The Bible In Paintings, #146: ELISHA'S MANY, MANY MIRACLES, Part 1

Bing Images ^ | c.2200 BC - c.95 AD | by the Father, Son & Holy Spirit

[Hebrews 11:6]

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ELISHA'S

MANY,

MANY

MIRACLES

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2^ND
K I N G S
2 - 6
New International Version, emphases added
Abrdgd: the complete text is in your Bible


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C L I C K :

To read 2^ND KINGS 2-6 in full
To hear MAX McLEAN reading it
To hear a DRAMATIZATION of it
To watch an ANIMATION of 2^nd Kings

8 5 1 -
8 4 8
B. C.

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11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

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by JEAN-BAPTISTE DESPAX
"Elisha Dividing the Waters of Jordan with Elijah's Mantle"

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19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”

20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.

21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” 22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

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by JAN LUYKEN, 1712
"Elisha Heals the Water"

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by PIETRO LORENZETTI, 1328
"Elisha’s Well"

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23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

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by WILLEM VAN DEN BUNDEL
"The Prophet Elisha Curses the Children Who Mocked Him"
see detail below

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by NICOLAS FONTAINE
"Boys Mock Elisha"

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by MARTIN LUTHER
"Boys Mock Elisha"

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CHAPTER 4

1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

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by NICOLAS FONTAINE
"Elisha Multiplies the Widow's Oil"

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by OTTO ELLIGER
"Elisha Multiplies the Widow’s Oil"

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by MICHOEL MUCHNIK
"Elisha's Blessing"

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→ a n d…. f i n a l l y ←

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MY HEAVY BURDEN

Every time I search Bing Images for artworks illustrating various stories about the prophet Elisha, I am swamped, inundated and deluged with photos of some bikini model named Elisha:

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If you want more than a full-face shot, I can assure you they're absurdly easy-to-find.

I have daughters old enough to be her mother. I certainly hope you folks appreciate what I must endure in bringing you all these beautiful, glamorous and exciting 500-year-old canvases.

What's that you say? You thought this series was about paintings, not photographs? Oh, very well then—since you insist, I won't resist:

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by CHAD KOVAC
"Elisha Cuthbert"

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by MOHINDAR PAWAR
"Elisha Cuthbert"

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֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎
֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

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Preview of
C O M I N G
A T T R A C T I O N S :

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SNEAK PEEK: Next time,
P A R T
T W O

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֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎
֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎ ֎

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R E S O U R C E S

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If you'd like to see for yourself the Bing page
which yielded most of the works above, here is the link:

Elisha Heals the Water

Image Sources are provided for most individual works.
Where no attribution appears below a work,
the source did not provide the artist's name.
Works are numbered to facilitate your commenting.

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Links to three masters who painted Biblical scenes prolifically:

REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON van RIJN

GUSTAV DORÉ
241 wood engravings for
La Grande Bible de Tours

JAMES TISSOT
180 watercolors depicting Bible scenes

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Links to two Bibles with comprehensive illustrations:

The Art Bible (1896)

The Maciejowski-Morgan Bible (c.1245)

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This series keeps moving from one Bible passage to another,
so here is a fascinating and enjoyable link to assist in following along:
BIBLE TIMELINE

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Here are links to the
PREVIOUS 145 POSTS IN THIS SERIES
with descriptive titles to assist you in finding those which interest you

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Finally, what God did to initiate The Bible In Paintings:
HOW GOD STARTED THIS SERIES
BY SHOWING ME JUST ONE PICTURE

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SPECIAL THANKS
to FReeper left that other site,
who allowed God to make her His conduit
for incomparable enthusiasm, encouragement,
education, advice and technical assistance!

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NOTES ON MY SELECTION CRITERIA

A r t Q u a l i t y

The Bible and its Author are my focus, not the art: this is The Bible in Paintings, not "Great Paintings" nor even "Good Paintings." So, works need not be masterpieces to qualify for inclusion here—they don't need to be housed at the Louvre nor auctioned by Sotheby's. They only need to illustrate successfully some aspect of the Biblical text or, frankly, just tickle my fancy, which I'm always asking the Holy Spirit to guide.

Often, artists misrepresent the Scripture, but unless the error is material, licentious or heretical I usually include the artwork, trusting that the Spirit is perfectly capable of defending Himself. So, with such forgiving filters, it means that you're seeing practically everything I'm finding.

T e x t S e q u e n c i n g

The Protestant Canon does not (for several reasons) follow a strictly chronological sequence. There are many examples where, for God's good purposes, stories are told out-of-order. Nevertheless, for the sake of simplicity, clarity, and my sanity, I have chosen to proceed linearly and methodically from Genesis onward, illustrating each Bible passage as we come to it. Where two passages cover the same incident I omit the second telling, excepting the four Gospels which I will treat synoptically. Now, onward!

P a c i n g

The pace here may seem appallingly snail-like to those eager to see their favorite events illustrated. My commission is to search for art on each Bible passage in sequence: if I find enough, then it becomes the next installment, even if undramatic (but where there is little or no art, that Bible passage goes untold here).

