Elisha was the prophetic successor of Elijah, one of the greatest of all the Old Testament figures. He inherited a 'double portion' of Elijah's spirit (2 Kings 2:9); no one's quite sure what that means, but he did perform many more miracles than his predecessor.
Some of them are rather odd. For instance, in 2 Kings 2: 19-22 he 'heals' a town well by throwing salt into it. In 2 Kings 4: 34-35 he brings a boy back to life by stretching himself on him 'mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands'. Then he gets up and walks around before lying on the boy again, whereupon the child wakes up. Later in the chapter (verses 38-41) he makes a bitter and probably dangerous pot of stew palatable by throwing flour into it; and in 2 Kings 6: 1-6 he makes a lost axe-head float to the surface of the river by throwing a stick in at the same place.
With the exception of the resurrection story, some of these examples seem a bit, well, domestic. A lost axe-head would have been valuable in the days before DIY stores, but it hardly seems worth a miracle – though the cost of replacing it might have been impossibly high to the borrower.
What unites all these stories, though, is how they actually work. They show the prophet transforming a situation that's gone wrong by enacting how it ought to be. It's like a prayer that is acted rather than spoken.
So: salt is thrown into a well because it's a symbol of purity and preservation. Flour purges a poisonous stew because it's a clean ingredient. An iron axe-head floats when a stick is thrown into the water, because the stick floats – the potentially ruinous situation is transformed when it's brought into relationship with a powerful alternative reality.
And the boy wakes because Elisha has mimed his death and resurrection in lying down on him and rising again.
These are strange stories from a strange time. But there's a powerful message here for Christians today.
How can we transform situations by our behaviour? How can we act in such a way that what we do miraculously transforms other people's lives?
All too often, we want to keep clear of circumstances that are challenging or dangerous, that threaten our peace of mind or our preconceptions about how God works. Elisha tells us that by acting faithfully and creatively, we can bring real change. God's different reality changes how the world works; God's people can work miracles of grace.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
