Melachim Beis 4-9
4 – Elisha saves a woman, whose husband died, from poverty and the imminent seizure of her 2 sons as slaves to pay off debts. He performs a miracle by which the oil of her liquid containers does not run out. A large (childless) woman makes an attic for Elisha in her home and feeds him. In return, Elisha promises that she will have a son. The son dies, and Elisha returns and revives him (very similar to the story re Eliyahu). Food is brought to Elisha, who designates it to people. (there was a famine)
5 – Naaman, the chief officer of the army of Aram, has tazaraas. The King of Aram tells Naaman to send messengers and gold to the King of Israel, who will tell him how to cure the illness. The King of Israel cannot do anything, and tears his garments. Elisha steps in and advises Naaman to dip in the Jordan river 7 times. He eventually follows the advice and is cured. Gehazi takes the presents from Naaman that Elisha refused, and Elisha curses Gehazi with the tzaraas that Naaman had.
6 – Elisha goes with the prophets to Jordan, and hears about Aram’s ambush, and warns the King of Israel about it. Aram tries to capture Elisha, but Elisha prays to HaShem, and He blinds them all and leads them the wrong way. Ben Hadad, king of Aram, lays siege upon Samaria, and the King blames Elisha for the ensuing famine and cannibalism.
7 – Elisha guarantees food, and some soldiers of Israel go to Aram’s camp and find that it has been deserted; the Aram soldiers fled for they heard many soldiers coming against them. Their food is taken. The King’s captain is trampled to death, as Elisha had said, since he did not believe Elisha’s guarantee of food.
8 – The woman of perek 4 is advised by Elisha to go to the Philistines for 7 years due to the famine in Israel, and upon her return, the King, with Gehazi’s help, gives her back her land. Ben Hadad (King of Aram) becomes ill, and sends Chazael to seek Elisha as to whether he will recover. Elisha tells Chazael that he will become King of Aram and will destroy Israel. Ben Hadad dies, and Chazael becomes king. Yehoram ben Yehoshafat becomes King of Yehudah, fights Edom and Libnah’s rebellions, and dies. Achazia replaces him, and we are told that Yehoram ben Achav, King of Israel, is wounded in the battle with Aram.
9 – Elisha sends someone to crown Jehu as King of Israel, and kills the remnants of the house of Acahv, as told by the prophet, including Yehoram and Achazia and Izevel.
DVAR TORAH…
In perek 5 we are told that Elisha gives Naaman advice to bathe in the waters of the Jordan river to cure his tzaraas. Naaman at first refuses to accept this, saying ’what difference does it make whether it’s the Jordan river or the rivers outside of Israel that I have already bathed in but I’m not cured.’ Eventually, he does go in and bathe in the Jordan, and is cured, in accordance with the words of Elisha.
We can learn something ver important from here. Often we know that mitzvos must be done a certain way, or that it’s best to do them a certain way, but we see these halachos as too small to be important; we have the same attitude as Naaman had, since we use our own perception against the wisdom of the sages of previous generations in saying ’it doesn’t matter if I do this mitzvah that way,’ since I do not think it makes a difference.
Let the fact that Naaman was only cured when he followed Elisha’s advice perfectly be chizuk to us all to follow halacha as bets as we can, and realise the importance of it.
