_ELISHA'S MIRACLES_
2 KINGS iv. 1-44
We are now in the full tide of Elisha's miracles, and as regards many
of them we can do little more than illustrate the text as it stands.
The record of them clearly comes from some account prevalent in the
schools of the prophets, which is however only fragmentary, and has
been unchronologically pieced into the annals of the kings of Israel.
The story of Elisha abounds far more in the supernatural than that of
Elijah, and is believed by most critics to be of earlier date. Yet the
scenes and portents of his life are almost wholly lacking in the
element of grandeur which belong to those of the elder seer. His
personality, if on the whole softer and more beneficent, inspires less
of awe, and the whole tone of the biography which recorded these
isolated incidents is lacking in the poetic and impassioned elevation
which marks the episodes of Elijah's history. We see in the records of
Elisha, as in the biographies--so rich in prodigies--of fourth-century
hermits and mediæval saints, how little impressive in itself is the
exercise of abnormal powers; how it derives its sole grandeur from the
accompaniment of great moral lessons and spiritual revelations. John
the Baptist "did no miracle," yet our Lord placed him not only far
above Elisha, but even above Moses and Samuel and Elijah, when He said
of him, "Verily I say unto you, of them that have been born of women
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
It is impossible not to be struck with the singular parallelism
between the powers exercised by Elisha and those which are attributed
to his predecessor. "How true an heir is Elisha of his master," says
Bishop Hall, "not in his graces only, but in his actions! Both of them
divided the waters of Jordan, the one as his last act, the other as
his first. Elijah's curse was the death of the captains and their
troops; Elisha's curse was the death of the children. Elijah rebuked
Ahab to his face; Elisha, Jehoram. Elijah supplied the drought of
Israel by rain from heaven; Elisha supplied the drought of the three
kings by waters gushing out of the earth; Elijah increased the oil of
the Sareptan, Elisha increased the oil of the prophet's widow; Elijah
raised from death the Sareptan's son, Elisha the Shunammite's; both of
them had one mantle, one spirit; both of them climbed up one Carmel,
one heaven." The resemblance, however, is not at all in character, but
only in external and miraculous circumstances. In all other respects
Elisha furnishes a contrast to Elijah which startles us quite as much
as any superficial resemblances. Elijah was a free, wild Bedawy
prophet, hating and shunning as his ordinary residence the abodes of
men, making his home in the rocky wady or in the mountain glades,
appearing and disappearing suddenly as the wind. He asserted his power
most often in ministries of retribution. Clad in the sheepskin of a
Gadite shepherd or mountaineer, he was not one of those who wear soft
clothing or are found in kings' houses. He usually met monarchs as
their enemy and their reprover, but for the most part avoided them. He
never intervened for years together even in national events of the
utmost importance, whether military or religious, unless he received
the direct call of God, or there appeared to him to be a "_dignus
Vindice nodus_." Elisha, on the other hand, makes his home in cities,
and chiefly in Samaria. He is familiar with kings and moves about with
armies, and has no long retirements into unknown solitudes; and though
he could speak roughly to Jehoram, he is often on the friendliest
terms with him and with other sovereigns.
The stories of Elisha give us many interesting glimpses into the
social life of Israel in his day. As to their literal historic
accuracy, those must make positive affirmation who feel that they can
do so in accordance alike with adequate authority and with the
sacredness of truth. Many will be unable to escape the opinion that
they bear some resemblance to other Jewish haggadoth, written for
edification, with every innocent intention, in the schools of the
Prophets, but no more intended for perfectly literal acceptance in all
their details than the Life of St. Paul the Hermit, by St. Jerome; or
that of St. Antony, attributed erroneously to St. Athanasius; or that
of St. Francis in the Fioretti; or the lives of humble saints of the
people called _Kisar-el-anbiah_, which are so popular among poor
Mohammedans. Into that question there is no need to enter further.
_Abundet quisque in sensu suo._
I. On one occasion a widow of one of the Sons of the Prophets--for
these communities, though cœnobitic, were not celibate--came to him in
deep distress. Her husband--the Jews, with their usual guesswork,
most improbably identify him with Obadiah, the chamberlain of
Ahab[65]--had died insolvent. As she had nothing to pay, her creditor
under the grim provision of the law was about to exercise his right of
selling her two sons into slavery to recoup himself for the debt.[66]
Would Elisha help her?
Prophets were never men of wealth, so that he could not pay her debt.
He asked her what she possessed to satisfy the demand. "Nothing," she
said, "but a pot of the common oil, used for anointing the body after
a bath."
Elisha bade her go and borrow from her neighbours all the empty
vessels she could, then to return home, shut the door, and pour the
oil into the vessels.
She did so. They were all filled, and she asked her son to bring yet
another. But there was not another to be had, so she went out and told
the Man of God. He bade her sell the miraculously multiplied oil to
pay the debt, and live with her sons on the proceeds of what was over.
II. We next find Elisha at Shunem, famous as the abode of the fair
maiden--probably Abishag, the nurse of David's decrepitude--who is the
heroine of the Song of Songs. It is a village, now called Solam, on the
slopes of Little Hermon (Jebel-el-Duhy), three miles north of Jezreel.
