Douglas Jacoby Podcast

CLEAN – podcast 22 (Reanimated by Elisha’s Bones)

Episode Summary

Douglas continues his series called CLEAN, today looking at Reanimated by Elisha’s Bones.

Episode Notes

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Introduction

• The first two reanimations we covered were both of boys with older parents.
• Today's spans a mere two verses!
• No sense of disappointment, at least none that we read about. The burial could have been of an old man, full of years. Or maybe that of a youth. The passage just doesn’t say.
• Elisha, who brought about the second reanimation in the Bible, is long dead – yet plays a crucial role in the unexpected and radical reversal of what would otherwise have been a routine burial.
• In fact, the miracle almost feels like it shouldn’t be in the Bible – like a legend.

Scripture: 2 Kings 13:20-21

• No time to put the body in the family grave site. To save time, they decided to double up. Dump the load and run.
• The corpse comes into contact with Elisha’s bones.
  • Elisha hadn’t been buried in a coffin. They used burial clothes (as in John 11). It may have been in his family burial chamber. Whatever the case, the body had decomposed. Which means…
  • You would think the burial was to take place some time after Elisha’s burial, at a minimum a number of years.
  • Yet, we need not press the literal sense of "bones," as though a long time had elapsed since Elisha's death. The old prophet of Bethel (1 Kings 13:31), referring to his own death and burial, requested "Lay my bones beside his bones." (He certainly wasn't asking to delay his burial until the soft parts of his body had all disappeared.)
• The corpse is reanimated!
• We don’t need to seek a novel explanation, or make the account any more sensational than it is already.
  • The man wasn't coming to attention in the presence of Elisha, or reporting for duty as the Moabite skirmishes or the Syrian War dragged on.
  • And it’s doubtful he was raised in order to scare away the Moabites. Or course it’s possible they pursued the family and realized he had been dead.
  • There’s not a hint of speculation about what went on, what was said, or how the man lived out the rest of his natural life.
• God's power was still working through the prophet Elisha
  • We should be alert to the miraculous parallels in the lives of Elijah and his understudy, Elisha. With both are miracles in association with the final end of their ministry. (Elijah ascends in a chariot of fire; Elisha’s bones revivify a corpse hastily and temporarily placed in his burial spot.)
  • In the previous section of 2 Kings 13, Elisha calls the national leaders to faith, before he himself dies and is buried. There was no prophet of God in Israel at that time, just the dead bones of Elisha.
  • Although there may have been no prophet in Israel, God’s power was still and always available.
    • It's as though to say, “I’m still here. Trust me!”
    • Because the death of the messenger hardly undoes the message.
    • Elisha’s influence continues to benefit the nation!
  • One more thing: Touching a dead man’s bones made one unclean. But not in this case! It’s the exact opposite. This fellow wasn’t contaminated by contact with a corpse (he was himself a corpse, after all), but he was infused with life by touching Elisha’s bones!

Application

• Good news: Death does not have the final word. Thus we have permission to have mixed feelings when a loved one dies.
• In the case of some, their influence will continue after their death—and perhaps even long after they have passed away.
• Even when times are dark, God’s power is still available.