The writer of Kings has a strange fascination with the body of Elisha. Elisha’s body is the subject of attention in at least three passages in 2 Kings. In 2 Kgs 2:23-25, a group of boys from Bethel mock Elisha’s bald head as they jeer, “Get out of here, baldy!” (v. 23). Then, in reviving the son of the Shunammite woman, Elisha “got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretches himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm” (2 Kgs 4:34). Sometime later, some Israelites are burying a dead man. When they see a raiding band of Moabites passing by, they throw the dead body into Elisha’s grave. Instead of (or in addition to) contaminating, the corpse comes to life (2 Kgs 13:20-21). The repeated mentions of the prophet’s body raise the intriguing question: what purposes do these stories serve?
This study argues that in the Ancient Near East milieu, kings’ bodies are not only powerfully depicted, but they also can reign beyond death. In the books of kings, a contrast between the bodies of the kings and Elisha is discernible. On the one hand, the narrator presents the bodies of the kings as weak: the kings not only suffer from illnesses, but some of them become victims of homicide. On the other hand, Elisha’s body is not only powerfully depicted, but it also can defy death. The narrator is, therefore, presenting Elisha as Israel’s genuine leader. In this regard, Elisha’s body is to be honored: those who choose to mock the prophet’s body will meet with death, and those who opt to honor it will receive life even in the throes of death.
Rachelle Gilmore, in her influential monograph Juxtaposition and the Elisha Cycle, rightly argues that the reading of the Elisha narratives should not be divorced from the rest of the book of Kings. This study contributes to the endeavor of reading the bodily dynamics of Elisha with that of the other kings within 1 and 2 Kings. Moreover, the scholarly conversation around 2 Kgs 2:23-25 has generally been negative. T. R. Hobbs, for example, describes the event of the boys mocking Elisha as an incident that is “characterized by excess.” John Gray regards the pericope as a “puerile tale” where “there is no serious point in this incident, and it does not reflect much to the credit of the prophet.” Eric Ziolkowski criticizes, “The tale is so notorious that an agnostic character in a best-selling science fiction novel can retell it, citing the biblical book and chapter where it occurs, to help illustrate why he disdains traditional western religion.” However, with an understanding the significance of Elisha’s body within the larger context of the Elisha narratives and the books of Kings, 2 Kgs 2:23-25 will not look like a “cruel and meaningless literary artifact.”