the Third Week of Advent
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Bible Dictionaries
Elisha
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or The successor, in the prophetical office, of Elijah. His name is also highly significant, meaning the salvation of my God. I must pass over many interesting circumstances in the history of this man of God, for the same reasons as in the former. But I beg to notice one event in Elisha's ministry, because it is not so generally regarded, and yet seems to lead to a profitable subject of meditation. The event I refer to, is that of his healing the waters of Jericho. (See 2 Kings 2:19-22) The reader will not forget, that Jericho is the city Joshua cursed before the Lord. (See Joshua 6:26 with 1 Kings 16:34) There evidently appears from this history, the tokens of divine displeasure upon Jericho in the days of Elisha. For we read, that the men of the city said unto the prophet, "Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth, but the water is naught, and the ground barren." In the margin of our Bibles the barren ground is explained, in causing to miscarry. Hence it should seem that the divine displeasure was manifested in this way, in the rendering the climate unfavourable to the increase of children. I do not presume to decide upon the subject, neither do I say as much, when I ask in order to determine the point, as to enquire. But I humbly conceive, if by the naughtiness of the water of Jericho, barrenness was induced among the females, there was somewhat in this analogous to the Lord's appointment in Israel concerning the waters of Jealousy. In both cases, the matter is the same in relation to the cause. (See Numbers 5:23-31) That the barrenness mentioned of Jericho referred to the sterility of the women, or their miscarriages, which is the same thing in effect, I have no doubt. The same word Sheceleh, is made use of in this place, as in the instance of Jacob's expostulating with Laban: "Thy she-goats" (Genesis 31:38) "have not cast their young." And the Lord, when speaking in promises to his people, saith, "He" (Exodus 23:25-26) "shall bless thy bread and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land." It appears then, that amidst all the pleasantness of Jericho, which abounded with palm trees (and, indeed, on that account was called the city of palm trees,) (See 2 Chronicles 28:15) there was still a certain somewhat, unfavourable to that which to the children of Israel (looking forward to the types that the promised seed would be in their lot), was among the most distressing of all calamities, the want of children. This was the state of Jericho. The prophet's cruse of salt cast into the waters, under the Lord's blessing, healed the land. Elisha cast the cruse into the spring, saying,"Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more, death, or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha." I have thought it worthwhile to enter into the particulars of this interesting account, concerning the barrenness at Jericho healed by the cruse of salt cast into the spring of the waters, by way of introducing an infinitely more interesting observation on the subject itself. The cruse of salt, like the tree at Marah (Exodus 15:25) were both beautiful types of Jesus and his salvation. Both the cruse and the barrenness are effectually cured when Jesus takes them away. The waters of Marah lose their bitterness when his cross is put in them to sweeten and sanctify. The barrenness of Jericho is healed, and children are born, even in Jericho, when Christ's cruse of grace is applied. A Rahab and harlot is found in Jericho; and Æthiopia, and Seba, and the multitude of isles, shall stretch forth their hands unto God. Jesus hath taken out the curse when he was made a curse for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21) Hallelujah!
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Elisha'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/e/elisha.html. London. 1828.
