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7:13-15; John 11:43, 44). And beyond this we remember that "the hour.... now is,
when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live";
and that "whosoever liveth and believeth" in Christ "shall never die" (John 5:25;
11:26).
Lastly, as regards the supernatural in this history, we fully admit that, as previously
indicated, the history of Elijah and Elisha marks, so to speak, the high-point in the
miraculous attestation of the mission of the prophets. But, by the side of it, there are
so many elements of purely human interest, so many indications of human weakness,
and so many details which would not have found a place in a legendary account
(such as the fruitless mission of Gehazi), while, on the other hand, there is such
unadorned simplicity about the whole narrative, and so much spiritual and typical
teaching in it as to carry home almost instinctive conviction of the truth and reality of
what is recorded.
Yet another, we might almost call it twofold, narrative taken from the history of
Elisha's more private ministry claims our attention (2 Kings 4:38-44). It is
instructive, as confirming the view that this whole section about Elisha's ministry is
taken from a special work on the subject, that the scene is now laid at a considerable
interval from the previous history, and at a time of famine (v. 38), which is only long
afterwards described in connection with Elisha's prophecy (2 Kings 8:1). The prophet
is once more at Gilgal - not that near Jericho, but another Gilgal, close to Ebal and
Gerizim, south-west of Shilo, and situated on a commanding plateau, 3,000 feet
above the sea. Here a community of "the sons of the prophets" seems to have been
settled (comp. 2 Kings 2:1). It is impossible to say whether Elisha was in the habit of
visiting these settlements occasionally or at regular intervals, or else had come on
purpose to share the poverty of the community at a time of exceptional distress. The
former seems, however, the more likely, since we are told of "the sons of the
prophets sitting before him," which, according to well-known Hebrew usage, means
that Elisha was giving them instruction (comp. 2 Kings 6:1; Ezekiel 8:1; 14:1; 33:31;
Zechariah 3:8; Acts 22:3).
While thus engaged the prophet directed that the usual humble meal should be
prepared for the wants of his hearers. Even although it was a time of famine, yet the
fare provided was so poor - and this, so far as the text informs us, not merely
exceptionally, owing to the dearth - that our former impressions, derived from the
straitened circumstances of the prophet's widow (4:1, 2), are fully confirmed. In
truth, "the sons of the prophets" seem not only to have supported themselves by
manual labor, but to have lived in the humblest manner. This willing submission to
poverty and want from devotion to their work reflects the most favorable light on the
institution to which they belonged. In the present instance one of their number was
sent to gather "green esculents"^183 to be seethed for pottage in the great pot in which
(^)