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After Elijah was swept away by the whirlwind into Heaven, Elisha took
Elijah's cape and hit the water of the river in Jordan again. The water
separated and he crossed back over the river again on dry land. The people
who watched Elijah be taken, greeted Elisha and knew that he had Elijah's
spirit now. They greeted him, bowing to the ground. Then they said, Let us
go and look for Elijah. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has taken him and
thrown him on some mountain or into some valley. Elisha said, You
shouldn't go. They kept asking until Elisha couldn't listen any more, so
finally he said, Go! The people looked for three days but couldn't find
Elijah. Elisha said, Didn't I tell you that you shouldn't go?
The people in Jericho came to Elisha for help because there was no
clean water in the city and things didn't grow well. Elisha said, bring me
a new jar with salt in it. They brought it to him and he sprinkled the
salt into the water and said, The Lord says, I have healed the water. And
from that day forward, the water was clean.
When Elisha left there, some children saw that he didn't have any hair,
so they started making fun of him, saying, Baldy, Baldy! God didn't like
anybody making fun of His Prophets. Just then two bears came out of the
woods and clawed the forty two children! OH MY!
Elisha helped many people. Once a woman came to Elisha and said, Before
my husband died, he borrowed some money. Now the man who he borrowed it
from, wants me to pay it back or he will take my two sons for slaves.
Elisha asked what she had in her house. She said, Nothing but a pot of
oil. Elisha told her, Go and borrow some empty jars and when you come back
home, close your door and pour from your pot of oil into the jars. There
was enough oil to fill every jar and there was still more left. She went
and told Elisha, and he said, Go, sell the oil and pay the man who your
husband borrowed from and you and your sons will live on the rest.
There was a man named Naaman who was the captain of the army in the
country of Syria. He had sores all over his skin. Naaman's wife had a
little maid who was from Israel, and she told Naaman's wife that Elisha
could heal him. The king of Syria sent Naaman to the king of Israel with a
letter and some money. The king of Israel thought that the king of Syria
wanted him to heal Naaman. But, when Elisha heard about it, he
said, Send the man to me and he will know that there is a Prophet of God
in Israel. Elisha told Naaman to go and wash in the Jordan river seven
times and his skin would be healed.
Naaman was angry and went away telling his servants, I thought he would
just come out and call on the name of the Lord, then touch me and I would
be cured. And aren't the rivers in Syria better than all the water in
Israel? Naaman's servants said to him, if Elisha had told you to do
something very hard, wouldn't you have done it in order to get rid of the
sores? But this is very easy! So Naaman went and washed in the Jordan
river seven times and his skin became like a little child's. Naaman went
back and said to Elisha, Now I know there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel! Naaman wanted to give Elisha a gift, but Elisha wouldn't
take it. Elisha sent him home and said, Go in peace.
Now, Elisha's servant named Gehazi, followed Naaman and said to
himself, My master wouldn't take Naaman's gift so I will get it for
myself! When Naaman saw Gehazi coming near, he hopped down from his
chariot and said, Is everything okay? Gehazi said, Oh yes, but Elisha
remembered after you left, that two men who are the son's of Prophets will
be coming to stay with him, so he sent me after you to collect your gift.
Gehazi hid the gift. When Elisha saw Gehazi, he asked, Where have you
been? Nowhere, Gehazi answered. Elisha said to Gehazi, Did you think I
didn't know what you were doing? It is never the right time to take a gift
for miracles that come from God. Now the sores that Naaman had, will cover
your skin and your family, forever. And when Gehazi left Elisha, he had
sores all over him.
Later in Elisha's life, he sent a man to find a captain of the army
named Jehu. Elisha told the man to pour oil on Jehu's head and exactly
what say to him. The man found Jehu and said, The Lord has said, I have
made you king over Israel, and you will destroy all of Ahab's people to
pay for the lives of all of God's Prophets that Jezebel had killed. The
dogs shall eat Jezebel in the street and there won't be enough of her left
to bury. When the man was done telling Jehu what Elisha had told him to,
he left quickly.
When Jehu told the other captains, they told Jehu that the man must
have been crazy. Then Jehu told them that the man said that the message
was from the Lord. The captains hurried out and blew their trumpets
telling everyone, Jehu is king!
Jehu went to the city of Jezreel where Jezebel lived, and both the king
of Israel and the king of Judah were there. When Jehu got close to the
city, the two kings came out to fight and Jehu killed them both in one
day. Jezebel heard that Jehu was on his way so she painted her face and
fixed her hair and leaned out of the window, making fun of Jehu. Jehu
called up to Jezebel's servants, Whoever is on my side, throw her down.
So, they threw her down and she was trampled under the hoofs of Jehu's
horses. Dogs came and ate her flesh and there wasn't enough left of her to
bury, just as the Lord had told Elijah.
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Spirit of Truth
