Elisha’s Miracles: Holiness or Hubris?

The cycle of narratives about the prophet Elisha includes 16 episodes that begin with his appointment as Elijah’s attendant immediately following Elijah’s epiphany at Mount Horeb (1 Kgs 19:19–21).^[1] The stories about Elisha are interwoven into the accounts of the four rulers of the kingdom of Israel—Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Joash—in whose reigns he was active (2 Kings).

The dominant scholarly approach to the Elisha cycle today distinguishes between two types of narratives: short miracle stories, which are often classified as unsophisticated examples of prophetic hagiography designed to glorify Elisha, and longer, more elaborate narratives,^[2] which many scholars argue carry a critical stance toward Elisha.

A closer look at two stories of miracles performed by Elisha in which he saves a woman’s son(s), however, challenges such conclusions, highlighting the literary sophistication of the shorter narratives, the hagiographic intention and spirit of the longer ones, and the close literary relationship between the two.

The Miracle of the Oil Jar: A Short Story

A widow cries out to Elisha, presenting herself as worthy of the prophet’s assistance by virtue of her late husband, who was loyal to both Elisha and his God:

^{מלכים ב ד:א} וְאִשָּׁה אַחַת מִנְּשֵׁי בְנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים צָעֲקָה אֶל אֱלִישָׁע לֵאמֹר עַבְדְּךָ אִישִׁי מֵת וְאַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ כִּי עַבְדְּךָ הָיָה יָרֵא אֶת יְ־הוָה...

^{2 Kgs 4:1a} A certain woman, the wife of one of the disciples of the prophets, cried out to Elisha: “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know how your servant revered YHWH.”^[3]

In the Bible, those in distress typically cry out either to God or to the king.^[4] For example, the Israelites cry out to God under the oppression of slavery in Egypt (Exod 2:23). God is also specifically described as the protector of widows and orphans (Ps 68:6; 146:9), one who provides for their needs (Deut 26:12–13) and hears their cries:

‏^{שׁמות כב:כא} כָּל אַלְמָנָה וְיָתוֹם לֹא תְעַנּוּן. ^כב:כב אִם עַנֵּה תְעַנֶּה אֹתוֹ כִּי אִם צָעֹק יִצְעַק אֵלַי שָׁמֹעַ אֶשְׁמַע צַעֲקָתוֹ.

^{Exod 22:21} You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. ^22:22 If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me.

Likewise, God hears the cry of the poor debtor oppressed by his creditor (Exod 22:26). In our story, both dimensions of suffering converge—a widow with orphaned sons who are also debtors, unable to repay:

^{מלכים ב ד:א} ...וְהַנֹּשֶׁה בָּא לָקַחַת אֶת שְׁנֵי יְלָדַי לוֹ לַעֲבָדִים׃

^{2 Kgs 4:1b} “And now a creditor is coming to seize my two children as slaves.”

Elisha hears the cry of this impoverished, indebted widow and asks her: מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ, “What shall I do for you?” (4:2a; more on this later). This image of Elisha, like God, answering the widow’s cry serves to exalt Elisha as a great man.

She responds with great respect, calling herself Elisha’s שִׁפְחָה, “maidservant”:

^{מלכים ב ד:ב} וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אֱלִישָׁע מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ הַגִּידִי לִי מַה יֶּשׁ לְכִי [לָךְ] בַּבָּיִת וַתֹּאמֶר אֵין לְשִׁפְחָתְךָ כֹל בַּבַּיִת כִּי אִם אָסוּךְ שָׁמֶן.

^{2 Kgs 4:2} Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house?” She replied, “Your maidservant has nothing at all in the house, except a jug of oil.”

He first instructs her to borrow empty vessels from her neighbors and fill them with oil from her jug:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:ג} וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי שַׁאֲלִי לָךְ כֵּלִים מִן הַחוּץ מֵאֵת כָּל שְׁכֵנָכִי [שְׁכֵנָיִךְ] כֵּלִים רֵקִים אַל תַּמְעִיטִי. ^ד:ד וּבָאת וְסָגַרְתְּ הַדֶּלֶת בַּעֲדֵךְ וּבְעַד בָּנַיִךְ וְיָצַקְתְּ עַל כָּל הַכֵּלִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהַמָּלֵא תַּסִּיעִי.

^{2 Kgs 4:3} “Go,” he said, “and borrow vessels outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels, as many as you can. ^4:4 Then go in and shut the door behind you and your children, and pour [oil] into all those vessels, removing each one as it is filled.”

