I continue publishing this book on my site, a few chapters per week.

However, if you’re impatient or would rather read it on your Kindle, please head over to my AMAZON LINK. Click the link and check out how it looks on Amazon! The price is still set very low for the first few weeks to encourage new readers and hopefully gather reviews.

So to restate, the purchase is a low risk right now and if you’d be willing to read it and provide an Amazon review, you will be very helpful to my goal of getting this book out to a broader set of readers (where I hope it would do some good).

NEW! If you prefer reading in paperback, I have a nice, trade size version available on Lulu.com now!

Meeting the King

Bringing a message to a King from a person not completely approved of by the King in question is a tricky art-form that I, with my upbringing among the common people, had no training in. So my task was a difficult one for me to reconcile myself to. Fortunately I had plenty of time to think the process through because the journey from Dan to Samaria took a number of days. I was surprised to discover that though I was not well known like the Prophet, there were still people waiting to feed and house me in every city I passed through around the time of nightfall. I cannot even begin to explain to you how this could have happened unless it had been truly the hand of The God. Eventually I arrived in Samaria, nervous and worn out, but strangely excited about the mission I must accomplish. The Prophet told me to simply announce myself at the city gate and someone would take me to the King. I followed this recommendation and was surprised to find that the results were exactly as the Prophet had described. I was efficiently ushered from the gate into a pleasant waiting area inside a structure that was clearly the King’s residence. This room must have been designed for heads of state or powerful dignitaries to keep them calm and happy while they waited on the arrival of the King. Beautiful young women who served the King came in and out of the room with food and drink. The chair in which I rested was very comfortable and allowed me to recline while I waited. This is a life that I could aspire to! I thought. Finally, a tall official with a long, reddish-colored beard who was dressed in the livery of the King arrived. The King awaits the servant of the Prophet, he said gesturing for me to accompany him. Please follow me, he continued, so I did exactly that. After my short meeting with the King, the young official of the King’s court led me back to the gate of the city. Please continue your journey in peace, oh servant of the Prophet, he said in a very kind tone. I passed through the city gate, loaded with provisions given me by servants of the king and departed for Dothan, as the Prophet had requested. It was somewhat stunning how rapidly this had all occurred. My appointment with the King had been exceedingly short and to the point and as such was a very strange ten minutes. The lives of noble-born people were and still are so puzzlingly different from mine. During the entire time we were in the same room, the King never spoke directly to me. Instead, he spoke to me through the bearded young man who presented me to him. Likewise, the official relayed my responses to the King’s questions. I recall that our meeting began with a statement something like the following. Oh! the King uttered, staring idly out the window. I see we have here the servant of that annoying Prophet that is constantly making my life difficult. Please ask him what his business is. I responded nervously to the bearded official without even glancing at the King. The message from my master, I said, is that he is aware of all the plans of the King of Syria, which of course is a gift provided to our nation by The God. Syria is fully knowledgeable of your travel plans and understands that you will be proceeding to Shiloh to celebrate a feast in two weeks. The Syrian army intends to ambush you on the highway. The Prophet says that if you bypass the highway and proceed through a less direct route that the King of Syria will fail to intercept you and will return home to Syria in shame in front of his army. At this point, the King gave a small wave, as one might swat away a flying insect and thanked his official for relaying my message. He then promptly exited the room and my audience was over. I was surprised to realize that the King’s assistant was already beginning to gently escort me out of the palace towards the gates of the city. I apologize for the King’s lack of decorum, the young man stated as we walked. He just truly can’t stand your master but he knows that he needs him. As I reflect back on this time of my life, I’m struck by the manner in which The God maintained this strange tension between Elisha and the King. I imagine the purpose of this was to protect the King from his evil desires while continuing to preserve the opportunity for him to repent of them. I understand this better now, because I believe The God effectively did the same thing in my life, perhaps expecting that I would eventually make the choices in my life that pleased Him instead of myself. After this meeting, I began to realize how this very strange relationship that existed between the King and my master governed much of what happened in Israel. Pondering this puzzle kept my mind occupied as I walked down the dusty road towards Dothan, the new donkey provided to me by the King’s servants in tow. After my return from delivering the message to the King, I proceeded to get back into the rhythm of my role serving the Prophet. There were many great and surprising things I saw him do during this time. We did not stop in one place for long, for the Prophet continually felt led to travel between the cities in the Northern Kingdom. We spent much time in Bethel, Dothan, and Samaria, among other places. We heard word from the Sons of the Prophets that as the Prophet had foretold, the King of Syria had returned to Damascus in shame. He had bet too much of his prestige on this attempt to overthrow Israel by ambushing the King of Israel’s procession to Shiloh. I smiled at this news, for I took pride in my participation in delivering the message. In time, the Prophet detected another plan being conceived by the King of Syria to besiege Samaria and I was dispatched to the King once again. This time the message involved an alert to the King regarding the exact time the army of Syria would be moving stealthily through a very narrow pass in the mountains. The King treated me the same way as he did the first time I brought him a message, but he did seem to listen. We learned a few months later from the roving Sons of the Prophets about the trap that Israel laid for Syria that destroyed nearly half of the Syrian army and sent the rest running home to Damascus. Over the next few years, this happened two to three more times. This must have caused great consternation in the King of Syria’s heart, but he had specific reasons why conquering Israel was important to him, and as such, he was unable to back off.

Here’s a recent interview between me and a book reviewer from “The Feathered Quill” about my latest book. It might be interesting to some… the reviewer covers a big range of questions about the work, about God and religion, and even goes all the way back to my “Pirates” trilogy from years ago.

https://featheredquill.com/author-interview-tod-newman/

I continue publishing this book on my site, a few chapters per week.

However, if you’re impatient or would rather read it on your Kindle, please head over to my AMAZON LINK. Click the link and check out how it looks on Amazon! The price is still set very low for the first few weeks to encourage new readers and hopefully gather reviews.

So to restate, the purchase is a low risk right now and if you’d be willing to read it and provide an Amazon review, you will be very helpful to my goal of getting this book out to a broader set of readers (where I hope it would do some good).

NEW! If you prefer reading in paperback, I have a nice, trade size version available on Lulu.com now!

