In this article, we will study the life of Elisha, the biblical prophet. His father was Safat, a wealthy plowman. In the year of the reign of Jehu, Ilya the seer invited him to his position of assistant (1 Kings 19:21). After the teacher’s miraculous ascension to heaven, Elisha himself became an independent prophet (2 Kings 2:15).
His authority was valued by the king of Judea, Jehoshaphat, who repeatedly consulted with the prophet on the eve of the campaign against Mesha, the Moabite king (2 Kings 3:12).
The Life of Elisha
The prophet Elisha zealously followed the teachings of his teacher, the seer Elijah. He prophesied for more than 65 years, during the reign of six Israeli rulers (from Ahaz to Joash). Elisha shamelessly told them the truth, denouncing their ignominy and penchant for idolatry. The seer rested at an old age (about one hundred years): he engaged in prophetic service under King Ahab (1 Kings 19:19) - about 900 BC, and died under King Joash in the 30s of the 9th century. BC R. (about 835).
Akathist to the Prophet of God Elisha, believers read reverently. Indeed, many miracles are connected with his name - from the fabulous passage of the Jordan to the healing of the weak and the resurrection of the son of a hospitable Sonamite wife. His wonders are also: an increase in oil at the request of a poor widow (4 Kings 4: 1-6), an increase in bread beginnings (4 Kings 4: 42-44), a cure for the Syrian commander Naaman (4 Kings 5: 1-19 )
In all the narratives, the prophet Elisha is depicted as a deeply perspicacious man, strong in spirit and faith. In those days, the rapid development of the ancient institution, known as the "prophetic hosts", or schools, which were a kind of mobile religious and educational communities, was noted. It was in them that the young generation was trained under the guidance of experienced and well-known soothsayers.
The Prophet Elisha alone observed the ascension of Elijah to heaven. He inherited from him a mantle (mantle), which was considered a visible sign of the legacy of the spirit of things. The name of Elisha was glorified in literary works. Jesus of Sirachov speaks of him with the highest praise, indicating that he did not shudder before the kings, reporting the truth (Sir. 48: 12-14).
Punishment of children
In relation to Elisha, the children showed insolence, for which they were punished. They scoffed at him, exclaiming: “Go bald! Go bald! ”(2 Kings 2: 23-24). According to God's judgment, anticipated by the curse of Elisha, “two she-bears ran out of the forest and forty-two young women tore apart” (2 Kings 2:24).
Nevertheless, the Bible does not believe that the seer’s cruelty is the reason for what happened, because, according to the teachings of the divine book, a person’s curse is powerless, and only God makes a judgment (Num. 23: 8). The Lord does not actually realize undeserved curses (Prov. 26: 2).
The prophet Elisha is also mentioned in the New Testament (Luke 4:27). The Orthodox Church commemorates him on June 14 (according to the Julian calendar), the Catholic Church also on June 14.
Elisha in the Quran
Elisha is a biblical prophet who is also present in the Qur'an. Only in this book is he represented by the prophet Al-Yasa, which is described in the verses of the Koran 38:48 and 6:86. Together with the possessor Ilyas (Elijah), the seer called on the Israeli people to comply with the laws of Taurat (Torah) and Shariah Musa (Moses).
After the inhabitants of Israel did not answer the call of Ilyas, drove him out of the country and began to honor the idol of Baal, Allah severely punished them by sending a drought to them. The lost Israelis had to flee from hunger: at that time they ate carrion.
The people of Israel survived all the misfortunes that fell on him, and again invited the seer Ilyas to him. Residents returned to faith in Allah, but then some of them again departed from it and began to commit immoral acts. Veshchun Ilyas left them and began to prophesy the faith among other tribes of Israel.
So, Ilyas settled in the home of a woman who lived with her son Al-Yasa. Al-Yasa was suffering from a terrible disease at that time. The mother asked Ilyas to help her son, and he offered a prayer to Allah for healing. As a result, Allah healed Al-Yasu. After his miraculous recovery, the young man followed his savior to the end of his life and underwent Taurat under his control.
After the death of Ilyas, Allah made Al-Yasa a seer and ordered him to call on his people to believe in Allah. Unfortunately, the people rejected this creed. In those days, a struggle for power broke out between the various tribes of Israel, and Allah sent a disaster to them in the form of Assyrians.
