by
Damien F. Mackey
“… what about
Elisha, who was commissioned to “kill” … those who would manage to escape the
carnage wrought by Hazael and Jehu?”
Introduction
Whilst endeavouring to ‘fill out’ the prophet
Elisha in my university thesis:
A Revised
History of the Era of King Hezekiah of Judah
and its
Background
and faced with this uncompromising statement
of the ‘Sinai Commission’ (to Elijah) about the seemingly placid, Elisha (I
Kings 19:17): “Whoever escapes from the sword of
Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever
escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill …”, I had to wonder, as I
wrote in Volume One, p. 116: “Finally, what about Elisha, who was commissioned
to “kill” (יָמִית) those who would manage to escape the carnage wrought by Hazael
and Jehu?
We well know from the biblical records of the
hideous carnage wrought by Hazael and Jehu, about which Elisha, foreseeing it
in the case of Hazael, had wept (2 Kings 8:11-12). But we read nothing
whatsoever about any bloody rampage on the part of Elisha (qua Elisha). It seemed to me, therefore, that Elisha had to have
had - like other of his contemporaries (as according to my thesis, a classic
one being Velikovsky’s Hazael = Aziru
of El Amarna) some biblical alter ego
which involved Elisha’s (overseeing of) killing of (presumably) Baalists. And
so I continued in my thesis, previewing this new idea:
Actually
Elisha, as I believe, will also have a huge part to play, though generally
later chronologically. In Chapter 10 (and beginning on p. 237) I shall
be identifying the famous prophet in quite a new guise, as a law-enforcing (shaphat)
reformer-priest. Here as briefly as possible, to conclude this chapter, I
should like to lay a foundation for this novel idea. ….
What followed then was my suggested first biblical alter
ego for Elisha (as Jehonadab the Rechabite), to be followed by a second one
later on (as the reforming priest, Jehoiada). Whilst both of these
identifications seemed to me a good idea at the time, I later came to be more
cautious about - and even to move right away from - both of them.
But now I feel emboldened to take another shot at
them.
As Jehonadab,
a spectator of
Jehu’s massacring
“Whilst Gehazi had received from Naaman
only silver and clothing … 2 Kings 5:23, Elisha had taken the matter further,
to include cultivated land, livestock and servants; none of which Gehazi - as
far as we know - had actually received from Naaman (v. 26): ‘Is this a time to
accept money and to accept clothing, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and
oxen, and male and female slaves?’”
The possibility of Elisha as the Rechabite,
Jehonadab, I presented in the following section of my thesis (pp. 116-118):
Elisha
the Rechabite
If one cares to
read through the sequences of incidents in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles in which
Elisha (when going under the name of ‘Elisha’) is involved, one will find that
the multi-miracle-working prophet is never reported as having raised a sword in
anger (as e.g. Samuel did against Agag, king of the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:33).
Was Elisha
perhaps a pacifist, who despised violence?
One might think
that that would not have been in keeping with the mentality of the age in which
he lived. …. I am going to argue that the prophet Elisha had actually joined up
with Jehu ….
….
Jehu, we later
read, was on his way to Samaria, after his having just overseen (at Betheked of
the Shepherds) the slaughter of forty-two relatives of king Ahaziah of Judah, whom
he had previously slain (cf. 2 Kings 9:27 & 10:12-14). It was then that
this
meeting occurred
(10:15-17):
When [Jehu] left
there, he met Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him; he greeted him, and
said to him, ‘Is your heart as true to mine as mine is to yours?’ Jehonadab
answered, ‘It is’. Jehu said, ‘If it is, give me your hand’. So he gave him his
hand. Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. He said, ‘Come with me, and
see my zeal for the Lord’. So he had him ride in his chariot. When he came to
Samaria, he killed all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had wiped
them out, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to Elijah.
Since this
‘Jehonadab son of Rechab’ is the only person actually named as a willing supporter
of Jehu’s purge, then he stands as the most likely person to be Elisha, son of Shaphat,
in Elisha’s rôle as terminator of Baalism. [The question of ‘Rechab’ will be considered
briefly in Chapter 10, on p. 238]. ….
