· Q1: Were Elijah and Elisha prophets, priests or kings?
· Q2: Who ministered first – Elisha or Elijah?
· Q3: In the O.T, are there more chapters devoted to Elijah or Elisha?
· Q4: Did they serve in the northern kingdom of Israel or Judah in the south?
· Q5: Which of these two did the most miracles?
· Q6: Does Elisha mean ‘God is salvation’ or ‘Yahweh is God’?
· Q7: Which of the two men is mentioned in the New Testament?
Elisha Facts
· Elisha was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who was active during the reign of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash (Joash).
· Elisha was the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah;
· For sixty years (892–832 BC) held the office of "prophet in Israel" (2 Kings 5:8).
Elisha’s Call to Ministry
· Elisha accepted this call about four years before the death of Israel's King Ahab.
· In what way(s), do we today fail to ‘burn the plows’ when making a commitment to the Lord?
· What ‘plows’ remain to ‘burn’ in your life?
Elijah ‘Leaves the Scene’
· Elisha’s Determination
· The Mantle
· Elisha Relents
Significant Miracles
· When a group of ‘children’ from Bethel taunted the prophet for his baldness, Elisha cursed them in the name of God and two female bears came out of the forest and mauled 42 of them (2 Kings 2:23–25).
· What? Huh?
· How does this make sense?
· “Young lads” The KJV has “little children” which really misses the meaning here. These were not children, but young men. The word “lads” is the Hebrew “naar” and was used of servants, of soldiers and of Isaac when he was 28 years old.
More Significant Miracles
· Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:1–19).
· Jesus referred to this event when he said, "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:27).
· Punishment of Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20–27)
Many More Miracles
· Multiplied a little oil enabling a woman to pay her indebtedness and provide for her family needs (2 Kings 4:1–7).
· Rewarded the Shunamite woman for her hospitality by obtaining for her from Jehovah, at first the birth of a son, and subsequently the resurrection of her child (2 Kings 4:8–37).
· Changed into wholesome food the pottage made from poisonous gourds (2 Kings 4:38–41).
And Many More Miracles
· Repeatedly saves King Jehoram of Israel from the ambushes (2 Kings 6:8–23, 2 Kings 6:25–32),
· Bewildered with a strange blindness the soldiers of the Syrian king (2 Kings 6:13–23),
· Made iron float to relieve from embarrassment a son of a prophet (2 Kings 6:1–7),
· Predicted the sudden flight of the enemy and the consequent cessation of the famine (2 Kings 7:1–20),
· Unmasked the treachery of Hazael (2 Kings8:7–15),
· Healed the spring of water by casting salt into it (2 Kings 2:21).
· Asks for a fall of rain when the army of Jehoram was faint from thirst (2 Kings 3:9–20).
· Multiplying the twenty loaves of new barley into a sufficient supply for a hundred men (2 Kings 4:42–44).
· Recovers an axe lost in the waters of the Jordan (2 Kings 6:1–7).
· He administered the miracle at Dothan, half-way on the road between Samaria and Jezreel, and at the siege of Samaria by the king of Syria, Elisha prophesied about the terrible sufferings of the people of Samaria and their eventual relief (2 Kings 6:24–7:2).
Critical Figure in Israel’s Political & Spiritual Life
· Elisha then journeyed to Damascus and prophesied that Hazael would be king over Syria (2 Kings 8:7–15)
· Thereafter he directs one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, instead of Ahab. Mindful of the order given to Elijah (1 Kings 19:16).
· Elisha delegated a son of one of the prophets to quietly anoint Jehu King of Israel, and to commission him to cut off the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9:1–10).
· The death of Joram, pierced by an arrow from Jehu's bow, the ignominious end of Jezabel, the slaughter of Ahab's seventy sons, proved how faithfully executed was the Divine command (2 Kings9:11–10:30).
· After predicting to Joash his victory over the Syrians at Aphek, as well as three other subsequent victories, ever bold before kings, ever kindly towards the lowly, "Elisha died, and they buried him" (2 Kings 13:14–20).
Elisha Rests
· While Elisha lies on his death-bed in his own house (2 Kings 13:14–19). Joash, the grandson of Jehu, comes to mourn over his approaching departure, and utters the same words as those of Elisha when Elijah was taken away, indicating his value to him: "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.“
· The very touch of his corpse served to resuscitate a dead man. After his death, a dead body was laid in Elisha's grave. No sooner does it touch Elisha's bones than the man "revived, and stood up on his feet" (2 Kings 13:20–21).
The Elisha Commitment
"As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." (2 Kings 2:6)
· www.Bible.org (word study)
· www.JesusPlusNothing.com (quiz and other commentary)
· www.Wikipedia.org (facts and references)
· www.BibleGateway.com (references)
