Fifty young men, sons of the prophets, saw him return, and they said,
"The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha," and they bowed themselves to the ground before him.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE LITTLE CHAMBER ON THE WALL.
Elisha did many wonderful things in the strength of the spirit that Elijah"s G.o.d gave him. He changed the waters of Jericho, so that they were no longer poisonous, by casting salt in the spring.
He brought water for the thirsty armies of three kings who had gathered to battle, by telling them to dig ditches in a valley of Edom, and watch for the water to come, without wind or rain. When the morning dawned the valley was full of running water.
He helped a poor widow to pay a debt and take care of her two sons by telling her to borrow empty pots and pans of all her neighbors, and pour into them her one little pot of oil. The oil increased until all the pots and pans were full, and she had plenty to sell.
He saved the sons of the prophets from death by casting meal into the pot when a poisonous nut had been mingled with the food, and he fed a hundred people with the bread that was brought as a portion for himself.
But the most beautiful story in the life of Elisha is that of the Shun-amite mother and her son. The mother was a n.o.ble lady of Shun-em, who believed in G.o.d, and in the good man who pa.s.sed her house so often, and she said to her husband,
"Let us make for him a little chamber on the wall." And so they did, and when Elisha came again he lodged there. He was grateful to these kind people, and asked the woman what he should do for her--if she would ask anything of the king, but she only said,
"I dwell among mine own people."
Then the prophet, knowing that she had no child, promised that she should have a son, and though it was hard to believe, the little son was sent to her, and she was very happy. But one day when he went out in the field where his father and his men were reaping, he cried out, "My head, my head!" and they carried him in to his mother. She held him in her arms until noon, and then he died and she laid him in the prophet"s chamber. Perhaps the heat of the harvest time had been too great for one so young. Did the mother cry out and call her husband?
No, she called for a servant and a donkey, and rode as fast as she could to Mount Carmel where Elisha was. His servant saw her coming, and Elisha sent him to meet her and ask if it was well with her and her husband and her child, and she said,
"It is well," though her heart was breaking.
"Did I ask a son of my lord?" she said as she came to Elisha and fell at his feet. Then he knew that the child was ill or dead, and he would have sent his servant to lay his staff on the child, but the mother cried,
"As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee,"
and he arose and followed her.
When he came to the Shun-amite"s house he went into his little room where the dead child lay upon his bed, and, shutting the door, prayed to the Lord. Then he stretched himself upon the child, and breathed upon him until life began to creep back into the little cold body, and when he had done this twice the child opened his eyes Then Elisha called the mother, and when she had fallen at his feet in grateful joy, she took up her child and went out.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Elijah raises the widow"s son]
CHAPTER XXIX.
A LITTLE MAID OF ISRAEL.
There was war almost all the time between Israel and Syria. A band of Syrians from Damascus would often come into a village of Israel and take the people away for slaves. One little girl who was carried off by the Syrians became a slave in the house of a Syrian general called Naaman, and was a maid to Naaman"s wife.
Naaman was a great man, and beloved by all, but he had a disease that could never be cured. It was leprosy. He could go about, but he could not touch others without giving them the disease which turns the skin white and dead, and finally eats the flesh away.
The little maid said to her mistress one day,
"Would G.o.d my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy."
When this was told to Naaman he talked with the king, who sent him to the king of Israel with a letter, but the king of Israel was angry.
"Am I G.o.d to kill and make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?" he cried, but when Elisha heard of it he said,
"Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
So Naaman came with his horses and chariot to Elisha"s house, but the prophet did not even come to the door, but sent his servant with this message,
"Go wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."
But Naaman went away in a rage. He expected Elisha to come out, and that there would be a fine scene while he called on the name of G.o.d, waved his hand over the leprous spots, and made a cure.
"Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?" he said.
Then some of his servants came near to him and said,
"My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith to thee, "Wash and be clean.""
Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, and his flesh became like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
After this he, with all that were with him, went humbly back to Elisha and said,
"Now I know that there is no G.o.d in all the earth but in Israel." And he urged the prophet to take gifts from him, but he would not.
But Naaman begged of Elisha two mule-loads of earth to take to his own country. He wanted to build an altar upon it to worship the G.o.d of Israel, and he thought it must stand on the soil of Israel.
Did Naaman ever send the little maid of Israel to her home? We do not know, but surely he was kind to her in some way.
CHAPTER x.x.x.
THE TWO BOY KINGS.
There were many kings over Israel from the days of Solomon until the time when they were carried away captives to Babylon. The kingdom was divided soon after Solomon"s death, and a king reigned in Jerusalem over the kingdom of Judah, and another in Samaria over the kingdom of Israel. There were a few kings who tried to follow that which was right, but the most of them were men who were given to idolatry, and who did not help the people to remember the true G.o.d. The Lord sent them prophets to remind them of Him, but they were often driven away or ill treated. There were a few good kings of Judah, such as Asa and Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, and among them were two who became kings when they were very young.
When Ahaziah, King of Judah, was killed, his mother, who was a wicked woman, killed all his sons, that she herself might be queen. All but a baby boy who was hidden with his nurse in the temple, and tenderly cared for by the good high priest and his wife for six years. Then when he was seven years old the priests and the Levites brought out little Joash and anointed him king. They formed a guard all about him, and when the high priest had crowned him there was a great cry around the temple of "G.o.d save the King."
The old queen heard this and came to see what it meant. When she saw the little Joash standing by a pillar with a crown on his head she cried out that the people were plotting against her.
The people did by her as she had done by her grandsons--they took her life.
Then there was great rejoicing. The house of Baal was torn down, and the Lord"s gold and silver brought back to the temple, and the good high priest began the worship of G.o.d in the temple after the manner of former days.
When Joash was old enough to understand he longed to make the temple beautiful again, for it was falling into decay, so he called for money throughout his kingdom. Everyone was asked to drop a silver piece in the chest that was set at the temple door, and more than enough was brought to re-build the temple, and while the high priest lived the king worshipped there with all the princes of Judah, but as soon as he died they went back to idol worship, and killed the new high priest in the court of the temple because he told them that the Lord would bring great trouble upon them. And so it came to pa.s.s in less than a year the Syrians came and killed the princes, and took away the gold and silver treasures of the temple. Joash himself became very sick, and his own servants took his life as he lay helpless.