2 Kings 13 - 14

Back in Israel, we have King Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu. He reigned for 17 years (verse 1) and, yes, he too was an evil king (verse 2).

For many years God kept Israel under “the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad, his son.” In time, Jehoahaz, Israel’s king, got tired of this oppression and called out to God for help. Verse 5, “And the Lord provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram.”  But believe it or not, “they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam” (verse 6).

Are we also so slow to learn as the Israelites were? And you know where to find more history of the life of Jehoahaz, don’t you? He died and his son Jehoash succeeded him.  Need I tell you what kind of king he turned out to be? He did evil for 16 years (verse 11), including going to war with Amaziah, king of Judah (verse 12). He reigned, did evil, died and his son Jeroboam succeeded him. No, the first Jeroboam wasn’t reincarnated, this evil king could be referred to as Jeroboam II.  I think it says something about Jehoash if he named his son after Jeroboam, a very evil king.  That would be like a German family named Mueller naming their son Adolf Hiter Mueller. But obviously, Jehoash didn’t view Jeroboam as an evil king who brought to Israel idol worship and golden calves. He probably referred to him as a “progressive innovator of religion.” Isn’t that nicer than “sinful idol worshipper”?

About this time Elisha was getting up in years. But before he died, King Jehoash went down to see him (verse 14). What was his motive? I remember a story about U.S. President Woodrow Wilson who had suffered a stroke.  One of his political opponents visited him and reassured the president that he was praying for him.  Wilson asked, “Which way?” Likewise, Jehoash might have had mixed motives in visiting Elisha.

Verse 14, “Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. ‘My father! My father!’ he cried. ‘The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

What’s that all about?  He was grieving the loss of Elisha, but also concerned about the tiny army he was left with and the future of the kingdom.  He appears to have recognized that his successes in military campaigns were more dependent upon Elisha than on his military prowess and equipping and training of his army.

Elisha reassured him that even if he died, God, the real source of his victories, not the prophet, will still be available.  Elisha told him to get a bow and arrows, and he placed his hand on the hands of the king. He then told the king to shoot an arrow out the window to the east (verse 17).  Elisha explained that this symbolic act meant that he would have victory over the Arameans, even without Elisha’s help. Then he told the king to strike the ground with the arrows, which he did, three times.  Elisha said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times.”  But since he only did it three times, though he had five or six, he will defeat Aram only three times (verse 19). He may have demonstrated a lack of zeal on his part to go to war or to completely defeat the Arameans.

With that last visit, “Elisha died and was buried.” That doesn’t sound like much of an obituary for such a great man of God. I think we can do much better. Let’s write up a better obituary, one worthy of such a great man:

Elisha the great Prophet of God, protégé and successor of Elijah, miracle worker and friend of the downtrodden, died today after a sixty-year ministry to the people of Israel and spanning the reigns of kings Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash.

In his ministry Elisha traveled widely and served as an adviser to kings, a companion of the common people, and a friend of both Israelites and foreigners. He was known for his many miracles of kindness such as healing the waters of Jericho, multiplying a widow’s oil, resurrecting a child, removing poison from the pot at a homeless encampment, multiplied barley loaves to feed one hundred men, curing a man with leprosy and making a borrowed ax head float. His many miracles were acts of helpfulness, encouragement to many, both Israelites and foreigners.

In one notable incident, when Israel was threatened by the Arameans, Elisha prayed for the Arameans to be struck with blindness. Elisha led them to Samaria where they were taken prisoners of war. An army was captured without firing a single shot. His kind treatment of the captured enemies endeared him to the Arameans.

Elisha was buried by his disciples in the town of Dothan, Israel.

Meanwhile, bands of Moabites were raiding Israel at the beginning of the harvest season.  On one such occasion there was a burial procession. The undertaker hastily placed the body in the closest safe place they could find, it was the tomb of Elisha.  As soon as the deceased body touched that of Elisha’s, it came back to life (verse 21).  What was the meaning of this?  Commentators have suggested that this incident occurred to increase the reverence of the Israelites for the memory of Elisha, to lend force to his teaching, and especially to add weight to his unfulfilled prophecies. Others claim that this miracle may have been needed to encourage and reassure the the Israelites. Elisha may have been encouraging people in death much as he did in his life.

A few churches use this passage to support the veneration of relics, a practice that most churches frown upon since veneration is too close to worship. The distinction between veneration and worship is extremely slim. They both include showing respect and awe for something or someone.

A church that does venerate relics explained their position. “We do not worship, we do not adore, for fear that we should bow down to the creature rather than to the Creator, but we venerate the relics of the martyrs in order the better to adore Him whose martyrs they are."

The fear that veneration can turn to worship is very real. This is exactly what happened in ancient Israel. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent to save the Hebrews from a plague of poisonous snakes (Num. 21:8–9). That bronze serpent was kept by the Israelites as a reminder of God’s goodness and salvation; however, by the time of King Hezekiah, the “relic” had become an object of worship. Hezekiah’s reforms included breaking “into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it” (2 Kings 18:4).

Because of man’s tendency to worship the creation rather than the creator, he saw to it that when Moses died, no one would know where he was buried (Deut. 34:5). Sometimes when a notorious person is executed, he is buried in an unmarked grave, lest his followers turn his grave into a shrine.

But notice that in the case of Elisha’s body, there were no prayers said, and no religious ceremony. Nowhere in Scriptures do we see Elisha’s bones being venerated.  The ancient Israelites and early church did not practice the veneration of objects. Reverence for religious relics finds no support in the Bible. Physical aids to faith, if not commanded by God, are unnecessary and can easily lead to superstition and idolatry. So, for these reasons, most churches discourage the “veneration of relics.”