upper hand over Israel, this will only encourage them to rise up against other neighboring kingdoms such as Edom and Judah. 

"So the king of Israel set out with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a roundabout march of seven days, the army had no more water for themselves or for the animals with them. 'What!' exclaimed the king of Israel. 'Has the Lord called us three kings together only to deliver us into the hands of Moab?'" (2 Kings 3:9-10) Did the Lord indeed call these three kings together or was it solely at Joram's instigation that this endeavor was undertaken? He does not appear to be a man who is particularly sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and I tend to think it was his own idea to quash the rebellion of Moab; he simply needed the help and military expertise of the other two kings. Whether or not the other two kings felt led by the Lord to join him, we do not know, but it's doubtful that the leader of Edom sought the Lord's advice on this matter since the Edomites fell into idolatry long ago. Jehoshaphat may have felt primarily called by a sense of national duty and a sense of familial duty to aid King Joram. Nevertheless, the Lord will come to the aid of all the people and animals involved. Jehoshaphat may not have asked the Lord's guidance before joining up with Joram but he wisely seeks His counsel now.

"But Jehoshaphat asked, 'Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?' An officer of the king answered, 'Elisha son of Shaphat is here.'" (2 Kings 3:11a) In our next study session we will find the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom going to see Elisha. Elisha will call upon the Lord and he will make it clear that he's doing it only for the sake of Jehoshaphat, a fellow believer. In spite of no rain falling from the skies, the Lord will produce a flowing stream of fresh water--- a great miracle about which the prophet Elisha will say, "This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord." 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 103, Forty-Two Enemies Of Elisha Attacked By Bears

We will be studying the final three verses of Chapter 2 today and these verses have been quite controversial over the years. The controversy arises because of the way many versions of the Bible have translated a particular word into English. The forty-two males who meet their doom (or who are severely mauled) in this passage of the Bible are referred to in some versions as "youths", in other versions as "boys", and in other versions as "children". This has caused many to assume in error that forty-two little boys are mauled to death by bears at the end of Chapter 2. 

The word in question is used in several other verses of the Bible to describe males who are certainly not children. For example, the same word is used for Jacob's son Joseph when he was almost forty years old, for King David's grown son Absalom who was rebelling against him for the kingship, for King Solomon when he ascended to the throne somewhere around age eighteen to twenty-one, and for the junior commanders of King Ahab's army who had to be twenty years old at minimum. In Numbers 1:45 we learned that a young man in ancient Israel could not join the army unless he was at least twenty, so Ahab's junior commanders were probably older than that since they'd been soldiers long enough to have earned the rank of officers.  

The reason I'm taking such care to stress that the forty-two males in our text today are not children is because Elisha (and God, from whom Elisha gets his power) has been accused by critics of the Bible of having caused the deaths of forty-two little boys. We must dispel this erroneous idea right off the bat or else we are going to struggle a great deal with the three verses on the page today.

Elisha lodged for a time at the school of prophets in Jericho after his master Elijah was called up to heaven. Now he leaves Jericho to visit another school of prophets which is at Bethel. But Bethel, at the time of Elisha, is not a city where the majority of the people are faithful to the Lord. You'll recall that Bethel has been a center of idolatrous religious practices ever since King Jeroboam of Israel set up a golden calf there and at Dan in 1 Kings 12. The fact that Elisha is met by a gang of aggressive young men upon his arrival is proof that it is not safe to walk the streets there if you are a man or woman who boldly speaks in the name of the Lord.

"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. 'Get out of here, baldy!' they said. 'Get out of here, baldy!'" (2 Kings 2:23) As one of the commentaries I consulted points out, "Small boys do not roam the forest in gangs of forty or more." These are not little kids who come out in a threatening attitude to make fun of Elisha's appearance and to taunt him by saying (in the original language), "Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!" The words "go up" are a reference to the taking up of Elijah to heaven. These young men do not want a prophet of the Lord in their midst and they are inviting Elisha---in an abusive tone of voice---to be gone in the same manner. They are rejecting not only the prophet of the Lord but the Lord Himself. They are mocking the Lord who carried Elijah up to heaven and at the same time they are mocking the man who is now the Lord's chief prophetic messenger to Israel. They are making fun of Elisha's calling in life and they are making fun of his appearance; he is no longer a young man like them but is past middle age and has grown bald. 