Then, there is the human element: this is not actually a daily series, because I can only research, compose, edit and post five or six of these installments weekly. And because I only get to do this series once, I'm taking my time, chiefly by posting everything; if I find lots of art, I don't cherry-pick some and discard the rest. Rather, I line up all of them and then sort them into manageable bunches, often resulting in multiple days' episodes of the same story. Obviously, I like being thorough. Were you in a big hurry?

The Bible is a thick book, as you know; but we'll get there eventually, Lord willing—this is His project, after all. And always remember:
love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control is a fruit of the Spirit!

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Art is merely the Toy Department of Bible study,
so I'm just having fun here—I hope you are, too!
Thank you for your understanding.

Hebrews 11:6
Dan Lewis
DodgerDan

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PING
LIST

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To be alerted to each new posting,
either reply here or FRmail me.

No contracts, startup charges or monthly fees;
no hazing or initiation rituals; cancel anytime.

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[Hebrews 11:6]

At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I am surveying "Bible art" to give God glory, as many of these artists have done, and for my own amusement and learning; and I thought others might enjoy it and be blessed by it, too. My plan is to proceed methodically from left-to-right, Genesis to Revelation, as the Lord wills. Back soon with another.

The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.); these artists have done so, and their works can assist us and enrich our own thoughts about biblical characters, incidents and concepts, and increase our faith in He who is behind it all. As you encounter and consider these images and the related Scriptures and the Spirit enlightens your understanding, please share it with us!

But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is being filmed right now. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year's viewing Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters (especially including Jesus!) into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it! Here is the Official Trailer.

Here is a link for free viewing of The Chosen: "Works with your phone, tablet, and you can cast to your Roku or Chromecast." Last fall I paid $34.98 for DVDs and ongoing internet access—best 35 bucks I've ever spent (I don't recall how much our marriage license cost, but then it was 43 years ago).

[Hebrews 11:6]

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P r e s e n t e d . . F o r . . Y o u r

CONSIDERATION

ENJOYMENT

& BLESSING

[Red Badger]

Parting the River Jordan isn’t that big of a deal, really.

At some times of the year, and especially after a drought, practically anybody could walk across it................

[left that other site]

If you put “ The Prophet Elisha” in quotes for your search, you will be less likely to get images of the Cuthbert Creature.

But you never know. I was absolutely horrified the first time I did a search for “David and Jonathan”.

I’m an old biker-babe, so I thought NOTHING would shock me. But there ya go. The world is infinitely wicked.

I have nothing against pretty women, but they do have a way of distracting! :-)

[freefdny]

Loved the Bad News Bears. Thanks.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Parting the River Jordan isn’t that big of a deal, really.

Be sure to post the video here when you do it...................

[Red Badger]

Heck, in some places you can literally walk across without doing anything ‘special’.....................................

[Hebrews 11:6]

the Cuthbert Creature

Sounds like a horror movie.

a search for “David and Jonathan”

Not gonna try it.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Could not resist including it: too perfect.

[left that other site]

"Not gonna try it."

Good. Just Don't.

[Red Badger]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2010/04/parting-the-waters/

[Hebrews 11:6]

Only works for subscribers, of which I ain’t one.

[Red Badger]

Neither am I, but it works for me?????...................

[Hebrews 11:6]

I have learned that your advice generally is worth heeding.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Tried again, still no go.

[Repeal The 17th]

try adding
-cuthbert
(minus cuthbert)
to your search conditions

[etabeta]

I am bothered by the story of Elisha and the bullies. Why would God send the bears to maul them? A parable? Symbolic of the choices we always have to make, good versus bad?

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks, but I'm long finished on searching Elisha: 100 images, four episodes. (I didn't really mind about The Cuthbert Creature.) I'll adopt your excellent advice for any future annoyances.

[Hebrews 11:6]

It is a provocative story, which others here may enlighten us about.

It doesn't appear to be only a parable: it is presented as if it actually happened. It is exactly what any group of young boys does.

Why would God send the bears to maul them?

We can only infer, since the text is silent. And note what the text does not say, that any boy was killed. Frankly, with a large group of agile boys and only two bears, it seems doubtful that very many were indeed mauled.

"Disrespect the prophet, and this is what you can expect." God is in the business of providing tangible warnings against misbehavior: do you think this got their attention? Boys need, and can handle, stricter discipline than girls--their testosterone-poisoning requires it as an antidote. God was merely meeting their need.

Once I saw some teen boys breaking into newspaper racks for the coins. I flagged down a cop, who rounded them up. Since he didn't see it personally and it was only a misdemeanor, he couldn't arrest them without my say-so. It was now strictly up to me whether they went to jail, or not. As I considered the apparent harshness of this outcome, the officer told me, "You won't be doing them any favors by letting them walk away, because then they'll start doing bigger crimes."

[etabeta]

Thank you for your explanation. Portico de la Gloria - Santiago de Compostela Cathedral - Detail from the tympanum - Created by the great Master Mateo.