At this place there lived a lady of wealth and influence, whose husband
owned the surrounding land. There were but few khans in Palestine, and
even where they now exist the traveller has in most cases to supply his
own food. Elisha, in his journeys to and fro among the schools of the
Prophets, had often enjoyed the welcome hospitality eagerly pressed
upon him by the lady of Shunem. Struck with his sacred character, she
persuaded her husband to take a step unusual even to the boundless
hospitality of the East. She begged him to do honour to this holy Man of
God by building for him a little chamber (_alîyah_) on the flat roof of
the house, to which he might have easy and private access by the outside
staircase.[67] The chamber was built, and furnished, like any other
simple Eastern room, with a bed, a divan to sit on, a table, and a lamp;
and there the weary prophet on his journeys often found a peaceful,
simple, and delightful resting-place.
Grateful for the reverence with which she treated him, and the kind
care with which she had supplied his needs, Elisha was anxious to
recompense her in whatever way might be possible. The thought of money
payment was of course out of the question: merely to hint at it would
have been a breach of manners. But perhaps he might be of use to her
in some other way. At this time, and for years afterwards during his
long ministry of perhaps fifty-six years, he was attended by a servant
named Gehazi, who stood to him in the same sort of relation which he
had held to Elijah. He told Gehazi to summon the Shunammite lady. In
the deep humility of Eastern womanhood she came and stood in his
presence. Even then he did not address her. So downtrodden was the
position of women in the East that any dignified person, much more a
great prophet, could not converse with a woman without compromising
his dignity. The more scrupulous Pharisees in the days of Christ
always carefully gathered up their garments in the streets, lest they
should so much as touch a woman with their skirts in passing by, as
the modern Chakams in Jerusalem do to this day.[68] The disciples
themselves, sophisticated by familiarity with such teachers, were
astonished that Jesus at the well of Shechem should talk with a
woman.[69] So, though the lady stood there, Elisha, instead of
speaking to her directly, told Gehazi to thank her for all the devout
respect and care, all 'the modesty of fearful duty,'[70] which she had
displayed towards them, and to ask her if he should say a good word
for her to the King or the Captain of the Host. This is just the sort
of favour which an Eastern would be likely to value most.[71] The
Shunammite, however, was well provided for; she had nothing to
complain of, and nothing to request. She thanked Elisha for his kindly
proposal, but declined it, and went away.
"Is there, then, nothing which we can do for her?" asked Elisha of
Gehazi.[72]
There was. Gehazi had learnt that the sorrow of her life--a sorrow and
a source of reproach to any Eastern household, but most of all to that
of a wealthy householder--was her childlessness.
"Call her," he said.
She came back, and stood reverently in the doorway. "When the time
comes round," he said to her, "you shall embrace a son."
The promise raised in her heart a thrill of joy. It was too precious
to be believed. "Nay," she said "my lord, thou Man of God, do not lie
unto thine handmaid."
But the promise was fulfilled, and the lady of Shunem became the happy
mother of a son.
III. The charming episode then passes over some years. The child had
grown into a little boy, old enough now to go out alone to see his
father in the harvest fields and to run about among the reapers. But as
he played about in the heat he had a sunstroke, and cried to his father,
"O my head, my head!" Not knowing how serious the matter was, his father
simply ordered one of his lads to carry the child home to his mother.
The fond mother nursed him tenderly upon her knees, but at noon he died.
Then the lady of Shunem showed all the faith and strength and wisdom of
her character. "The good Shunammite," says Bishop Hall, "had lost her
son; her faith she lost not." Overwhelming as was this calamity--the
loss of an only child--she suppressed all her emotions, and, instead of
bursting into the wild helpless wail of Eastern mourners, or rushing to
her husband with the agonising news, she took the little boy's body in
her arms, carried it up to the chamber which had been built for Elisha,
and laid it upon his bed. Then, shutting the door, she called to her
husband to send to her one of his reapers and one of the asses, for she
was going quickly to the Man of God and would return in the cool of the
evening. "Why should you go to-day particularly?" he asked. "It is
neither new moon, nor sabbath." "It is all right," she said;[73] and
with perfect confidence in the rectitude of all her purposes, he sent
her the she-ass, and a servant to drive it and to run beside it for her
protection on the journey of sixteen miles.
"Drive on the ass," she said. "Slacken me not the riding unless I tell
you." So with all possible speed she made her way--a journey of
several hours--from Shunem to Mount Carmel.
Elisha, from his retreat on the hill, marked her coming from a
distance, and it rendered him anxious. "Here comes the Shunammite," he
said to Gehazi. "Run to meet her, and ask Is it well with thee? is it
well with thy husband? is it well with the child?"
"All well," she answered, for her message was not to Gehazi, and she
could not trust her voice to speak; but pressing on up-hillwards, she
flung herself before Elisha and grasped his feet. Displeased at the
familiarity which dared thus to clasp the feet of his master, Gehazi ran
up to thrust her away by force, but Elisha interfered. "Let her alone,"
he cried; "she is in deep affliction, and Jehovah has not revealed to me
the cause." Then her long pent-up emotion burst forth. "Did I desire a
son of my lord?" she cried. "Did I not say do not deceive me?"