Trouble With Syrians

It was in Capernaum that we heard of the impending arrival of a great Syrian army from the north. We did not learn this right away, though, for as usual, we discovered that there were locals in Capernaum who were eagerly expecting our appearance and they quickly led us to the place they had arranged for us to stay. This was yet another example of the oft-related strangeness of traveling with the Prophet. Just like his predecessor Elijah, he never seemed to plan anything at all. As someone who liked to plan things, this, of course, drove me crazy but I knew better than to speak of it. The Prophet would just say something like, Today we go to Bethel, Gehazi please get the donkey loaded. Then we would simply go and I would find that there was someone waiting for us there with a need the Prophet could address. Now at my advanced age I possess hard-earned knowledge that provides the insight that The God and Elisha must have been constantly communicating and The God was simply preparing the path that Elisha obediently followed. I did not understand this at all at the time. How impatient and unseeing I was as a young man! Once we were settled in a pleasant house that had a view of the Sea of Galilee the young, dark-headed man who had met us at the edge of the city returned and took Elisha away to a meeting or something. Stay behind and rest and take time to enjoy the day, the Prophet gently directed as he walked out into the night with the young man. So I did. I unloaded our provisions for the donkey and got things ready for a late dinner in case the Prophet returned hungry. As it turned out, he was fed by the man who took him away, so I was the only one that was hungry when the Prophet returned. He looked at me and said, We need to prepare ourselves. I think that we may intercede with the Syrian king in a few days. If he was confident about this diplomatic mission, he did not show it. What I observed was the man I used to know who might have been uncertain about which crops to plant or whether to do maintenance to a field. I was able to help him with decisions during those days, but since his transformation into the Prophet of The God, I hadn’t been able to help him in the ways that my pride wished that I could. Should we buy weapons? I asked, attempting to demonstrate my great usefulness. No, this is not that kind of mission, he replied kindly with a sideways grin. I’m not sure what The God will ask of me, but I’ll discover that when the time comes. I did not imagine that I would be treating with foreign armies, however, when The God placed me under His protection. He laughed, paused and continued, We will both see what The God will call us to do. And that was all that was said about this notable subject that night. I was very disturbed by all of it. I also never expected to be supporting a diplomatic mission with a nation as cruel as the Syrians. The rumors of the destruction and evils performed by their army raced headlong across the entire country. I thought about our poor friend Jeremiah who had been murdered by the Syrians, leaving a bereft wife and fatherless children, it was said. I did not sleep much that night, fighting against a mind racing ahead of my fear and despairing about what might lie ahead. Speaking of fear, I find it interesting now to think about the many things I feared when I was younger. Normally, the emotion turned out to have been misapplied to something that did not warrant the energy I allocated to it. I have learned much through my many years, and I suspect so will you, dear reader. When I finally slept that night, it was to a tantalizing dream that took me back to the green valley surrounded by desert and the deep longing that waited just out of sight. The vision was unclear that night, as if I was perceiving something shimmering at the bottom of a lake. We rested many more days in Capernaum, something I was quite grateful for. The men who took care of us in the city were kind and good and provided us a much-needed time of rest. When we left the town, there was no sign of these men or any other citizens of the town. The streets were completely empty as we departed and we made our way alone to the ford of the Jordan river as it entered the Sea of Galilee on its journey downward from the mountains. The water was low and we crossed with ease to the Eastern side of the river in preparation for our journey north. There was no need for the Prophet to part the waters for us to cross, something that disappointed me somewhat. We traveled quite a distance north along the east bank of the Jordan, choosing to remain in the territory of the tribe of Naphtali rather than move further west into lands controlled by the Syrians. Our goal was to reach the city of Dan, a place of good size in the northern-most reaches of Israel, situated at the foot of the snowy Mount Hermon. North of Mount Hermon lay the lands of Syria, including the great and ancient city of Damascus. I did not know the details of our mission at the time, but eventually we learned that there would be an envoy from the Syrian King, Ben-Hadad, waiting for us at a location on the eastern slopes of the mountain. The Prophet assured me that we would stop in Dan for a time before proceeding to the place where we would meet the Syrian emissary. I was grateful that our travels remained uneventful as we skirted the Syrian territory and followed the Jordan northward. Once we reached the outskirts of Dan, we were met by a group of men who took us to the home of a family that would feed and shelter us. The leader of this group was a man I recognized as one of the members of the Sons of the Prophets who I had not seen since the transition from Elijah to Elisha at the Jordan River. He appeared very excited to see us and spoke some quiet words to Elisha just out of my earshot. Yes, I understand, Elisha told him. I believe that’s one of the reasons we are here. The young man seemed relieved and nodded earnestly. I will make sure that she is aware. Then he ran off. The next morning, the Prophet woke me early as he prepared for the day. This wasn’t usual, for it was typically me who woke first, so I took some notice. Why are you up so early, master, I asked, staggering quickly to my feet. I have a meeting soon, he replied as I waved off his offer to help me stand up. I’d like you to go with me. I want you to see the hand of The God. Elisha sometimes did something like this for my benefit. I think that he often suspected that I wasn’t able to wholly believe in or understand his ministry and he wanted me to be able to. I agreed and we left within the hour. The young man from the night before materialized in front of us from behind a small house. Thank you for communicating to her, Baruch, the Prophet began. I hope she is prepared? I had no idea what the two were talking about, so I remained silent. We continued toward whatever our objective was. After ten minutes we arrived at a small, dust-covered house, where two young boys met us enthusiastically. Hearing the noise, a woman also came out of the house. She looked exhausted and tentative. When she welcomed us into her residence, we passed through the entry and I looked around. On every surface sat clay jars of the type that people generally use to contain their olive oil. There were hundreds of these. I looked up at the Prophet in surprise. Hello, Dinah, he began, while casually strolling around the room and inspecting the jars. Our friend Baruch has told me about the evil thing that happened to your family. I’m so sorry about your husband’s death. As you know, Jeremiah was with me frequently and served well. Now I recognized what was going on, for a group of men who I recognized had just also entered the room. All of them had been with us at the River Jordan when the two Prophets had crossed over and one had returned. I quickly understood that this was the home of the family of the slain young prophet. Man of God, the woman began, her voice not fully under control, I am without recourse here. Your servant, my husband, was deeply in debt because he spent many hours in your school of the prophets and now I am holding all of his bills! The man we owe is not a follower of The God, but instead, like many of our people, believes only in wealth. He has told me that he will take my sons today as slaves if I cannot repay the debts. These men (here she gestured at the sons of the prophets in the room) have been trying to help me, but like me, they have no money or power in our community. Here she suddenly stopped speaking. Tears stood in her eyes, but her gaze never left the Prophet. I understand, Dinah, the Prophet responded. His voice carried an excess of emotion as well. The God has told me to tell you this, he continued. Go take your household jar of olive oil and bring it to me. Dinah did so and the prophet held it up. It is nearly empty, she stated blankly. It is the last thing of any value that I have. This is a mystery then, the Prophet said with a kind smile, for this jar seems quite full to me. He handed it back to her and her face took on a look of true amazement. So it is! she cried in astonishment. Now, Dinah, here’s what I want you to do, the Prophet resumed. From this jar you handed me, fill up all of those empty vessels that I instructed Baruch to help you to find. Fill one, and then move to the other. Let me know when you run out of oil jars. He motioned to me and we walked out of her home. The Prophet told her young sons that she might need some help inside and they rushed to comply. Then he spoke to me, Now Gehazi, you have seen lots of unbelievable works from The God and I think every time you have justified them in some way that is convenient for your mind. You have a small time left where The God can reach your heart, but I fear for you. Please pay attention to this. You know this oil of the olive is so important to our lives. We use it to create light in our lamps, we can use it to cook our food, we even sanctify our priests and anoint our kings with it, for it is a sign of the wealth and the life that The God provides. Here this poor widow has nearly run out of this life, but due to the mercy of The God, you will soon see that she will have life abundant. You, yourself are coming to the end of the store of oil that The God has granted you and my wish for you is that you would allow The God to fill it to overflowing. But I fear you will not. Stop, lets go look. I was somewhat overcome by this interaction with the Man of God and was unable to formulate any sort of idea why he expressed it to me this way. But when we re-entered the widow’s house, I could see her rejoicing with her sons. The other men, who had all stepped out of the home when we did, returned and began rejoicing too. I walked around the room and looked at the formerly empty jars and found that not only were they full now, most of them had oil overflowing their narrow spouts. The Prophet motioned for quiet. Before your life and joy were nearly lost, but look! Now you have life overflowing. Dinah, go out and sell all of the extra jars of olive oil in the market for a good price. You will find that you have more than enough to pay your husband’s debt. The look on the widow’s face was shocking. With that one expression I could see the sadness and mourning instantly replaced with a sense of joy that I realized I had never personally experienced, but which The God kept dangling in front of me in my visions. For it was very obvious to me that the triumph I could see in her face right now was a picture of what remained just out of sight in my vision of the desert highway in bloom. I will not ever know the full reason for our long journey up to Dan, but the miracle that occurred in the house of the wife of the prophet was certainly part of it. The remaining reasons begin to emerge shortly after. A mysterious messenger came to the Prophet one morning very early and he roused me. Gehazi, quick, lets get ready for travel! As I mentioned earlier, it was normal for me to wake up before the Prophet and then prepare for the day before waking him, so once again this was surprising. I hurried about my usual morning tasks and before long, we were headed north from Dan with our donkey. I asked where we were headed. To Mount Hermon, the Prophet replied. We have a special meeting with someone there. I believe it will change the way Israel responds to Syrian aggression. This sounded good to me, for that enemy nation had caused our people to truly suffer through both war and famine. Our journey to Mount Hermon fortunately turned out to be uneventful. Five of the Sons of the Prophets from Dan joined us in the journey. Now that I was starting to appreciate their company, their presence made the traveling pleasant because I enjoyed learning from them about this part of the country. On the second day after leaving Dan, the terrain began to be steep and rocky and the travel became exhausting. I couldn’t help but notice that the Prophet kept staring off into the distance up the slope. Eventually we found a rough trail that was of the type that timber cutters used. According to one one of the prophets, the cedars on Mount Hermon were prized symbols of luxury and wealth and indeed, had been used in large quantities in the construction of King David’s house as well as the Temple in Jerusalem. This was somewhat interesting to me. I could not discern where we were heading up this trail, but I recalled that the Prophet had received a mysterious message so I assumed that he knew where the meeting place would be. The Sons of the Prophets apparently felt no concern at all about our destination. As best as I could tell, they were always just happy to be near to the Man of God. In time we reached the meeting place. This was a large flat spot overlooking the rocky terrain on three sides. It was roughly halfway up the slope of Mount Hermon and provided an excellent place for a clandestine meeting. The site was not visible from below and it provided an excellent view of all the trails leading up to it. We spied a group of three men who were obviously waiting for us and the Prophet held up a hand to signal us to stop. As we soon discovered, the person we were to meet was not the emissary from the Syrian King that we had expected. Rather, he was a tall man dressed in black from head to toe with small golden charms dangling from his sleeves and woven belt. He wore a black veil to hide his face and was attended by three traveling companions who were similarly dressed. Though we couldn’t see his face, when he spoke, we realized that he was a very aged man. This was a very exciting mystery to me! We are a small remnant of the former Priests of Ba’al who served Queen Jezebel in the past, the older man in charge began, raising his right arm as if in a salute to the Prophet. We have traveled from Israel to places far distant in order to do penance. One day the word of The True God came to us and told us to flee from our band of false priests who served the Queen and warred with the Prophet of the time. We were very sensitive to The God’s voice and realized we must obey or die. This message came just in time, for it spared us from the destruction that fell upon Jezebel’s priests by the hand of The God working through the great Prophet who opposed the King and the Queen. We have spent time most recently in Damascus and have a message from The God and a token that will be very important for the survival of Israel. The famine will continue and the Syrians will seek to destroy the nation, but The God has chosen to intervene. Here he stopped and held up a golden ring at eye level. This is the signet of King Ben-Hadad, he continued. It fell into our possession through a strange set of circumstances in Damascus. The God has sent us to provide it to you, for when it is in your possession, The God will grant you access to the thoughts of Ben-Hadad himself. You will be able to use this gift to prepare Israel for his intended onslaughts. With the message complete, the three mysterious priests promptly turned to leave by the trail from which they had arrived. The Prophet spoke, Wait for a short time! I doubt that you will be seen in Israel again. The black-clad priests nodded in agreement. We have places to go far to the East, their leader said. The God wishes that men from countries who have forgotten Him would have a reminder. We seek to do whatever part He places in front of us and our deepest hope is that serving Him well may undo some of the damage we caused through our misguided past service of the Ba’als. We will not pass through Israel again but perhaps in time distant those who inherit our ministry will return. We’re grateful to have met the successor of the ancient Man of God of Israel. With these words, the priests departed single-file down the path from where they came. The Prophet motioned for us to head back down the mountain in the direction of Dan. I am already sensing what is in the head of the Syrian King, he noted and laughed as he tucked the King’s ring into his robes. I was told that we would be meeting an emissary from the King of Syria. It does seem that that turns out to have been the case, but a more unlikely emissary I have never seen. I suspect the King of Syria will wish these men never went out from Damascus! At that, the Prophet became silent and I realized that questioning him further about the strange events of the day would be futile. Once we returned to Dan, the Prophet called me aside and prepared me for the message I was to deliver to the King of Israel in Samaria. After you have delivered this message, he told me, come and meet me in Dothan. I agreed to do so, and armed with the message to the King from the Man of God, I departed. I thought about my ancestor Joseph and the meetings he must have had with the Pharaoh and was momentarily proud.

I continue publishing this book on my site, a few chapters per week.

However, if you’re impatient or would rather read it on your Kindle, please head over to my AMAZON LINK. Click the link and check out how it looks on Amazon! The price is still set very low for the first few weeks to encourage new readers and hopefully gather reviews.

So to restate, the purchase is a low risk right now and if you’d be willing to read it and provide an Amazon review, you will be very helpful to my goal of getting this book out to a broader set of readers (where I hope it would do some good).

NEW! If you prefer reading in paperback, I have a nice, trade size version available on Lulu.com now!