Though this
Jehonadab comes across in 2 Kings as being a very obscure figure, the Book of
Jeremiah fortunately provides some important further detail about him. His
loyalty and example were apparently still, about 250 years later in the days of
Nebuchednezzar’s siege of Jerusalem, ruling the lives of those known as
‘Rechabites’. Thus the ‘Rechabites’ tell Jeremiah and those accompanying the
prophet (Jeremiah 35:6-7):
‘We will drink
no wine, for our ancestor Jonadab [Jehonadab] son of Rechab commanded us, ‘You
shall never drink wine, neither you nor your children; nor shall you ever build
a house, or sow seed; nor shall you plant a vineyard, or even own one; but you
shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in
the land where
you reside’.’
The Rechabites
then added (vv. 8-11):
‘We have obeyed
the charge of our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab in all that he commanded us,
to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our
daughters, and not to build houses to live in. We have no vineyard, or field or
seed but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed and done all that out ancestor
Jonadab commanded us. But when king Nebuchedrezzar [Nebuchednezzar] of Babylon
came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of
the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Arameans’. That is why we are
living in Jerusalem’.
This explanation
by the Rechabites accounts fully I suggest for a statement made by Elisha to
his servant Gehazi, when severely reprimanding Gehazi for his having accepted presents
from the willing Naaman, recently cured of his leprosy. Whilst Gehazi had received
from Naaman only silver and clothing (2 talents of the former and two changes of
the latter) (2 Kings 5:23), Elisha had taken the matter further, to include
cultivated land, livestock and servants; none of which Gehazi - as far as we
know - had actually received from Naaman (v. 26): ‘Is this a time to accept
money and to accept clothing, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and
male and female slaves?’
הַעֵת לָקַחַת
אֶת-הַכֶּסֶף, וְלָקַחַת בְּגָדִים, וְזֵיתִים וּכְרָמִים וְצֹאן וּבָקָר, וַעֲבָדִים
וּשְׁפָחוֹת
Elisha was
apparently thus seriously reminding Gehazi of his ‘Rechabite’ calling.
Gehazi’s
punishment for his infidelity was to be struck leprous, he and his descendants for
ever (v. 27). No wonder the ‘Rechabites’ continued to hold firm down through
the
centuries!
So Jehonadab
accompanied Jehu to Samaria where Jehu, by a ruse, killed all the Baal worshippers
in their temple. Jehu and his men also burned the pillar of Baal and his temple,
turning it into a latrine (2 Kings 10:18-27). But in all this there is no
mention whatsoever of any actual physical involvement by Jehonadab himself. He
was taken along by Jehu to witness the destruction of which he obviously
approved, given that ‘his
heart was true’
to Jehu’s. ….
Later Elisha,
perhaps due to his having had the opportunity of observing at close hand the tactics
of the brilliant Jehu, will himself assume a very positive rôle, to complete
the Sinai commission. But even then he will act entirely as a leader giving
orders, rather than as one personally involved in the slaughter. (See Chapter
10, pp. 237-238).
Later, on p. 238, I would consider the
possibility that Elisha, formerly wealthy, may have adopted a ‘Rechabite’
lifestyle only after his calling.
The Rechabite tradition, I propose,
arose from Elisha rather than his father, Shaphat. Elisha, seemingly wealthy, a
farmer possessing land and oxen - and probably all of those
other things that the Rechabites had
denounced … left everything to follow Elijah, who was undoubtedly the
prototypal ‘Rechabite’ in his poverty and nomadic style of existence. The
father and mother whom the already old Elisha had kissed before he left (1
Kings 19:20) …. There is no indication that the father was living a ‘Rechabite’
existence at the time. He was probably a wealthy farmer, just like his son
appears to have been, until now.
Strangely
Elisha, despite his greatness, is not accorded a genealogy (qua Elisha), except for the mention of
his father, “Shaphat”. I think it possible, though, that this could be a
reference, not to his actual father, but to king Jeho-shaphat himself, to whom Elisha may have been related through
marriage. This situation will be considered further in Part Three.
I also
wrote on p. 238: “A blessing of the ascetical, nomadic lifestyle that Elisha
came to embrace in following Elijah was, according to the Rechabites to ‘live
many days in the land’. That blessing was certainly bestowed upon Elisha in
abundance …”.
My
reason for making this last statement will also be considered in Part Three, when Elisha’s final
potential biblical alter ego is
revealed.
As Jehoiada,
a priest of reform
“For a six year reign of terror, [Queen]
Athaliah held all the power in Judah”, according to North.
