Elisha inherited Elijah's mantle and immediately proved he was no lesser prophet. His miracles were stranger, more varied, and sometimes more violent than his master's.
A widow of Obadiah, King Ahab's steward, came to him in desperation. Her husband had hidden a hundred prophets from Jezebel's massacre and borrowed money to feed them. Now creditors were coming to enslave her children. All she had was a tiny cruse of oil. Elisha told her to borrow every empty vessel she could find, shut her door, and pour. The oil flowed until every vessel was full. She sold it, paid her debts, and lived on the rest.
When Benhadad, king of Syria, set ambushes for King Joram, Elisha exposed every trap. Benhadad sent a whole army to capture one prophet in the city of Dothan. Elisha's servant panicked at the sight of enemy chariots surrounding them. Elisha told him to look again. God opened the servant's eyes and he saw the hills blazing with heavenly chariots of fire. Then Elisha prayed for God to blind the Syrians. He walked among the blinded soldiers, promised to lead them to the man they sought, and marched them into the heart of Samaria. When God restored their sight, they were surrounded. Elisha forbade their slaughter. Feed them and send them home, he said.
But Benhadad besieged Samaria so severely that an ass's head sold for eighty pieces of silver and women ate their own children. King Joram swore to kill Elisha for not praying the siege away. Elisha made a promise that sounded insane: by tomorrow, fine flour will sell for a shekel. A captain scoffed that not even God could pour grain from the sky. Elisha told him he would see the plenty but never taste it.
That night, God made the Syrians hear phantom armies thundering toward them. They fled in terror, abandoning tents full of gold, silver, and food. Four lepers stumbled into the empty camp and brought word to Samaria. The people stampeded out to plunder. The mocking captain was posted at the gate. The mob trampled him to death, exactly as Elisha had foretold.