The Assyrians conquered the territory of Israel and took away a huge number of inhabitants into slavery. Subsequently, the Israelites sometimes obeyed Al-Yasu, and sometimes rebelled against him. Before leaving for another world, Al-Yasa appointed Zulkifl (Ezekiel) as his successor.
Miracles of the seer Elisha
It is known that the holy prophet Elisha was born in the city of Abel Mechol (1 Kings 19:16) and was known as a great miracle worker. His very birth was accompanied by miraculous phenomena. In the town of Simon was a golden calf, whom the people of Israel worshiped as a deity and made sacrifices. When Elisha was born, she screamed so heartily that even the inhabitants of Jerusalem heard her roar.
When everyone was surprised at this, a clergyman said: “The great seer Elisha was born today! He will crush the strong and destroy the images! ”
Elisha, living a sinless life, has come of age. And then the Lord placed him in prophetic service. The holy seer Elijah received the command of the Almighty to anoint Elisha the soothsayers in his place.
When Elisha, the prophet of the Old Testament, plowed the field, the holy seer Elijah went up to him, entrusted his mercy to him, and, having told him the will of the Most High, he called him a possessor. Then Elijah ordered him to follow him. Elisha hurried after the teacher and served him, learning from him the keeping of the secrets of God.
When the Lord was pleased to take His servant Elijah to heaven in a hurricane on a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2: 1-15), Elijah asked Elisha: “What gift do you want from the Lord that I can derive from him with my prayer?”
And Elisha wished to receive the gift of divination and the gift of wonderworking that Elijah had, but more than twice! Elisha wished the erring people, deviating to the ministry of Baal, to teach in a word of divination, assuring their covenants with miracles, so that through such deeds they would turn them back to the true one God.
Elijah said to him: “If you observe how I will be taken to heaven from you, your wish will be fulfilled.” Then they continued their journey and talked among themselves. Suddenly, a fiery chariot arose, and the horses of fire, which pushed them one from the other: in a whirlwind, Elijah flew into the sky. Elisha looked at him and said: “My father, my father! The cavalry of Israel and his chariot! ”
When the chariot hid in the sky, Elisha saw the mercy descended from the height of Elijah, which covered him. He took it as a sign of the received special spirit of Elijah. Further, Elisha wished to cross the Jordan River: he struck with water with a cut, and the river parted, and Elisha crossed the barrier on a dry river bottom. The prophetic disciples who lived in the Jordan saw this miracle. They were convinced that the Spirit of Elijah settled in Elisha and, having come to him, bowed before him.
Execution of children
Among people, the prophet Elisha received great fame. After all, his life is full of various surprises. Once the seer was heading to the city of Bethel, in which the Israelites lived, having left God and worshiping idols. When he approached the city, the little children playing different games on the road saw him. They began to laugh at his bald head and cackle: “Go, bald! Bald, go! ”
The soothsayer, walking past them, looked around and saw that the children were following him, continuing to scream and scoff. Elisha cursed them with the name of God. Suddenly two bears ran out of the woods and forty-two lads tore apart. The survivors fled to the city. By this execution, in a righteous trial, the seer punished those youths for abuse and took their lives. After all, having reached adulthood, they would have turned into more evil people.
Their parents punished them for worshiping idols. They received a bitter teaching: raising children should be carried out in the fear of God and instructions to reverently revere the servants of the Lord.
Ailment of the famous governor
What else was the prophet Elisha famous for? We study his life further. Once the famous governor Naaman, who served the king of Syria, fell ill with leprosy. It is known that he was famous for military victories and his courage. He was ill for a very long time and could not find the doctors who would heal him.
Once, Syrian soldiers from an Israeli country captured a girl and gave her to Naaman's wife for service. The girl heard about the seer Elisha from her father and mother: they told her about the great miracles that happened through his prayers. She told that to her mistress.
“Oh, if my master had visited the seer Elisha, who lives in Samaria, he would have healed him of leprosy,” the girl said. Naaman’s wife told her husband her words, and he visited his king and began to ask him to allow him to travel to Israel for healing by the prophet.
The king allowed him to go and handed him a letter to the ruler of Israel, Joram. Naaman took gifts with him for Elisha - ten changes of rich clothes, ten talents of silver and six thousand gold coins. Soon he arrived in Israel and gave a letter to King Joram, in which his king wrote: “From my message that you receive, find out that I sent my servant Naaman to you so that you could cleanse him of leprosy.”
