ELISHA, a prophet, reputed successor of Elijah (q.v.). He is a much more shadowy figure than Elijah, though he occupies a larger space in the Books of Kings. The stories there told about him, which seem to have come from several sources and not to be in their original order (e.g., 2 Kings viii. I-6 should precede v. 26 seq.), may be divided into two groups: (a) Anecdotes of his private life, showing how, except when he caused two she-bears to fall upon 42 boys who insulted him (ii. 23-25), and transferred Naaman's leprosy to his own servant Gehazi (v. 20, seq.), he used the miraculous power he had inherited from Elijah (ii. 9, seq.) in works of homely beneficence; how he made wholesome a poisonous spring (ii. 19, 2o) and a poisonous soup (iv. 38.-41) ; saved an insolvent widow from selling her sons into slavery by miraculously increasing her oil (iv. 1-7) ; cured the sterility of a barren woman, raised to life her dead son, and induced the king to right her wrongs (iv. 8-37, viii. 1-6) ; fed 10o men with 20 loaves and had bread to spare (iv. 42-44) ; caused a borrowed axe-head to float upon the water into which it had fallen (vi. 1-7) ; gave a vision of the heavenly host to his terrified servant (vi. 17) ; and by the power of his dead bones raised a corpse to life (xiii. 21). These are simple folk-tales, some of which are also told of Elijah and of other Old Testament heroes (cf. Genesis xviii. to, seq., Exod. xv. 23, 24). The place names contained in the stories (Jericho, ii. 18 seq.; Bethel, ii. 23 ; Carmel, ii. 2 5 ; iv. 2 5 ; Shu nem, iv. 8; Gilgal, iv. 38; Dothan, vi. 13) may indicate where the stories originated. Several are places where "sons of the prophets" lived. (b) The second group consists of stories of the public life of Elisha, showing how he earned the title "the chariots and horsemen of Israel" (2 Kings, xiii. 14) ; how, during a campaign against Moab, he saved the armies of Israel and Judah from dy ing of thirst (iii. 10-24) ; how he gave the signal for Jehu's re bellion against the house of Omri by sending a young prophet to anoint Jehu king of Israel (ix. 1) ; how he went to Damascus, told the sick king Benhadad that he would recover, and, at the same time, by foretelling the havoc that Benhadad's messenger Hazael would make of Israel, incited him to murder Benhadad and usurp his throne (viii. 7-15) ; how, in a time of peace between Israel and Syria, he prevented the outbreak of war by healing Naaman the Syrian general (v. 1-19), and, in a time of war, helped the king of Israel by his foreknowledge of the enemy's plans (vi. 12) and moral (vii. 1, 6), and by delivering into his hands a Syrian army smitten with supernatural blindness (vi. 13-23) ; how on his death-bed he predicted (or contrived by magic) three victories against Syria for Joash, king of Israel.
Some of these stories probably preserve memories of historical fact. The account of Jehu's rebellion seems to come from a trustworthy, perhaps contemporary, source; the evidence of the Moabite Stone gives support to the story of a campaign of Israel against Moab in the last days of the House of Omri ; and a siege of Samaria of which no other record except 2 Kings vi. survives, may well have happened in the days when "the king of Syria oppressed Israel" (xiii. 22). There are indications, however, that these days did not begin before the accession of Jehu (e.g. x. 3 2) ; and if so, then, so far as they are historical, the stories in which Elisha aids kings of Israel against Syria must be taken to refer to the dynasty of Jehu.
The historical person behind the Elisha stories was probably a prophetic supporter of the house of Jehu, who encouraged Israel in the darkest days of the Syrian wars. The precise nature of his religious ideas and of his connection, if any, with the historical person behind the Elijah stories must be left uncertain.
Elisha is mentioned in Ecclus. xlviii. 12-16, Luke iv. 27. For further information and literature see ELIJAH. (F. S. M.)