1-18 Elijah Denounces Ahaziah
- After Ahab's death, Moab rebels against Israel.
- King Ahaziah (the son of Ahab) has fallen and been injured, so he sends messengers to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether or not he will recover. An angel has told Elijah of their mission, so Elijah meets the messengers and tells them that Ahaziah will not recover.
- The messengers deliver the message to Ahaziah. When they describe the prophet (a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist), he knows it is Elijah.
- He sends 50 soldiers to where Elijah sits at the top of a hill, and the captain tells him to come down. Elijah: If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. Ahaziah sends another 50, and the same thing happens. Ahaziah's not easily impressed, apparently.
- The captain of the 3rd group of 50 pleads with Elijah for mercy, so the angel tells Elijah it's safe to go back to the king with him.
- When Elijah goes to the king, he has exactly the same message he had before: You will not leave your bed; you will surely die.
- Ahaziah dies and is succeeded by his brother, Jehoram. It is the 2nd year of the reign of the other Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat. Interesting. Ahab and Jehoshaphat were apparently so close their sons have the same name!
1-12 Elijah Ascends to Heaven
- Elijah and Elisha are on their way from Gilgal to Bethel. Elijah tells Elisha to remain, but Elisha insists on going with him. When they get there, a prophet tells Elisha that God is about to take Elijah away from him, and Elisha shushes him.
- The same thing happens in Jericho -- Elijah tells Elisha not to go with him, Elisha does anyway, and another prophet delivers the same message. Elisha: "Yes, I know. Be silent."
- They go on to the Jordan, accompanied by 50 prophets, who watch from a distance while Elijah rolls up his mantle and strikes the water, which parts for him and Elisha as they cross on dry ground.
- Elijah asks Elisha if he has any requests before Elijah leaves him. He asks for a double share of Elijah's spirit. Elijah: That's a hard thing for me to give. If you see me as I am taken away, it is yours. If not, then it's not.
- As they continue to "walk and talk," a chariot and horses of fire separate them, and Elijah ascends in a whirlwind. Elisha cries out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"He watches until Elijah disappears, then he tears his clothes in half.
- Elisha picks up Elijah's mantle, strikes the river, which parts, and he goes back on dry land.
- The prophets, who have been watching him cross the river, recognize that he has Elijah's spirit. They offer to go look for Elijah's body. Elisha tells them not to bother. They convince him to let them do it anyway, but after 3 days they find nothing. Elisha: I told you so.
- In the city, the people come to Elisha and complain about their water. He asks for a new bowl with salt in it, takes it and throws it into their spring of water, and purifies it. "Neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it."
- As he's going to Bethel, small boys come out of the city, jeering him, calling him "bald head" and telling him to leave (KJV - "go up, go up!") He curses them, and two female bears come out of the woods and maul 42 of the boys. 42 of them? How many were there? At first, it seems that Elisha is just vindictive, being hurt by their insults. But what they're doing is rejecting him as a prophet of God. They don't want his influence in their town, so they're actually rejecting God. I had always pictured a few young idle boys -- but this is a mob of young men with a purpose, not a gang of naughty 10- to 12-year-olds.
there came forth little children out of the city--that is, the idolatrous, or infidel young men of the place, who affecting to disbelieve the report of his master's translation, sarcastically urged him to follow in the glorious career.
bald head--an epithet of contempt in the East, applied to a person even with a bushy head of hair. The appalling judgment that befell them was God's interference to uphold his newly invested prophet.
- From Bethel Elisha goes up to Mount Carmel and then to Samaria.
1-3 Jehoram's Reign over Israel
- Begins reigning in the 18th year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah and reigns 12 years.
- He is evil like Ahab and Jeroboam before him, but he does manage to remove a pillar of Baal his father had built.
- After the death of Ahab, King Mesha of Moab who has in the past supplied Israel with 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams, rebels against Israel.
- Jehoram calls on Jehoshaphat for help, and Jehoshaphat agrees. He says the same thing to Jehoram he had to Ahab: "My people are your people, my horses your horses." (Remember, this is Jehoshaphat's daughter-in-law's brother.)
- The two kings, plus the king of Edom, set out for Moab and encircle it for 7 days, but there is no water for the animals. Jehoram fears they will be taken by Moab, and Jehoshaphat suggests they inquire of God what to do. He asks for a prophet of God.
- One of Jehoram's servants suggests Elisha, Elijah's protege.
- When they go to Elisha, he wonders why they have come to him instead of to Ahab's or Jezebel's prophets. Jehoram replies that it is the LORD who has given them this mission to defeat Moab.
- For Jehoshaphat's sake, Elisha takes their case. He calls for a musician to help him "get the spirit." He tells them the wadi will be filled with water, but without rain. But this is "only a trifle" for God. God will also help them conquer Moab.