The Woman from Shunem

The lack of water that the armies experienced in the Moab campaign was just a foreshadowing of much harder times to come. Following the tainted victory over Moab, the powerful Syrian King Ben-Hadad must have decided that the Northern Kingdom was ripe for the plucking, so we began to hear rumors of threatening movements from the Syrian army. During this time, the Prophet made the decision to cross the nation, speaking the words of The God to the people. The traveling was exceptionally dusty due to the drought but The God must have prepared his followers throughout the route, for we were frequently taken in by kind people who provided for all our needs. In many cases, I was able to see the Prophet perform amazing works of The God. During this time I was beginning to accept that Elisha’s ability to bring about miracles was something real and legitimate. This might be surprising to you, the reader, because I had been provided this amazing opportunity to be present at most of the miracles. I think that all I can say in my defense is that I was more stubborn in my head at this younger age than I am now. At first I think I suspected that there may have been coincidences involved with these wonders and I might have explained them away as such. For example, perhaps putting salt in the springs that supplied water to Jericho coincided with some other event that eliminated the impurities. Or maybe the leaders of Jericho were exaggerating the poorness of their water supply and the action of the Prophet made them feel better about their water. After seeing numerous examples of Elisha’s new abilities to do these kinds of marvelous works through the hand of The God, though, I began to realize that something had fundamentally changed on the other side of the Jordan when Elijah disappeared mysteriously and Elisha assumed the prophetic mantle. One time Elisha mentioned to me something that made me ponder this. Do you realize that I had the guts to ask for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, he asked me once out of the blue. What does that mean? I responded idly, looking up from my attempt to inventory our stores of red lentils. I’m really surprised I did this, he responded with a boyish grin and a subtle wave of his left hand. I truly didn’t see myself as worthy, but I guess The God put the thought in my head. Then he made it clear that I’d asked the right thing when I saw how He took Elijah away. I regret that I wasn’t paying much attention at the time. I was probably thinking of tasks that I needed to do for the Prophet which needed doing and to my eyes, at least, emphasized my value. I spent far too much time concerned with my own image during this portion of the ministry. I was understandably proud of my position with the man who was likely the most compelling person in the country, but I dwelled quite a lot on the importance of my role. As the reader might guess, this kind of pride in self is quite blinding to more important things going on. What I should have been considering was whether I had missed out by not asking anything great from The God in the same vein as the ostentatious requests of Elisha and even Solomon. Perhaps my sights were always set far too low? Despite my growing motivational misalignment, I believe that I was still able to do very useful things for the work of The God through Elisha. During this trying time of drought, starvation, and war, these activities kept me very busy. The seven years of famine that our nation experienced during this portion of the Prophet’s work were extremely challenging. Because he was so caring, the Prophet devoted much of his energy to helping the people he encountered who were in need. I understood that this phase of his ministry tired him out greatly, even though he tried not to let it show. Much of the work he did during this time was encouragement, but occasionally I saw things that seemed honestly miraculous. One example was a wealthy lady we met in Shunem. This was a very small community situated just north of the hill country of Samaria and just south of the wide plain known alternately as Jezreel and as Megiddo. The village had a history because it was near where the Philistine enemies encamped when they planned to overthrow Saul, the first King of Israel. The valley that Shunem overlooked once saw the great Judge Gideon defeat an overwhelming army from Midian through the intervening of the hand of The God. This town had seen great events in the past, and it was about to see more miraculous works from The God through the ministry of Elisha. During our journeys, it was common for us to pass through Shunem as it was on the way to a lot of other important places. Every time we approached the village, the word would go out and a certain wealthy lady would send a servant to ask about our needs. Were we staying for a few days? Would we need food, shelter, repairs to our clothing, and so on. At one point she got the idea that she could build a second floor addition to her house where the Prophet could stay a few days and relax whenever he passed through town. This became quite a blessing to us and provided an excellent reason to route our travels through Shunem and stay for a few days. Not only did we have the room for our purposes, but we also were able to use the roof of the woman’s house when the nights were cool. Seeing the stars from a safe place to sleep was both inspiring and relaxing. As I look back, though, it may have been this time staying with this wealthy family that my priorities started to drift to places that I should have had the fortitude to resist. As the reader no doubt remembers, I was raised in an environment relatively devoid of wealth but despite that I still had a self-regard that drove me to strive to exceed the accomplishments of those around me. The hand of The God drew me towards service to the Prophet, but lurking behind His hand was also my hand, which sought opportunities to soothe my vanity. Perhaps this is sometimes how The God works? Walking with the Prophet served to remind me that I had achieved things unimaginable to people from my village but it also caused the unsupported conceit of my youth (which perhaps The God, through a mercy, had worked to tame during my early service) to spark back to life. Admittedly, this was not an impediment to my role or to The Prophet, but sometimes things and events are clearer when one looks back from a distance than they are in the moment. Seeing the wealth around me when the Prophet and I would pause in Shunem led me slowly into the devastation of covetousness. As I consider this now, I understand that this error is so subtle that we humans rarely even notice it. I would speculate that covetousness is in reality the essence of confrontation with The God regarding the worthiness of the one who has been given contrasted with the perception of worthiness of the one who lacks. Essentially, therefore, to covet is to judge the will of The God. Perhaps this is obvious and unremarkable to many, but I only gradually recognized this through hard experience. Though I have spent much time in these my latter years thinking about how gifts from The God are by nature undeserved and therefore nothing to be jealous of, at the time I often found myself angry and accusing The God of favoritism. Why is it that the wealthy are able to command hundreds of men to do what needs to be done, I would say in my accusations. And me, I am required to do all of the things that need doing myself. How is it that one man has ease when the next has unending toil? These negative ideas that had distracted me for years now began to fully infiltrate my mind and my identity. To my great embarrassment now, I spent far too much time hosting these dangerous thoughts and far too little energy considering their overall negative effect on my heart. Now in my old age I often find myself thinking retrospectively in order to understand why I was so easily misled into this miserable jealousy. My highest suspicion is that I was far too susceptible to the insidious and yet invisible idolatry of my culture that hounded my steps almost from the day of my birth. My surrendering to this false guidance blocked my ability to evaluate what was true and real and as a result I fell deeply into falsehood. That this happened so thoroughly is difficult for me to admit now, for it seems undeniable looking back in time that my life in general was unusually charmed. Perhaps my main accusation of The God now is how He allowed me to persist in my folly. It is strange to me to consider now this vanishingly small gap in our reasoning between the worship and high-regard of The God and the contempt with which our desires can level charges against Him. I believe that during this time in the ministry I traveled across that narrow gap multiple times per day. It is now painfully obvious that I should have chosen to discuss my weakness regarding this dark idol of discontent with the Prophet and take advantage of his great wisdom. Without any question he was truly wise and caring about others and would have helped me put my challenges in a more proper context. Those discussions may have been truly helpful, for I believe that the Prophet struggled with human weaknesses too, even though he worked very diligently to keep them under control. His service to The God was complete and thorough and was founded on a mix of self-discipline from the man and graciousness from The God. Yes, it might have been valuable for me to share my struggles with my master, but unfortunately, those discussions never happened and I suffered greatly as a result. Though she was rich and I was jealous of her wealth, the woman who sought to serve the Prophet was a wonderful, giving person. This may sound strange, but though I struggled against jealousy of her wealth, I cannot think of a single thing to say against her nature or works. The obvious driving sorrow in her life was that she had no children. She and her husband worked tirelessly – and I would submit, unselfishly – to strengthen their business, building houses for people in their and other villages, into something that served others. The houses that were common in this region were fairly simple, constructed of large, sun-dried bricks that were carefully stacked using traditional designs and patterns. It took many strong hands to cast and move large numbers of bricks and once the bricks were transferred to a build site, it required a craftsman with a sharp eye for detail and years of experience to ensure that the house was constructed correctly. Because of this nature of their work, they employed many men, and even sometimes women. Thus they provided for the livelihood of many members of their community. Though the couple was not old, they often served as unofficial grandparents to the many children of their employees. I’m certain that in addition to her nature that took joy in serving others, she also took a special interest in the Prophet because of his reputation as one who cared for others and who could solve hard problems. Though I was probably not a very good friend to her, I was well aware of her heart’s desire to have children, for I spoke with her and her husband quite frequently. I believe that due to her selfless nature, though, it would have been nearly impossible for her to make a special request of the Prophet. As time passed, she and her husband continued serving us whenever we passed through Shunem. Eventually, as I noted, she asked her husband to add a room onto their house where the Prophet could store his important belongings and have a place to rest. This truly lightened his load and provided him a place of respite during the difficult times that we were facing. Food was growing scarce and there were rumors in the land that the Syrian army was marching toward us. We all knew that this would worsen the famine and would provide many other difficulties. Months passed and we traveled all over the land, laboring diligently to bring the voice of The God to His people and hoping that He would take action regarding our poor