Kings used to be all one book, so we pick up right where we left off. God judges Ahaziah....he had hurt himself in a fall, and wanted to consult the god Baal-Zebub, god of Ekron......Literally, a fatal mistake. Elijah prophesies against him and Ahaziah will never leave his bed....he gets ticked and sends groups of soldiers to Elijah, who is on top of a hill. God's fire comes down from heaven twice, until the 3rd captain begs for his life. Elijah makes sure that his message is sent and Ahaziah indeed dies in his bed...he had no son and Joram succeeded him.
Chapter 2 is wild...the prophets all know that Elijah is getting ready to be taken up to heaven...can you imagine? Elijah asks Elisha what he would like before he goes to heaven and Elijah wants a double portion of Elijah's spirit....scholars take this to mean the prophecy aspect of the ministry. Elijah doesn't have it in his power to give Elisha, but says if Elisha can see him taken up to heaven, he will have received his request...and indeed he does! Elijah never dies and is taken up to heave in a chariot of fire!!
Elisha does many miracles so that the people can see that Elijah's responsibilities have passed to Elisha...God is confirming him.
Joram becomes king of Israel and his evil like his father. Mesha, king of Moab decides to revolt (this actually happens when Ahab dies and Ahaziah did nothing about it...Jeram decides to do something about it) and 3 kings ride against him (king of Edom is under Judah's power since Edom was conquered). God is consulted (complete with a harp)...the battle goes against Moab and he sacrifices his firstborn son...
Elisha does more miracles: Widow's oil is produced to pay off debts and the Shunammite son is restored to life, poison stew is restored to healthy food and 100 are fed by bread (just wait until Jesus does the same miracle and feeds more than 5,000). All the miracles are done to the glory of God and not to the glory of Elisha.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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kinda cool how they parted the water.......
ReplyDeletenow this is kinda freaky how elisha sends two bears to attack the kids making fun of him.....that does not seem very "godly" or nice.......
did not reaalize someone other than Jesus had saved someone from illness or brought back to life.....heal someone from leprosy....never heard of this Elisha person until today.....kinda cool.....and this floating ax story.......can you imagine being able to see this?