- In the meantime, the Moabites gather early in the morning to fight, using every man who can wear armor. The sun shining on the water makes it appear like it's full of blood, so they suppose the kings have killed each other. They rush upon the Israelite camp, only to be attacked and chased back by Israel.
- They demolish Moab, as Elisha has predicted, covering the good land with stones and stopping up the springs of water.
- The king of Moab attempts to break through Edom's army with 700 of his men, but fails. So he takes his firstborn son and offers him as a burnt offering on the wall still left standing.
- In anger, the armies of
2 Kings 4
1-7 Elisha and Widow's oil
- A widow of one of the prophets comes to Elisha for help, because a creditor is about to take her children as slaves.
- He tells her to take all she has -- one jar of oil -- borrow all the empty vessels she can from her neighbors, go inside her house, and start pouring her jar of oil into the empty vessels. She does so. When all the vessels are full, the oil stops flowing. Elisha tells her to sell the oil and pay off all her debts.
- As Elisha passes through Shunem, a wealthy woman offers him a meal. It eventually becomes part of his routine to stop at her house to eat.
- The woman suggests to her husband that, since Elisha seems to be a man of God, they make a roof chamber for him to stay in when he's passing through.
- At one of his stays, Elisha sends his servant Gehazi for the woman, then asks her what he can do for her. She doesn't have an answer, but Gehazi does: Give this barren woman a son. Elisha promises that to her, and she conceives and bears a son.
- When the child is older, he complains of a headache. It's serious, and he dies in his mother's lap. She carries him to Elisha's chambers and lays him on Elisha's bed. She immediately calls for a donkey and travels to Mount Carmel for Elisha.
- Seeing her, Elisha sends Gehazi to her, but she doesn't tell Gehazi what's wrong, she goes to Elisha, takes hold of his feet, and says, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?" Elisha sends Gehazi with his staff to check on the boy, but the mother refuses to return home without Elisha.
- Gehazi is unable to raise the boy with Elisha's staff, so when they arrive, Elisha goes in to the room, closes the door and prays, covering the body with his own until it begins to warm. He paces for a while, bends over the child again, and the child sneezes 7 times. He calls the woman to take her son, and she comes, bowing at Elisha's feet, then takes her son and leaves.
38-41 Elisha Purifies a Pot of Stew
- He comes to Gilgal where there is a famine.
- He tells his servant to make a stew, and one of the prophets gathers wild herbs and wild gourds, not knowing exactly what they are. As they eat the stew, one cries out that there is death in the stew. Elisha requests flour to be brought. They put it in the stew, and it becomes okay to eat.
- A man from Baal-shalishah brings 20 loaves of barley and ears of grain to Elisha. Elisha instructs his servant to feed the people with it.
- The servant doesn't think there's enough for 100 people, but Elisha repeats his request. Sure enough, there's enough to go around with some left over.
1-19 The Healing of Naaman
- Naaman, commander of the the Aramean (Syrian) army and a highly favored man, has leprosy. His wife's servant is a captive from Israel. The servant tells him of a prophet in Samaria who can heal him.
- With permission from the king, Naaman travels to see the king of Israel with gifts of 10 talents of silver, 6000 shekels of gold and 10 sets of garments. The king (it must be Jeroham) sees it as a threat and tears his clothes.
- Elisha hears of it and requests for Naaman to come see him. He comes with his horses and chariots to Elisha's house. Elisha doesn't come out to meet him, but sends a servant to tell Naaman to go wash in the Jordan River 7 times -- simple as that.
- Naaman becomes angry because Elisha not only doesn't come out and wave his hand over him, as he expected, he tells him to wash in the waters of Israel, claiming they have better rivers in Damascus.
- His servants convince him that if it had been something more difficult, he would have done it. He gives in, goes to the Jordan, immerses himself 7 times, and his flesh becomes like that of a young boy.
- He returns to Elisha, "the man of God," and confesses his conviction that Israel's God is the only God in the earth, and offers Elisha a gift to Elisha, which he refuses. He asks for two loads of earth, however, to take with him, and vows not to sacrifice to any other god, with the exception of bowing before Rimmon when he accompanies the king to the house of Rimmon.
- Elisha tells him to "go in peace."
- After Naaman leaves, Gehazi decides Elisha has let Naaman off too easily by not accepting his gifts. So he runs after Naaman's chariot, and when Naaman stops, Gehazi makes up a story about visiting prophets who need money and clothes. Naaman gives him 2 talents of silver and 2 changes of clothing, and sends his servants with Gehazi to carry them.
- When Elisha questions Gehazi about his absence, he denies everything. But Elisha is not fooled, and inflicts Gehazi with Naaman's leprosy. He leaves Elisha white as snow.
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