Having studied the letter of the ruler of Syria, the Israeli sovereign became very sad and, tearing his clothes apart, said: “Am I the Lord, who alone can revive and put to death, that he sent his leper to me, to cure him of leprosy?” Apparently, he is looking for an excuse to start a war against me! ”
The seer Elisha learned that the king was upset and tore his clothes. He sent people to tell the ruler: “Why are you upset and why did you tear your clothes? May Naaman come and see that there is a seer of God in Israel! ”
Naaman came to the house of Eliseev and stopped near him with horses and chariots. The prophet through the servant told him: “Go to the Jordan seven times to plunge, and your body will be cleansed. It will become what it was before. ”
Naaman was offended when he heard such words of the prophet, and left, crying: “I hoped that he would come to me and, standing in front of me, would say the name of his Lord, touch my leper body and cleanse him, and he told me to bathe in Jordan ! Are the Damascus, Farfar, and Avan rivers better than the Jordan and all Israeli waters? Could I not bathe and be healed in them? ”
And Naaman went back from Samaria in great anger. On the way, the servants asked him to heed the command of the seer of God and said: “If Elisha ordered you to do something more difficult, would you not follow his command? But he only told you to plunge into the Jordan for purification, and you don’t want to do that either. ”
Naaman obeyed his servants, leaned over to the Jordan River and plunged into it seven times, as the seer of God told him, and at the same moment his body was cleansed. He returned to Elisha with those accompanying him, and, standing in front of him, said: “Now I have believed that there is only God in Israel. Therefore, from your servant accept the gifts that I have brought to you. ”
Naaman offered the seer silver, clothes, and gold. But Saint Elisha told him: "The Most High is alive, whom I serve, and I will not take anything from you." Naaman began to convince the prophet to accept what was brought, but he was unshakable. Then Naaman asked the saint: “Let your servant take the land as much as my two mules can take away.” Having delivered her home, I will build the altar of Israel to the Lord God, for from now on your slave will not offer sacrifices to other gods, but only to the One true God. "
The seer allowed him to take what he wanted and let him go in peace. When Naaman departed, the servant of Elisha Gieseus began to ponder: “This is what my Lord did to the Naaman of the Syrian invaluable service and did not take a single gift from him. I’ll catch up with him and ask for something. ”
And, rising, he hurried after Naaman. The governor saw Gehazi, got down from the chariot and greeted him. Gehazi said to him: “My lord sent me to tell you that today two disciples of things came down to him from Mount Ephraim. He asks you to convey for them two changes of clothes and a talent for silver. ” Naaman invited him to take two talents and ordered the silver to be packed in two bags. He gave Gehazi his servants to carry the gifts, and also gave him two robes.
Gehaziy came home at sunset, hid what was taken in his dwelling, and he went to his master. The seer of God Elisha asked him: “Where did you come from, Gehazi?” He answered him: “Your slave did not go anywhere.”
Then Elisha said: “Didn’t my heart follow you and see how that person came down from the chariot and went to you, and how did you take his clothes and silver? Do I really not know that you want to buy vineyards and oil trees for yourself, oxen, sheep, maidservants and servants for this silver? For this, Naaman’s leprosy will cling to your offspring and to you forever. ”
And Gieseus came out from Elisha as white as snow: leprosy instantly covered him.
Acts Elisha
Do you know that an akathist to the prophet Elisha works wonders? After all, other marvelous prophetic gifts and acts of Elisha were also known, which are described in detail in the books of Kings. It was he who prophesied of the seven-year famine that was raging in the lands of Israel (2 Kings 8:10). He predicted the demise of Benhadad, the king of Syria, and announced the transfer of the kingdom of Syria to Hazael. It was Elisha who anointed the kingdom of Jehu, one of the kings of Israel, and then prompted him to destroy the idolatrous God-hating Ahaav house, all the Baal magi and priests.
When Joash reigned (the grandson of Jehu), the soothsayer Elisha, already an ancient elder, became very ill. King of Israel Joash visited him and, sobbing over him, said: “Father, father, Israel’s chariot and its horses!”
The seer asked him to take arrows and bow, open the eastern window to look towards Syria, and pull the bowstring. The king fulfilled his request. The seer of God, laying his hands on the king, said: "Let an arrow go to Syria." And the sovereign fired an arrow.
