Three More Miracles by Elisha
Chapter 6 records three more miracles by Elisha.
- The first miracle was the making of an iron ax head to float. At
Gilgal a college for prophets had been established. Many of the
"sons of the prophets" attended this college. Wherever Elisha went,
many of these young Israelites flocked to him for teaching, council
and prayers. Here at Gilgal, their number increased until it was
necessary to build a larger meetinghouse. Of these so-called "sons
of the prophets", some were sincere and some were merely seeking
money or prestige. Some were soothsayers and fortunetellers. Their
credentials were usually established by their teachers and often
displayed marks of identification on their bodies. Some hired out
as councilors and led worship services. Here, in the process of
building a larger house, the "sons of the prophets" went to the east
side of the Jordan River to cut cedar logs and in the process of
floating them across the river, one of them looses the head of an ax
he had borrowed. Elisha causes the ax head to float and the man was
able to retrieve it.
- The second miracle was Elisha's ability, by the power of the Spirit,
to know what the King of Syria was going to do relative to Israel.
By this power, Elisha was able to save the King of Israel several
times by warning him of Syria's presence. The Syrian King was
puzzled by this, he thought that there was a spy amongst his
officers but they informed him that it was Elisha who was warning
the King of Israel. The King of Syria sent men to find Elisha and
they returned with word that he was at Dothan. One night the King
of Syria sent a great army to Dothan. When Elisha's servant got up
the next morning and looked out of the window, he saw Syrian
soldiers everywhere. This brings us to the third miracle.
- When Elisha sees the Syrian Army outside his house, he prays and the
Lord caused the Syrians to be confused. They were blinded but it
was not physical blindness, it was mental blindness. They did not
know where they were and Elisha easily led them away from Dothan to
Samaria, the Israeli stronghold where they found themselves
completely surrounded by the Israeli Army. When the King of Israel
saw them he asked Elisha what he should do with them and Elisha
said, "Feed them and send them home." This appears to have been a
mistake for later on the Syrians mustered their army again and laid
siege to the city of Samaria that resulted in a famine. The famine
was so severe that a donkey's head brought 80 shekels of silver
($50.00) and a pint of doves dung brought 5 shekels of silver
($3.00). The famine became so sever that people were eating people.
The story is told here of two women who made an agreement to eat
their sons. When they had eaten one of the boys, the next day the
mother of the second boy refused to allow the boy to be eaten. The
woman, whose son had been eaten, appealed to the King. The King
could not help them, he did however, blame Elisha for the famine as
he had not let the King kill the Syrians when he had them defeated
before. The King sent a message to Elisha, "The Lord had caused
this mess, why should I expect any help from Him?"
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