The work of Elisha as a prophet was in some respects
very different from that of Elijah. To Elijah had been
committed messages of condemnation and judgment; his
was the voice of fearless reproof, calling king and people to
turn from their evil ways. Elisha's was a more peaceful
mission; his it was to build up and strengthen the work that
Elijah had begun; to teach the people the way of the Lord.
Inspiration pictures him as coming into personal touch
with the people, surrounded by the sons of the prophets,
bringing by his miracles and his ministry healing and
rejoicing.
Elisha was a man of mild and kindly spirit; but that he
could also be stern is shown by his course when, on the
way to Bethel, he was mocked by ungodly youth who had
come out of the city. These youth had heard of Elijah's
ascension, and they made this solemn event the subject of
their jeers, saying to Elisha, "Go up, thou bald head; go up,
thou bald head." At the sound of their mocking words the
prophet turned back, and under the inspiration of the
Almighty he pronounced a curse upon them. The awful
judgment that followed was of God. "There came forth
two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two" of
them. 2 Kings 2:23, 24.
Had Elisha allowed the mockery to pass unnoticed, he
would have continued to be ridiculed and reviled by the
rabble, and his mission to instruct and save in a time of
grave national peril might have been defeated. This one
instance of terrible severity was sufficient to command respect
throughout his life. For fifty years he went in and out of the
gate of Bethel, and to and fro in the land, from city to city,
passing through crowds of idle, rude, dissolute youth; but
none mocked him or made light of his qualifications as the
prophet of the Most High.
Even kindness should have its limits. Authority must be
maintained by a firm severity, or it will be received by many
with mockery and contempt. The so-called tenderness, the
coaxing and indulgence, used toward youth by parents and
guardians, is one of the worst evils which can come upon
them. In every family, firmness, decision, positive requirements,
are essential.
Reverence, in which the youth who mocked Elisha were
so lacking, is a grace that should be carefully cherished.
Every child should be taught to show true reverence for
God. Never should His name be spoken lightly or thoughtlessly.
Angels, as they speak it, veil their faces. With what
reverence should we, who are fallen and sinful, take it upon
our lips!
Reverence should be shown for God's representatives--
for ministers, teachers, and parents, who are called to speak
and act in His stead. In the respect shown them, God is
honored.
Courtesy, also, is one of the graces of the Spirit and
should be cultivated by all. It has power to soften natures
which without it would grow hard and rough. Those who
profess to be followers of Christ, and are at the same time
rough, unkind, and uncourteous, have not learned of Jesus.
Their sincerity may not be doubted, their uprightness may
not be questioned; but sincerity and uprightness will not
atone for a lack of kindness and courtesy.
The kindly spirit that enabled Elisha to exert a powerful
influence over the lives of many in Israel, is revealed in the
story of his friendly relations with a family dwelling at
Shunem. In his journeyings to and fro throughout the kingdom
"it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was
a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And
so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to
eat bread." The mistress of the house perceived that Elisha
was "an holy man of God," and she said to her husband:
"Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall;
and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool,
and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to
us, that he shall turn in thither." To this retreat Elisha
often came, thankful for its quiet peace. Nor was God
unmindful of the woman's kindness. Her home had been
childless; and now the Lord rewarded her hospitality by
the gift of a son.
Years passed. The child was old enough to be out in the
field with the reapers. One day he was stricken down by
the heat, "and he said unto his father, My head, my head."
The father bade a lad carry the child to his mother; "and
when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he
sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up,
and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the
door upon him, and went out."
In her distress, the Shunammite determined to go to
Elisha for help. The prophet was then at Mount Carmel,
and the woman, accompanied by her servant, set forth
immediately. "And it came to pass, when the man of God
saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold,
yonder is that Shunammite: run now, I pray thee, to meet
her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with
thy husband? is it well with the child?" The servant did
as he was bidden, but not till she had reached Elisha did the
stricken mother reveal the cause of her sorrow. Upon
hearing of her loss, Elisha bade Gehazi: "Gird up thy loins,
and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou
meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee,
answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of
the child."
