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