Elisha

This article is about the prophet. For others with the same given name, seeElisha (given name).For the Nigerian model, beauty queen and fashion designer, seeMaryam Elisha.

Not to be confused withElijah,Elishah,orAisha.

Elisha Prophet
Elisha raising the Shunammite's son,early 1900s Bible Card illustration
Born	c. 910 BCE
Died	c. 800 BCE Samaria

Elisha(/əˈlaɪʃə/;Hebrew:אֱלִישָׁע,Modern:ʼElīšaʻ,Tiberian:ʼĔlīšāʻ,'MyGodis salvation' or 'God is my salvation';Koine Greek:Ἐλισ[σ]αῖοςElis[s]aîosor ἘλισαιέElisaié;Latin:Eliseus) was, according to theHebrew Bible,aJewishprophetand awonder-worker.His name is commonly transliterated intoEnglishasElishaviaHebrew,EliseusviaGreekandLatin,orAlyasaviaArabic,andElyasaorElyesaviaTurkish.Also mentioned in theNew Testamentand theQuran,^{[6:86][38:48]}Elisha is venerated as a prophet inJudaism,ChristianityandIslamand writings of theBahá'í Faithrefer to him by name.

Before he settled inSamaria,Elisha passed some time onMount Carmel.He served from 892 until 832 BCE as an advisor to thethirdthrough theeighthkings ofJudah,holding the office of "prophet in Israel". He is called apatriotbecause of his help to soldiers and kings.

In the biblical narrative, he is a disciple and protégé ofElijah,and after Elijah was taken up in awhirlwind,Elisha received a double portion of his power and he was accepted as the leader of the sons of the prophets. Elisha then went on to perform twice as many miracles as Elijah.

Scholars hold different opinions regarding the historical background, composition and social context of the Elisha narratives.The stories give unique insights into thefolk religionof theKingdom of Israel.

Bible stories

Map of Palestine during the times of Elisha.

The story of Elisha is told in theHebrew Bible/Old Testamentin1 Kings 19and2 Kings 2through2 Kings 9,ending in2 Kings 13.He is mentioned again in theNew TestamentinLuke 4(Luke 4:27).

Anointing

Elisha's story is related in theBooks of Kings(Second Scroll, chapters 2–14)in theHebrew Bible(part of theNevi'im). According to this story, he was a prophet and a wonder-worker of theKingdom of Israelwho was active during the reigns ofJoram,Jehu,Jehoahaz,andJehoash(Joash).Elisha was the son ofShaphat,a wealthy land-owner ofAbel-meholah;he became the attendant and disciple of Elijah.

His name first occurs in chapter 19 of the Books of Kings in the command given to Elijah toanointhim as his successor. After learning in thecaveonMount Horeb,that Elisha, the son of Shaphat, had been selected byYahwehas his successor in the prophetic office, Elijah set out to find him. On his way from Mount Horeb toDamascus,Elijah found Elisha ploughing with twelve yokes of oxen.Elijah went over to him, threw hismantleover Elisha's shoulders, investing him with the prophetic office.Elisha delayed only long enough to kill the yoke of oxen, whose flesh he boiled with the wood of his plough. After he had shared this farewell repast with his father, mother, and friends, the newly chosen prophet "went after Elijah, and ministered unto him".Elisha became Elijah's close attendant until Elijahentered heaven alive,although no details of Elisha are given during those years.

Elijah taken in the whirlwind

Ein es-Sultanin Jericho (also known as "Elisha's Spring" ), believed to be the fountain purified by Elisha in2 Kings 2:19–22, now inside a protective building.

Elisha accompanied Elijah toJericho,where according to2 Kings 2:3–9,"the sons of the prophets" tell Elisha that the LORDwould "will take away thy master from thy head to-day".

The story of the departure of Elijah and of Elisha inheriting his powers is told in2 Kings 6–15.Elijah and Elisha went to theJordan River.Elijah rolls up his mantle and strikes the water, the waters of which divided so as to permit both to pass over on dry ground. Elisha asks to "inherit a double-portion" of Elijah's spirit. Suddenly, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and Elijah was lifted up in a whirlwind. As Elijah was lifted up, his mantle fell to the ground and Elisha picked it up. This is the second time that Elisha comes in contact with his teacher's mantle, which as a cultic vestment is associated with prophetic might and authority.

Some scholars see this as indicative of the property inheritance customs of the time, where the oldest son received twice as much of the father's inheritance as each of the younger sons. In this interpretation Elisha is asking that he may be seen as the "rightful heir" and successor to Elijah.Critics of this view point out that Elisha was already appointed as Elijah's successor earlier in the narrative and that Elisha is described as performing twice as many miracles as Elijah. In this interpretation the "double-portion" is not merely an allusion to primacy in succession, but is instead a request for greater prophetic power even than Elijah.

