CHAPTER V.

_JEHOSHAPHAT AND JEHORAM――ERA OF ELISHA._ 2 KINGS II.–IV. B.C. 895.

FOR a time Elisha tarried at the now rebuilt Jericho, and here he performed his second miracle. “Of the two perennial springs which, rising at the base of the steep hills behind the town, send their streams across the plain towards the Jordan, scattering, even at the hottest season, the richest and most grateful vegetation over what would otherwise be a bare tract of sandy soil[381],” one at least was at this time noxious and unfit for use. At the urgent request of the inhabitants Elisha put salt into a new cruse, and poured it into the spring at its source, and the waters were healed (2 K. ii. 19–22). Thence he repaired to Bethel, which, though the seat of the school of the prophets, was, it will be remembered, one of the centres of the Calf-worship. As the prophet ascended the defile leading into the town, the youths of the place came forth, and began to revile the gentle successor of the terrible Elijah. _Go up, bald head!_ was their cry, alluding, probably, “to the contrast between his closely-trimmed hair and the shaggy locks of Elijah.” Turning round, the prophet looked upon them, and cursed them in the name of Jehovah, and from a forest hard by the road, and haunted by wild beasts, came forth two she-bears, which tare forty-two of them. Elisha meanwhile passed on to Carmel, the resort of his late master, and thence returned, and eventually took up his abode at Samaria (2 K. ii. 25).

Jehoram, who now reigned in that capital, persisted in his idolatrous courses, but, possibly owing to the late activity of Elijah, had removed the image of Baal, and recurred to the old Calf-worship. He now resolved to take that vengeance on the rebellious Moabites, which the death of his brother Ahaziah had postponed. Accordingly, having obtained the promise of the assistance of Jehoshaphat, he numbered his forces, and set out on the campaign. Instead of crossing the Jordan above the Dead Sea, and invading Moab from the North, it was resolved to pass round the southern end of that sea, and thence push forwards through the northern portion of the territory of Edom, whose king also promised his aid in the expedition. Accordingly a long and tedious circuit of 7 days was made, during which the armies suffered the greatest extremities from the want of water. In this crisis Jehoshaphat proposed that the advice of some prophet of Jehovah should be sought, and, enquiry being made, it was found that Elisha was present with, or in the near neighbourhood of, the armies. The three kings, therefore, went down to consult him. The prophet evinced no willingness to befriend the ruler of Israel, but in consideration of the presence of the pious king of Judah, he relented, and summoned a minstrel before him. The minstrel played, and in the usual prophetic ecstasy Elisha directed that dykes should be dug in the valley, which he foretold would speedily be filled with water sufficient for the host, and he moreover assured the kings of a speedy victory over their enemies.

On the next day at early dawn, the hour of offering the meat-offering at Jerusalem, in consequence probably of a great and sudden fall of rain in the eastern mountains of Edom[382], water came down and filled all the dykes, which the armies had dug in the red soil of the valley. To the Moabites, who had mustered all their forces and awaited the attack in the border of their territory, the water, glistening in the rays of the morning sun, appeared to have assumed a red colour like blood. Thereupon concluding that the confederate kings had turned their arms against one another, they hastily marched on to gather up the spoil. But they had no sooner reached their camp, than they were attacked with great fierceness, and put to a complete rout. As they fled to their own cities, the confederate kings pursued them, felled their trees[383], stopped up their wells, filled their choice pieces of land with stones, and ravaged all their towns, save the impregnable fortress of Kir-haraseth[384] (_Kerak_), built on a high steep rock and surrounded by a deep and narrow ravine. There the king of Moab made his last stand, and with 700 picked men made a desperate attempt to break through the besieging army. This last hope failing, he ascended the wall with his eldest son, the heir to his throne, and in sight of the allied besiegers, killed and burnt him as a propitiatory sacrifice to his idol Chemosh. This frightful spectacle filled the allied hosts with such horror that they raised the siege and departed to their own land (2 K. iii. 20–27).

During the reign of Jehoram Elisha performed many miracles, the fame of which could not fail to strengthen the cause of true religion.