The motif of borrowing vessels from neighbors recalls God’s command to Moses on the eve of the Exodus, when the Israelites borrowed silver, gold, and other items of wealth to take with them when they departed Egypt:

^{שׁמות ג:כב} וְשָׁאֲלָה אִשָּׁה מִשְּׁכֶנְתָּהּ וּמִגָּרַת בֵּיתָהּ כְּלֵי כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב וּשְׂמָלֹת וְשַׂמְתֶּם עַל בְּנֵיכֶם וְעַל בְּנֹתֵיכֶם וְנִצַּלְתֶּם אֶת מִצְרָיִם.

^{Exod 3:22} Every woman shall ask from her neighbor and from the lodger in her house, silver and gold vessels, and garments; and you shall put them on your sons and daughters, and so you shall plunder Egypt.

As in the Exodus account, Elisha’s instruction that the widow borrow vessels from her neighbors is followed by miraculous economic relief; she is able to fill every borrowed jar:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:ו} וַיְהִי כִּמְלֹאת הַכֵּלִים וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל בְּנָהּ הַגִּישָׁה אֵלַי עוֹד כֶּלִי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ אֵין עוֹד כֶּלִי וַיַּעֲמֹד הַשָּׁמֶן. ^ד:ז וַתָּבֹא וַתַּגֵּד לְאִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר לְכִי מִכְרִי אֶת הַשֶּׁמֶן וְשַׁלְּמִי אֶת נִשְׁיֵכִי [נִשְׁיֵךְ] וְאַתְּ בְּנֵיכִי [וּבָנַיִךְ] תִחְיִי בַּנּוֹתָר.

^{2 Kgs 4:6} When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” He answered her, “There are no more vessels”; and the oil stopped. ^4:7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your children can live on the rest.”

The legend thus presents a sophisticated message that presents a striking parallel between Elisha and God: Just as God redeemed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, so Elisha redeems the widow’s two sons from slavery to their creditor.

The Birth and Revival of the Shunammite’s Son: A Longer Story

The next narrative recounts two extraordinary miracles performed on behalf of a woman from Shunem who regularly provided lodging and housing for Elisha when he was in town (2 Kgs 4:8–10). As in the previous narrative, the woman is presented as worthy of the prophet’s assistance, with Elisha wishing to repay her bounty:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:יג} וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ אֱמָר נָא אֵלֶיהָ הִנֵּה חָרַדְתְּ אֵלֵינוּ אֶת כָּל הַחֲרָדָה הַזֹּאת מֶה לַעֲשׂוֹת לָךְ הֲיֵשׁ לְדַבֶּר לָךְ אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ אוֹ אֶל שַׂר הַצָּבָא וַתֹּאמֶר בְּתוֹךְ עַמִּי אָנֹכִי יֹשָׁבֶת. ^ד:יד וַיֹּאמֶר וּמֶה לַעֲשׂוֹת לָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר גֵּיחֲזִי אֲבָל בֵּן אֵין לָהּ וְאִישָׁהּ זָקֵן.

^{2 Kgs 4:13} He said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. What is to be done for you? Can we speak in your behalf to the king or to the army commander?’” She replied, “I live among my own people.” ^4:14 “What then is to be done for her?” he asked. “The fact is,” said Gehazi, “she has no son, and her husband is old.”

Elisha’s question to the Shunammite, and, after she demurs, his follow-up question to Gehazi (both shown in bold), also forge a verbal link with the previous story: they are an almost verbatim repetition of what he asked the widow, מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ, “What shall I do for you?” (4:2a).

To help the woman, Elisha declares that she will have a son:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:טו} וַיֹּאמֶר קְרָא לָהּ וַיִּקְרָא לָהּ וַתַּעֲמֹד בַּפָּתַח. ^ד:טז וַיֹּאמֶר לַמּוֹעֵד הַזֶּה כָּעֵת חַיָּה אַתִּי [אַתְּ] חֹבֶקֶת בֵּן וַתֹּאמֶר אַל אֲדֹנִי אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אַל תְּכַזֵּב בְּשִׁפְחָתֶךָ.

^{2 Kgs 4:15} “Call her,” he said. He called her, and she stood in the doorway. ^4:16 And Elisha said, “At this season next year, you will be embracing a son.” She replied, “Please, my lord, man of God, do not delude your maidservant.”