The seer said: "This arrow is the arrow of God's salvation, and you will defeat Syria." And again he commanded Joash to take arrows and a bow in his hands. The king took it. Then the seer said to him: "Hit the ground with an arrow." Joash struck three times and froze. The seer Elisha was angry with him, saying: “If you had hit five or six times, you would have won a complete victory over Syria. Now you can only inflict three defeats on her. ”
Thus, when he prophesied to Joash, Saint Elisha reposed and was buried with reverence.
The wonders of Elisha after death
Many good deeds were done by the prophet Elisha. Prayer could send him to the earth, even heavy rain. It is known that the seer Elisha not only worked miracles during his lifetime, but also proved to be a miracle worker after his death. A year after he moved to another world, they carried the buried one deceased outside the city. At that moment a horde of Moab appeared, raiding the lands of Israel.
People who carried the deceased from afar noticed the enemies and left the corpse in a nearby cave. It was precisely the cave in which the seer Elisha’s ashes rested. The dead man touched the bones of the soothsayer and instantly came to life: he left the cave and hurried into the city.
So, even after death, the Lord glorified His saint. The day of the Prophet Elisha is celebrated with awe by people. Diven the Lord God of Israel in his saints.
Icon
How can the miraculous icon of the prophet Elisha help? She will protect the asking person from all sorrows and troubles, diseases, help him gain spiritual strength and peace of mind.
Eliseevsky temple
The Church of Elisha the Prophet is located near St. Petersburg on the shores of Lake Sidozero, near a holiday village with the same name. Previously, the Yakovlevsky tract was located on the site of this village.
The temple of the prophet Elisha was created in 1899. It was built of wood, but has the forms of an eclectic Russian style typical of stone architecture. The temple was closed in the late 1930s. Today it is completely abandoned and does not function.
In general, the church of the holy prophet Elisha is famous and is considered a significant object of the "Podporozhsky ring." Tourists talk about it as being inaccessible, although in fact it takes only forty minutes to go from the holiday village to it.
This building is very beautiful and unusual. At the same time, it is gradually being destroyed and, apparently, it does not appear in the list of cultural objects to be restored.
History of the Church of Elisha
It is known that the church of the seer Elisha was consecrated on June 13 (according to the new style) on June 26, 1899 in the village of Sidozero, Olonets province. This structure did not appear by chance. His unique dedication is due to the fact that the temple was erected at the burial place of a certain monk Elisha. A folk legend called him a monk of the nearby Yablonskaya Desert - a small monastery located on the Yablonsky Peninsula, in the middle of Svir.
According to legend, in the Time of Troubles, when the Poles ravaged the Yablonskaya Desert, Elisha escaped in the forests on the right bank of the Svir. He settled on the coast of Sidozero. Even at the end of the 19th century, locals talked about the "monk path", which the seer walked from Sidozero to his ruined monastery. Here, on Sidozero, Elisha died.
An impressive cross was placed on his grave. Local residents have long venerated Eliseev’s grave, everyone had an icon of the prophet Elisha in their dwelling. In 1870, in memory of the end of the epidemic among livestock, it was decided to celebrate the memory of the seer Elisha every year on June 14. Then a chapel was erected over a burial from a tree. The number of pilgrims visiting this holy place increased every year, and at the end of the 19th century people decided to build a special church here.
Why were the children cursed?
What happened when the prophet Elisha and the children met on a deserted road? Why did God's man curse the children? Let's look at this tricky question.
- The original text is 4 Kings. 2:24 the word “forest” can be translated as “grove” or “oak grove”. In those days, there were a lot of oak groves and groves in those places, and animals were not yet exterminated. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that the bears could roam wherever they like.
- The seer cursed no small children. Indeed, in the original the word “small” is used, which can be translated as “smaller”, “younger”, and “children” can be translated as “boy”, “youth”, “servant”, “slave”. In fact, we see here not kids, but a crowd of embittered teenagers. But they were not just ridiculing the seer. They called him bald and called to ascend to heaven. Evil teenagers demanded from Elisha, taunting him, that he ascended to heaven, as recently his teacher Elijah. This was not only a neglect of the prophet, but also directly to God.
We hope that this article has helped you study the life of the seer Elisha.