state. Eventually, we passed again through Shunem and again discovered that the great woman somehow knew to have servants looking for us. As usual, they ushered us into the Prophet’s room and brought us food and water. We took rest from the road there for three or four days. On the last day that we were to remain in Shunem, the Prophet asked if I would request the woman to attend to him. He rarely spoke to anyone these days, including me, so I saw this as a great opportunity for her. I brought her into the small room and she stood expectantly. I am greatly blessed by you and I don’t have any idea why you spend so much time caring for me, he began, gesturing around the room with his left hand. You have noble work, the respect of your community, and great holdings. However, I have a wish to bless you in return for the benevolence you have showed Gehazi and me. Perhaps I could introduce you to leaders of the army, even kings? This might help you overcome challenges to your work? I waited expectantly for her response. I’m just a village woman and I rely on my people, she replied quietly, eyes downcast as if she did not dare meet the Prophet’s waiting gaze. I live here, she continued, and do not expect help from outside. The God has blessed our work and our lives. At this, she excused herself nervously, saying that some thing or another had come up in the village that she needed to look into. The Prophet looked at me with the beginnings of a smile. Gehazi, he said, smoothing his still-dark beard thoughtfully, you know what it is that she needs, for I know that you talk with her. I nodded, Yes, I do know. She desires a son. She’s much younger than her husband and she worries that time is running out for her to be a mother and have a son who can provide for her in her old age. The prophet gave me an earnest and piercing look and then proceeded to go back to whatever things had been occupying his mind before. I assumed this meant that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish what the kind woman wanted. This disappointed me, because though the reader might find my behaviors and attitudes during this time to be highly inconsistent, the nature of jealousy that I was struggling with was truly not in conflict with my desire to see her and her husband blessed by The God. All I can say is that my thinking was a mess during this time. A few hours later, the Prophet said, Gehazi, please bring Miriam, the Shunemite woman back to me. I was surprised that he used her proper name. It was not his nature to do this. Truly, sometimes it seemed like I rarely even heard my own name come from his lips. He had certain precise ways about him that allowed him to be clear about what he needed done and those ways sometimes did not require saying names. I was very pleased to be able to do this and I found her quickly. I excitedly requested her to return. I imagine that this was confusing and surprising to her. We returned to the Prophet’s room together and both stood before the Prophet in anticipation. He looked up and smiled. This time next year I plan to return to visit you and meet your new son. Miriam stepped back in surprise. Dear man of God, she said, please don’t tease me. And she departed quietly and returned to her work. I was surprised that so little emotion was demonstrated, but perhaps her response derived from the fact that she truly knew and trusted that Elisha was The God’s man in the kingdom and as such, she extended him the same confidence that she had in The God. A confidence that I was ashamed to realize that I had never really experienced at that point in my short life. We set out on a mission to the upper reaches of the kingdom shortly afterwards. One day while we were still in Shunem we had received word that one of the Sons of the Prophets who Elisha had ministered to during our journeys, Jeremiah son of Zadok, had been assassinated in his native region of Dan, in a village just south of the towering, snow-capped Mount Hermon. As with many of the Sons of the Prophets, a year or so earlier he had been suddenly called to minister back in his home community and had quickly departed from us. The message that the Prophet received indicated that the Syrian army was persecuting people of the tribe of Dan and that Jeremiah became too irritating to the Syrian commanders for them to let him continue living. I feel that there’s something we need to deal with here, Gehazi, and we have been resting for a while. I think a journey north is in order. The Prophet took up his staff with these words and waved it around as if he were ready to depart immediately. During my entire ministry, I frequently wondered how the Prophet made his decisions. Sometimes he would tell me that the decision was a response to a word from The God but other times I would have sworn he made decisions out of boredom. Looking back at the complete interconnectedness of the many small acts performed during his ministry, I believe that regardless of the reason behind them, his decisions must have always been aligned with some sort of plan. I responded, I’ll pack your stuff. When would you like to leave? Though I obeyed quickly, inside I was hesitant. The rumors of the horrible things the Syrians were doing in the cities up north made me very apprehensive about going up there. The Prophet, however, showed no signs of being concerned. Hurry up! I want to leave soon. Time is of the essence, he called out from the back room. He came out to where he could see me, and his eyes were twinkling. I think he enjoyed tweaking me when he knew I was nervous. Later that day we found ourselves making progress on our way north to the regions of Dan. We traveled as far as the small village of Nazareth, where a kind family spotted the Prophet and offered us food and lodging. We stayed in this uninteresting little town for a day, simply refreshing and restoring our energy. We knew that we would need to travel west of the Sea of Galilee before we headed north. On a previous journey in this area we had stayed in a town called Capernaum on the northern tip of the lake where there were many families who recognized the Prophet and cared for him. I presumed that would be our next stop, and I was correct. As we departed for Capernaum, rumors were shared with us about thieves lurking on the byways east of the lake. This made me very concerned that we might make a tempting target as we would be traveling through that area. I packed our gear a little tighter on the Prophet’s donkey in hopes that our possessions would look small and uninteresting. Perhaps that action is what spared us later that day when we were suddenly accosted by voices coming out of the wilderness near the road. Stop right there, both of you! Do you not realize whose territory you pass through? I require my tribute now to let you pass. We heard muffled laughter on the opposite side of the road from the voice. Clearly we were surrounded. The Prophet looked up from the road and stared into the distance appearing in general to be quite uninterested. Gehazi? he asked. Yes, master. I will treat with the thieves, I replied, trying to control my voice. Of course I was not even remotely dispassionate about this predicament. We had very little wealth to apply to any kind of ridiculous tribute and I was very concerned about my own safety. I was probably worried for the life of the Prophet too since I was charged with serving him, but I’d be very dishonest if I didn’t admit that my own life was my primary concern. The voice from deep within the wilderness drew closer saying, Do not refer to us as thieves. We are merely men who are experiencing bad fortune. We were driven from our villages near the lake by those who do not understand our ways. Your tribute will help us live. Tell me about your ways! boomed the voice of the Prophet all of a sudden. Quiet dropped down upon the wilderness like rain sinking into a dry desert land. I think even the birds stopped chirping, as if they were waiting attentively in silence for what would follow. After an uncomfortable amount of time passed, the voice replied with obvious caution, Well I perceive that you are a man of authority. Perhaps you have heard of the Master of Tyre? He is the one that Queen Jezebel introduced King Ahab to during their glorious reign. He is such a fine Master and he has empowered us to do mighty works. But when the cursed Prophet Elijah came up against Ahab and Jezebel, he caused our lives to be hurtled into disarray. Whereas before we were celebrated, afterwards no village wanted us around. Even the city of Dan, where the golden bull stands as memory to the great Masters, would not tolerate us. Fine, I say! I do not need my people’s admiration! I am a servant of the Master! Silence! roared Elisha, gesturing aggressively with his staff at the faceless wilderness. You blaspheme The One God. Do you not remember the Shema that you learned as a youth? Hear, O Israel the Lord our God is One! Where have you strayed from this truth? Your forefathers who served Jezebel have all been thoroughly defeated and how do you continue to hold up their memory? The Prophet’s anger subsided and he continued in a much lower, but no less authoritative, voice. Return now to your home villages. You will remember the One who brought your ancestors out of slavery in Egypt. He did not do this to have you return to slavery to petty Masters of the cities of other peoples. When you reach your villages you will have forgotten your treachery and you will serve The God in whatever way He calls you. Now depart. Moments passed and we heard rustling in the brush. Eventually I counted twenty-three men who stepped out of the wilderness and headed in different directions down the path. Some went north and others went south. In their shame they did not speak to or look at The Prophet. The noises of the desert resumed gradually and we continued our journey. What happened there on the path was quite challenging to me for it seemed that the words of the Prophet had persuaded this band of men to abandon their worship of the Ba’als, drop their lives of crime, and disband. Though I had seen miracles performed through the Prophet, including some that were extremely hard to explain away, many of them had struck me as possible coincidences of some sort. I believed in The God, but at that time, I guess I saw Him as something worthy of study but not Someone with power who actually cared. What just happened with these thieves, though it wasn’t a clear miracle, was something that surely couldn’t have been a coincidence or merely men responding to reason. I knew enough of the world to realize that once a man decides that he believes something to be true, whether the existence of idols or the value of criminal lifestyles, he is not often willing or able to alter those beliefs. Mankind truly has a supreme ability to convince itself of what it already believes to be true, regardless of the evidence. Here, based off of the words of a man – a Prophet in truth – twenty-three men appeared to have completely altered their beliefs about the world and immediately applied this change to their lives. I suppose that I was perplexed because at the time I did not truly trust that The God could completely change a man’s heart. Now I wait in my older years, suffering and in exile to see if He will choose do the same for me. The Prophet spoke not a word after this shocking event, instead idly collecting his walking staff and adjusting his brown, dusty robes. He looked up at the sky and I could see the setting sun reflecting reds and oranges off his uncovered head. Let us continue, we have little light left and need to reach Capernaum, he said, already moving forward at a rapid pace. We did not speak at all during the rest of the day, finally arriving at Capernaum an hour after the sun had departed below the western horizon. I felt a great urge to share what I had seen on the road with our host family in Capernaum, but something prevented me from doing so. This means, my dear grandson, that my recounting of this story to you is the first time it has ever been told.