Just as the poor widow had done (4:2), the Shunammite woman calls herself Elisha’s maidservant.^[5]

Many commentators regard this story as critical of Elisha.^[6] They accuse Elisha of initiating the miracle of birth on his own authority, without seeking God’s guidance. In doing so, he is said to have “trespassed” into God’s domain, since nowhere else in the Bible does a human being—not God or His angel—announce and bring about a miraculous birth.^[7] Thus, Elisha’s promise of a son may be viewed, they claim, as an act of hubris.^[8]

The mere fact that the story is unique in the Bible, however, is not necessarily evidence that Elisha has erred. Miracle stories of holy figures bringing about births are widespread in hagiographic literature, even up to the present day.

There is another way to read the story—that it simply depicts Elisha as having an overwhelming desire to reward the Shunammite matron for her generosity, which leads him to intervene in a domain that is elsewhere reserved to God. This is an expression of the author’s esteem for Elisha—who, like God Himself, could grant the miracle of a child to a barren woman^[9]—rather than criticism that he did so of his own initiative.

The author’s esteem for Elisha is further demonstrated by the focus on Elisha and his ability to work miracles in the second part of the story, after the birth of the child.

Why Is the Child Unnamed?

Unlike other biblical stories of barren women granted children by God, the Shunammite’s child remains anonymous, has no national significance, and is given no special destiny to justify his miraculous birth. The story simply says:

^{מלכים ב ד:יז} וַתַּהַר הָאִשָּׁה וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן לַמּוֹעֵד הַזֶּה כָּעֵת חַיָּה אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלֶיהָ אֱלִישָׁע.

^{2 Kgs 4:17} The woman conceived and bore a son at the same season the following year, as Elisha had assured her.

This is taken by some interpreters as another indication that Elisha’s act is not sanctioned by God.^[10] The focus of the story, however, is not the identity of the child, but the power of Elisha, the miracle-worker. For this reason, the story does not include the newborn child’s future vocation and we do not follow him into adulthood and learn how he realizes his destiny.^[11]

The child’s birth here does not even guarantee his continued survival; he remains subject to the vulnerabilities of human life. Indeed, some years later, the child is helping his father with the reaping one day when he is suddenly stricken ill:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:יט} וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל אָבִיו רֹאשִׁי רֹאשִׁי וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל הַנַּעַר שָׂאֵהוּ אֶל אִמּוֹ. ^ד:כ וַיִּשָּׂאֵהוּ וַיְבִיאֵהוּ אֶל אִמּוֹ וַיֵּשֶׁב עַל בִּרְכֶּיהָ עַד הַצָּהֳרַיִם וַיָּמֹת.

^{2 Kgs 4:19} [Suddenly] he cried to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” He said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ^4:20 He picked him up and brought him to his mother. And the child sat on her lap until noon; and he died.^[12]

Some commentators have viewed the child’s death as a negation of the miracle of his birth.^[13] The story thus demonstrates the peril that lurks for the man of God if he has too much confidence in his own powers, and teaches his followers that his holiness does not make him immune to human frailty.^[14]

But when the Shunammite mother fights for her son’s life, she actually gives Elisha the opportunity to perform another, perhaps greater miracle. After placing the boy’s body on the bed that she had reserved for Elisha’s use in her house (v. 21), the woman seeks out Elisha:

‏^{מלכים ב ד:כז} וַתָּבֹא אֶל אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל הָהָר וַתַּחֲזֵק בְּרַגְלָיו וַיִּגַּשׁ גֵּיחֲזִי לְהָדְפָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים הַרְפֵּה לָהּ כִּי נַפְשָׁהּ מָרָה לָהּ וַי־הוָה הֶעְלִים מִמֶּנִּי וְלֹא הִגִּיד לִי. ^ד:כח וַתֹּאמֶר הֲשָׁאַלְתִּי בֵן מֵאֵת אֲדֹנִי הֲלֹא אָמַרְתִּי לֹא תַשְׁלֶה אֹתִי.

^{2 Kgs 4:27} But when she came up to the man of God on the mountain, she clasped his feet. Gehazi stepped forward to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; and YHWH has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ^4:28 Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say: ‘Don’t mislead me’?”

Elisha responds to her plight. The woman does not tell Elisha that the boy has died, and he apparently mistakenly thinks that the child is merely ill. Thus, Elisha first commands Gehazi to use Elisha’s staff to heal him. He expects that remedy to be sufficient, but Gehazi is unsuccessful (vv. 29–31).^[15] Only when Elisha comes himself, at the woman’s insistence, does he discover that the boy is dead:

^{מלכים ב ד:לב} וַיָּבֹא אֱלִישָׁע הַבָּיְתָה וְהִנֵּה הַנַּעַר מֵת מֻשְׁכָּב עַל מִטָּתוֹ.

