{"id":63337,"date":"2019-09-24T12:15:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T09:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63337"},"modified":"2023-04-16T10:48:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-16T07:48:37","slug":"elisha-and-some-prophetic-shenanigans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elisha-and-some-prophetic-shenanigans\/","title":{"rendered":"Elisha and Some Prophetic Shenanigans"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[931,471,506,390],"acf":{"old_id":"63337","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"314","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"What do we look for in a prophet: oratory, or activism?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this chapter, Elisha performed a major miracle and a series of minor wonders that actually make us wonder what prophecy is really all about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elisha startled Naaman by suggesting that Naaman cure his leprosy by bathing in the Jordan. Naaman was offended because he saw the Jordan as inferior to the rivers of his homeland, Aram. (This is reminiscent of Mark Twain who thought the Jordan would eclipse the Mississippi and was flabbergasted to discover that he could stand on one side of it and spit across to the other.) However, after acceding to the prophet\u2019s instruction, \u201chis flesh became like a little boy\u2019s, and he was clean\u201d (14). Removing leprosy (or, for that matter, initiating it) is something the Torah associates with Moses (see Exodus 4:6-7) and can rightfully be regarded as major-league prophetic ability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The force of this miracle, however, seems to be blunted by a succession of relatively minor deeds\u2014related to us over the course of this chapter and the next\u2014that cast Elisha more as a magician than a man of God. First, he sees through Gehazi\u2019s attempt to cover up his unauthorized shakedown of Naaman (5:25 ff.); then, he enables a prophetic trainee to reattach a lost axe head to its shaft (6:6-7); next, he blinds the Assyrian posse pursuing him and leads them straight into captivity in Samaria (6:18 ff.), and, finally, he contrives to learn of a royal plot to assassinate him in time to have it frustrated by trapping its executioner in a doorway (6:32).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where are the passionate words of rebuke and consolation we have come to expect from prophets? Indeed, what manner of prophet was Elisha\u2014or, for that matter, his master, Elijah? This is an opportunity to draw a distinction between prophets, like Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Elijah, and Eisha, who were dispatched to undertake particular missions\u2014commonly social or political in nature, on account of which they are sometimes called \u201capostolic\u201d prophets\u2014and those, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, whose assignments were more culturally or religiously based and therefore required more oratory than activism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Elisha refusing the gifts of Naaman, by Pieter de Grebber, 1637 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63339,"id":63339,"title":"2kings5-Elisha - Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber","filename":"2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elisha-and-some-prophetic-shenanigans\/2kings5-elisha-pieter_fransz-_de_grebber\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings5-elisha-pieter_fransz-_de_grebber","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63337,"date":"2019-09-24 09:13:01","modified":"2019-09-24 09:15:26","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":803,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-768x482.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":482,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-1024x642.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":642,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":803,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":803,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-1200x753.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":753,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-669x420.jpg","home_baner-width":669,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Elisha and Some Prophetic Shenanigans","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"What do we look for in a prophet: oratory, or activism?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":63339,"id":63339,"title":"2kings5-Elisha - Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber","filename":"2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elisha-and-some-prophetic-shenanigans\/2kings5-elisha-pieter_fransz-_de_grebber\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings5-elisha-pieter_fransz-_de_grebber","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63337,"date":"2019-09-24 09:13:01","modified":"2019-09-24 09:15:26","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":803,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-768x482.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":482,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-1024x642.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":642,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":803,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":803,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-1200x753.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":753,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings5-Elisha-Pieter_Fransz._de_Grebber-669x420.jpg","home_baner-width":669,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114175,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63337\/revisions\/114175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}