Prophetically Speaking

When you think of Old Testament prophets, whom do you generally think of first?  It would probably be a pretty good bet that your first thought is Elijah, right? I am not at all surprised that would be the case.  After all, Elijah defeated 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah!  Plus he got caught up to heaven in a whirlwind riding in a chariot of fire.  That is pretty hard to beat.   After Elijah, you might think of Isaiah or maybe Jeremiah.  Then maybe you will think of Daniel or Ezekiel or one of the Minor Prophets.  Where, though, in your thinking would the prophet Elisha fall?  Would he line up with one of the “great” prophets, or is he just that guy who came after Elijah?

There’s no question that Elijah is one of the greatest Old Testament prophets, but in my estimation, I think Elisha gets a bad wrap in both the flannel board department as well as the pulpit.  He often gets overlooked when it comes to Old Testament heroes and role models.  For me, though, I would say he may be my favorite prophet.  Now admittedly, I find that the prospect of a bald prophet (2 Kings 2:23) is somewhat compatible to my way of thinking; but it’s more than just our mutual follicle impairment that attracts me to the likes of Elisha.

To make my point, let’s start with the end – his death.  2 Kings 13:20 says Elisha died and they buried him.  No fanfare or fuss – my man Elisha is jilted again – except for the fact that the King of Israel himself, Joash, grieved deeply over his loss.  The King of Israel considered Elisha as a father.  That’s pretty special.  Ahab never grieved over Elijah or treated him like a father.  Instead he called him a troublemaker – then again Ahab was evil whereas Joash was just.  Nevertheless, not much is said about the death of Elisha.  What’s more, they didn’t even give him the decency of having his own separate grave.  Now maybe it was their habit of having multiple bodies in every grave and maybe it wasn’t.  Maybe it was they just didn’t cover up his grave, which is equally as disrespectful.  Or maybe if I did a bit of historical research I would figure out exactly what was going on, but just two verses later another random person dies and because his pallbearers get frighten by a marauding band of Moabites, they just throw his body into Elisha’s (open?) grave.  What was the result?  The man comes back to life!  The dude comes back from the dead just by touching the bones of Elisha!  Now that is pretty amazing and is a fitting conclusion for the under-appreciated life of this prophet.

I think my own admiration of Elisha rests primarily in his faith, his faithfulness, and his humility.  When God tells Elijah to appoint Elisha as his successor (1 Kings 19), Elisha doesn’t just follow him.  Elisha kills all 12 yoke of oxen that he owns – his whole livelihood – gives the meat away and then leaves all to follow Elijah.  For Elisha, there was no turning back to the old life.  There was no safety net.  That takes faith.

Then, when it was time for Elijah to be called to heaven, Elisha steadfastly (or perhaps stubbornly) remained with Elijah to the end, asking only that God give him a double portion of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings 2).  Perhaps you missed the significance of that. I missed it for the longest time until one day I had an epiphany about Elisha’s faith.  Consider how well we love Elijah.  He was the big honcho prophet in the Old Testament.  He was so special that God took him to heaven in a whirlwind.  He was the one about which it was prophesied that he would come back.  Jesus considered John the Baptist to be the spirit of Elijah.  Elijah was “the man.”

Consider now what Elisha asked for. Elijah says to Elisha: “What can I do for you before I leave?”  Elisha’s response, in today’s vernacular: “I want to be twice the man you are!” It’s no wonder that Elijah’s response was (again in today’s vernacular): “Wow, that’s a tough one.”  Nevertheless, Elisha did receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.  In other words, Elisha came to be twice the prophet that Elijah was!  I know that is a silly, perhaps theologically incorrect, but most certainly human way of looking at things; but it got my attention. When I thought about how highly we esteem Elijah an then realize that Elisha was twice the prophet that Elijah was… it caused me to take a second look at this often overlooked prophet.

Elisha was a man of faith.  Elisha watched his hero and mentor separate the Jordan River by slapping his coat on the water.  A few hours later, after that coat was tossed from Elijah in the whirlwind, Elisha picked it up and slapped it down on the water – separating the waters again.  He never even thought twice about it.

From 2 Kings 2 till 2 Kings 13, we find story after story of Elisha’s faith.  There is the story of Elisha and the widow’s oil (OK, that one I remember from my flannel graph days).  There is the story of the Shunammite woman’s dead son coming back to life (I remember that one being on flannel graph as well).  So maybe we do tell some of his stories to our children, but we don’t really stop to think about his faith. By faith Elisha floated an axe head on water, removed poison from a stew, and healed Naaman of leprosy.  By faith, Elisha saw the multitudes of the armies of God surrounding the Syrian army (which had surrounded the city of Dothan) when no one else could see them.  By faith Elisha single-handedly led the entire Syrian army behind him victoriously into the capitol city – then mercifully let them all go free.  When the whole city of Samaria was starving and turning to cannibalism, Elisha’s faith in God allowed him to predict not only deliverance, but also an abundance of food within 24 hours.  Elisha’s faith was solid.

What I don’t find when I study the life of Elisha is any wavering of that faith.  Moses questioned God’s choice of his leadership.  Elijah’s faith waivered and he fled for his life.  Isaiah freaked out and fainted when he saw the vision of God (OK, I admit that I probably would faint as well). Jeremiah complained and got angry at God for putting him through so many trials.  Certainly there were other prophets who were faithful like Elisha, but I just find it pretty amazing that Elisha just quietly went about doing his prophet-thing without compromise or question.  He gets very few accolades.  He is mentioned only once in the New Testament (Luke 4:27).   But here’s the interesting part.  Elisha didn’t need accolades because his strength was not in his mighty works or his miracles or in man’s approval of him.  Elisha’s strength was in his faith – and his humility.  C.S. Lewis said that true humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  That was Elisha.

I want that kind of faith.  I want that kind of humility.  I doubt I will have occasion to float an axe head or purge my homemade chili of poison; but like many Christians my faith is not always as strong as it should be; and my pride is often much bigger than it should be.  I hate that I am this way, but I happen to like the accolades.  This itself is a sign of my lack of faith, because it says I need man’s approval more than I need God’s approval.  I am surprised that Elisha is not called out in the Hebrews 11 Faith Hall of Fame, but I doubt Elisha is offended at all. 

So I have to ask myself the question… what made Elisha so successful?  What can I learn from his life? What I learn from Elisha’s life that is most applicable to my life (and to yours) is the manner in which Elisha went about being obedient.  He didn’t make a big deal of his prophetic ministry.  He didn’t promote himself as anyone special.  He didn’t showboat or do anything fancy like challenge all the prophets of the false God’s to a duel before the whole assembly or wander around naked for years (not that those things are bad if God has called you to do them; if God called me to walk around naked… well, let’s just not go there).  Instead, Elisha just quietly went about doing God’s work.  It didn’t matter how big or how small that work was, he just did it and moved on to the next thing.

Elisha is someone we can look to as an example of how to walk by faith.  We don’t need to be looking for the culture-shattering thing God wants us to do.  We don’t need to be trying to make a name for ourselves – although admittedly, my publisher says that is precisely what I have to do in order to sell books (thus my own internal conflict and confusion).  We don’t need to be worrying about whatever it is we are supposed to be doing.  We are just supposed to go about the day doing whatever it is that God wants us to do today.  Simple, easy, steadfast faith.

Lord, I pray that you will help me have the faith of Elisha.  

As always, your comments are solicited and welcome.