Elisha

Elisha is the pupil of the prophet Elijah and his successor. He begins his ministry as a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel at the time when the reign of the family of Ahab is coming to an end. Like his master Elijah, Elisha performs miracles and heals people.

The name Elisha means “God has saved”.
While Elisha is labouring on the farm with his father Shaphat in Abel Mehola, Elijah comes along and throws his prophet’s cloak around him, a gesture which means that Elisha must follow him. Elisha leaves everything he was doing and becomes Elijah’s servant.
When Elijah eventually is taken up to heaven, he leaves his prophet’s cloak with Elisha as a clear sign that Elisha is to be his successor.

Elisha is a different type of prophet from Elijah, not a lone figure, but someone who is the leader of a great number of prophets. These prophets lived with their families in prophetic communities in Bethel, Gilgal and Jericho.
Elisha also has a better relationship with the kings of Israel than Elijah. King Joram turns to Elisha for advice (2 Kings 3:12), and Elisha also warns the king when the Syrians are attempting to attack him (2 Kings 6:8-9).
However, it is Elisha that instigates the downfall of the dynasty of Ahab. He commands a young prophet to anoint Jehu, an army commander, as king of Israel (2 Kings 9:2). Thereafter, Jehu kills Ahab’s son, King Joram and his mother Jezebel, and then takes possession of the throne for himself.

There are various stories in the Bible about miracles which Elisha performed. He feeds a group of 100 prophets with only 20 loaves of bread (2 Kings 4:42-44). When Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, comes to him with some kind of skin disease, he heals him by making him immerse himself seven times in the River Jordan (2 Kings 5:1-14). He also revives a young boy from death (2 Kings 4:32-37).

After Elisha dies, he is buried in a particular place. Later, when someone else is being buried at the same place, something miraculous happens. When the corpse of this dead man touches the bones of Elisha which were in the same grave, the man comes to life again (2 Kings 13:20-21).