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Tragedy and Idolatry

Most of us in Israel were knowledgeable about our Moabite and Edomite relatives who dwelled in the parched desert lands south and east of Judah. The Edomites were more closely related, as their ancient ancestor, Esau, was the brother to our patriarch, Jacob (who as we know later took on the name Israel). The Moabites were more distantly related to us, as Moab was the son of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. Because there was a political intrigue in Samaria at the moment involving Edom and Moab, Athaliah devoted some lessons to explain their origin. He seemed to be extremely well-connected with the ruling elements in Samaria, but I could never figure out how or why. Perhaps he performed some prophetic functions for someone in the royal caste? I will never know the answer to this question, because Athaliah has been gone for many years now. It was certain, though, that he knew things that most of the other Sons of the Prophets did not. He spent long hours with Elisha sharing secret things during this time. One day Athaliah began speaking to me of Moab and our tricky history with them. He went into great details though I wasn’t sure why. Lets walk together, Gehazi, he began. As he paused to collect his thoughts, he stated, When Moses was approaching the land that The God had promised to give to the tribes of Israel, he needed to pass near to the border of Moab. No doubt many of the wanderers imagined that taking Moab’s land would be much simpler and faster than following the challenging rules The God had given them, so our Scriptures record that The God gave specific direction to Moses. Do not harass or attack the people of Moab, The God spoke, for I have given that land as an inheritance to the sons of Lot. That was the beginning of a strange relationship that our people have had with Moab. Our great King David was a close friend of the King of Moab and even entrusted him with the care of his aging parents during the season when Saul was persecuting him. Perhaps this connection to the Moabite king existed because David could make the case of being part Moabite himself. Did you know that? I shook my head no, surprised to learn this. His grandmother, he continued, was named Ruth. She was a Moabite woman who believed in The God and who married David’s grandfather Boaz. Regardless of David’s ancestry, though, he seems to have had on and off relationships with Moab. In earlier times, while our people were still in the wilderness, a king of Moab named Barak hired a magician named Baalam to curse the wandering Israelites and thus save the land of Moab. This magician knew The God – though he didn’t follow his instructions very closely – and quickly realized that The God was not going to curse His people. This led to quite a standoff, with Baalam eventually giving Barak the prophecy that a future king of Israel would one day crush his forehead. Despite his complicated ties to Moab, David eventually fulfilled this prophecy when he destroyed two-thirds of Moab. The remaining third of the people were spared and became vassals to King David. Moab has brought tribute to Israel and Judah ever since in honor of their obligations to David. There are whispers on the streets of Samaria, though, that the new King of Moab intends to try to divide Israel and Judah’s military alliance by refusing to continue the tribute. I nodded. This was mostly boring politics to me. I could not see how it would impact my life at all. Months later a breathless messenger arrived to speak to Elisha. He was dressed in the livery of the King of Judah, something that was very interesting to the handful of the Sons of the Prophets who were lounging around and half-heartedly listening as Athaliah provided instruction on some detail in the scriptures that he deemed to be important. I must not have been paying very good attention either because I cannot remember the subject of his discussion at all. When the King’s messenger arrived, all the attention in the room shifted to the Prophet who stepped out of our hearing to receive the message. We watched them walk out to a private spot behind a small cluster of juniper trees. I looked up at Athaliah and he shrugged. It’s not every day that the King of Judah sends us a messenger, he said. The presence of a representative from Judah was fascinating because it seemed to be a given that the ministry of both Elijah and now Elisha were strictly focused on the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It was very rare that we dipped down to Jerusalem, and then only to support formal festival activities or perhaps a conference with the Levites in the temple of Solomon. Otherwise, we never travelled to or through Judah. One time I asked Athaliah about this. Of course he went on to give me a lesson. This split between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom of Judah happened after the death of King Solomon, Athaliah started. During Solomon’s life, he followed a dissipated path away from The God towards the idols held by his many wives. He paid little attention to his children and drifted along as king. One day a prophet named Ahijah met one of Solomon’s top officials, a highly-talented man named Jeroboam, on some remote road outside Jerusalem. He made a prophecy right there on the road that The God was going to take ten tribes away from Solomon and give them to Jeroboam. Obviously Jeroboam was an ambitious and capable man, so I guess he started to make plans. After Solomon’s death, Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king of the entire nation of Israel. He was an arrogant young man who wanted to make a name for himself through his own power. He refused the wise council from advisors of Solomon’s generation and instead accepted foolish advice from his younger peers on how to lead the nation. Jeroboam, who was well-regarded by the people, tried to intervene with Rehoboam to help save the nation. This did not work, as Rehoboam wouldn’t listen. All of the tribes, save Judah and Benjamin (and Levi for the most part) decided that they had no part in Rehoboam and followed Jeroboam as he formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Rehoboam remained king of the remaining tribes, strictly for the sake of promises made by The God to his grandfather David. His kingdom took the name of his forefather, Judah. Ever since, the original nation of Israel that was led by both David and Solomon has been split. Sometimes the two nations’ kings get along and other times they have been at war with each other. Jeroboam made some strategic decisions early on to keep the two nations separate that have had very unfortunate consequences. He feared that his people would travel to Jerusalem for temple sacrifices and holy weeks and he wanted to maintain tighter control of them, so he set up his own competition. He built two golden idols in the cities of Bethel and Dan that became the religious centers of the Northern Kingdom. He also eliminated the need for Levites to serve in sacrifices to The God. What resulted was the partial worship of The God wrapped fully in idolatry that we see today in our nation. The ministry of the great Prophets Elijah and Elisha have been primarily to the Northern Kingdom that followed Jeroboam. You might already be able to imagine the reasons for this, but maybe I’ll explain in more depth another time. What is important to know is that the Kings of Judah have occasionally made real efforts to serve The God but the Kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the very last one have been idolatrous, self-serving men who have only given attention to The God under the most extreme duress. So the fact that the King of Judah is reaching out to the Prophet is very interesting because he is well aware that Elisha’s primary ministry is to these idolatrous kings of the Northern Kingdom. While we were talking, the messenger and the Prophet decided to extend their walk together so they could discuss the King’s message in even further privacy. When the Prophet finally returned from this consultation, we discovered that the messenger had already returned to the battle from where he had come. This was surprising to us for we were not aware of any warfare going on. Gehazi! The Prophet bellowed upon his return, pacing through our rooms as if he were searching for something. We need to depart immediately! I spun into motion and quickly packed the Prophet’s traveling bag and loaded his donkey. This sort of activity was something that I had lots of practice performing, because many of our missions arose suddenly and required rapid preparations. As we traveled along the byway heading for the wilderness south of Judah I asked Elisha what had happened. Well, you saw the messenger, I suppose, Elisha responded. I nodded, yes I did. Athaliah explained some things to me about the relationship between Israel and Judah that were helpful to me. He suspects that the message has something to do with Moab or Edom due to some things he has been hearing in the courts. Yes, of course, the Prophet replied and continued, When the messenger and I went for a walk, he took me to a private place where three kings awaited me. Though I have seen many things, this surprised me quite a bit. One of these kings was the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, another was the new King of Israel (now what was his name again? the Prophet joked), and the third was Edom’s king. They are in a great lot of trouble and one of them finally had the smart idea to reach out to see what The God would say. They really ought to have learned by now that their stupid Baal idols are unsurprisingly silent in times of great peril. It turns out that their armies are bogged down in the desert trying to invade Moab but all the water they had expected to find for their men and beasts has dried up since last rainy season. The kings therefore made a long, desperate journey solely to discuss with me what they needed to do. If they don’t find water soon, they will suffer great losses. The God told me to instruct them to dig ditches in the desert and wait. Once they are obedient to The God in this, the next morning the ditches will be filled with water. We are traveling south to observe the hand of The God and see where else we can be of use during this battle. The kings are already racing back to their troops in hopes that The God will bring salvation to them and their armies. Sure enough, a day and a half later when we reached the location of the combined armies of the three kings, they and their animals were drinking water from the ditches they had dug. From what I could discern, the kings awaited the arrival of the Prophet to continue their march to Moab. The Prophet strode to the top of a small hill that was now surrounded by plenty of water. See what the hand of The God has brought you, he shouted to the gathered armies, confidently gesturing in wide circles at the troughs of water all around them. Many of them looked up in surprise. Most likely they had never seen an authentic Prophet of The God before. This is a small thing for The God, he added, and I tell you this as a sign to know that the military might of Moab will crumble before you. Go forth and destroy the walled cities and raze the land of Moab! This caught the soldiers’ attention and they cheered loudly. I looked off to my right where I could see the three kings with their chosen men standing near to them and listening to the Prophet. They had strange expressions on their faces that I couldn’t really interpret. I wondered what they were thinking. The combined armies began to pack up and move out of the camp shortly afterwards. They were clearly in a different state of mind than I imagined they had been a few days earlier. Elisha explained to me that the trouble with water supplies had come about because they were approaching Moab from an unexpected direction which would give them the element of surprise. We didn’t follow them any further, but rather, returned north to Samaria to our own ongoing business and activities. I wondered what was going to happen in Moab. I had heard the Prophet’s words and I had plenty of reasons to believe that The God spoke through him, but I couldn’t figure out why The God even cared about these kinds of military exercises. To me He seemed pleased to maintain a safe distance from the matters that were important to humans. I certainly felt that the King of Israel, who I knew went against everything our priests and prophets told him, did not deserve the attention from Elisha or from The God. Of course, the King was someone easy for me to condemn because I’m sure that at this point in my ministry to the Prophet I was enjoying being viewed as his holy assistant. The King of Edom, of course, was clearly a heathen and I also judged the other two kings for even consorting with him. Regardless, my misguided sense of self-righteousness was inflamed by this event and took a few days to subside. In time, word of the battle reached us back where we were staying. True to the word of The God, Moab had been utterly destroyed but, it was said, the King of Moab remained in his city. He began repaying his tribute to the Kings of Israel and Judah, and things went on as before. Not much beyond this was discussed openly. I puzzled over this and got up the courage to ask Elisha what had happened. This was a very bad thing, he told me as he settled down to recline on a couch. He hesitated for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. The King of Moab had been utterly routed by the coalition of kings and was trapped in his city with just a small handful of devoted warriors, Elisha began. He knew he had irretrievably lost the battle and there was no hope, so he did something drastic that his culture has learned to do when threatened with extinction by an attacker. He conducted a sacrifice in the presence of his enemies in a way that showed his submission. Here Elisha paused and stared straight through me, as if to determine whether to continue. Do you understand, Gehazi? The heathens who populated these lands before the people of Israel arrived had a tradition during times of the greatest peril of lowering themselves in front of their gods in the presence of their enemies. If the sacrifice was large and important enough, it would placate those who it was offered to and the sacrificer could survive. This is what the King of Moab did. He thought he could stop paying his tribute to Israel and Judah that his forefather had promised to King David. He had built up a great army to support his decision and forever throw off the yoke, but what he hadn’t foreseen was the hand of The God against him. His only recourse when he realized that he had completely failed and was in danger of being destroyed was to submit himself again to the yoke through the most dramatic way possible. In some way, the three kings assented to this horrifying apology and allowed the King of Moab to remain. What did he sacrifice that was so important? I asked, nervous about hearing the answer to my question. His son and heir, Elisha responded gravely. This was a troubling thing to think about that led me into deep thought. How could one person’s bad decisions result in such a tragic outcome for others? This brought my mind back to my inability to really understand anything about the Justice of The God, a justice that sometimes required individuals to make devastating sacrifices for others. As we traveled I had plenty of time to ruminate how split-second decisions can have terrible consequences.

I continue publishing this book on my site, a few chapters per week.

However, if you’re impatient or would rather read it on your Kindle, please head over to my AMAZON LINK. Click the link and check out how it looks on Amazon! The price is still set very low for the first few weeks to encourage new readers and hopefully gather reviews.

So to restate, the purchase is a low risk right now and if you’d be willing to read it and provide an Amazon review, you will be very helpful to my goal of getting this book out to a broader set of readers (where I hope it would do some good).

Part 6 A New Word From The God

The Prophet’s First Challenge

One of the first challenges that Elisha faced came almost immediately after he crossed the Jordan and returned to the Sons of the Prophets and me. This whole situation seemed exotic and strange during that moment and still does looking backwards in time at it. We all saw Elisha walking back alone wearing Elijah’s prophetic robes and carrying Elijah’s staff. He parted the Jordan in exactly the same way that Elijah had done earlier in the day. The group of prophets unreservedly ran to meet him at the river’s bank. They were very excited and their tongues were flapping. The Prophet has left us and Elisha has assumed his role! cried many of the prophets in their own unique ways. This seemed to be well understood. However – and perhaps this was due to peer pressure or some sort of mania – they immediately began offering to go search for Elijah. I suppose I found this threatening, because now that Elisha had assumed the role of Prophet of Israel, it stood to reason that I, as his assistant, was now Assistant to the Prophet of Israel. Finding Elijah was the last thing I was interested in at this point. Indeed, I never really cared for him anyway. Fortunately, Elisha seemed to agree with my unspoken sentiment and he told them not to try to find Elijah. The young prophets badgered Elisha about this issue for a while and then – disappointing to me – he gave in to them. Fine, he said. Go look for him. Do whatever you want with your time. They all ran off gleefully. I’ll go look on the hilltop over there, one said. Maybe The God picked him up and dropped them on the hill? Another said, I’ll go look upriver in the Jordan valley. Maybe The God released him there? One by one and in groups they ran off until only Elisha and I were left. What’s wrong with those fellows, he asked, shaking his head side to side. I have no idea, I replied. What are we going to do now? Well, I think we need to wait for these guys to get this out of their system. I saw Elijah taken away right in front of my eyes. He’s gone. In front of your eyes, I asked? Yes. It seems strange, but I think I saw The God’s horses and chariots come and take him away. Really? They radiated something that looked like fire, Elisha replied. But I had the sense that it was something greater. I think you have also seen the vision of the river flowing in the dry places and had the sense of something unimaginable approaching. I’ve had this vision a few times but have never seen whatever it was that was coming. Yes, that’s what I saw and felt too. Did you have this same feeling when Elijah was taken away? No, I felt that I was finally seeing a small portion of the object of all that joy. Elisha grew silent and I could tell that there would be no further discussion for a while. The description of the flaming horses and chariots captured all of my attention. I felt like I could almost see them in my head. These thoughts occupied me for the next few hours until the Sons of the Prophets dragged back into camp. We couldn’t find Elijah, they individually relayed. I told you that you wouldn’t, Elisha mentioned casually. The prophets nodded a bit ashamed. Where do we go next? they asked. And with this, Elisha, the new Prophet of The God moved forward past the first challenge to his authority and earned the devotion of a group of men he would grow to love.

