There are several considerations from which the in- completeness of the records of Elisha's life may lie in- ferred: («.) The alisence of marks b}' which to deter- mine the dates of the various occurrences. The '■ king of Israel" is continually mentioned, but we are left to infer what king is intended (2 Kings v, 5, 6, 7, &c. ; vi, 8, 9, 21, 26 ; vii, 2 ; viii, 3, 5, 6, etc.). This is the case even in the story of the important events of Nnnman's cure, and the capture fif the Syrian host at Dothan. The only exceptions are iii, 12 (comp. 6 ), and the nar- rative of the visit of Jehoash (xiii, lA, etc.), but this latter stoiy is itself a proof of the disarrangement of these records, occurring as it does after the mention of the death of Jehoash (ver. 13), and being ftdlowed liy an account of occurrences in the reign of Jehoahaz his fiither (ver. 22, 23). (/*.) The absence of chronological sequence in the narratives. The story of the Shunam-
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mite embraces a lengthened ;ieriod, from before the birth of the cliild till he was some years old. Gehazi's familiar communication witlithekinj^,and therefore the story which precedes it (viii, 1, 2), must have occurred Ix'foro lie was struck with leprosy, though placed long after the relation of that event (v, 27). ("). The dif- ferent stories are not connected bj' the form of words usually employed in the consecutive narrative of these books. (See Keil, Comment, on Kings, p. 348, where other indications will be found.) The call of Elisha seems to have taken place about four 3'ears before the death of Ahab. He died in the reign of Joash, the grandson of Jehu, B.C. cir. 835. Hence his public ca- reer embraces a period of not less than 60 years, for certainly 55 of which he held the oflBce of " prophet in Israel" (2 Kings v, 8).
(1.) After the departure -of his master, Elisha re- turned to dwell (3"^'^) at Jericho (2 Kings ii, 18). The town had lately lieen rebuilt (1 Kings xvi, 34), and was the residence of a bodj' of the " sons of the prophets" (2 Kings ii, 5, 15). Among the most prominent fea- tures of that place are still the two perennial springs "which, rising at the base of the steep hills of Quaran- tania behind the town, send their streams across the plain towards the Jordan, scattering, even at the hot- test season, the richest and most grateful vegetation over what would otherwise be a bare tract of sandy soil. At the time in question, part, at least, of this charm was wanting. One of the spi'ings was noxious — had some properties which rendered it unfit for drinking, and also prejudicial to the land (ii, 19, t'^"'^, lad, A. y. "naught"). At the request of the men of Jericho, Elisha remedied this evil. He took salt in a new vjssel, and cast it into the water at its source in the name of Jehovah. Erom the time of Josephus (IF(»-, iv, 8, 3) to the present (Saewulf, ^^od. Trav. p. 17), the tradition of the cure has been attached to the large spring N.W. of the present town, and which now bears, probably in reference to some later event, the name of Aiii es-Sultdn (Robinson, J2esearches, ii, 383 sq.). See Jericho.
(2.) We next meet with Elisha at Bethel, in the heart of the country, on his way from Jericho to Mount Carmel (2 Kings ii, 23). His last visit had been made in com])any with Elijah on their road down to the Jor- dan (ii, 2). Sons of the prophets resided there, but ttill it w'as the seat of the calf-worship, and therefore a prophet of Jehovah might expect to meet with in- sult, especially if not so well known and so formidable as Elijah. The road to the town winds up the defile of the wady Suweinit, under the hill which still bears what in all probability are the ruins of Ai, and which, even now retaining some trees, was at that date shaded by a forest, thick, and the haunt of savage animals (comp. Amos v, 19). See Bethkl. Here the boys of the town were clustered, waiting, as they still wait at the entrance of the villages of Palestine, for the chance p.isser-by. In the scanty locks of Elisha, how wore they to recognise the successor of the prophet, with whose shaggy hair streaming over his shoulders they were all familiar ? So, with the license of the Eastern children, they scofF at the new-comer as he walks by—" Go up (tTpV, hardly ascend, as if alluding to Elijah, hutpass on out of the way), bald-head (nip, devoid of hair on the back of the head, as opposed to n3:>, bald on the forehead) \" Eor once Elisha as- sumed the sternness of his master. He turned upon them and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. There was in their expressions an admixture of rudeness, in- fidelity, and impiety. But the inhabitants of Bethel were to know, from bitter experience, that to dishonor God"s i)ro])hcts was to dishonor himself, for Elisha was at the moment inspired to pronounce thg judgment which at once took eft'ect. God, who never wants for instruments to accomplish bis purposes, caused two