ELISHA’S MINISTRY - THE PASSING OF THE GREAT MAN OF GOD – ELISHA DIES, NOW WITH HIS LORD 2 Kings 13: 14-21
SERIES – MESSAGES ON ELISHA – HIS LIFE AND MINISTRY Number 21
[A]. THE LAST DAYS OF THE PROPHET. 2Kings 13 v 14 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.”
Before we examine this passage today, we note there are two characters in the story we will examine. This is the final account in the life of the prophet, the very last recorded act he did, and will close the series on Elisha. Elisha was a great prophet, maybe even greater than Elijah as he had a double portion of Elisha’s spirit. It is not man that makes greatness, but it is God. You don’t make yourself to be great; you make yourself a fool. The Lord empowered both prophets to stand out in their wicked generations for many decades, so that more is written about the lives of both prophets than of any other prophet in the biblical record, except for the great Prophet, the Messiah. Elisha had on him a double portion of Elisha’s spirit. Both men would have entered Paradise with the commendation of the Lord.
All of us should seek the Lord’s commendation. Mediocre lives, or selfish lives, or self-directed lives will not gain the Lord’s commendation. There is one word in the bible that occurs often and it is the word “faithful”, for it is faithfulness the Lord wants. Do you remember the parable the Lord spoke that contained, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matt 25 v 23). Running around doing your own thing, if it is not with the Lord, out in front leading, will not be considered faithful. I know all too well, that much of what we do, when analysed later on, was not faithful service. It was conforming to expectations and to impulses, and to our own desires even when at the time they seems good and maybe correct. We are all prone to that. The simple waiting on God and seeking His will, will result in “Well done you good and faithful servant.”
Elisha contracted an illness from which he died. My feeling is that Elisha was somewhere in old age, which in those days seemed to be about 60 upwards. Commentators tend to think he was in his eighties as his ministry extended over 60 years and he was at least 20 when it began. What we have to realise is that our lives are in the hands of the Lord, and He allows whatever it is, to come into our lives, even sickness, and even when that sickness leads to death. We must understand that. We all go “the way of the earth”. Our times are in His hands. Our map has been designed by God. Sometimes death seems a tragedy, especially when it happens to a younger person, even a son or daughter as the Shunammite woman learned.
It was faith that gained us salvation, and it is faith that must sustain us in every difficulty. Faith is the bridge that takes us from this earthly existence into a future, so glorious that words can not describe it. Listen to what Paul mentions of this, and I must stress that this was possibly Paradise where the saved were before the cross, and at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, all were taken into heaven itself (if after the cross then heaven) - 2Corinthians 12 v 2 “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know - God knows - such a man was caught up to the third heaven, 2Cor 12:3 and I know how such a man - whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know - God knows - 2Cor 12:4 was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.” Paradise must have been wonderful, but heaven is much better, prepared by the all-encompassing sacrifice of Christ.
With Elisha’s passing in view, I have a poem here –
REFLECTIONS IN OLDER LIFE
Whatever you’ve allotted me in days or months or years;
Whatever life will weigh for me through many joys and fears,
I know my Lord has planned my way and through the darkness steers.
In God’s good time He’ll sit me where there are no bitter tears.
This hope we have with perfect peace derives from God alone -
This bountiful provision that He grants to all His own.
The seal of this inheritance by Him is set in stone;
Redemption through the shameful cross for those He did atone.
The Lord is my Provider here, each step along the way.
He’ll walk with me and be my Guide through darkest night and day.
What then can man do unto me for I am in His hands;
My Saviour as my Great High Priest, beside me always stands.
His righteousness has me prepared for heaven’s pure delight,
And as the days go rolling by, then brighter is that sight.
His sacrifice has blazed the trail that I must walk along.
He gives me joy; He gives me peace and fills my heart with song.
Lord Jesus Christ we worship You; You are the mighty King.
At Calvary You bought for me the victory I sing.
Now in the time apportioned still, I walk the pilgrim road
Until that day I shout Your praise in gloryland’s abode.
Metre = 14 throughout
Ron Ferguson - Poem is copyright. May be used for Christian ministry with acknowledgement.
