Elisha Got Double Elijah's Spirit and His Servant Wasted All of It

When Elijah was taken up to heaven in his chariot of fire, his disciple Elisha asked for a double portion of his master's spirit. The request was bold but not unreasonable. Elisha had followed Elijah for years, had refused to leave his side as the moment of ascension approached even when Elijah told him to stay behind, had insisted on watching until the last possible moment. He wanted to inherit not comfort but capacity. The Ginzberg account of what followed is precise in the way only a tradition that counted miracles carefully could be: Elijah had performed eight miracles in his lifetime. Elisha performed sixteen. The double portion was literal.

His first miracle after the ascension, the crossing of the Jordan River alone, the Ginzberg legends note as more remarkable than the corresponding miracle Elijah had performed. When Elijah crossed the Jordan, Elisha was with him. Two saints together have more combined power than one alone. Elisha crossed the Jordan by himself. The river split for one man, which the tradition counted as harder than splitting for two.

His second miracle, the healing of the waters of Jericho so they became drinkable, solved a problem and created one. The people who had made their living selling wholesome water to the city were suddenly without income. They were angry, and the tradition records that Elisha, using his prophetic ability to see both past and future, examined these tradesmen and found that neither they, nor their ancestors, nor their descendants had even the fragrance of goodness about them. So he cursed them. A forest sprang up and bears came out of the forest and killed the tradesmen. This solved the immediate problem of their anger and created a much more serious problem for Elisha himself.

He had yielded to passion. He had let his wrath get the better of his judgment. God desired that the two great prophets, Elijah and Elisha, should both be purged of this particular fault. Elijah had been rebuked at Horeb for his excessive zeal. Elisha was rebuked now in a different way: when he later confronted King Jehoram of Israel with justified criticism, the spirit of prophecy departed from him entirely. He had to call for a musician and wait for the music to quiet his mind before the prophetic gift returned. The gift was not permanent. It could be lost through passion. The double portion was real, but it came with the same vulnerabilities that every prophet carries.

Into this context came Gehazi, Elisha's servant and the man who managed the prophet's household and schedule. Gehazi was present for everything. He watched the miracles. He carried the messages. He served as the interface between the prophet and the ordinary world. And he was, the tradition records without softening, unsuitable for the role in ways that only gradually became visible.

The final revelation of Gehazi's character came through Naaman, a Syrian military commander who came to Elisha to be healed of leprosy. Elisha healed him. Naaman offered payment. Elisha refused. Elisha had not healed for profit and would not take profit for healing. Naaman left, cured and grateful. Gehazi ran after him. The account of Gehazi's punishment records that he lied to Naaman about Elisha's needs, collected silver and garments in Elisha's name without Elisha's knowledge, and returned to the prophet's house having arranged everything carefully.

He found Elisha studying. The prophet was working through the chapter of the Mishnah that deals with eight reptiles and the ritual impurity they cause. This detail matters because Elisha greeted Gehazi's return with an announcement: the time has come for me to be rewarded for my study of this chapter. May my reward be that the disease of Naaman afflict you and your descendants forever. The leprosy came out on Gehazi's face before he finished hearing the sentence.

Gehazi was sensual and envious, the tradition specifies. He did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. He had displayed these qualities in other incidents, including his treatment of the Shunammite woman who came to Elisha in grief over her dead child. He was someone who had been given proximity to the greatest prophetic gifts of the generation and had used that proximity as a resource to exploit rather than a responsibility to carry. Elisha, who could read the past and future of the water-merchants of Jericho, knew exactly who his servant was. The punishment was not a surprise to anyone, including, presumably, Gehazi himself.

The double portion Elisha received was not transferable. It could not be inherited by a servant who wanted silver more than prophecy. The bears in the forest, the healed waters, the crossing of the Jordan alone, sixteen miracles against Elijah's eight: all of it culminated in a prophet who could curse a servant with one sentence while studying a chapter about reptiles. The power was exact. It did not spill over where it was not earned.