It was enough--though she seemed unable to bring out the dreadful
words that her boy was dead. Catching her meaning, Elisha said to
Gehazi, "Gird up thy loins, take my staff, and without so much as
stopping to salute any one, or to return a salutation,[74] lay my
staff on the dead child's face." But the broken-hearted mother
refused to leave Elisha. She imagined that the servant, the staff,
might be severed from Elisha; but she knew that wherever the prophet
was, there was power. So Elisha arose and followed her, and on the way
Gehazi met them with the news that the child lay still and dead, with
the fruitless staff upon his face.
Then Elisha in deep anguish went up to the chamber and shut the door,
and saw the boy's body lying pale upon his bed. After earnest prayer
he outstretched himself over the little corpse, as Elijah had done at
Zarephath. Soon it began to grow warm with returning life, and Elisha,
after pacing up and down the room, once more stretched himself over
him. Then the child opened his eyes and sneezed seven times, and
Elisha called to Gehazi to summon the mother.
"Take up thy son," he said. She prostrated herself at his feet in
speechless gratitude, and took up her recovered child, and went.
IV. We next find Elisha at Gilgal, in the time of the famine of which
we read his prediction in a later chapter.[75] The sons of the
prophets were seated round him, listening to his instructions; the
hour came for their simple meal, and he ordered the great pot to be
put on the fire for the vegetable soup, on which, with bread, they
chiefly lived. One of them went out for herbs, and carelessly brought
his outer garment (the _abeyah_)[76] full of wild poisonous
coloquinths,[77] which, by ignorance or inadvertence, were shred into
the pottage. But when it was cooked and poured out they perceived the
poisonous taste, and cried out, "O Man of God, death in the pot!"
"Bring meal," he said, for he seems always to have been a man of the
fewest words.
They cast in some meal, and were all able to eat of the now harmless
pottage. It has been noticed that in this, as in other incidents of
the story, there is no invocation of the name of Jehovah.
V. Not far from Gilgal was the little village of Baalshalisha,[78] at
which lived a farmer who wished to bring an offering of firstfruits
and _karmel_ (bruised grain) in his wallet to Elisha as a Man of
God.[79] It was a poor gift enough--only twenty of the coarse barley
loaves which were eaten by the common people, and a sack[80] full of
fresh ears of corn.[81] Elisha told his servitor[82]--perhaps
Gehazi--to set them before the people present. "What?" he asked, "this
trifle of food before a hundred men!" But Elisha told him in the
Lord's name that it should more than suffice; and so it did.
FOOTNOTES:
[65] Jos., _Antt._, IX. iv. 2. This perhaps is only suggested by the
reminiscences of 1 Kings xviii. 2, 3, 12.
[66] Lev. xxv. 39-41; Matt. xviii. 25.
[67] 2 Kings iv. 10. Not "a little chamber on the wall" (A.V.), but
"an _alîyah_ with walls" (margin, R.V.).
[68] Frankl., _Jews in the East_.
[69] John iv. 27: "Then came His disciples, and marvelled that He was
_talking_ (μετὰ γυναικὸς) _with a woman_."
[70] 2 Kings iv. 13: "Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all
this care" (LXX., πᾶσαν τὴν ἔκστασιν ταύτην).
[71] The Sheykh with whom I stayed at Bint es Jebeil could think of no
return which I could offer for his hospitality so acceptable as if I
would say a good word for him to the authorities at Beyrout.
[72] Gehazi is usually called the _na'ar_ or "lad" of Elisha--a term
implying lower service than Elisha's "ministry" to Elijah.
[73] 2 Kings iv. 23. Hebrew "Peace"; A.V., "It shall be well."
[74] Salutations occupy some time in the formally courteous East.
Comp. Luke x. 4.
[75] 2 Kings viii. 1.
[76] Not "lap," as in A. V. (Heb., _beged_); LXX. συνέλιξε πλῆρες τὸ
ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ; Vulg., _implevit vestem suam_ (both correctly).
[77] Heb., _paquoth_; LXX., τολύπην ἀγρίαν; Vulg; _colocynthidas
agri_. Hence the name _cucumis prophetarum_.
[78] Lord of the Chain and "Three lands." Three wadies meet at this
spot, a little west of Bethel.
[79] 2 Kings iv. 42. Karmel, Lev. ii. 14. Perhaps a sort of frumenty.
[80] The word for "wallet" (_tsiqlon_; Vulg., _pera_) occurs here
only. Peshito, "garment." The Vatican LXX. omits it. The Greek version
has ἐν κωρύκῳ αὐτοῦ.
[81] See Lev. ii. 14, xxiii. 14.
[82] 2 Kings iv. 43. The word for "his servitor" (_m'chartho_) is used
also of Joshua. It does not mean a mere ordinary attendant. LXX.,
λειτουργός; Vulg., _minister_.