Elisha is going to speak words against them. Some of Elisha's critics have accused him of calling down a curse on these youths in anger and embarrassment over being called "baldy". Others have accused him of speaking words that seal their doom because he's afraid of them and doesn't trust the Lord to protect him. I think it's highly possible that these young men do want to physically harm him but we won't find Elisha displaying any outward signs of fear of them. When Elisha pronounces a dire message upon this threatening group of young men, he does so on the authority of the Lord. As we've stated before, none of the prophets of the Bible has any power to perform a miracle or to bring a curse to pass unless the Lord gives him the power. Elisha could have pronounced curses against these men all day and the curses would have come to nothing if it wasn't the Lord's will for them to come to pass.

Elisha walks boldly past the gang and then looks back at them to say some chilling words which are not specifically provided to us. "He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria." (2 Kings 2:24-25) Here we learn that there were more than forty-two youths in this gang because the Bible says that forty-two "of them" were mauled by bears. It is generally assumed that the bears killed them, although the Bible only used the word "mauled" which could be taken to mean that the bears roughed them up but spared their lives. Perhaps these idolatrous youths were simply given an attitude adjustment and scars that would forever remind them not to abuse the prophets of the Lord in either word or deed. 

If it were not the Lord's will for these guys to be attacked by bears, there's nothing Elisha could have said or done to make that happen. And if the Lord had not allowed this to happen, perhaps in time these young men would have grown bold enough in their sin to physically attack or even kill people who were faithful to the Lord. I like to think that they survived their injuries and never dared to speak a word against or lay a finger on one of the Lord's servants. I like to think they saw the light and forsook false gods and gave their hearts to the one true God. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 102, Elisha's Second Miracle

Today we'll find Elisha calling on the Lord to make bad water drinkable. A city that has no good water source within it will have fresh water from now on. 

When we closed our study yesterday we found Elisha lodging at the school of prophets in Jericho after Elijah had been taken to heaven. Earlier in the Bible, after the Israelites destroyed the heathen city of Jericho, a cursed was pronounced upon anyone who might choose to rebuild it. "At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: 'Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: 'At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.'" (Joshua 6:26) But during the reign of the idolatrous King Ahab, a man named Hiel of Bethel rebuilt the city and the curse came true; his eldest son and his youngest son both died. (This passage can be found in 1 Kings 16.) When we studied 1 Kings 16 we discussed the possibility that Hiel made "foundation sacrifices" of his sons, which was an ancient pagan practice. The bones of such sacrifices have been found in the foundations of buildings and walls during archaeological excavations of ancient pagan cities. Whatever the cause of death of Hiel's sons, we see that he did not take the curse seriously and undertook the rebuilding of Jericho in spite of what it cost his family. 

Now, possibly because the city was rebuild in opposition to the Lord's instructions, its water springs have gone bad.  At one time the water must have been useful for drinking and for irrigation since the ancient city of Jericho was a prosperous location. But after its rebuilding the water wasn't fit for drinking or for watering crops and I assume that drinking water had to be obtained from sources outside the city and transported back in large jars in wagons. This would have been an inconvenient and time-consuming task. The men of Jericho lay their problem before Elisha in hopes he can do something about it. "The people of the city said to Elisha, 'Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.'" (2 Kings 2:19)

Had these men never brought their problem before the prophet Elijah? We don't know but it may be that Elijah either could not heal the waters or did not choose to heal the waters. He might have chosen not to because the Lord had commanded the city never to be rebuilt. Or it may be that, since Elisha now has a double portion of the power of Elijah, this miracle could only have been performed by Elisha. We find Elisha immediately taking steps to do something about the problem. "'Bring me a new bowl,' he said, 'and put salt in it.' So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, 'This is what the Lord says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken." (2 Kings 2:20-22)