The possibility of Elisha as the priest, Jehoiada,
I presented in the following sections of my thesis (pp. 236-239):
Elisha’s
Rôle in the Sinai Commission
I had
previously, in Chapter 4 (section: “Elisha the Rechabite”, beginning on
p. 116), proposed an identification of Elisha with Jehonadab the Rechabite, who
had supported Jehu in his initial campaign against the worshippers of Baal;
though seemingly as an onlooker. ….
All this had led
me to ponder the biblical statement according to which ‘… Elisha shall kill’.
Who in fact did
he ‘kill’?
My suggestion is
that, whilst it befell Jehu and Hazael to wipe out Baalism from Israel, and
Atonism from Egypt, it befell Elisha to eradicate Baalism from Judah. And
his target would be queen Athaliah and her murderous régime (2 Chronicles
22:10); that other unsavoury woman at the time, according to the Bible, and
possibly also a daughter of the
notorious
Jezebel/Nefertiti. Queen Athaliah had succeeded to the throne of Jerusalem at the
same time as Jehu had become king of Israel (cf. 2 Kings 11 & 2 Chronicles
22:10-11; 23:1-21). It is with Athaliah that we can finish our account of the
prophet Elisha.
The bloody Jehu
had looked to make a start towards reforming the kingdom of Judah by his
assassination of king Ahaziah and his relatives (2 Kings 10). But this violence
would actually cause a backlash; for it now brought the vengeful Athaliah to
the throne for six years. Thus Elisha, like Jehu, would have to contend with a
fiery Baal-worshipping queen. For Jehu, she would be queen Jezebel/Nefertiti.
For Elisha, she would be Jezebel’s daughter (or a near kinswoman of Jezebel’s),
Athaliah; a veritable ‘clone’ of queen Jezebel.
Athaliah was
also the mother of the slain king Ahaziah (2 Kings 11:1).
According to [Lisa]
Liel, this Athaliah was actually the sole female [El Amarna] EA correspondent, NIN.UR.MAH.MESH,
whom I had identified instead with Jezebel ….
….
It would take
Elisha some half a dozen years before he could even make a start. But he would
finally triumph in Judah, I think, as the priest, Jehoiada - the very Jehonadab
who had seen first-hand how the tactical genius Jehu had negotiated the Baal
problem.
(Though I am not
claiming a perfect name correspondence here, Jehoiada = Jehonadab).
The narrative of
2 Kings 11:1-3 tells that when queen Athaliah saw that her son Ahaziah
was dead, “she
set about to destroy all the royal family”. But Jehoshabeath (var. Jehosheba 2
Kings 11:2), Ahaziah’s sister and king Jehoram’s daughter – who we learn was
also the wife of the priest, Jehoaida (2 Chronicles 22:11) - took the
king’s son, the infant Joash (Jehoash), and hid him with his nurse in a bedroom
(2 Kings 11:2), where “he remained with her for six years, hidden in the House
of the Lord” (v. 3). “For a six year reign of terror, Athaliah held all the
power in Judah”, according to North. ….
Towards the end Part Two I had surmised that the “Shaphat” mentioned in relation to
Elisha “could be a reference, not to his actual father, but to king Jeho-shaphat himself, to whom Elisha may have
been related through marriage”. And I went on to say here that: “This situation
will be considered further in Part Three”.
Now if, as is being speculated here,
Elisha is the same person as the priest Jehoiada who was married to king Jehoram’s
daughter (Jehosheba), then he was indeed also related - through this marriage -
to king Jehoshaphat, the father of Jehoram.
Continuing on with my thesis (pp.
237-238), we read in the next sections:
The
Priest Jehoiada
Elisha as the
priest Jehoiada (therefore a Levite) - as I see it - who must have been just as
much in fear for his life as had been his predecessor Elijah, when faced with
the wrath of queen Jezebel, eventually became emboldened to act. And act he
did, with Jehu-like decisiveness (2 Chronicles 23:1). “But in the seventh year
Jehoiada took courage, and entered into a compact with the commanders of the
hundreds …”; men who had probably also served general Jehu. According to 2
Kings 11:4, Jehoiada also employed Carite (i.e. ‘Indo-European’) mercenaries
for the task. (See brief art-historical note on the Carians/Carites, as
possibly connected to a combined Horemheb-Jehu scenario, on p. 252, under Figure
10). Jehoiada’s plan apparently was to surround the palace and Temple, and
to guard the young Joash in his comings and goings, and to proclaim the boy as
king of Jerusalem (vv. 5-11). And so we read (v. 12): “Then [Jehoiada] brought
out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they
proclaimed him king and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted,
‘Long live the king!’.”
