But Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Beth-el.' But Elisha, with that strong and faithful attachment to his master which he had evinced from the first, was unwilling to leave him at a time when he felt that some great crisis was at hand. So the two went together to Beth-el. There, at that sacred and time-honoured place, were gathered the prophets and seers of the Lord. They also were aware of the mournful event that was about to happen. At the approach of Elijah and Elisha, they came forth from their houses and said to Elisha, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to-day?' And he said, 'Yes, I know it, hold ye your peace.' Then again Elijah entreated his disciple to leave him, for the Lord had summoned him to Jericho. Elisha steadily refused to depart from him, and both went on together to the southern town. There the same scene was enacted as at Beth-el-the prophets crowding round the master they were so soon to lose, and telling Elisha the tidings he knew already too well. But Elijah was ordered to go eastward, to the banks of the river Jordan; thither he went with Elisha, who unflinchingly clung to him. They were followed by fifty of the prophets who came with them out of Jericho, and stood watching them at some distance. When Elijah approached the brink of the river, he drew his mantle from his shoulders, and rolling it up like a staff, he smote the waters, which separated, leaving in the midst a dry road over which the two passed. Then Elijah said to Elisha, Ask, what shall I do for thee, before I am taken away from thee?' And Elisha said, 'I pray thee, let two portions of thy spirit be upon me.' Upon which Elijah replied, Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou seest me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so.' 'And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.' Elisha saw his great master no more, and in his bitter grief he rent his garments. Elijah's mantle had fallen to the ground; he took it, and standing again on the brink of the Jordan, he smote with it the waters, and exclaimed loudly, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' Then the river parted for him again, and he passed over the dry ground. When the prophets saw this from afar, they were convinced that the spirit of Elijah now rested upon Elisha. They came to meet him, and bowed themselves with reverence before him. But they could not believe that Elijah was gone from them for ever. They entreated, therefore, Elisha to let them seek for their master, for peradventure the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.' Elisha at first resisted their desire, but at last he yielded, and the prophets went out on their fruitless search. 6 Whilst Elisha was at Jericho, the men of the town came to him and said, 'Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land causes barrenness.' Then Elisha performed another miracle; he asked for a new cruse filled with salt. This salt he cast into the spring and spoke, "Thus says the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from them any more death or barrenness.' After this the prophet left Jericho, and journeyed back to Beth-el. On his way a crowd of children ran out of the city, mocking him. Go up, thou bald head,' they called out; go up, thou bald head.' For a moment a spirit of revenge and anger foreign to his nature came over Elisha; he cursed the children in the name of the Lord.' His curse took effect; two bears coming from the wood killed forty-two of the unfortunate children. Elisha proceeded to Mount Carmel, and from thence he went to Samaria. He was indeed constantly journeying between Carmel, his ordinary place of residence, and Samaria, Beth-el, and Gilgal. Unlike Elijah, he appears to have had no predilection for solitary retreats, but mixed freely with all men. He was often the counsellor of the king, by whom he was regarded with no hatred or ill-feeling. 119. JEHORAM, KING OF ISRAEL (895-884). [2 KINGS III.] Jehoram was no Baal worshipper; he zealously removed the idols set up by his mother, cut down the groves, and abolished the numerous high places consecrated to strange worship. But he allowed the golden calves to remain in Dan and in Beth-el, and clung to the pernicious idolatry established by Jeroboam. He was incensed against the king of Moab for refusing to pay the imposed tribute, and he incited Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to a joint expedition against him. The two kings, at the head of their combined armies, set forth upon their march into the Moabite territory. Their road lay through the wilderness of Edom; and here they were reinforced by the king of that country at the head of a large army. After a seven days' journey they were tormented by want of water, and the kings felt that they were in imminent danger of falling a prey to the enemy. It was then that Jehoshaphat, as once before on a similar occasion, desired to consult a prophet of the true God, and to act upon his counsel. The prophet was near at hand —Elisha, the successor of Elijah. His words were as stern as those of his master. Turning to Jehoram, he said, 'What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father and thy mother. . . . As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee nor regard thee.' He sent for a minstrel, and requested him to play. With the strains of music the spirit of the Lord came over His prophet. Elisha bade the kings dig huge ditches in front of their camp. At the close of the day the ditches were completed, and by the light of the following morning the thirsting soldiers beheld them filled with a fresh stream of water. The Moabites from their camp looked upon the ditches, and the water gleaming in the red sunlight seemed to them a river of blood. They imagined that there had been strife and bloodshed in the army of the allies, and they hastened to their camp in the hope of finding rich spoil. But they were met by a fierce and determined band of warriors, by whom they were beaten back and pursued into the very heart of their own country, where their cities were destroyed, their wells stopped up, their best fields filled with stones, and their fruit-trees cut down. As a last resource, the king of Moab, with 700 chosen men, made a desperate sally upon the Edomite army, but without effect. Vanquished in the field, beaten in his own cities, the king of Moab, wishing to propitiate his gods, sacrificed his eldest son publicly upon the walls as a burnt-offering. Amazed by this act of atrocious fanaticism, the allied armies left the territory of Moab, and returned to their own country. 120. ELISHA. [2 KINGS IV. 1.-VIII. 15.] The fame of Elisha's power and mission grew rapidly. A poor woman, a widow of one of the prophets, came to him in her grief and distress: her husband had died in debt, and the creditors had come to take away her two sons as servants instead of payment. Elisha asked her compassionately, 'What shall I do for thee? tell me what H H hast thou in the house?' She answered, 'Thy handmaid has not anything in the house save a pot of oil.' Then he bade her borrow of her neighbours as many vessels as they would lend her; and into all these vessels should she pour oil from the one pot which was in her house. The widow followed Elisha's command without a question. And now her little supply of oil seemed indeed endless, for there was enough to fill all the vessels she had brought together, and there was more to spare. She went to the man of God and told him of the miracle. And he said, 'Go, sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.' Whilst journeying through the kingdom of Israel, Elisha would often pass through the northern town of Shunem. In this little town dwelt a man rich in flocks and herds, the master of many servants, who worked in his fields and tended his cattle. Both he and his wife were pious and Godfearing. They would always invite the prophet to rest and eat bread in their house. The wife especially watched for him on his constant journeys, and, knowing that he was a true prophet, she said to her husband, Let us make a little upper chamber, I pray thee, with walls, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick; and it shall be when he comes to us that he shall turn in thither.' The proposal was carried out, and the next time Elisha came to Shunem, he was taken into the chamber prepared for him, and he remained there. Then he sent Gehazi, his servant, to call his hostess to him. When she came, he asked her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldst thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the host?" But declining royal favours or gifts, she answered simply, 'I dwell among my own people.' When she had left the chamber, Elisha asked counsel of his servant, What 6 |