Elisha the Prophet אלישע הנביא
disciple and successor of Elijah, the prophet of wonders
Elisha son of Shafat was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen when Eliyahu passed and threw his cloak over him. He asked only to say goodbye to his parents, then slaughtered the oxen, burned the harness and followed his teacher—a man burning his bridges.
Before the ascent Eliyahu asked what to give him; Elisha asked for "a double portion of your spirit". The mantle fell into his hands, he struck the Jordan and the waters parted. His ministry begins around 3047 and spans decades and several kings.
His miracles differ from his master's: they are almost always about people. He heals the bitter spring at Jericho, fills the widow's vessels with oil, promises the Shunammite a son and later revives the boy, neutralises poisoned stew, feeds a hundred men with twenty loaves, and cures the Aramean commander Naaman by sending him to bathe seven times in the Jordan.
He intervenes in politics too, yet his blinding of an Aramean force at Dotan ends not in execution but in a meal for the captives.
Chain of transmission
Elijah the Prophet → Elisha the Prophet → Jehoiada the Priest
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Melachim I 19:16–21 — the calling from the plough
- Melachim II 2–13 — Eliyahu’s mantle, the miracles, and the death
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Megillah 14b — the generations of prophets in the sages’ discussion (the reference needs checking)
- Seder Olam Rabbah 19 — the years of Elisha’s ministry
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.