The New Work Begins

So, where do you think we are heading? the young prophet asked me. Elisha told me we were going to Bethel, I replied. This young man had obviously not been paying attention. Didn’t the leaders of Jericho offer the Prophet the opportunity to rest in their city for a few months to prepare? Yes, after he did that thing with putting salt in their water supply they were pretty happy with him. I laughed. Who would have ever expected that The God would do something like that for Elisha’s first official miracle. The city was overjoyed after they realized that there had been a fundamental change to the water coming from their spring. Evidently this had been a real problem for a long time. After this, Elisha, the new Prophet of Israel, said his goodbyes to Jericho’s leaders and unceremoniously left town with me and a whole bunch of Sons of the Prophets rapturously in tow. They still felt a bit embarrassed by their notion that they would be able to find Elijah wherever The God had deposited him. Elisha repeatedly reassured them that he understood. They were young men and they still had some maturing to do. Their heads hung low during this conversation, but they had mostly overcome their shame by now and had eager expectations for what changes would lie ahead. Now we were headed to Bethel, perhaps reversing the direction that Elijah had taken towards the far bank of the Jordan and his rendezvous with The God’s fiery chariots. Bethel is an interesting place for another reason that I didn’t tell you on the journey to the Jordan. Athaliah had quietly approached from behind and now was walking with me. I was starting to have a very high regard for his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. His training in these Scriptures exceeded even the priests who served in the synagogue in my home village. Please tell me, I replied, grateful to have something to distract my mind from the dusty, hot road we traveled on. As I told you, Bethel is where our father Abraham built an altar to The God on his way to Egypt. He chose a spot between Bethel (which the Canaanites had named Luz) and the city of Ai. Since Bethel means House of God, it’s likely that Abraham gave this place this name, but we just don’t know for sure. Ai and Luz were very old cities even when Abraham passed through. When Abraham’s grandson Jacob journeyed this way as he fled for his life from his brother Esau he ran out of daylight at this location and decided to stop. His sleep was fitful that night, for he had a dream-vision of The God’s Throne and his messengers ascending to the Throne and descending to the Earth. The God spoke to Jacob here and repeated the promise he had made to Abraham years earlier. This was a very important moment in the history of our people, for it’s quite possible that Jacob didn’t really know about or understand the promise made to his grandfather. Afterwards it was crystal-clear to him, though, and the next morning he set up another altar there and renamed the place Bethel just as his grandfather had done many years earlier. His commitment to The God marks one of the greatest transition points for our people, for it was at this point they turned from being a band of nomads who were affiliated with The God towards the structure they would adopt as a nation who was called to be separate from the world for the purpose of revealing The God. Jacob, of course, was ultimately renamed Israel and his sons became the tribes that we all still are members of. This is very good, I replied. So Bethel marks a transition in many ways. It’s a transition from the Canaanite city of Luz to the city of Bethel and it marks the migration from nomadic wandering to being a large family who becomes a nation. The God seems to revel in transitions, I notice. Athaliah smiled at this and nodded in agreement. Yes, of course this was all part of the promise that The God made to Abraham and to Jacob. There’s even one more recent transition that Bethel and it’s sister city of Ai represents. Perhaps this is more challenging, though. When Joshua led our people into the Promised Land, he crossed the Jordan much in the same way that Elisha just crossed. Before the people conquered the walled city of Jericho, The God made it extremely clear to Joshua that no one was to take any of the riches of Jericho for themselves. All was to be destroyed and the gold and silver was to be preserved for the treasury of The God that was managed by the Levites. Unbeknownst to anyone – except probably his close family – one lone man staggered away from the battle carrying valuable items, including gold and silver, from Jericho. He hid these in a hole that he dug under a rug in his tent. The God was extremely angry with this. Meanwhile, the war leaders of the tribes were excited about their successes in Jericho and took a small war party to conquer Ai (and probably aimed to capture Bethel too). The men of Ai rallied to the attack and chased Israel’s war band away. Many warriors were lost and all of Israel became greatly afraid and discouraged at this. Was The God turning his back on them already? When Joshua prostrated himself before The God in hopes of learning why this had happened, The God pointed out to him that the rules about not taking anything from Jericho had not been obeyed. This seems to us small men as a small disobedience, perhaps? I nodded in agreement. But, he continued, The God needed to make a point. Ai (and Bethel) would once again be a transition point for our people. The Captain of the Army of The God was present at Jericho and revealed himself to Joshua. The outcome was a great victory over a very formidable walled city. But the people of Israel were not able to defeat even a small city if they did not trust in the goodness of the commands of The God. Even one dissident (his name was Achan, by the way) was enough to prevent The God from blessing his people with a victory. The God needed his people to understand that the only reason they were going to move into the Promised Land of rest would be as His people who were separated for His glory, not their glory. Once the transgression had been dealt with (yes, lives were sacrificed for this sin), the people of The God easily captured Ai and the rest of the region, then moved into the rest of the Promised Land. No one who stood before them could resist them when they were working together with The God in the way that He called them to obey. I thought about this a bit. So in this way, I asked, Bethel and Ai represent another transition. Casting aside our willfulness to do things our way and choosing the Way of The God? Perhaps this also shows that working as a cohesive nation bound to The God in obedience was a greater stage in the development of Israel? Yes, Athaliah smiled, That is a wonderful insight. It has always represented this. This was great food for thought to me. Bethel representing a transition made a lot of sense. Elijah’s backwards route to the Jordan informed Elisha of the changes that The God would make through his ascending to the role of The God’s Prophet. Bethel would be the location of a major turning point in this ministry and in the history of our nation. As we ascended upwards to Bethel, there was a strange incident that occurred. I’ll try to relate this as best as I can, but I still don’t fully understand it. I would consider this perplexing event to be the second challenge to Elisha’s position as the prophetic successor. We were very near to Bethel and all were looking forward to some rest from the trials of the road. The narrow, dusty path we had been following for the last day was moving into its final ascent before we reached Bethel. Scrub oaks and other brushy trees had given way since morning to an ancient grove of olive trees stretching up the sides of the hills which rose on either side of the path. The tops of the hills were thickly forested with the cypress and cedar trees common to the highlands. We stopped for a rest in a small opening in the olive grove where it was obvious that many generations of travelers had chosen to refresh themselves before the final climb to Bethel. Looking around at the olives that surrounded our resting area, I pondered how the olive fruits, though only the size of small pebbles now, would become the reason why many hundreds of harvesters from the village would infest this area during the coming fall season. Suddenly, a large group of boys flooded the clearing we rested in, emerging together from the trees around us and surprising us with their sudden approach. The Sons of the Prophets, half of whom had jumped up to their feet and were starting to become agitated. A band of young people this size anywhere in Israel was very unusual. In most places across the nation, the youth spent daylight hours out working in the fields and were too busy to assemble in these kinds of numbers. This group that just emerged from the forest appeared to have malicious thoughts, for many were carrying wooden staffs and others were holding stones. The Sons of the Prophets started to move towards the boys to drive them away, when the boys began chanting together, Go on up, Baldhead! Get out of here Baldhead! and many similar things. The Sons of the Prophets were clearly aggrieved by the insult to the Prophet and began to charge the group. This was not going well. Suddenly, Elisha, who had been ignoring the mob, stood up, looked directly at the youths, and yelled a curse at them. Go back to your master and may The God glorify himself over you! The young men in the mob laughed among themselves. They stopped laughing, however, when several light-brown bears tore out of the woods to the north of the road and hurled themselves into the mob. The offending group broke up quickly with panicking youths fleeing in terror in every direction to escape the bears. I’m not sure where they went, how many of them were hurt by the bears, or even what their objective was. Like I mentioned, it was a really inexplicable event and I never saw anything quite like it again. It was almost like some power had assembled them in opposition to the coming message and work of the new Prophet. In a way it was Elisha’s second major challenge to his role as the Prophet of Israel and apparently The God took it personally. Eventually our small band made its way to Israel’s capital city, Samaria, the place where the Prophet felt called to make his new home. A few years of peace and semi-obscurity passed here and many of the Sons of the Prophets drifted off towards their own ministries. Eli confided in me that he knew that The God was taking these men off to greater things and that he was actually relieved that they were far fewer now. Those guys are hard to deal with, he told me, laughing. I understood what he meant, but I was definitely pleased that one of the ones who stayed was my friend Athaliah, who continued to instruct me in the ways of The God. Though I listened intently and accumulated knowledge, I look back and notice that much of the new learning entered into my head but mostly never made it to my heart. I was certainly proud of the things I was learning, for in time, my knowledge likely equalled that of my old village priests, but I still lacked something critical. During my time in Samaria helping the Prophet prepare for whatever work would come to him next, my duties were very well-defined but often were repetitive and tiring. I served the Prophet in any way that he required, whether that was acquiring food and bringing water, maintaining the small house in which we were able to stay, cooking meals, tending to animals, or any other service that was needed for the Prophet’s ministry. People from Samaria and the surrounding region would daily line up to wait for him so they could petition for justice, advice, or healing. I helped manage these lines of needy people so they didn’t turn into a mob. This task in itself was exhausting because large numbers of frantic and needy people are very challenging to serve. In time the word spread and people came from all over the Northern Kingdom of Israel to see the Prophet. Occasionally a rare pilgrim would arrive from Judah and even more infrequently seekers would come from our cousin nations of Edom and Moab. There were apparently a few believers in The God left in these two nations, though most had turned aside to other gods. Despite the presence of a handful of the faithful, our nations continued to struggle to maintain very complex ties. It is this entanglement with our cousins that led to my first real experience with war.