The narrative
goes on to recount the death of Athaliah, who met her end with the same courage
and defiance as had her mother (or kinswoman), Jezebel. Jehoiada ordered the queen
to be slain by the sword outside the Temple ‘Let her not be killed in the House
of
the Lord’ (v.
15). …. Notice that … Jehoiada gave the order rather than wielded the sword by
which the queen was dispatched.
So, what was
Jehoiada’s actual status here? Well, that has caused commentators to scratch
their heads a bit. Thus North has written, with reference to 2 Chronicles 23 ….
“Jehoiada is left strangely without an introduction …. He would appear to be
the chief of police, but turns out to be a high priest in v. 8 (= 2 Kgs 11:9)”.
This Jehoiada, as Elisha son of Shaphat, was apparently, like Jehu and Hazael,
one of those shaphat-police, who happened also in Elisha’s case to have
been a priest; even a high priest, according to North. So this, the story of
Jehoiada, is how, I suggest, the prophet Elisha himself became
involved in the
Sinai-commanded reform action: as a priest, and, [now] in Judah.
The people of
Jerusalem, and the king, all of whom Jehoiada had now bound to a covenant with
the Lord, then did as Jehu had previously done in Samaria. They went to the
temple of Baal and tore it down, “his altar and his images they broke in
pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars” (vv.
17-18). The rest of Jehoiada’s glorious career as priest in Jerusalem can be
read in some detail in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
One of his most
notable achievements was the massive repair work done under his supervision on
the Temple of the Lord – no doubt a necessary reconstruction after the ravages
of Baalism. As long as Jehoiada lived, king Joash (who reigned for 40 years in Jerusalem)
whom Jehoiada instructed in Yahwism, was kept in check as a servant of the Lord
(though with some ambivalence). But immediately after Jehoiada’s death, at age 130
(2 Chronicles 24:15), king Joash took counsel with his Judaean officials and
the kingdom reverted to its former idolatry. Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah, having
boldly denounced his compatriots for their apostasy, was stoned to death upon
the orders of the
king. As he was
dying, Zechariah cried out: ‘May the Lord see and avenge!’ (vv. 20-22).
Commentators
have stumbled over Matthew’s reference to the same Zechariah as a ‘son
of Barachiah’.
Thus North again: …. “This Zechariah is doubtless that of Luke 11:51, called
son of Barachiah in Mt 23:35 by assimilation to Is 8:2”. Whether or not there
is in
fact any
connection with the person intended by Isaiah, could Matthew’s name, Barachiah
- the priest Jehoiada, according to my reconstruction - have a connection (albeit
linguistically imprecise) with ‘son of Rechab’ (thus Bar-rachiah)? I
have ventured
an
identification between Jehoiada and Jehonadab, son of Rechab ….
The
Prophet’s Death and Burial
The Rechabite
tradition, I propose, arose from Elisha rather than his father, Shaphat.
….
A blessing of
the ascetical, nomadic lifestyle that Elisha came to embrace in following Elijah
was, according to the Rechabites to ‘live many days in the land’. That blessing
was
certainly
bestowed upon Elisha in abundance; for he, as the priest Jehoiada, lived to be 130
years of age. And apparently the blessing was bestowed upon his descendants
too, inasmuch as they were still faithful to that lifestyle even in Jeremiah’s
time.
Had Elisha been
buried in Samaria, then this alone would have been sufficient to shatter my
proposed identification of him with Jehoiada, because the aged Jehoiada was
buried in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 24:16): “And they buried him in the city of
David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and for God and his
House”. When we turn to read about the end of Elisha - who incidentally died
(strikingly like Jehoiada), in the very last few years of Joash of Judah’s
long reign (with Jehu’s grandson Jehoash now reigning
in Israel) - we
simply read: “So Elisha died, and they buried him” (2 Kings 13:20).
Notice, too,
that, when Elisha was dying, king Jehoash of Israel “went down to him”
וַיֵּרֶד אֵלָיו
יוֹאָשׁ מֶלֶךְ-יִשְׂרָאֵל
(v.14; cf.
8:29), thus seemingly supporting my view that Elisha did not die in Samaria; hence,
possibly, in Judah. The narrative of 2 Kings here does not actually tell us
where the great prophet was buried. The Chronicler I think supplies the
necessary information.
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