Some Miracles of Elisha
Joyce Webb 2019
II Kings 1—- and more
Elisha was the prophet/ preacher who followed Elijah.
After Elijah went up into heaven, Elisha became the main prophet.
There were others, but Elisha is now the main one.
Here are some of the miracles that God did for Elisha.
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Elisha was visiting a group of men learning to be preachers/ prophets.
They said to Elisha, this town is very nice, but the water is very bad.
Elisha told them to bring to him a jar of water. Elisha put some salt into the water in the jar.
Then he went out to the well/spring and poured the salty water into it, he prayed, Let the waters of this well/spring be healed.
After that, the water was good water.
(We usually would not want to put salt in water to make it better. So Elisha was using this as symbol or sign to remember what God did.)
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The king of Judah and the king of Israel came to see Elisha.
The wanted to know if they should go into battle with the Moab army.
Elisha told them to go, that God would be with them.
Elisha said, The Lord God says to make ditches in this valley.
You will not feel wind, nor see rain, but the Lord is going to fill the ditches and the valley with water.
You and your animals can drink the water. And God was going to use it to help you fight the Moab army.
In the morning, the valley was full of water.
When the Moab army heard that the army of Judah, and Israel were gathered together to fight. They went out to the valley.
The valley was covered with water, the sun shone bright on it and made it look red like blood.
When the Moab army looked across at the valley, it looked like great pools of blood.
The Moab army said —The two armies of Judah and Israel must have had a fight and killed each other. The kings must have been killed, too, with all this blood.
So they ran down into the valley thinking they were going to steal the food and weapons and tents and things that Judah and Israel had.
But when they got there, all Judah and Israel were alive and waiting for them. They began to kill the Moab soldiers and chase them. Judah and Israel won the battle that day.
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One of the wives of the prophets came to Elisha. She was sad and upset.
Her husband had died. She now had no money. She had to borrow money from other people.
Now they wanted her to pay back the money but she did not have any.
They told her they would take her two sons and the sons would have to work for them for free for many years.
The woman said—What can I do?
Elisha asked her what she did have. She said she had one pot of olive oil.
Elisha told her to go to her neighbors and borrow every jar, pot, or bowl that they would let her use.
The he told her to pour oil into all of them.
So she borrowed all the pots she could get. She began to pour oil from her one pot of oil.
The oil kept coming—she poured, and poured, until she had all those pots, jars, and bowls were full.
God made the oil keep pouring until they were all full.
Then Elisha told her to sell all the oil that she poured. There was a lot of oil. So she was able to get a lot of money from it.
She was able to pay back the money she owed, and she had enough left to live on for a long time.
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Elisha traveled around the country a lot. He often stayed at this one house. There was a woman and she had a husband who was very old.
One day when Elisha was there, the woman said, we want to make a extra room for you to stay in, so when you are traveling and need a place to stay, you can have your own room.
This was a nice thing to do. Elisha was very thankful for it.
One time when he was there, Elisha and his servant were talking. Elisha said, It was so nice of her to make this room, what can we do for her.
His servant said, She does not have a child, and her husband is very old.
(Remember–back long ago—-woman did not work outside the home. If a woman’s husband died, she depended on her children and especially her sons, to keep her.)
(So this woman has no children, and her husband is old and when he dies, she will have no one to take care of her.)
Elisha talked to the woman. He told her that because she had been so kind to him, he wanted to do something for her.
He said that next year at this time, you will have a son. (Elisha knew that God would hear his prayer and would make this happen for her.)
The woman was so surprised to hear that God would let her get pregnant and have a son.
At first, she said to Elisha, Oh, please, do not lie to me.
But a year later, she had a son.
The child grew. One day, the boy was out in the field with his father. His head started hurting very bad. His father carried him into the house.
At noon the boy died. The mother put the dead boy on Elisha’s bed.
Then she and a servant went to find Elisha. He was at Mount Carmel.
Elisha’s servant man saw her and ran to her to see what she needed, but she would not talk to him.
She went on until she saw Elisha. Elisha said let her come to me, she is very sad and upset. God has not told me what is wrong.
Let her come and talk to me.
So the woman told him what happened. The woman was so upset, she said, I told you, do not lie to me, now look, my son is gone and I have no son.
Elisha told his servant to go on ahead and pray for the boy and put Elisha’s walking stick on the boy’s body.
The mother said to Elisha, I will not leave you. I will stay with you until you come.
The servant got to the house first. He put Elisha’s staff (walking stick) on the boy and prayed. But nothing happened.
Elisha went to the boy. Elisha lay down over the boy.
He put his mouth to the boy’s mouth, he put his eyes to the boy’s eyes, he put his hands to the boy’s hands, —–he prayed. The boy’s body began to get warm, but he did not open his eyes or breathe.
Elisha went out and walked around and prayed.
Then he went to the boy again, and lay upon the boy’s body again, and prayed. Then the boy sneezed 7 times, and opened his eyes.
Elisha called in the mother and said, Here is your son.
The woman was so happy.