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Tragedy and Idolatry

Most of us in Israel were knowledgeable about our Moabite and Edomite relatives who dwelled in the parched desert lands south and east of Judah. The Edomites were more closely related, as their ancient ancestor, Esau, was the brother to our patriarch, Jacob (who as we know later took on the name Israel). The Moabites were more distantly related to us, as Moab was the son of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. Because there was a political intrigue in Samaria at the moment involving Edom and Moab, Athaliah devoted some lessons to explain their origin. He seemed to be extremely well-connected with the ruling elements in Samaria, but I could never figure out how or why. Perhaps he performed some prophetic functions for someone in the royal caste? I will never know the answer to this question, because Athaliah has been gone for many years now. It was certain, though, that he knew things that most of the other Sons of the Prophets did not. He spent long hours with Elisha sharing secret things during this time. One day Athaliah began speaking to me of Moab and our tricky history with them. He went into great details though I wasn’t sure why. Lets walk together, Gehazi, he began. As he paused to collect his thoughts, he stated, When Moses was approaching the land that The God had promised to give to the tribes of Israel, he needed to pass near to the border of Moab. No doubt many of the wanderers imagined that taking Moab’s land would be much simpler and faster than following the challenging rules The God had given them, so our Scriptures record that The God gave specific direction to Moses. Do not harass or attack the people of Moab, The God spoke, for I have given that land as an inheritance to the sons of Lot. That was the beginning of a strange relationship that our people have had with Moab. Our great King David was a close friend of the King of Moab and even entrusted him with the care of his aging parents during the season when Saul was persecuting him. Perhaps this connection to the Moabite king existed because David could make the case of being part Moabite himself. Did you know that? I shook my head no, surprised to learn this. His grandmother, he continued, was named Ruth. She was a Moabite woman who believed in The God and who married David’s grandfather Boaz. Regardless of David’s ancestry, though, he seems to have had on and off relationships with Moab. In earlier times, while our people were still in the wilderness, a king of Moab named Barak hired a magician named Baalam to curse the wandering Israelites and thus save the land of Moab. This magician knew The God – though he didn’t follow his instructions very closely – and quickly realized that The God was not going to curse His people. This led to quite a standoff, with Baalam eventually giving Barak the prophecy that a future king of Israel would one day crush his forehead. Despite his complicated ties to Moab, David eventually fulfilled this prophecy when he destroyed two-thirds of Moab. The remaining third of the people were spared and became vassals to King David. Moab has brought tribute to Israel and Judah ever since in honor of their obligations to David. There are whispers on the streets of Samaria, though, that the new King of Moab intends to try to divide Israel and Judah’s military alliance by refusing to continue the tribute. I nodded. This was mostly boring politics to me. I could not see how it would impact my life at all. Months later a breathless messenger arrived to speak to Elisha. He was dressed in the livery of the King of Judah, something that was very interesting to the handful of the Sons of the Prophets who were lounging around and half-heartedly listening as Athaliah provided instruction on some detail in the scriptures that he deemed to be important. I must not have been paying very good attention either because I cannot remember the subject of his discussion at all. When the King’s messenger arrived, all the attention in the room shifted to the Prophet who stepped out of our hearing to receive the message. We watched them walk out to a private spot behind a small cluster of juniper trees. I looked up at Athaliah and he shrugged. It’s not every day that the King of Judah sends us a messenger, he said. The presence of a representative from Judah was fascinating because it seemed to be a given that the ministry of both Elijah and now Elisha were strictly focused on the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It was very rare that we dipped down to Jerusalem, and then only to support formal festival activities or perhaps a conference with the Levites in the temple of Solomon. Otherwise, we never travelled to or through Judah. One time I asked Athaliah about this. Of course he went on to give me a lesson. This split between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom of Judah happened after the death of King Solomon, Athaliah started. During Solomon’s life, he followed a dissipated path away from The God towards the idols held by his many wives. He paid little attention to his children and drifted along as king. One day a prophet named Ahijah met one of Solomon’s top officials, a highly-talented man named Jeroboam, on some remote road outside Jerusalem. He made a prophecy right there on the road that The God was going to take ten tribes away from Solomon and give them to Jeroboam. Obviously Jeroboam was an ambitious and capable man, so I guess he started to make plans. After Solomon’s death, Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king of the entire nation of Israel. He was an arrogant young man who wanted to make a name for himself through his own power. He refused the wise council from advisors of Solomon’s generation and instead accepted foolish advice from his younger peers on how to lead the nation. Jeroboam, who was well-regarded by the people, tried to intervene with Rehoboam to help save the nation. This did not work, as Rehoboam wouldn’t listen. All of the tribes, save Judah and Benjamin (and Levi for the most part) decided that they had no part in Rehoboam and followed Jeroboam as he formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Rehoboam remained king of the remaining tribes, strictly for the sake of promises made by The God to his grandfather David. His kingdom took the name of his forefather, Judah. Ever since, the original nation of Israel that was led by both David and Solomon has been split. Sometimes the two nations’ kings get along and other times they have been at war with each other. Jeroboam made some strategic decisions early on to keep the two nations separate that have had very unfortunate consequences. He feared that his people would travel to Jerusalem for temple sacrifices and holy weeks and he wanted to maintain tighter control of them, so he set up his own competition. He built two golden idols in the cities of Bethel and Dan that became the religious centers of the Northern Kingdom. He also eliminated the need for Levites to serve in sacrifices to The God. What resulted was the partial worship of The God wrapped fully in idolatry that we see today in our nation. The ministry of the great Prophets Elijah and Elisha have been primarily to the Northern Kingdom that followed Jeroboam. You might already be able to imagine the reasons for this, but maybe I’ll explain in more depth another time. What is important to know is that the Kings of Judah have occasionally made real efforts to serve The God but the Kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the very last one have been idolatrous, self-serving men who have only given attention to The God under the most extreme duress. So the fact that the King of Judah is reaching out to the Prophet is very interesting because he is well aware that Elisha’s primary ministry is to these idolatrous kings of the Northern Kingdom. While we were talking, the messenger and the Prophet decided to extend their walk together so they could discuss the King’s message in even further privacy. When the Prophet finally returned from this consultation, we discovered that the messenger had already returned to the battle from where he had come. This was surprising to us for we were not aware of any warfare going on. Gehazi! The Prophet bellowed upon his return, pacing through our rooms as if he were searching for something. We need to depart immediately! I spun into motion and quickly packed the Prophet’s traveling bag and loaded his donkey. This sort of activity was something that I had lots of practice performing, because many of our missions arose suddenly and required rapid preparations. As we traveled along the byway heading for the wilderness south of Judah I asked Elisha what had happened. Well, you saw the messenger, I suppose, Elisha responded. I nodded, yes I did. Athaliah explained some things to me about the relationship between Israel and Judah that were helpful to me. He suspects that the message has something to do with Moab or Edom due to some things he has been hearing in the courts. Yes, of course, the Prophet replied and continued, When the messenger and I went for a walk, he took me to a private place where three kings awaited me. Though I have seen many things, this surprised me quite a bit. One of these kings was the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, another was the new King of Israel (now what was his name again? the Prophet joked), and the third was Edom’s king. They are in a great lot of trouble and one of them finally had the smart idea to reach out to see what The God would say. They really ought to have learned by now that their stupid Baal idols are unsurprisingly silent in times of great peril. It turns out that their armies are bogged down in the desert trying to invade Moab but all the water they had expected to find for their men and beasts has dried up since last rainy season. The kings therefore made a long, desperate journey solely to discuss with me what they needed to do. If they don’t find water soon, they will suffer great losses. The God told me to instruct them to dig ditches in the desert and wait. Once they are obedient to The God in this, the next morning the ditches will be filled with water. We are traveling south to observe the hand of The God and see where else we can be of use during this battle. The kings are already racing back to their troops in hopes that The God will bring salvation to them and their armies. Sure enough, a day and a half later when we reached the location of the combined armies of the three kings, they and their animals were drinking water from the ditches they had dug. From what I could discern, the kings awaited the arrival of the Prophet to continue their march to Moab. The Prophet strode to the top of a small hill that was now surrounded by plenty of water. See what the hand of The God has brought you, he shouted to the gathered armies, confidently gesturing in wide circles at the troughs of water all around them. Many of them looked up in surprise. Most likely they had never seen an authentic Prophet of The God before. This is a small thing for The God, he added, and I tell you this as a sign to know that the military might of Moab will crumble before you. Go forth and destroy the walled cities and raze the land of Moab! This caught the soldiers’ attention and they cheered loudly. I looked off to my right where I could see the three kings with their chosen men standing near to them and listening to the Prophet. They had strange expressions on their faces that I couldn’t really interpret. I wondered what they were thinking. The combined armies began to pack up and move out of the camp shortly afterwards. They were clearly in a different state of mind than I imagined they had been a few days earlier. Elisha explained to me that the trouble with water supplies had come about because they were approaching Moab from an unexpected direction which would give them the element of surprise. We didn’t follow them any further, but rather, returned north to Samaria to our own ongoing business and activities. I wondered what was going to happen in Moab. I had heard the Prophet’s words and I had plenty of reasons to believe that The God spoke through him, but I couldn’t figure out why The God even cared about these kinds of military exercises. To me He seemed pleased to maintain a safe distance from the matters that were important to humans. I certainly felt that the King of Israel, who I knew went against everything our priests and prophets told him, did not deserve the attention from Elisha or from The God. Of course, the King was someone easy for me to condemn because I’m sure that at this point in my ministry to the Prophet I was enjoying being viewed as his holy assistant. The King of Edom, of course, was clearly a heathen and I also judged the other two kings for even consorting with him. Regardless, my misguided sense of self-righteousness was inflamed by this event and took a few days to subside. In time, word of the battle reached us back where we were staying. True to the word of The God, Moab had been utterly destroyed but, it was said, the King of Moab remained in his city. He began repaying his tribute to the Kings of Israel and Judah, and things went on as before. Not much beyond this was discussed openly. I puzzled over this and got up the courage to ask Elisha what had happened. This was a very bad thing, he told me as he settled down to recline on a couch. He hesitated for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. The King of Moab had been utterly routed by the coalition of kings and was trapped in his city with just a small handful of devoted warriors, Elisha began. He knew he had irretrievably lost the battle and there was no hope, so he did something drastic that his culture has learned to do when threatened with extinction by an attacker. He conducted a sacrifice in the presence of his enemies in a way that showed his submission. Here Elisha paused and stared straight through me, as if to determine whether to continue. Do you understand, Gehazi? The heathens who populated these lands before the people of Israel arrived had a tradition during times of the greatest peril of lowering themselves in front of their gods in the presence of their enemies. If the sacrifice was large and important enough, it would placate those who it was offered to and the sacrificer could survive. This is what the King of Moab did. He thought he could stop paying his tribute to Israel and Judah that his forefather had promised to King David. He had built up a great army to support his decision and forever throw off the yoke, but what he hadn’t foreseen was the hand of The God against him. His only recourse when he realized that he had completely failed and was in danger of being destroyed was to submit himself again to the yoke through the most dramatic way possible. In some way, the three kings assented to this horrifying apology and allowed the King of Moab to remain. What did he sacrifice that was so important? I asked, nervous about hearing the answer to my question. His son and heir, Elisha responded gravely. This was a troubling thing to think about that led me into deep thought. How could one person’s bad decisions result in such a tragic outcome for others? This brought my mind back to my inability to really understand anything about the Justice of The God, a justice that sometimes required individuals to make devastating sacrifices for others. As we traveled I had plenty of time to ruminate how split-second decisions can have terrible consequences.

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The Prophet’s First Challenge

One of the first challenges that Elisha faced came almost immediately after he crossed the Jordan and returned to the Sons of the Prophets and me. This whole situation seemed exotic and strange during that moment and still does looking backwards in time at it. We all saw Elisha walking back alone wearing Elijah’s prophetic robes and carrying Elijah’s staff. He parted the Jordan in exactly the same way that Elijah had done earlier in the day. The group of prophets unreservedly ran to meet him at the river’s bank. They were very excited and their tongues were flapping. The Prophet has left us and Elisha has assumed his role! cried many of the prophets in their own unique ways. This seemed to be well understood. However – and perhaps this was due to peer pressure or some sort of mania – they immediately began offering to go search for Elijah. I suppose I found this threatening, because now that Elisha had assumed the role of Prophet of Israel, it stood to reason that I, as his assistant, was now Assistant to the Prophet of Israel. Finding Elijah was the last thing I was interested in at this point. Indeed, I never really cared for him anyway. Fortunately, Elisha seemed to agree with my unspoken sentiment and he told them not to try to find Elijah. The young prophets badgered Elisha about this issue for a while and then – disappointing to me – he gave in to them. Fine, he said. Go look for him. Do whatever you want with your time. They all ran off gleefully. I’ll go look on the hilltop over there, one said. Maybe The God picked him up and dropped them on the hill? Another said, I’ll go look upriver in the Jordan valley. Maybe The God released him there? One by one and in groups they ran off until only Elisha and I were left. What’s wrong with those fellows, he asked, shaking his head side to side. I have no idea, I replied. What are we going to do now? Well, I think we need to wait for these guys to get this out of their system. I saw Elijah taken away right in front of my eyes. He’s gone. In front of your eyes, I asked? Yes. It seems strange, but I think I saw The God’s horses and chariots come and take him away. Really? They radiated something that looked like fire, Elisha replied. But I had the sense that it was something greater. I think you have also seen the vision of the river flowing in the dry places and had the sense of something unimaginable approaching. I’ve had this vision a few times but have never seen whatever it was that was coming. Yes, that’s what I saw and felt too. Did you have this same feeling when Elijah was taken away? No, I felt that I was finally seeing a small portion of the object of all that joy. Elisha grew silent and I could tell that there would be no further discussion for a while. The description of the flaming horses and chariots captured all of my attention. I felt like I could almost see them in my head. These thoughts occupied me for the next few hours until the Sons of the Prophets dragged back into camp. We couldn’t find Elijah, they individually relayed. I told you that you wouldn’t, Elisha mentioned casually. The prophets nodded a bit ashamed. Where do we go next? they asked. And with this, Elisha, the new Prophet of The God moved forward past the first challenge to his authority and earned the devotion of a group of men he would grow to love.

