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Was Elisha still alive?
Yes; but he was now an old man, and very near death. Many years
before, his dear master had been taken away from him; and now Elisha was
soon going to join him again, in that happy world where friends part no
more for ever. King Jehoash went to see Elisha when he was
ill. Jehoash was not a good man; but he loved and honored Elisha,
and this was right. The king knew how useful Elisha had been to his
country; and he was very sorry to lose him, and wept over him, and cried,
"O my father, my father." Israel had suffered much from
the Syrians; and Jehoash feared that now he should have no kind friend to
help and comfort him. But Elisha wished to teach the king, that God
could still protect Israel, and fight their enemies for them. The
prophet taught Jehoash this by signs. He gave the king a bow and
arrows, and put his hands upon the king's hands, and told Jehoash to open
the window eastward. Jehoash opened it, and the prophet said,
"Shoot." Jehoash shot the arrow out of the window, as
Elisha told him; and then the prophet explained to Jehoash what the sign
meant. He said, "This is the arrow of the Lord's deliverance
from Syria. Thus shalt thou smite the Syrians, and destroy
them." Then Elisha told the king to take the arrows again, and
smite upon the ground. Jehoash did so; but he smote only three times
upon the ground, and then stayed, without waiting for Elisha's
command. This made the prophet angry. He saw that Jehoash had
no faith in God, no trust in Him, no care to obey His commands; and he
said to the king, "Thou oughtest to have smitten many times; then
Syria should have been quite destroyed; but now thou shalt smite Syria
only three times." The
Syrians had long troubled Israel. Hazael was king of Syria, and he
was cruel to the Israelites, as Elisha had prophesied that he would
be. But after Hazael was dead, Jehoash conquered the Syrians three
times, and got possession again of the cities they had taken. Yet
Jehoash smote the Syrians only three times. Why? Because he
was so impatient, and had so little faith, when Elisha, at God's command,
told him to smite upon the ground. It is wrong to grow tired of
obeying the commands of God. We must persevere in what we have to
do. Like Jehoash, we have enemies to fight; and stronger enemies
than the Syrians. Who are these enemies? Satan, and the world,
and our own wicked hearts, and sinful passions and tempers. These
are very strong enemies indeed. How can we conquer them? Not
with bows and arrows, and swords, and spears. We must ask God to
fight for us. We must look in faith to Jesus Christ, and ask Him to
give us the victory. But we must not be like Jehoash, soon tired of
praying and fighting against these enemies. We must not resist them
two or three times only, and then leave off. If we do this, our
enemies will soon conquer us. No, we must fight and pray every day
we live; because every day Satan and our own sinful hearts try to overcome
us. And if we persevere, we shall conquer at last; for God promises
the victory to all those who fight trusting in His strength, and not in
their own. "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us." Romans 8:37. Good
Elisha died, and was buried. All his troubles and sorrows were
ended, and his happy soul went to join his dear master in Heaven.
Soon after Elisha's death, the Moabites came to invade the land. One
day, as some Israelites were burying a dead man, they looked up, and saw
the Moabites coming. The friends of the dead man took up the body in
haste, and threw it into Elisha's tomb; for they were so much afraid, that
they could not stay to bury it. But a wonderful thing happened when
the dead man was put down into the tomb. As soon as the body touched
the bones of Elisha it revived; and the man lived again, and stood upon
his feet. There was no power in Elisha's bones to revive the
man. It was God who did the miracle; and He showed the people by it,
how much he loved His faithful servant, and honored him after his death.
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