she-bears to emerge from the neighboring -wood and punish the young delinquents. It is not said that they were actually killed (the expression is "p3, to rend, which is peculiarly applicable to the claws of the bear). This fate maj' indeed have befallen some of the party, but it is by no means probable in regard to the greater number.
Ehrenberg says that the bear is seen only on one part of the summit of Lebanon, called Mackniel, the other peak, Jebel Sanin, being, strangely enough, free j from these animals. The Syrian bear is more of a frugiverous habit than the brown bear {Ursiis arctos), but when pressed with hunger it is known to attack men and animals ; it is very fond of a kind of chick- pea (Cicer arietinus), fields of which are often laid waste by its devastations. Most recent writers are silent respecting in\-y species of bear in Sj'ria, such as Shaw, Volney, Hasselquist, Burckhardt, and Schulz. Seetzen, however, notices a report of the existence of a bear in the province of Hasbeiya, on ISIount Hermon. Klaeder supposed this bear must be the Ursus ai'ctos, for which opinion, liowever, he seems to have had no authority ; and a recent writer, Dr. Thomson (Land and Book, ii, 373), saj's that the Syrian bear is still found on the higher mountains of this countr}', and that the inhaliitants of Hermon stand in great fear of him. Hem[)rich and Ehrenberg (Symho/xe Phys. pt. i) in- form us that during the summer months these bears keep to the snowy parts of Lebanon, but descend in winter to the villages and gardens ; it is probable, also, that at this period in former days they extended their visits to other parts of Palestine ; for, though this spe- cies was in ancient times far more numerous than it is now, j'et the snowy summits of I^ebanon ^^■ere proba- blj"" alwaj'S the summer home of these animals. It is not improl)able, therefore, that the attack upon the forty-two children who mocked Elisha took ]ilace some time in the winter, when these animals inhabited the low lands of Palestine. See Be.vr.
(3.) Elisha extricates .Tchoram, king of Israel, and the kings of Judah and Edom, from their difficulty in the campaign against ^loab, arising from want of wa- ter (iii, 4-27). The rcv(dt of Moab occurred very short- ly after the death of Ahab (iii, 5; comp. i, 1), and the campaign followed immediately — '"the same day"' (iii, 6; A. Y. "time"). The prophet was with the army; according to Josephus (.1?;^. ix, 3, 1) he "happened to be in a tent outside the camp of Israel." Joram he refuses to hear, except out of respect for Jehoshaphat, the servant of the true God ; but a minstrel is lirouuht, and at the sound of music the hand of Jehovah comes upon him, and he predicts a fall of rain, and advises a mode of procedure in connection therewith which re- sults in the complete discomfiture of Moab. This in- cident probably took place at the S.E. end of the Dead Sea. See Jehoraji.
(4.) The widow of one of the sons of the projihets — according to Josephus, of Obadiah, the steward of Ahab — is in debt, and her two sons are about to be taken from her and sold as slaves by her creditors, as by an extension of the law (Exwl. xxi, 7, and Lev. xxv, 29), and by virtue of another (Exod. xxii, 3), they had the power to do ; and against this hard-hearted act she im- plores the prophet's assistance. God will not, v^lhout a cause, depart from the general laws of his adminis- tration: Elisha therefore inquires how far she herself had the power to avert the threatened calamity. She replies tliat the only thing of which she was possessed was one pot of oil. This Elisha causes (in his absence, iv, 5) to multiiily (after the example of Elijah at Zar- ephath), until the widow has filled with it all the ves- sels which she could borrow, and thus procured the means of ]):iyment.(2 Kings iv, 1-7). No place or date of the miracle is mentioned.
(5.) The next occurrence is at Shunem and ]Mount Carmel (iv, 8-37). The account consists of two parts.
ELISHA
155
"ELISHA
[(f.] Elisha, probably on his way between Carmel and the Jordan valley, calls accidentiilh' at Shunem, now So- laui, a village on the southern slopes of Jebel ed-Duhy, the little liernion of modern travellers. Here he is huspitabl}' entertained by a woman of substance, ap- parently at first ignorant of the character of her guest. Wishing that he should take up, more than occasion- ally, his abode under her roof, she proposed to her hus- band to construct for him a chand)er which he might have for his own accommodation. The husband at once consented, and, the apartment being fitted up in a way that showed their proper conception of his feel- ing, the prophet becomes its occupant. Grateful for such disinterested kindness, Elisha delicately inquired of her if he could prefer her interest before the king or the capt:iin of liis host ; for ho must have had consid- erable influence at court, from the part he had taken in the late war. But the good woman declined the prophet's offer by declaring that she would rather '■ dwell among her own people," and in the condition of life to which she had been accustomed. Still, to crown her domestic happiness, she lacked one thing — she had no child ; and now, by reason of the age of her husband, she could not expect such a blessing. In answer, however, to the prayer of the prophet, and as a recompense for her care of him, she was saved from that childless condition which was esteemed so great a calamitj' by every Jewish wife, and permitted to " em- brace a son" (2 Kings, iv, 8-17).