April 5, 2020: Day 64 – II Kings 6

We  have another list of miracles that Elisha is able to muster up and some are significant while others are pretty petty.  But they all lead to the same conclusion that Elisha was a man of God and someone that kings, both allies and enemies, feared and understood that God was on his side.  Let’s run down the miracles that he performed.  

There is the strange tale of Elisha’s minions, the Bible calls them his company of prophets, who are unhappy with the living arrangements and they go out to build individual log cabins in which to dwell.  One of the prophets was cutting down a log when his axe head came off.  He bemoaned the loss because it was borrowed and he would have to pay it back.  Elisha was able to make the axe head float.  That is a pretty insignificant miracle, but it does give us insight into the fact that Elisha had a whole lot of students who were under him.  So it definitely is not Elisha and the rest of the world.  He had folks on his side who were studying under him.

Elisha is also able to hear what the king says when he is in his bedchamber.  As a result he tells the king of Israel where the Arameans are going to be so that they can go somewhere else and be safe.  The king of Aram is pretty upset by this and demands that Elisha’s head be brought to him.  As the company of soldiers draw near Elisha is able to make them blind and transport them to Samaria, into the hands of the king of Israel.  Instead of killing this vowed enemy, the king serves them a meal, as God commanded, and is quite the host.  There is peace in the land for some time after this event. 

Once again the king of Aram is on the battle trail and they lay siege to Samaria, which is the capital of Israel.  The Israelites are starving and as a result they start eating their kids.  This scandalizes the king of Israel and he blames God and Elisha for the situation in which they find themselves.  He sends people to go kill Elisha because they (God and Elisha) are not making a difference in the current situation.  When things go poorly, people of bad character blame others for their misfortune.