[B]. JOASH/JEHOASH THE KING OF ISRAEL. We have just mentioned the first character (remember I said there were two), and the second one is Joash, king of Israel, and this is actually a remarkable incident. Who was Joash? Verse 1 says he was the king of Israel. That kingdom of Israel split into two after Solomon died, and became Israel and Judah. Judah had both good and bad kings but Israel had only wicked kings. It is remarkable that Joash would come to a man of God after hearing he was sick.
Joash took the throne of Israel around 800 BC as the 12th king of Israel, and he reigned for 16 years. He did evil for he followed in the sins of Jereboam who caused Israel to sin. In fact, this is what 2Kings 13 v 10-11 says about Joash – “In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.” Joash actually respected Elisha because the prophet helped him in the past and kept Israel safe from enemies. He honoured him for what he had done for the nation, and it is suggested the two men may have been friends of some sort. The king wept over him and that was genuine. Benson makes an observation – “Thus it has sometimes happened, that those who, like Joash, would not be obedient to the word of God, yet have been compelled to hold His faithful ministers in honour, fully convinced of their being upright and holy men of God.” There was some earthly good in Joash. I wonder if this is a bit similar to what Peter wrote - 1Pet 2 v 12 Keep your behaviour excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Joash wept over his person and uttered a remarkable statement - “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.” These words go back many years, even to the departure of Elijah 60 years earlier. Benson again adds an observation – “Thus he laments over him in the same words which Elisha himself had used when he lamented the removal of Elijah. Probably he had heard or read of them, and judged them as applicable to Elisha, as they had been to his predecessor: 2 Kings 2 v 12. Joash seems to have intended, by these words, to express Elisha’s fatherly care of Israel, the great authority he had maintained among them, that by his counsels, and prayers, and miracles, they had obtained great and glorious victories over their enemies; and that he and his kingdom would sustain an inestimable loss by his death.”
My observation is that in spite of all the evidence and the miracles performed by God through Elisha, all known to Joash, the king would not hand over his life to God. Joash had no excuse. CBSC – “Indeed the picture presented of the king leaving his palace to visit the house of the dying prophet, and weeping over the approaching loss which Israel was to suffer makes us wonder that Elisha’s influence had not the effect of banishing the sacred calves. The political significance of these objects must have been very great to have outweighed the counsels which we cannot doubt Elisha gave for their abolition.”
[C]. THE TEST OF FAITH. 2Kings 13 v 15 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows,” so he took a bow and arrows. 2Kings 13:16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow,” and he put his hand on it. Then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands, 2Kings 13:17 and he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot, and he said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.”
We have just read the affirmative words of Elisha which happened to be in his last prophecy. Joash had the opportunity to crush the Arameans but he fell short as we shall see. The first command was to shoot an arrow through the window. Joash did not know the significance of this until he had done it, and then Elisha told him what it meant. That arrow meant the defeat of Aram at Aphek. Joash got the message; the arrows meant victory for Israel and for King Joash. Arrows meant victory!
2Kings 13 v 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them, and he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. 2Kings 13:19 The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”
The prophet had just spoken his final words in the scriptures. Elisha had commanded Joash to shoot the arrows into the ground, and Joash knew the arrows meant victory for him, but he shot only three arrows. Why not more? Was it lack of faith? Was it timidity? Was it fear? Those three things hold people back. Yes, they hold Christians back too. God’s people don’t trust Him enough – they lack faith. Also they are too timid to stand for the Lord and to go forth with Him. Then lastly they are fearful, for the fear of man brings a snare. Faithlessness, timidity and fear are our enemies, but the knowledge and courage of the Lord will overcome those obstacles. Joash’s incomplete obedience meant he would have only incomplete victory over the kingdom of Aram.
[D]. THE PASSING OF THE PROPHET. 2Kings 13 v 20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year.
Elisha died, one of the few prophets who was not martyred for faithfulness. The reason why Stephen was stoned in Acts 7 was that they hated his message. His message cut to the quick, and when unconverted men hear what God says in exposing their sin, they hate it and get furious and kill the messenger. They did the same to the Lord Jesus. The Pharisees hated Him because He revealed exactly what their wicked, inner selves were, and it infuriated them. They silenced the message by silencing the Messenger, but it never works. Someone once said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”.