A handful of salt thrown into a running spring is not capable of healing the water temporarily, much less permanently. Elisha makes it clear that this is the Lord's doing and that the throwing of the salt into the water is a symbolic gesture. Salt was an extremely valuable commodity in ancient times before the invention of refrigeration because it could be used as a preservative. Because of its great importance in preserving items from rot and infestation, salt was often used as a symbol of purity, such as when the Lord Jesus said of believers: "You are the salt of the earth." (Matthew 5:13) Another example of salt symbolizing purity is that salt was to be blended with all the offerings made to the Lord. (Leviticus 2:13) So Elisha uses the handful of salt when the waters are purified not because the salt itself purifies the waters but because the salt stands for something else: the holiness and righteousness of the Lord. He uses the handful of salt as a visual expression of what's going on in the supernatural realm---as he is throwing the salt into the water the Lord is healing the water. Elisha is careful not to give the impression that he has the power to heal the water or that the salt heals the water. He plainly states that the Lord healed the water. 

Jericho was not meant to be rebuilt. It was supposed to lie in ruins forever as a reminder of the penalty for idolatry. The people of Jericho forsook the Lord in favor of false gods; therefore, after many centuries of being repeatedly rejected by them, the Lord allowed their city to be destroyed by a nation that recognized Him as Lord. But a wicked man living during an especially idolatrous era of the nation of Israel rebuilt the city anyway and as a result its waters turned bitter. I am not sure that prophets of the Lord should have been inhabiting the city even though its rebuilding was not their doing, but perhaps they were there to be the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world" to people who were living in rebellion to the Lord. The Lord is merciful to these prophets and to the other inhabitants of the city by turning unhealthy water into beneficial water. This good water will make their lives easier and more productive. It will bring health to them, their livestock, and their crops. 

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 101, Elisha's First Miracle

In yesterday's study we found the Lord taking the prophet Elijah to heaven while he stood talking with his apprentice and successor, Elisha. We talked about how a person can struggle with two emotions at the same time: joy that a loved one is now in the presence of the Lord forever and sorrow that a loved one is no longer on the earth. In his sorrow Elisha made tears in his outer cloak to express his grief at the loss of a man who was a father figure, mentor, and friend to him. 

After Elijah's departure there is nothing left behind but his prophet's mantle, which the Bible indicates was a garment made of hair. (2 Kings 1:8, Zechariah 13:4) Earlier in our study of the kings we found the Lord instructing Elijah to go and anoint Elisha as the successor to his ministry. Elisha, a young unmarried man still living at home, was plowing his father's fields when Elijah came along and threw his prophet's cloak around the younger man's shoulders. This symbolized the calling the Lord was placing upon Elisha's life. Elisha accepted the calling by leaving his family home and assisting Elijah in his ministry until the day Elijah was called up to heaven. But it was much easier to accept the Lord's calling while Elijah was still with him; now Elisha must decide whether he will take up Elijah's cloak and wear it from now on---which means he must also take up all the responsibilities and all the risks that come along with being the chief prophet of Israel.

After crying out in grief, "My father! My father!" when Elijah disappeared out of his sight, Elisha picks up the mantle and prepares to cross back over the Jordan River where fifty men of the company of prophets are waiting. "Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. 'Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over." (2 Kings 2:13-14) Elijah had used his cloak to strike the water so he and Elisha could cross the Jordan on dry ground. Now Elisha does the same thing, uttering words that ask, "Are You with me, Lord, as You were with Elijah?" As proof that the Lord is with him and will enable to do all that He will call him to do, the waters part for Elisha just as they did for Elijah.

