Day 125: OT Fourth Kings C1-5; Miracles Abound for Us; Yet Humans All are We!

This part of the Bible was straightforward reading, easy to understand, and likely not so easy to live out. We are all human just like the people written about in this part of the Bible.

Man is about to die and consults the wrong god.

The Right God is angered and very jealous. There is only one God of Israel—God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen. Al-le-lu-ia!

Ochozias: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness.

Lord to Elias: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria (Ochozias), and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?

And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not, He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king (Ochozias), and he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou has sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there was not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightiest inquire the word; therefore from the bed on which thou are gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.

So he (Ochozias) dies according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead.

Here is a good tip for living and acquiring wisdom: Ask for the right thing, be persistent and don’t every bully another human being!

Eliseus to Elias: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

Sons of the prophets to Eliseus: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he (Eliseus) answered: I also know it: hold your peace.

Eliseus to Elias in Jericho: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

Eliseus to Elias at the Jordan: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

Elias to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit. And as they walked together, a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder; and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof…

And he (Eliseus) took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him… And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias… and they were not divided.

Eliseus said: Where is now the God of Elias?

And he struck the waters, and they were divided, hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over.

Little boys came out of the city (of Bethel) and mocked him (Eliseus), saying: Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them two and forty boys…

And when you make a deal (a league in biblical times) keep your deal or it may cost you more than the sheep, it may cost you the life of your son!

Now Mesa, king of Moab, nourished many sheep, and he paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams with their fleeces. And when Achab was dead, he broke the league which he had made with the king of Israel.

Eliseus: But now bring me hither a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him (Eliseus), and he said: Thus saith the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of ditches… You shall not see wind, nor rain: and yet this channel shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your families, and your beasts.

Eliseus: and this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord; moreover he will deliver also Moab into your hands.

…the Moabites saw the waters over against them red, like blood, and they said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another: go now, Moab, to the spoils.

And they being conquerors (camp of Israel), went and smote Moab… and the city was beset by slingers, and a great part thereof destroyed.

Then he (the king of Moab) took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and returned to their own country.

Know that the Lord takes care of people in many ways, including the miracles of multiplication of the widow’s oil; a barren birth and revival of a dead child; bitter pottage made sweet; multiplication of 20 loaves of bread to feed a hundred men with leftovers; and leprosy taken from a humble man and given to a deceiving servant:

Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets cried to Eliseus, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead… and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him… I thy handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me.

Eliseus to the woman: Go, borrow of all thy neighbors empty vessels not a few… And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within, and thy sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels… Go sell the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest.

A great woman of Sunam: I perceive that this is a holy man of God (Eliseus), who often passeth by us. Let us therefore make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us, he may abide there…

Eliseus to his servant Giezi say to her: Behold thou hast diligently served us in all things, what wilt thou have me to do for thee?

She answered: I dwell in the midst of my people.

Giezi to Eliseus: Do not ask, for she hath no son, and her husband is old.

Eliseus to servant Geizito woman: At this time, and this same hour, if life accompany, thou shalt have a son in thy womb… And the woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time, and at the same hour, that Eliseus had said.

Child to father: My head acheth, my head acheth…

Father to servant: Take him, and carry him to his mother.

She set him on her knees until noon, and then he died.

Woman to husband: Send with me, I beseech thee, one of thy servants, and an ass that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

Father to woman: Why dost thou go to him? To day is neither new moon nor Sabbath.

Man of God (Eliseus): Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

Eliseus to servant Giezi: lay my staff upon the face of the child…

Mother to Eliseus: As the Lord liveth, and as the soul liveth, I will not leave thee…

Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child… The child is not risen…

And going in he (Eliseus) shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child: and he put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands” and he bowed himself upon him, and the child’s flesh grew warm… and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes… She (the mother) came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground: and took up her son, and went out.

Eliseus to one of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. And one (servant) went out into the field to gather… wild herbs…. wild vine… wild gourds… for he knew not what it was…

…when they had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death is in the pot, O man of God. And they could not eat thereof.

Eliseus said: Bring some meal… he cast it in the pot… and there was now no bitterness in the pot…

And a certain man came from Baalsalisa… bringing twenty loaves…

Eliseus said: Give to the people that they may eat… his servant answered him: before one hundred men? They shall eat, and there shall be left. So he set it before them: and they ate, and there was left according to the word of the Lord…

Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria…he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper.

Eliseus sent a messenger to Naaman: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health, and thou shalt be clean.

Naaman was angry and went away, saying: I thought he would have come out to me, and standing would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me… So he returned, and was going away with indignation…

Naaman’s servants to Naaman: Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it; how much rather what he now hath said to thee…

Then Naaman went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times: according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean.

Naaman to Eliseus: In truth, I know there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel. I beseech thee therefore take a blessing (gift) of thy servant.

Eliseus to Naaman: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none.

So he (Naaman) departed from him in the springtime of the earth.

Giezi: I will run after him (Naaman), and take something of him…

Giezi to Naaman: Well: my master hath sent me to thee saying… two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them a talent of silver, and two changes of garments…

Eliseus to Giezi: Whence comest thou, Giezi? …Was not my heart present, when the man (Naaman) turned back from his chariot to meet thee? But the leprosy of Naaman shall also stick to thee, and to thy seed forever.