Miracles

Elisha Refusing the Gifts ofNaaman,byPieter de Grebber1630

By means of the mantle left to fall from Elijah, Elisha miraculously recrossed the Jordan and returned to Jericho, where he won the gratitude of the people by purifying the unwholesome waters of their spring and making them drinkable.

When the armies ofJudah,Israel andEdom,then allied againstMesha,theMoabiteking, were being tortured by drought in theIdumeandesert, Elisha consented to intervene. His double prediction regarding relief from drought and victory over the Moabites was fulfilled on the following morning.

When a group of boys (or youths)from Bethel taunted the prophet for his baldness, Elisha cursed them in the name ofYahwehand two female bears came out of the forest and tore forty-two of the boys.

To relieve a prophet's widow importuned by a harsh creditor, Elisha multiplied a little oil as to enable her not only to pay her debt but to provide for her family needs.Jewish tradition identifies the widow's husband asObadiah,the servant ofKing Ahab,who hid 100 prophets of Yahweh in two caves.

According to1 Kings 17,Elijah resuscitateda Phoenician boyin the city ofZarephath.In thesecond Book of Kings,Elisha obtained fora rich lady of Shunemthe birth of a son. When the child died some years later, Elisha successfullyresuscitated the child.

A Famine in Samaria(illustration byGustave Doréfrom the 1866La Sainte Bible)

To nourish the sons of the prophets pressed by famine, Elisha changed a pottage made from poisonousgourdsinto wholesome food.He fed a hundred men with twenty loaves of newbarley,leaving some leftover,in a story which is comparable with themiracles of Jesusin theNew Testament.

Elisha cured the Syrian military commanderNaamanofleprosybut punished his own servantGehazi,who took money from Naaman.Naaman, at first reluctant, obeyed Elisha, and washed seven times in theRiver Jordan.Finding his flesh "restored like the flesh of a little child", the general was so impressed by this evidence of God's power, and by the disinterestedness of his prophet, as to express his deep conviction that "there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel."Elisha allowed Naaman to continue in the service of the Syrian king and therefore be present in the worship ofRimmonin the Syrian temple. According to theGospel of Luke,Jesusreferred to Naaman's healing 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."

Elisha's actions included repeatedly saving KingJehoram of Israelfrom the ambushes planned byBenhadad,ordering the elders to shut the door against the messenger of Israel's ungrateful king,bewildering with a strange blindness the soldiers of the Syrian king,making iron float to relieve from embarrassment a son of a prophet,and confidently predicting the sudden flight of the enemy at the siege of Samaria and the consequent cessation of the famine in the city,

Elisha then journeyed to Damascus and prophesied thatHazaelwould be king over Syria.Elisha directs one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, the son ofJehoshaphat,as king of Israel, and commissions him to cut off the house of Ahab.The death of Jehoram, pierced by an arrow from Jehu's bow, the end ofJezebel,and the slaughter of Ahab's seventy sons, proved how he executed that demand.

Elisha's final days

The miracle at the grave of Elisha. (Jan Nagel,1596)

While Elisha lay on his death-bed in his own house,Jehoash of Israel,the grandson of Jehu, came to mourn over his approaching departure, and uttered 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".Jehoash assists Elisha to fire an arrow eastwards from the window of his room, predicting as it lands:

The arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians atAphektill you have destroyed them.

Elisha predicted three successful battles over the Arameans, but no absolute victory.2 Kings 13:25records three victories of Joash whereby cities lost to the Arameans, probably on thewest bankof the Jordan, were regained.

According to the Books of Kings the year after Elisha's death and burial (or, in the following spring) a body was placed in his grave. As soon as the body touched Elisha's remains the man "revived and stood up on his feet".

Veneration

Elisha raises the Shunamite woman's son,woodcut by Julius von Carolsfeld (1794–1872)

Elisha isveneratedas asaintin a number of Christian churches. Hisfeast dayis on June 14, on theEastern Orthodox,andEastern Catholicliturgical calendars(for those churches which use the traditionalJulian calendar,June 14 falls on June 27 of the modernGregorian calendar). TheArmenian Apostolic Churchcommemorates his feast day on the Thursday following the fifth Sunday afterPentecost(July 1 in 2021).John of Damascuscomposed acanonin honor of Elisha, and a church was built atConstantinoplein his honor.

InWestern ChristianityElisha is commemorated in the calendar of saints of theCarmelites,aCatholic religious order,following a decree of the CarmeliteGeneral Chapterof 1399.He is also commemorated as a prophet in theCalendar of Saintsof theLutheran Church–Missouri Synod.Both calendars also celebrate him on June 14. Both the Orthodox and Roman Catholics believe that he was unmarried and celibate.

