What was special about Elisha's bones?

[spiderman1917]

2 Kings 13:21  "Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet."

  So, it would have been God's grace that brought the life and soul back into the corpse.  Just wondering what your thoughts are about how God's grace works in a situation like that.  Meaning, was Elisha such a sacred temple of the Holy Spirit that the grace of God had flowed through him so much in life that it continued to flow through His bones years after his death?

Anyhow, there are many interesting unpredictable and hard to explain ways that God chooses to bring His grace to people.  Imagine how the jaws of the Israelites (who were burying the man) must have dropped in disbelief, or what it must have been like to be the man that stood up next to a skeleton and found himself staring into those horrified faces that had been burying him,  then returned to tell His shocked family and begin life anew.

He must have had an interesting life and become a celebrity with a story like that.   

 

[spiderman1917]

Ezek 37

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breatha]">[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

..........My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

 

[kwikphilly]

Spidey,,,,,

    No "objects" have any powers ,not even Elishas bones,as you know but you have to remember all these types of "Gods Miracles Works & Wonders" were before Christ was born & before He gave His life for us ,,,,,so,Gods Holy Spirit had not yet come to the believer,,,,,,, God did many amazing things through His prophets & spoke to them as His messengers,,,,,,,,we have the indwelling of His Spirit,we have no need to see anything to have Faith,,,,,,

Quote

King James Bible
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed                                                              John 20:29

                                                                          With love-in Christ<kwik

[Willa]

The excitement of seeing miracles can be very alluring.  Maybe that is whey God doesn't do many in some countries.  Either there is scorn and unbelief of miracles or there is a group that seeks after them making miracles an end in itself instead of the the Living God.  They make the miracle a false god, if you will.  

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.  Prov 3:5-6 NKJV

[Willa]

On April 13, 2016 at 10:38 AM, spiderman1917 said:

So, it would have been God's grace that brought the life and soul back into the corpse

Entirely God's grace.  Perhaps it was prophetic of Ez. 37:11-14 WEBA 

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’

Eze 37:12  Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

Eze 37:13  You will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people.

Eze 37:14  I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it,” says Yahweh.’”

[Kan]

I have wondered about that one. Maybe that incidence was significant at the time, which would have been a reminder to Israel of their spiritual state since Elisha died. Maybe God was saying that He was willing to work with people, but since they were so unavailable, the bones will do a better job than they.

The other thing is, why did the patriarchs carry the bones of their ancestors around? I don't care if I don't know the answer either. It seems like tradition if anything.

[Guest Robert]

We need to read this in context:
 

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"When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The LORD’S arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.

Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet." (2 Kings 13: 14-21, NASB)

 

 

Reading of Elisha's death and the subsequent invasion of the Arameans shows us that God would remove His faithful prophets as a preliminary before judgment. The miracle of Elisha's bones "giving a dead man life" serves to confirm Elisha's prophecies that were given just before he died. And just as Elisha had predicted, Jehoash struck the Arameans successfully 3 times, but no more.

What we can draw from this is that the Lord is serious when he calls us to do His will. If we trust Him, He goes before it. is it easy? No, no battle is. But we are not alone. But when we try to do what He asks of us in our own way, without consulting Him or relying on his strength, we will end up with very little success. Had Jehoash continued on with striking the arrows instead of "holding back", it would have turned out differently for him and Israel.

We can also learn from this that while God is patient, His patience isn't without limits either. He used Elisha's remains to demonstrate that the word given through His prophet was indeed still true, despite his death. Just because he died did not mean that the Word of God was negated in any way.

Keep in mind that Israel was continually provoking God; we often do the same thing when we doubt Him or do not believe His word. Sometimes, the Lord has to get our attention in some unusually ways. SO on several levels, we see here that God's word is reinforced, that the Lord will remove those sent to us when we no longer listen, and that the lord will use stronger measures to get us to listen.

 

What was special about Elisha's bones? Nothing in of themselves. What was special was the God who made the man whose bones they were. This isn't about bones, but about the One who breathes new life into our bones when we rely solely on Him alone for our salvation.
 

Edited April 30, 2016 by RobertS
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[sheya joie]

Another thing to keep in mind: Elisha was told that if he saw Elijah being taken from him (up to heaven in a whirlwind), Elisha's request to have double the LORD's anointing that Elijah had had would be granted.

And he did in fact see this. So in Scripture it is recorded that Elijah once raised someone from the dead. Elisha during his lifetime also raised one person from the dead, and here his bones raise a second person from the dead. It's fulfillment of prophecy, you see.

[HAZARD]

This miracle of Elisha's bones was the 33rd and final miracle of his life story. The miracles of his experience numbered thrice as many as Elijah's and some where twice as great.