And he (Giezi) went out from him a leper as white as snow.

Miracles abound for us; yet humans all are we in need of one miracle!

Day 125: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Miracles Abound for Us; Yet Humans All are We!

Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Fourth Book of Kings Chapters 1-5.

Bible Notes:

This Book continues the history of the two hostile kingdoms, Israel and Juda, up to their captivity. The Assyrians in 722 B.C. led Israel away; the Babylonians in 586 B.C. led Juda into captivity.

4 Kings Chapter 1: Moab rebels; Ochozias tries to consult Beelzebub; Elias predicts the death of Ochozias; Elias twice brings fire from heaven; Elias visits Ochozias; Joram succeeds Ochozias.

And Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Achab.

Ochozias: Go, consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether I shall recover of this my illness.

Lord to Elias: Arise, and go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria (Ochozias), and say to them: Is there not a God in Israel, that ye go to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron?

Messengers to Ochozias: Thus saith the Lord: Is it because there was no God in Israel that thou sendest to Beelzebub the god of Accaron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed, on which thou are gone up, but thou shalt surely die.

Ochozias: It is Elias the Thesbite.

And he (Ochozias) sent to him a captain fifty, and the fifty men that were under him: Man of God (Elias), the king hath commanded that thou come down.

Elias to the captain: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty.

And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him, and the fifty that were with him.

And again he (Ochozias) sent to him (Elias) another captain of fifty men, and his fifty with him.

Elias answered: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty.

And fire came down fire from heaven, and consumed him, and his fifty.

Ochozias sent a third captain of fifty men, and the fifty that were with him.

And when he (Elias) was come, he fell upon his knees, before Elias, and besought him, and said: Man of God despise not my life… but now I beseech thee to spare my life.

And the angel of the Lord spoke to Elias, saying: Go down with him, fear not, He arose therefore, and went down with him to the king, and he said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou has sent messengers to consult Beelzebub the god of Accaron, as though there was not a God in Israel, of whom thou mightiest inquire the word; therefore from the bed on which thou are gone up, thou shalt not come down, but thou shalt surely die.

So he (Ochozias) dies according to the word of the Lord which Elias spoke, and Joram his brother reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 2: Eliseus refuses to depart from Elias; Elias divides the Jordan; Elias taken up to heaven; Eliseus divides the Jordan; Sons of the prophets worship Eliseus; Eliseus heals the water; Bears destroy the boys who mock Eliseus.

And it came to pass, when the Lord would take Elias into heaven by a whirlwind…

Eliseus to Elias: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

Sons of the prophets to Eliseus: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he (Eliseus) answered: I also know it: hold your peace.

Eliseus to Elias in Jericho: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

Sons of the prophets to Eliseus in Jericho: Dost thou know that this day the Lord will take away thy master from thee? And he (Eliseus) answered: I also know it: hold your peace.

Eliseus to Elias at the Jordan: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

And Elias took his mantle, and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over dry ground.

Elias to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit. And he (Elias) answered: Thou hast asked for a hard thing: nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou asked: but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.

And as they walked together, a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder; and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

And Eliseus saw him, and cried: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof…

And he (Eliseus) took up the mantle of Elias, that fell from him… And he struck the waters with the mantle of Elias… and they were not divided.

Eliseus said: Where is now the God of Elias?

And he struck the waters, and they were divided, hither and thither, and Eliseus passed over.

Sons of the prophets: The spirit of Elias hath rested upon Eliseus…seek thy master (Elias), lest perhaps the spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley… And they sent fifty men: and they sought three days but found him not…

Men of Jericho to Eliseus: but the waters are very bad, and the ground barren…

Eliseus: This saith the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more in them death or barrenness.

4 Kings Chapter 3: Joram’s reign in Israel; King Mesa’s rebellion; Three kings visit Eliseus; Eliseus procures water without rain; Eliseus foretells victory; The Israelites defeat the Moabites.

And Joram the son of Achab reigned over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Josaphat king of Juda. And he (Joram) reigned twelve years. And he did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and his mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his father had made. Nevertheless he struck to the sins of Jeroboam… who made Israel to sin, nor did he depart from them.

Joram king of Israel to Josaphat king of Juda: The king of Moab is revolted from me, come with me against him to battle

Josaphat to Joram: I will come up: he that is mine is thine: my people, thy people: and my horses, thy horses.

Joram, Josaphat and the king of Edom went, and they fetched a compass of seven days’ journey (by the desert of Edom)…

Joram: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord hath gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands of Moab!

Here is Eliseus… who poured water on the hands of Elias…

Eliseus: and this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord; moreover he will deliver also Moab into your hands.

And they being conquerors (camp of Israel), went and smote Moab… and the city was beset by slingers, and a great part thereof destroyed.

4 Kings Chapter 4: Eliseus multiplies the widow’s oil; Eliseus promises a son to the Sunamitess; The son of the Sunamitess dies; She goes to Eliseus; Eliseus sees the dead child; Eliseus raises the child to life; Bitter pottage made sweet; Eliseus multiplies the bread.