The New Work Begins

So, where do you think we are heading? the young prophet asked me. Elisha told me we were going to Bethel, I replied. This young man had obviously not been paying attention. Didn’t the leaders of Jericho offer the Prophet the opportunity to rest in their city for a few months to prepare? Yes, after he did that thing with putting salt in their water supply they were pretty happy with him. I laughed. Who would have ever expected that The God would do something like that for Elisha’s first official miracle. The city was overjoyed after they realized that there had been a fundamental change to the water coming from their spring. Evidently this had been a real problem for a long time. After this, Elisha, the new Prophet of Israel, said his goodbyes to Jericho’s leaders and unceremoniously left town with me and a whole bunch of Sons of the Prophets rapturously in tow. They still felt a bit embarrassed by their notion that they would be able to find Elijah wherever The God had deposited him. Elisha repeatedly reassured them that he understood. They were young men and they still had some maturing to do. Their heads hung low during this conversation, but they had mostly overcome their shame by now and had eager expectations for what changes would lie ahead. Now we were headed to Bethel, perhaps reversing the direction that Elijah had taken towards the far bank of the Jordan and his rendezvous with The God’s fiery chariots. Bethel is an interesting place for another reason that I didn’t tell you on the journey to the Jordan. Athaliah had quietly approached from behind and now was walking with me. I was starting to have a very high regard for his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. His training in these Scriptures exceeded even the priests who served in the synagogue in my home village. Please tell me, I replied, grateful to have something to distract my mind from the dusty, hot road we traveled on. As I told you, Bethel is where our father Abraham built an altar to The God on his way to Egypt. He chose a spot between Bethel (which the Canaanites had named Luz) and the city of Ai. Since Bethel means House of God, it’s likely that Abraham gave this place this name, but we just don’t know for sure. Ai and Luz were very old cities even when Abraham passed through. When Abraham’s grandson Jacob journeyed this way as he fled for his life from his brother Esau he ran out of daylight at this location and decided to stop. His sleep was fitful that night, for he had a dream-vision of The God’s Throne and his messengers ascending to the Throne and descending to the Earth. The God spoke to Jacob here and repeated the promise he had made to Abraham years earlier. This was a very important moment in the history of our people, for it’s quite possible that Jacob didn’t really know about or understand the promise made to his grandfather. Afterwards it was crystal-clear to him, though, and the next morning he set up another altar there and renamed the place Bethel just as his grandfather had done many years earlier. His commitment to The God marks one of the greatest transition points for our people, for it was at this point they turned from being a band of nomads who were affiliated with The God towards the structure they would adopt as a nation who was called to be separate from the world for the purpose of revealing The God. Jacob, of course, was ultimately renamed Israel and his sons became the tribes that we all still are members of. This is very good, I replied. So Bethel marks a transition in many ways. It’s a transition from the Canaanite city of Luz to the city of Bethel and it marks the migration from nomadic wandering to being a large family who becomes a nation. The God seems to revel in transitions, I notice. Athaliah smiled at this and nodded in agreement. Yes, of course this was all part of the promise that The God made to Abraham and to Jacob. There’s even one more recent transition that Bethel and it’s sister city of Ai represents. Perhaps this is more challenging, though. When Joshua led our people into the Promised Land, he crossed the Jordan much in the same way that Elisha just crossed. Before the people conquered the walled city of Jericho, The God made it extremely clear to Joshua that no one was to take any of the riches of Jericho for themselves. All was to be destroyed and the gold and silver was to be preserved for the treasury of The God that was managed by the Levites. Unbeknownst to anyone – except probably his close family – one lone man staggered away from the battle carrying valuable items, including gold and silver, from Jericho. He hid these in a hole that he dug under a rug in his tent. The God was extremely angry with this. Meanwhile, the war leaders of the tribes were excited about their successes in Jericho and took a small war party to conquer Ai (and probably aimed to capture Bethel too). The men of Ai rallied to the attack and chased Israel’s war band away. Many warriors were lost and all of Israel became greatly afraid and discouraged at this. Was The God turning his back on them already? When Joshua prostrated himself before The God in hopes of learning why this had happened, The God pointed out to him that the rules about not taking anything from Jericho had not been obeyed. This seems to us small men as a small disobedience, perhaps? I nodded in agreement. But, he continued, The God needed to make a point. Ai (and Bethel) would once again be a transition point for our people. The Captain of the Army of The God was present at Jericho and revealed himself to Joshua. The outcome was a great victory over a very formidable walled city. But the people of Israel were not able to defeat even a small city if they did not trust in the goodness of the commands of The God. Even one dissident (his name was Achan, by the way) was enough to prevent The God from blessing his people with a victory. The God needed his people to understand that the only reason they were going to move into the Promised Land of rest would be as His people who were separated for His glory, not their glory. Once the transgression had been dealt with (yes, lives were sacrificed for this sin), the people of The God easily captured Ai and the rest of the region, then moved into the rest of the Promised Land. No one who stood before them could resist them when they were working together with The God in the way that He called them to obey. I thought about this a bit. So in this way, I asked, Bethel and Ai represent another transition. Casting aside our willfulness to do things our way and choosing the Way of The God? Perhaps this also shows that working as a cohesive nation bound to The God in obedience was a greater stage in the development of Israel? Yes, Athaliah smiled, That is a wonderful insight. It has always represented this. This was great food for thought to me. Bethel representing a transition made a lot of sense. Elijah’s backwards route to the Jordan informed Elisha of the changes that The God would make through his ascending to the role of The God’s Prophet. Bethel would be the location of a major turning point in this ministry and in the history of our nation. As we ascended upwards to Bethel, there was a strange incident that occurred. I’ll try to relate this as best as I can, but I still don’t fully understand it. I would consider this perplexing event to be the second challenge to Elisha’s position as the prophetic successor. We were very near to Bethel and all were looking forward to some rest from the trials of the road. The narrow, dusty path we had been following for the last day was moving into its final ascent before we reached Bethel. Scrub oaks and other brushy trees had given way since morning to an ancient grove of olive trees stretching up the sides of the hills which rose on either side of the path. The tops of the hills were thickly forested with the cypress and cedar trees common to the highlands. We stopped for a rest in a small opening in the olive grove where it was obvious that many generations of travelers had chosen to refresh themselves before the final climb to Bethel. Looking around at the olives that surrounded our resting area, I pondered how the olive fruits, though only the size of small pebbles now, would become the reason why many hundreds of harvesters from the village would infest this area during the coming fall season. Suddenly, a large group of boys flooded the clearing we rested in, emerging together from the trees around us and surprising us with their sudden approach. The Sons of the Prophets, half of whom had jumped up to their feet and were starting to become agitated. A band of young people this size anywhere in Israel was very unusual. In most places across the nation, the youth spent daylight hours out working in the fields and were too busy to assemble in these kinds of numbers. This group that just emerged from the forest appeared to have malicious thoughts, for many were carrying wooden staffs and others were holding stones. The Sons of the Prophets started to move towards the boys to drive them away, when the boys began chanting together, Go on up, Baldhead! Get out of here Baldhead! and many similar things. The Sons of the Prophets were clearly aggrieved by the insult to the Prophet and began to charge the group. This was not going well. Suddenly, Elisha, who had been ignoring the mob, stood up, looked directly at the youths, and yelled a curse at them. Go back to your master and may The God glorify himself over you! The young men in the mob laughed among themselves. They stopped laughing, however, when several light-brown bears tore out of the woods to the north of the road and hurled themselves into the mob. The offending group broke up quickly with panicking youths fleeing in terror in every direction to escape the bears. I’m not sure where they went, how many of them were hurt by the bears, or even what their objective was. Like I mentioned, it was a really inexplicable event and I never saw anything quite like it again. It was almost like some power had assembled them in opposition to the coming message and work of the new Prophet. In a way it was Elisha’s second major challenge to his role as the Prophet of Israel and apparently The God took it personally. Eventually our small band made its way to Israel’s capital city, Samaria, the place where the Prophet felt called to make his new home. A few years of peace and semi-obscurity passed here and many of the Sons of the Prophets drifted off towards their own ministries. Eli confided in me that he knew that The God was taking these men off to greater things and that he was actually relieved that they were far fewer now. Those guys are hard to deal with, he told me, laughing. I understood what he meant, but I was definitely pleased that one of the ones who stayed was my friend Athaliah, who continued to instruct me in the ways of The God. Though I listened intently and accumulated knowledge, I look back and notice that much of the new learning entered into my head but mostly never made it to my heart. I was certainly proud of the things I was learning, for in time, my knowledge likely equalled that of my old village priests, but I still lacked something critical. During my time in Samaria helping the Prophet prepare for whatever work would come to him next, my duties were very well-defined but often were repetitive and tiring. I served the Prophet in any way that he required, whether that was acquiring food and bringing water, maintaining the small house in which we were able to stay, cooking meals, tending to animals, or any other service that was needed for the Prophet’s ministry. People from Samaria and the surrounding region would daily line up to wait for him so they could petition for justice, advice, or healing. I helped manage these lines of needy people so they didn’t turn into a mob. This task in itself was exhausting because large numbers of frantic and needy people are very challenging to serve. In time the word spread and people came from all over the Northern Kingdom of Israel to see the Prophet. Occasionally a rare pilgrim would arrive from Judah and even more infrequently seekers would come from our cousin nations of Edom and Moab. There were apparently a few believers in The God left in these two nations, though most had turned aside to other gods. Despite the presence of a handful of the faithful, our nations continued to struggle to maintain very complex ties. It is this entanglement with our cousins that led to my first real experience with war.