I want to stop here to point out that it's easy for us to expect the Lord to do great things for others but it can be very difficult for us to expect the Lord to do great things for us. Why is that? Is it because we know ourselves (all our faults and failures) better than we know the faults and failures of others? Is it because we assume other believers are stronger in the faith than we are and less prone to making mistakes? I think it's very important for us to stop and consider that all the heroes and heroines of the Bible were ordinary human beings just like we are. For example, Jesus' brother James points out that Elijah was a mere human being, subject to all the doubts and fears and mistakes as anyone else, yet the Lord answered his prayers. (James 5:17-18) James wrote those words to encourage us that the Lord is a rewarder of faith. Elijah wasn't a perfect man. No man or woman on the pages of the Bible was perfect except the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord answered the prayers of these imperfect people because their prayers were made in faith. Elisha felt inadequate to fill Elijah's shoes and he wasn't certain he could do the types of things Elijah did but he had the faith to ask the Lord, in yesterday's study, to pour out a double blessing of the Spirit on him. Now he takes a step of faith by stepping toward the waters of the Jordan and striking them with the prophet's mantle to see what the Lord will do. The Lord provides the proof that He is with Elisha. 

The prophets from Jericho witness this event and recognize that the Lord has given the same power to Elisha as his forerunner had. But they are reluctant to accept that they will see Elijah no more. "The company of prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, 'The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.' And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 'Look,' they said, 'we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.'" (2 Kings 2:15-16a) 

These men saw the Lord take Elijah up into the clouds out of their sight but they don't want to believe they will never see him again in this lifetime. If you have ever lost a loved one then you know the sense of disbelief that can accompany such a loss. It can be incredibly difficult, at least at first, to accept that this is our new reality now. I think the loss of Elijah is made even more difficult for the prophets to accept because he did not die; he was simply taken up out of their sight. Earlier in Chapter 2 it was made clear to us that the prophets were aware this day was coming and when it was coming but now that the event has happened they are having trouble believing it. They are grasping at straws, saying, "Perhaps he wasn't really taken to heaven to stay. Maybe the Lord transported him to another location in Israel to perform some important miracle in His name. Let us go look for him!" 

I've heard these men criticized in sermons for their lack of faith but I personally don't think they are suffering from a lack of faith. They are suffering from an abundance of grief. Elisha isn't the only person who looked up to Elijah as a father figure in the faith. Elisha may have been Elijah's closest friend but these other men were Elisha's friends too. They loved him and looked up to him as an example of how to live courageously for the Lord. I am sure that many times they sought his godly advice and encouragement. They can be excused for not wanting to accept that they won't see him again in this lifetime. It's not that they don't have the faith to believe that the Lord could take him up bodily to heaven to live forever. It's that they don't want Elijah to be gone from their lives. 

Elisha knows that conducting a search for Elijah is fruitless and he tells the men not to do it. 'No,' Elisha replied, 'do not send them.'" (2 Kings 2:16b) This reminds me of the day my father passed away in the Veteran's Hospital in 1989. He had already coded and had been resuscitated twice that day. The third time he coded the doctors asked if we wanted them to take measures to resuscitate him again. My mother and my older sister (I was only nineteen at the time) both said no. And yet when the medical crew surrounding his bedside began walking over to us a few minutes later, my mom looked at me and said, "Maybe he's alright." But I knew they were walking over to tell us he had passed on. She just wasn't ready to accept that reality and that's understandable. I knew there was no reason to hope that my dad's heart had begun beating again on its own but my mom had to hear that from the doctors in order to believe it. Likewise, Elisha knows there's no point in going out to look for Elijah but the men are going to keep insisting until he gives his permission for them to go. He is at a loss as to how to convince them not to go so, not knowing what else to say, he gives permission. He realizes they are going to have to see for themselves that Elijah is nowhere to be found. Only then will they be able to accept that he is really gone from the earth.

"But they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, 'Send them.' And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, 'Didn't I tell you not to go?'" (2 Kings 2:17-18) The way this is worded it sounds like he's scolding them but I'm not sure that he is. I think he may be saying something like, "It is as I told you. He has gone to be with the Lord." It is time for Elisha and these men to get on with the Lord's work and they can't move forward unless they accept that they will not see Elijah again. The Lord has taken Elijah to heaven but He still has things for these men to do on earth.