{"id":2028,"date":"2014-08-18T12:28:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T12:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2014-08-18T12:28:57","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T12:28:57","slug":"finding-elisha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/finding-elisha\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Elisha"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom Brennan
\n\"Elisha\"<\/a>
\nWho were these men and women who are called Prophets? Why are they important to all of us?
\nIn recent years the physical evidence for the Bible\u2019s accuracy is increasing in volume as more excavations bring to the surface materials with names, inscriptions and other material culture items right where the Bible says they were right all along. Very recently Dr. Amhai Mazar who has apparently discovered the remains of King David\u2019s palace in Jerusalem has also discovered a house that was the local headquarters of the renowned Prophet Elisha.<\/p>\n

Elisha inherited the mantle of office that the Prophet Elijah had prepared him to assume. Elijah had confronted the priests of Baal, Ahab and Jezebel and caused a kingdom to crumble. He had raised a widow\u2019s son from the dead and fled for his life before hostile enemies of his Creator. He will return again and was taken up into heaven in a miraculous chariot of fire. Elisha\u2019s reputation as a man of God is also extraordinary and deserves to be read on a regular basis. In 2 Kings 4:8-9 we read of Elisha\u2019s blessing of the Shunnamite woman. The woman was married to a wealthy man, judging by the remains of the home excavated. Elisha had prayed for a miracle that restored her dead son to life. She asked her husband to provide a place for the travelling prophet to stay. A shard with a name associated with Elisha, and other unique artifacts were found. The home is in Tel Rehov: all the small pieces combined with serious circumstantial evidence seem to add up to a find of great value. Both are prophets, men of God. What do we mean by this title? <\/p>\n

We remember certain prophets because their sayings and writings are contained in Scripture. But very often we read that there were others whose names were not recorded. Ahab and Jezebel killed many in their reign of sin and terror. Prophecy contained many elements of duty. The prophet was the Creator\u2019s representative. The prophet spoke in terms of \u201cthis is what the Lord says”; it was a command, reminding all of the circumstances of their disobedience and idolatry.
\nProphets anointed the kings and often performed miracles, they judged and made circuits of the kingdom, often working from a home, and they taught and educated the people. And they, like Isaiah, did act as heralds of events to come. Isaiah is the prophet who had the most to tell of how the Messiah would come and suffer and accept the penalty for breaking the covenant .He gave us signs, things that the priests of the Temple, the Sanhedrin, Pharisees and Sadducees should have recognized.<\/p>\n

Today we have abbreviated the title of prophet to mean almost a predictor of the future when it really means a person who repeats the words and warnings of the Creator. The office in the Bible was more formal and inclusive. Scripture says that the best test if someone was considered a false prophet was if what they said didn\u2019t happen or be proven false and the penalty was death. Unfortunately our media world has elevated some to the title of prophet held merely by having a popular message, either of financial or personal success, or just by a \u201cfeel-good\u201d type of ministry. Most of the time the Biblical prophets had a \u201cfeel-bad\u201d ministry. Archaeology has shown that all too often certain layers of excavation in areas occupied by the Israelites contain infant burials from sacrifice of children, Asherah figures from idol worship and other reminders of flagrant disobedience to the commandments. The prophets were charged with warning the people of the serious penalties for these crimes. In agricultural communities bad crop years, droughts, locusts and severe weather can set the region up for death-dealing famines and disease. The prophets reminded the people of the penalties for departing the ways, and all too often were ignored. <\/p>\n

When we get to the New Testament we see fewer prophets but a more dramatic prophecy. The first few weeks of Jesus\u2019 life are marked by two instances of outright, undoubtable and personalized pronouncements. The widow Anna meets the family as they make the required sacrifice in the Temple. She holds the infant and declares that this child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel. Did those in the crowd hear, was this shouted to the masses in the courts, did she proclaim this to the priests gathered there? This could mean only one thing and would they immediately recognize what she was saying? Luke reports in his Gospel that she said these words directly to Maryam. Another aged person, called a righteous man, Simeon had received a personal promise that he would not be gathered to his fathers until he had seen the Messiah. Did others know or did he keep this to himself? When he saw the family in the Temple he greeted them and said that now the Lord could dismiss His servant since he had seen the Messiah. Luke did not call Anna or Simeon prophets, by this time the Temple had been so centralized and politicized that Pharisees and Sadducees controlled the finances and spiritual life of the people often at the expense of the spirit of the Law. But in the best definition of the term they did repeat by paraphrase the words of council, comfort and warning that said the Messiah would not be the triumphant king they wanted but the Self-sacrificing Savior that was promised.<\/p>\n

Whether it was the strong and courageous Nathan confronting David\u2019s reprehensible act with Bathsheba, Samuel anointing two kings, prophets were important characters and chief officers in the Bible. Most left behind no writings, some left small enough books and some are larger than life heroes like Elijah and Elisha. Finding Elisha\u2019s \u201coffice\u201d is a thrilling reminder that Israel holds many more surprises for a world weary of broken promises from misguided leaders and false prophets. We should be very, very thankful, for The Land. The stones cry out daily in Israel and we need to listen.<\/p>\n

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By Tom Brennan Who were these men and women who are called Prophets? Why are they important to all of us? In recent years the physical evidence for the Bible\u2019s accuracy is increasing in volume as more excavations bring to the surface materials with names, inscriptions and other material culture items right where the Bible more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[193,190,361,625,125,362],"class_list":{"0":"post-2028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-biblical-spiritual","8":"tag-archaeology","9":"tag-biblical-history","10":"tag-elisha","11":"tag-israeli-news","12":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","13":"tag-prophet-elisha","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2030,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions\/2030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}