(Notice: Elisha had to pray several times before God answered prayer. And God did not answer prayer that the servant prayed.
The woman had a lot of faith in Elisha’s prayers. She did not want the servant to come and pray, she wanted Elisha and only Elisha.
And still–Elisha had to pray many times before God answered.)
Why? I do not know. But we see this in the Bible different times.
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One day Elisha was with a group of the men studying to be prophets.
They did not have much to eat. One of the men went out in the field to get “greens” and plants to help make more of the soup.
But when they started eating it they began to see that it was not good. The plants that the man got were not good to eat.
They told Elisha. He put some meal—like cornmeal or some kind of flour in the soup pot. Then the soup was ok. No one got sick.
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Later, a man came to bring some food to the prophets to eat. He did not have very much, but he brought what he could.
The group had 100 men in it. The food the man brought was not enough to feed all those men.
Elisha told him, go and feed the men, it will be enough and there will be some left over.
All the men ate as much as they wanted. The food kept on going
until all the men were full. There was some left over.
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Naaman was a captain in the army of Syria.
He had the skin disease called leprosy. This skin disease makes the skin fall away. It made holes in a person’s body. Finally, the person would died.
Other people could get the disease from some one. So a person who had leprosy had to move out of his house and go live by himself.
Naaman was the leader of the army, so he was rich. He probably had enough money to have a special room or place for himself.
But it meant, that in the end, he would die.
There was a young girl working in the house who was from Israel.
She had been taken as a slave to work for Naaman’s wife.
One day as she was helping Naaman’s wife, she saw that the wife was very sad and upset. She asked what was wrong.
The wife said that Naaman has leprosy.
The young girl said, If Naaman could go see the prophet Elisha in Israel, he could pray and Naaman could be healed.
Naaman went to his king in Syria to help. The King of Syria wrote a letter to the King of Israel. He sent money, and many nice robes to pay for the King of Israel to heal Naaman.
When the King of Israel got the letter, he was upset. He said, How can I heal this man? Am I God?
Elisha heard about the King getting the letter and what he said. Elisha told the King of Israel to send Naaman to him.
Naaman came in his chariot and horses to Elisha’s door. Elisha did not come out to meet him, but he sent his servant to tell Naaman to go wash himself in the river Jordan 7 times.
Naaman was a captain of a great army. He was an important man.
He was angry that Elisha did not come out and talked to him.
He said I thought the prophet would come out and talk to me and pray and do a miracle for me.
The rivers at home are better than that small muddy river of Jordan.
He started to go back home. He was angry.
His servants said to him, Why not go a wash in the Jordan river?
If Elisha had said to do some hard thing, you would have done it.
He has told you to do something easy. So why not do it?
(I think that the real reason Naaman did not want to do it was because he thought that it was too silly and embarrassing. He was a proud man. He did not want to humble himself.
Maybe that was why God told Elisha to tell Naaman to go wash in the muddy Jordan river—-because he would have to humble himself to do it.)
Naaman thought about what his servants said. So he decided that he would go and wash in the river Jordan.
He got out of the chariot and went into the water. He dipped down in to the water and came up. He looked at his skin, nothing changed.
He dipped down again. Nothing changed. His servants told him—you have to do it 7 times.
After the 7th time, when he came back up from the water—-his skin was healthy and all the leprosy was gone !
Naaman was so happy. He went back to Elisha to talk with him. This time Elisha talked with him.
Naaman told Elisha, now I know that the God of Israel is the only god.
I will go make a sacrifice to Him. I will worship only Him from now on.
I will have to go into the temple of idols at home with my King,—the king leans on me. and when the King bows to the idol, I will have to bow with him, but may the Lord God forgive me,
Naaman wanted to give Elisha a lot of money and nice robes for clothes. But Elisha said No.
(I think the reason he said No– was because he did not want Naaman to think that he paid for his healing. He wanted Naaman to understand that God gave the healing as a gift and because Naaman showed faith by washing in the river.)
Naaman left to go back home.
Elisha’s servant saw that Elisha would not take the money or robes.
He thought that Elisha should have taken it. He decided that he would go after Naaman and tell him that Elisha changed his mind.
The servant found Naaman and told him that some men had come from another town to visit Elisha, and Elisha decided that he needed a little of the money and the robes.
Naaman gave some of the money and robes to the servant.
The servant went back home, and hid the things.
Then the servant went in to talk with Elisha. Elisha said to him, Where have you been?
The servant said, I have not gone anywhere.
Elisha said, The Lord has shown me that you went to Naaman and asked for the money and robes.
Elisha said, Because you did this, the leprosy that Naaman had, will come on you. Then the servant’s skin had leprosy on it.
(It is not wise to disobey God.)
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Elisha was visiting a group of prophets. They wanted to build a bigger house for themselves.
So they went out to cut down trees with axes.
One man was working near a river of water. The ax head flew off the handle and landed in the water.
The man was upset because he lost the ax head and because it was borrowed from someone.
They told Elisha what happened. Elisha took a stick and threw it in the water.