Julian the Apostate(361–363) gave orders to burn therelicsof the prophets Elisha,ObadiahandJohn the Baptist,who were buried next to each other inSebastia,but they were rescued by the Christians, and part of them were transferred toAlexandria.Today, the relics of Elisha are claimed to be among the possessions of theCoptic OrthodoxMonastery of Saint Macarius the GreatinScetes,Egypt.

Elisha is commemorated on 20 June – translation of the relics and garments of the ApostlesLuke,Andrew,andThomas,the Prophet Eliseus, and Martyr Lazarus of Persia foundc. 960,during the time of the emperorRomanos Lakapenos(919–944) in a monastery of Saint Augusta into theChurch of the Holy Apostlesin Constantinople underEmperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus(c. 956–970) bySaint Patriarch Polyeuctus of Constantinople(956–970).

Eliseus is also commemorated on July 20 withAaron,Eliasand Moses.

In Islam

Main article:Elisha in Islam

Elisha (Arabic:اليسع,romanized:al-yasaʿ) is venerated as aprophetin all ofIslam,and is prophetic successor toElijah(Arabic:Ilyās). Elisha is mentioned twice in theQuranas a prophet,alongside fellow prophets.According to the Quran, Elisha is exalted "above the worlds (or to their people)" (Arabic:فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى ٱلْعَالَمِين,romanized:faḍḍalnā ʿala l-ʿālamīn(a))and is "among the excellent" (Arabic:مِنَ ٱلْأَخْيَار,romanized:mina l-akhyār(i)).Islamic sources that identify Elisha withKhidrcite the strong relationship between al-Khidr and Elijah in Islamic tradition.

Some Muslims believe the tomb of Elisha is inAl-Awjamin the eastern region ofSaudi Arabia.The shrine was removed by theSaudi Governmentbecause such veneration is not in accordance with theWahhabiorSalafireform movement dominant in Saudi Arabia.It had been an important landmark for many centuries during the time ofOttoman Arabia,and had been a very popular pilgrimage destination for Muslims of all sects throughout the pre-modern period.

See also

• Biblical narratives and the Quran
• Elisha, patron saint archive
• Legends and the Quran
• Prophets and messengers in Islam
• Tel Rehov

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Eliseus".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Further reading

Islamic view

• Amina Adil,Gaben des Lichts. Die wundersamen Geschichten der Gesandten Gottes(Kandern im Schwarzwald 1999), 563–73
• al-Farrāʾ,Maʿānī al-Qurʾān,ed. Aḥmad Yūsuf Najātī and Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Najjār (Cairo 1955–71), 2:407–8
• Josef Horovitz,Koranische Untersuchungen(Berlin and Leipzig 1926), 99, 101
• al-Khūshābī,ʿArāʾis al-Qurʾān wa-nafāʾis al-furqān wa-farādīs al-jinān,ed. Saʿīd ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ (Beirut 2007), 167–9
• al-Kisāʾī,Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ,ed. Isaac Eisenberg (Leiden 1922–3), 199–205, trans. Wheeler M. Thackston Jr.,The tales of the prophets of al-Kisaʾi(Boston 1978), 269
• al-Majlisī,Biḥār al-anwār(Beirut 1983), 13:396–403
• al-Maqdisī,al-Muṭahhar b. Ṭāhir, al-Badʾ wa-l-taʾrīkh,ed. Clément Huart (Paris 1903), 3:100
• al-Rabghūzī,Stories of the prophets,ed. Hendrik E. Boeschoten, M. Vandamme, and Semih Tezcan (Leiden 1995), 2:460
• Sibṭ b. al-Jawzī,Mirʾāt al-zamān fī taʾrīkh al-aʿyān,ed. Iḥsān ʿAbbās (Beirut 1985), 1:460, 466
• al-Ṭabarī,Taʾrīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk,ed. M. J. de Goeje et al. (Leiden 1879–1901), 1:542–4, trans. William M. Brinner,The history of al-Ṭabarī, vol. 4, The Children of Israel(Albany 1991), 124–5
• al-Thaʿlabī,Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ(Cairo 1954), 259–61, trans. William M. Brinner,ʿArāʾis al-Majālis fī Qiṣaṣ al-AnbiyāʾorLives of the prophets, as recounted by Abū Isḥāq Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Thaʿlabī(Leiden 2002), 432–35.

External links

• Prophet Elisha in Carmelite TraditionArchived2015-02-15 at theWayback Machine
• Prophet ElishaOrthodoxiconandsynaxarion