{"id":64024,"date":"2019-10-03T16:28:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T13:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64024"},"modified":"2023-05-01T12:43:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T09:43:45","slug":"has-elisha-superseded-elijah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/has-elisha-superseded-elijah\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Elisha Superseded Elijah?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":[366,931,471],"acf":{"old_id":"64024","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"322","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"He gets in a second resurrection miracle\u2026","content":"

The deathbed scene ends with a report of Elisha’s burial, followed by the enigmatic anecdote of Elisha’s bones causing a man to come back to life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So much about this story is incoherent: Why are there Moabite troops in Israel \u2014 the foreign invader in these chapters is Aram! Who is the individual being buried? Why did the man come to life? And what became of him? Most importantly, why is this story an essential element to our knowledge of Elisha? The commentaries search for answers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralbag (13:21) suggests: \u201cIt was unlike the [resurrection of the] son of the Shunammite who gradually returned to life. Here, he suddenly arose and stood up…. But this was not to return home to his previous life, but merely to have him leave Elisha’s grave for the honor of Elisha.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Radak disagrees:\u201dThe Rabbis said that he lived and had children, and the reason that he was revived was to fulfill Elijah’s blessing to Elisha that he be granted a double portion of [Elijah’s] spirit (2:9). Elijah resurrected one person, and [Elisha] resurrected two: one in his lifetime \u2014 the Shunammite’s son, and one in his death \u2014 this man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Ralbag, the story demonstrates how even after Elisha’s death, miracles are wrought to ensure that the prophet’s bones are left undisturbed. For Radak, it is a fulfillment of Elijah’s promise that his student be granted a double portion of his power; only at Elisha’s death do we discover that he had been granted Elijah’s blessing. It is possible that neither of these answers fully explains the elements of this story, but we will suggest two somewhat speculative thoughts that may add a dimension to this enigmatic scene.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, when Joash addresses Elisha as “Israel’s chariot and horsemen,” we hear the echo of Elijah’s death scene. But of course, Elijah was not buried; he flew heavenward, and tradition continues to identify Elijah’s power, even after his mortal body has departed this world. If we are looking to identify this as a parallel scene, we might propose that this story comes to inform us that Elisha, just like his mentor Elijah, also retained some of his miraculous potency, even after his death. Second, this scene suggests that Elisha’s role is one of resurrection in the larger sense \u2014 the revival of the nation. The combination of the threatening troops, and the man who is revived, not through merit but merely by proximity to the prophet, encapsulates in some way the work of Elisha. Elisha never calls for repentance. He simply offers assistance and healing to the people with whom he comes into contact. His life ends by announcing the restoration of Israel’s fortunes after an extended period of foreign dominance and national hardship. The idea of the revival of the dead is fitting to Elisha’s legacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Israel, II Kings: In a Whirlwind,<\/em> Maggid Books, 2019, The Rise and Fall of Israel<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63310,"id":63310,"title":"Alex Israel - 2_kings_cover","filename":"Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-hairy-prophet\/alex-israel-2_kings_cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-2_kings_cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63117,"date":"2019-09-23 13:43:41","modified":"2019-09-23 13:53:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1711,"height":1821,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-282x300.jpg","medium-width":282,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-768x817.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":817,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-962x1024.jpg","large-width":962,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1443,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1711,"2048x2048-height":1821,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-1128x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1128,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-395x420.jpg","home_baner-width":395,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Excerpts from: II Kings - In A Whirlwind","main_caption":"Has Elisha Superseded Elijah?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"He gets in a second resurrection miracle\u2026","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":63310,"id":63310,"title":"Alex Israel - 2_kings_cover","filename":"Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-hairy-prophet\/alex-israel-2_kings_cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-2_kings_cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63117,"date":"2019-09-23 13:43:41","modified":"2019-09-23 13:53:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1711,"height":1821,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-282x300.jpg","medium-width":282,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-768x817.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":817,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-962x1024.jpg","large-width":962,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1443,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1711,"2048x2048-height":1821,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-1128x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1128,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-395x420.jpg","home_baner-width":395,"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\/64024"}],"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=64024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114555,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64024\/revisions\/114555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}