The calling to the office of prophet was a lonely and dangerous one. Only a man dedicated to God could endure it unless he was a false prophet, and then the world would esteem him as one of its own and he would have an easy life. Stephen said the following - Acts 7 v 52 Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? and they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.” In the book of Hebrews, the fate of many prophets is recorded and I will read this, even though it featured earlier in another message - Hebrews 11 v 32 “What more shall I say for time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, Heb 11:33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, Heb 11:34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Heb 11:35 Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection, Heb 11:36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated Heb 11:38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. Heb 11:39 All these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised.”
*** If you don’t want persecution or difficulties, don’t be a Christian. Elisha was a prophet, spared by the grace of God from martyrdom.
Elisha’s passing is recorded in just 6 English words, no ceremony like the world gives to celebrities and Prime Ministers, no State funeral, no great fuss being made with lots of lies being told about the person. The burial was simple and unpretentious. That is not important, for the work of the Lord’s servant had been done and his real life and treasures awaited him in the presence of his God. It reminds me of that 1960s song, “O, Lord, You know, I have no friend like You; If heaven’s not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?; My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue; And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” Elisha passed from this world and into the bosom of Abraham, now of course in heaven. Each prophet had his distinct ministry. Elijah and Elisha were men of action. They wrote no scripture. Isaiah was a man of writing and wrote one of the anchor books of the bible. As far as I know Isaiah performed no miracle but spoke of two – the defeat of the Assyrians and the turning back of the sundial.
[E]. AN EXTRAORDINARY MIRACLE. 2Kings 13 v 21 As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha, and when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT ELISHA’S BONES? Well the answer is “nothing”. This is a story, if it was not in the bible, we might find it incredulous, but it is in scripture, so we have to try to understand it. Some time after Elisha’s death, a few men were burying a man who had died. During the digging, they saw a gang of raiders and destroyers, the nationality not mentioned, but I think they were, as most think, Moabites because they used to do that. Predatory bands from Moab generally made incursions at that time on the lands of Israel. The men were terrified for their own lives for these marauding gangs were worse than bushrangers (outlaws). In haste they threw the dead man into the grave of Elisha and how astounding, but the man rose on his feet after making contact with Elisha’s bones.
There are a few problems here. What was the grave of Elisha doing opened up? How could contact with dead bones give the man life? Did the man live naturally after this? We answer the last question first. The man probably lived a natural life but we don’t know. The second question is more difficult. None of the men had any faith or expectation whatever that touching dead bones would raise a dead man to life. They would have been horrified. There was nothing magical about dead bones, no matter who once walked around on them. The nearest story to this one that I can find is that time when handkerchiefs from Paul’s body were taken to heal the sick. That is more understandable than dead bones. Both stories are hard to grasp, but God is a God of miracles. Unlike one church, we don’t have relics and so-called holy things we kiss and pray to.
Then we come to the first question about why Elisha’s grave was opened. I want to answer that with three quotes from three commentators – THE FIRST – “There was no time for ceremony. Hastily, and somewhat roughly, it may be, the bearers of the body thrust it into Elisha's tomb, which happened to be at hand, and from the mouth of which they were able to remove the closing stone. They did not "throw" the body in, but pushed it in.” THE SECOND – “This sepulchre being near the place where they then were, they removed some stone, or opened some door, and hastily flung down the dead corpse into it; fearing lest, if they proceeded to the place where a grave was prepared, they should fall into the hands of the Moabites.” THE THIRD – “This must have been nearer at hand than the grave which they intended to use. The distance from which the Moabites were visible allowed the bearers to open the first grave they came to, and there to lay down their burden, but gave time for nothing more.”
To close this episode, this is what Benson says – “This great miracle, wrought, not by the bones of Elisha, in which there could be no innate power to produce any such effect, but by the almighty power of God, was doubtless intended for various important purposes; as in, to do honour to that great and holy prophet; and a singular honour it was, not much inferior to that conferred on Elijah when he was translated. Elijah was honoured in his departure; Elisha after his departure. Thus God dispenses honours as he pleases.”
That brings to an end our studies on the life and times of Elisha. I wonder how many miracles you can recall in this study. It might be good again to read the first 13 chapters of 2Kings. I trust all have been blessed by this series. I know that I have and thank the Lord for allowing me the understanding.
Elisha’s life has touched me. The simplicity of the prophet, his dedication and his utter commitment to the LORD means so much to me. In his service and ministry Elisha was outstanding.
May the Lord bless you all.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