The iron ax head floated to the top of the water. The man got the ax head.
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The king of Syria was fighting against Israel. The king of Syria told his men to go to a certain place and wait to surprise the Israel army and attack them.
God told Elisha what the King of Syria was planning.
Elisha sent a servant to tell the King of Israel to be careful because of what the King of Syria was planning.
So the King of Israel did not go to that place.
This happened two times.
The King of Syria was getting angry. He thought one of his men was not being faithful and was telling someone in Israel.
The servants said, No, none of us has told anyone.
They said, The prophet, Elisha, in Israel. God speaks to him, and he knows what you say. He tells the King of Israel.
The King of Syria wanted to catch Elisha. He told a group of soldiers to go a spy on Elisha.
One morning, Elisha’s servant man got up and looked out and saw this group of soldiers, horses, and chariots from Syria.
He was afraid. He said, What will we do?
Elisha said do not be afraid. There are more with us that there are of them.
Elisha prayed that God would let the servant see what Elisha could see.
God let the servant see that there were horses and chariots and men all around protecting Elisha. They were angels— but looked like soldiers .
Elisha walked toward the soldiers of Syria. He prayed that God would make them “blind” —- not be able to see and understand —what was really happening.
Elisha talked to them, —he said the man you want is not here.
Let me lead you to where he is.
Elisha lead them to where the King of Israel lived.
The soldiers of Syria did not know that the man who was leading them was Elisha,—-because God kept them from seeing the truth.
Elisha led them to the King of Israel, Elisha prayed and said, God open their eyes of understanding and let them see the truth.
When the soldiers began to look around, suddenly they understood that they were at the King of Israel’s place.
The King’s soldiers were there watching them.
The King of Israel, asked Elisha, What should I do with them? Should I kill them?
Elisha said, What do you do with men you catch in battle and take as prisoners?
The King of Israel, gave the soldiers of Syria food to eat and then he sent them back home.
This was embarrassing to the soldiers, and to the King of Syria.
The King of Syria stop fighting with Israel.
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In later years, the King of Syria began fighting with Israel.
The soldiers were all around the city where the king lived. No one could go out of the city or come into the city.
This went on for so long the people did not have anything left to eat. Things were very bad.
The king of Israel blamed God and Elisha for all the trouble.
The king planned to kill Elisha. He sent men to find him and kill him.
Elisha was sitting in his house with some men. God spoke to Elisha.
Elisha told the men, Look, a man is coming to kill me. When he comes to the door, hold him. And his master is right behind him.
As soon as Elisha said this, the man was at the door. The king was behind him.
The king said, It is the Lord who has brought all this trouble on us, why should I wait for the Lord to help us?
Elisha told the king, Tomorrow there will be much flour and barley.
The man with the king said, This could not happen even the Lord made windows in heaven.
Elisha said to the man—It will happen, but you will not eat any of it.
The people of the city had been locked inside the city for a long time.
But outside the city gates, 4 men who had leprosy were sitting.
They had waited a long time, also. They knew that the army of Syria was out there in the fields waiting.
They said—If we stay here we are going to starve to death. Let us go surrender ourselves to the army of Syria —-and maybe they will let us live and feed us.
So the 4 men when to where the army was in the fields. When they got there they were surprised.
No one was there! The soldiers were all gone. But their tents, food, and animals were all there.
In the night, God had made the sound of a big army of horses, chariots, and men
The solders of Syria said to each other–the king of Israel has hired armies from other countries to help him.
We can hear them coming, Listen, there are many of them.
So the army soldiers of Syria ran away fast. They left everything behind.
The 4 men went into the tents. They found food, silver, gold, clothing, wine, and many other things. They began to hide it for later for themselves.
There was so much, that they said, there is more than we can take, let us go tell the people in the city what we found.
They told the men who were guarding the gates what they found.
The men told the King of Israel. The king said, It is a trick. The soldiers left all that, thinking we would come, and then they will kill us all.
Some men went to look. They came back and said it is ok, there is no one there.
The people were so hungry that they all ran out of the city to go look and get the food and other things.
The king had told his servant to stand at the gate and try to control the people as they ran. But the people were so hungry, they just pushed him down, and ran over him. He ended up dead.
So, things happened just as Elisha said. The people had food.
And that servant did not eat any of it.
God saved the people of Israel by making a big sound of armies, and the real army ran away afraid.
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There were other times when Elisha prophesied about things that would happen—– and they all happened as he said.
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Finally, the time came for Elisha to die. He became sick and died.
They buried him in a cave. There are many, many small caves in Israel. It is full of hills and rocks and openings in the sides of hills.
Some soldiers from Moab had come into the land of Israel to fight them.
Some men from Israel were beginning to bury one of their men—who had died.
As they were burying the man, they saw a group of these enemy solders coming near. In a hurry, they threw the dead man in a cave nearby. And then they left.
This happened to be the same cave where Elisha had been buried.
When the body of the dead man fell onto the bones of Elisha, the dead man came alive again and stood up !