# Day 152

# Elisha’s Life-Giving Bones

2 Kings 13:14–25

Joash, Jehu’s grandson, was Israel’s king when Elisha was about to die. “My father, my father!” Joash wept. “You’re more important than Israel’s horses and chariots.”

“Take a bow and arrows and draw back the bowstring,” said Elisha.

Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the window and shoot.” And Joash did so. “This is the Lord’s arrow of victory over Syria.”

“Now take the arrows and hit the ground with them.” Joash hit the ground with the arrows three times. “Why did you stop? You should have hit the ground five or six times. Then you would have had that many victories. Now you’ll beat Syria three times and no more.”

Soon Elisha died and was buried in a cave. The next year a band of Moabites buried a man in the same place. When this man’s body touched Elisha’s bones, life returned to it and the Moabite stood up on his feet.

True to Elisha’s word, Israel defeated Syria three times. Israel’s captured cities were taken back from Syria’s control.

Questions: Joash hit the ground three times with the arrows. What did this mean? What happened when the Moabite’s body touched Elisha’s bones?