According to the narrative in 2 K 1, Ahaziah, son of Ahab, having injured himself by falling from a balcony of his palace, sends messengers to the shrine of Baal-zebub, god of Ekron, to inquire if he shall recover. On their way they are inter- cepted by Elijah, who indignantly asks them if there is not a God in Israel of whom they might inquire, and commands them to go back and tell the king that his injuries will certainly prove fatal. When the messengers describe to the king the person who waylaid tliem, he immediately recognizes in him the old enemy of his house, and xB the true spirit of Jezebel, his mother, sends out a band of fifty men to capture him. They find the prophet seated ' on the top of the hill ' (name not given : Carme!, say some critics, but it is not on the way to Ekron). At his word, fire comes down from heaven and consumes them all. Another band of the same number meet the same fate. A third company is sent out, but their leader takes warning, adopts a humble tone, and he and his men are spared. E. then goes in person to the king, and repeats the declaration that his doom is sealed.
This narrative differs widely in language, style, and spirit from those of the preceding group. The prophet's personal appearance has altered (1*) ; his name has changed from i.t^k to the later form .t'?n ; and instead of being directly inspired and guided by J* as hitherto, he receives the word of prophecy from an angel (l*-"). 'The representation of the prophet assumes gigantic proportions, but at the same time becomes rigid and lifeless : it ceases to he available as a pattern of human action ' (Ewald). The narrator tells the story, without apology, for the glorification of his hero ; but no narrative in the OT presents greater moral difficulties. If it is regarded as literal history, one's moral sense is shocked at the destruction of a great number of •nen whose only fault is obedience to the orders of their captain and their king. One cannot conceive the story to have been penned by the historian who related the parable of the still small voice at Iloreb. The best comment on the story was sun- lilied by Christ. He condemned with unmistakable I'lainness the vindictive spirit which His disciples, hy citing the example of Eliiali, sought to justify (I-k 9""). Others besides the disciides have used the story as an argument for persecution. E. was the patron of the Inquisitors. Even Calvin and Beza argued from this narrative that fire was the (iroper instrument of punishment for heretics. But
the story itself can hardly be regarded as history. It is rather one of those imaginative apologues — abundant in the schools of the scribes — which borrowed the names of ancient heroes to lend vividness and concreteness to abstract doctrines.
The other narrative (2 Ch 21'-*) is given only by the Chronicler, and bears distinct marks of late- ness. Jehoram, king of Judah, son-in-law of Ahab and Jezebel, having fallen under the siiell of sensuous Baal-worship, E. is represented as %end ing him a letter warning him that J" will bring a plague upon Judah, by which all the king's house will be afflicted, and to which the king himself will early fall a victim. This is the only narrative which brings E. into connexion with the kingdom of Judah, and the only one which represents him as carrying on his work by means of writing. The style and language of tlie letter correspond very closely with those of the Chronicler.
Ihe narrative of E.'s translation (2 K 2'-") re- turns to the lofty style of the writer of 1 K 17- 19. 21. Ewald, indeed, regarded it as the work of the same great narrator ; more recent critics con- sider that from a literary point of view it is more closely connected with the history of Elisha (2 K 2'"'-). E.'s end is still more mysterious than his beginning. He alone shares with Enoch the glory of being ' translated,' so that he should not ta.ste death (He 11°). Of him alone is it recorded, as of Christ (Lk 24"), that he was carried up into heaven. He is residing at the ancient sanctuary of Gilgal (now Jiljilia, between Sheehem and Bethel, not the town of the same name on the Jordan), where a prophetic guild is established, when he is warned that the time of his departure is come. His inWsible Guide calls him for the last time into solitude. The appointed place is beyond Jorilan, not now in the ravines of his native Gilead, but southward in the wild region of Nebo, where his greatest forerunner fell asleep. As he went to Horeb for inspiration in his time of spiritual storm and stress, so he is drawn in the final crisis of his life to the mountain region in which Moses was summoned to die, away from the face of man. But he begins his last journey by visiting the prophetic guilds at Bethel and Jericho, probably for the purpose of confirm- ing the young prophets in the faitn. Wishing to spare Elisha the pain of witnessing the last fiery ordeal, he tenderly entreats him to remain at Gilgal. His faithful companion cannot brook the idea of separation : he solemnly vows that he will never leave his master. At Bethel the sons of the prophets, foreboding E.'s coming removal, ask Elisha if he knows that his master is to be taken away from him. He knows it well, but is too straitened in spirit to speak of it, and entreats them to hold tlieir peace. Erom Bethel E. pro- ceeds to Jericho, where he again endeavours to persuade his disciple to let him go on this journey alone ; but Elisha repeats his vow. At Jeric^ho some of the prophetic guild wish to question Elisha about the impending event, but he begs them to be silent. Fifty sons of tlie prophets ascend the heights above the city to watch the prophet as he descends with his disciple to the Jordan. They see him strike the river with his mantle ; the waters part ; the two men cross by the bed of the river and pass out of sight. As they approach their destination, E. asks his disciple if he has any last request to make. Elisha seeKs '» double portion ' of his master's spirit — not twice E.'s inspiration, but the portion of an eldest son, who received twice as much as the younger sons (Dt 21"). E. replies that it is a hard request. Siiiritual gifts are the most difficult of all to trans- mit. Nevertheless, lie assures his follower that if he prove his fitness for prophetic gif'-s by remain-