^{2 Kgs 4:32} Elisha came into the house, and there was the boy, laid out dead on his couch.^[16]

Thus Elisha learns that it is not a healing miracle but a resurrection miracle that is required. As in the previous story (vv. 4–5), the door must be closed in order for the miracle to take place:^[17]

^{מלכים ב ד:לג} וַיָּבֹא וַיִּסְגֹּר הַדֶּלֶת בְּעַד שְׁנֵיהֶם וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל אֶל יְ־הוָה.

^{2 Kgs 4:33} He went in, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to YHWH.

Through a combination of prayer (whose content is not reported) and intensive physical exertion, which involves conveying the vital force from his own holy body to the child’s corpse—by placing his body over the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hands to hands (v. 34)—Elisha succeeds in this greatest miracle of all:

^{מלכים ב ד:לה} וַיָּשָׁב וַיֵּלֶךְ בַּבַּיִת אַחַת הֵנָּה וְאַחַת הֵנָּה וַיַּעַל וַיִּגְהַר עָלָיו וַיְזוֹרֵר הַנַּעַר עַד שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים וַיִּפְקַח הַנַּעַר אֶת עֵינָיו.

^{2 Kgs 4:35} He [Elisha] stepped down, walked once up and down the room, then mounted and bent over him. Thereupon, the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes.

Like birth, resurrection is elsewhere in the Bible reserved for God alone. Elisha’s roles in the boy’s birth and resurrection in this story thus twice portray him in analogy to God.

The King Learns of the Shunammite’s Story

Ultimately, the Shunammite woman also benefits from her son’s temporary death. We learn later that Elisha had instructed the woman to take her family and sojourn in another land so that they would survive a famine in Israel (2 Kgs 8:1).

Seven years later, the king of Israel asks Gehazi to tell him of כָּל הַגְּדֹלוֹת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֱלִישָׁע, “all the great deeds Elisha had done” (v. 4).^[18] At that moment, the woman herself appears with her son to petition the king about restoring her property, which apparently had been confiscated:

^{מלכים ב ח:ה} וַיְהִי הוּא מְסַפֵּר לַמֶּלֶךְ אֵת אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱיָה אֶת הַמֵּת וְהִנֵּה הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱיָה אֶת בְּנָהּ צֹעֶקֶת אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ עַל בֵּיתָהּ וְעַל שָׂדָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר גֵּחֲזִי אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ זֹאת הָאִשָּׁה וְזֶה בְּנָהּ אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱיָה אֱלִישָׁע.

^{2 Kgs 8:5} While he was telling the king how [Elisha] had revived a dead person, in came the woman whose son he had revived, complaining to the king about her house and farm. “My lord king,” said Gehazi, “this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha revived.”

The timing is so striking that the king is moved to order not only the restoration of her house and land, but also the return of all the produce of her fields for the seven years of her absence:

^{מלכים ב ח:ו} וַיִּשְׁאַל הַמֶּלֶךְ לָאִשָּׁה וַתְּסַפֶּר לוֹ וַיִּתֶּן לָהּ הַמֶּלֶךְ סָרִיס אֶחָד לֵאמֹר הָשֵׁיב אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר לָהּ וְאֵת כָּל תְּבוּאֹת הַשָּׂדֶה מִיּוֹם עָזְבָה אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְעַד עָתָּה.

^{2 Kgs 8:6} The king questioned the woman, and she told him [the story]; so the king assigned a eunuch to her and instructed him: “Restore all her property, and all the revenue from her farm from the time she left the country until now.”

Thus, the death and revival of the boy ultimately save the Shunammite from losing her livelihood years later.^[19]

Elisha, the Holy Man of God

Scholars have tended to neglect the literary and aesthetic aspects of the Elisha cycle.^[20] The clear links between the oil jar miracle and the birth and revival of the Shunammite’s son, however—including common motifs and phrases—exemplify the artistry of the collection.

In addition, though the two narratives differ in length, they differ less in character than is often assumed. The short, seemingly simple story of the oil jar reveals surprising literary sophistication, including an implicit analogy with the Exodus from Egypt. The longer narrative, too, belongs to the same genre of miracle tales, designed to glorify Elisha’s supernatural power and told with a sense of reverence.^[21]

The portrait of Elisha that emerges is thus precisely that offered by the “great woman” of Shunem: he is indeed a אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים קָדוֹשׁ, “holy man of God” (2 Kgs 4:9).