But the mother would not be satisfied till Elisha himself
came with her. "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth,
I will not leave thee," she declared. "And he arose, and
followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid
the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither
voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him,
and told him, saying, The child is not awaked."
When they reached the house, Elisha went into the room
where the dead child lay, "and shut the door upon them
twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up, and
lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and
his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he
stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child
waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house
to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him:
and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his
eyes."
Calling Gehazi, Elisha bade him send the mother to him.
"And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take
up thy son. Then he went in, and fell at his feet, and
bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and
went out."
So was the faith of this woman rewarded. Christ, the
great Life-giver, restored her son to her. In like manner
will His faithful ones be rewarded, when, at His coming,
death loses its sting and the grave is robbed of the victory
it has claimed. Then will He restore to His servants the
children that have been taken from them by death. "Thus
saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation,
and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused
to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and
thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, . . .
and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And
there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children
shall come again to their own border." Jeremiah 31:15-17.
Jesus comforts our sorrow for the dead with a message
of infinite hope: "I will ransom them from the power of
the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will
be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction." Hosea
13:14. "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I
am alive for evermore, . . . and have the keys of hell and
of death." Revelation 1:18. "The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel,
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.
Like the Saviour of mankind, of whom he was a type,
Elisha in his ministry among men combined the work of
healing with that of teaching. Faithfully, untiringly, throughout
his long and effective labors, Elisha endeavored to foster
and advance the important educational work carried on by
the schools of the prophets. In the providence of God his
words of instruction to the earnest groups of young men
assembled were confirmed by the deep movings of the
Holy Spirit, and at times by other unmistakable evidences
of his authority as a servant of Jehovah.
It was on the occasion of one of his visits to the school
established at Gilgal that he healed the poisoned pottage.
"There was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets
were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant,
Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the
prophets. And one went out into the field to gather herbs,
and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds
his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of
pottage: for they knew them not. So they poured out for
the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of
the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of
God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat
thereof. But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into
the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may
eat. And there was no harm in the pot."
At Gilgal, also, while the dearth was still in the land,
Elisha fed one hundred men with the present brought to
him by "a man from Baalshalisha," "bread of the first fruits,
twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk
thereof." There were those with him who were sorely in
need of food. When the offering came, he said to his
servant, "Give unto the people, that they may eat. And his
servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred
men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat:
for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.
So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof,
according to the word of the Lord."
What condescension it was on the part of Christ, through
His messenger, to work this miracle to satisfy hunger! Again
and again since that time, though not always in so marked
and perceptible a manner, has the Lord Jesus worked to
supply human need. If we had clearer spiritual discernment
we would recognize more readily than we do God's
compassionate dealing with the children of men.
It is the grace of God on the small portion that makes
it all-sufficient. God's hand can multiply it a hundredfold.
From His resources He can spread a table in the wilderness.
By the touch of His hand He can increase the scanty provision
and make it sufficient for all. It was His power that
increased the loaves and corn in the hands of the sons of the
prophets.
In the days of Christ's earthly ministry, when He performed
a similar miracle in feeding the multitudes, the
same unbelief was manifested as was shown by those associated
with the prophet of old. "What!" said Elisha's servant;
"should I set this before an hundred men?" And when
Jesus bade His disciples give the multitude to eat, they
answered, "We have no more but five loaves and two fishes;
except we should go and buy meat for all this people."
Luke 9:13. What is that among so many?
The lesson is for God's children in every age. When the
Lord gives a work to be done, let not men stop to inquire
into the reasonableness of the command or the probable
result of their efforts to obey. The supply in their hands
may seem to fall short of the need to be filled; but in the
hands of the Lord it will prove more than sufficient. The
servitor "set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof,
according to the word of the Lord."
A fuller sense of God's relationship to those whom He
has purchased with the gift of His Son, a greater faith in
the onward progress of His cause in the earth--this is the
great need of the church today. Let none waste time in
deploring the scantiness of their visible resources. The
outward appearance may be unpromising, but energy and trust
in God will develop resources. The gift brought to Him
with thanksgiving and with prayer for His blessing, He will
multiply as He multiplied the food given to the sons of the
prophets and to the weary multitude.