Elisha

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Elisha
     God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who
     became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19).
     His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint
     him as his successor (1 Kings 19:16). This was the only one of
     the three commands then given to Elijah which he accomplished.


     On his way from Sinai to Damascus he found Elisha at his native
     place engaged in the labours of the field, ploughing with twelve
     yoke of oxen. He went over to him, threw over his shoulders his
     rough mantle, and at once adopted him as a son, and invested him
     with the prophetical office (comp. Luke 9:61, 62). Elisha
     accepted the call thus given (about four years before the death
     of Ahab), and for some seven or eight years became the close
     attendant on Elijah till he was parted from him and taken up
     into heaven. During all these years we hear nothing of Elisha
     except in connection with the closing scenes of Elijah's life.
     After Elijah, Elisha was accepted as the leader of the sons of
     the prophets, and became noted in Israel. He possessed,
     according to his own request, "a double portion" of Elijah's
     spirit (2 Kings 2:9); and for the long period of about sixty
     years (B.C. 892-832) held the office of "prophet in Israel" (2
     Kings 5:8).
     
       After Elijah's departure, Elisha returned to Jericho, and
     there healed the spring of water by casting salt into it (2
     Kings 2:21). We next find him at Bethel (2:23), where, with the
     sternness of his master, he cursed the youths who came out and
     scoffed at him as a prophet of God: "Go up, thou bald head." The
     judgment at once took effect, and God terribly visited the
     dishonour done to his prophet as dishonour done to himself. We
     next read of his predicting a fall of rain when the army of
     Jehoram was faint from thirst (2 Kings 3:9-20); of the
     multiplying of the poor widow's cruse of oil (4:1-7); the
     miracle of restoring to life the son of the woman of Shunem
     (4:18-37); the multiplication of the twenty loaves of new barley
     into a sufficient supply for an hundred men (4:42-44); of the
     cure of Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy (5:1-27); of the
     punishment of Gehazi for his falsehood and his covetousness; of
     the recovery of the axe lost in the waters of the Jordan
     (6:1-7); of the miracle at Dothan, half-way on the road between
     Samaria and Jezreel; of the siege of Samaria by the king of
     Syria, and of the terrible sufferings of the people in
     connection with it, and Elisha's prophecy as to the relief that
     would come (2 Kings 6:24-7:2).
     
       We then find Elisha at Damascus, to carry out the command
     given to his master to anoint Hazael king over Syria (2 Kings
     8:7-15); thereafter he directs one of the sons of the prophets
     to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, instead
     of Ahab. Thus the three commands given to Elijah (9:1-10) were
     at length carried out.
     
       We do not again read of him till we find him on his death-bed
     in his own house (2 Kings 13:14-19). Joash, the grandson of
     Jehu, comes to mourn over his approaching departure, and utters
     the same words as those of Elisha when Elijah was taken away:
     "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen
     thereof."
     
       Afterwards when a dead body is laid in Elisha's grave a year
     after his burial, no sooner does it touch the hallowed remains
     than the man "revived, and stood up on his feet" (2 Kings
     13:20-21).
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Elisha, salvation of God