2 Kings 4:32

III. ELISHA RAISED THE CHILD FROM THE DEAD

"And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. And he went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto Jehovah. And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon him; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned and walked in the house once to and fro; and went up and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out."

This amazing wonder is one of a very limited number of such miracles recorded in the entire Bible. There are only three such miracles in the O.T.: (1) this one; (2) the raising of the son of the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings 17:17-23) by Elijah; and (3) the resurrection of the man who was being buried, and who, when the burial party was threatened by marauders, was hastily cast into the tomb of Elisha and was restored to life by his contact with the bones of that prophet (2 Kings 13:20-21).

In the N.T., we have the following cases: (1) the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9:18ff); (2) the raising of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:12-18); and (3) the raising of Lazarus (John 11), all by the Lord Jesus Christ; also (4) the raising of Dorcas by the apostle Peter (Acts 9:36-41); (5) the raising of Eutychus by the apostle Paul (Acts 20:10-12); (6) the resurrection of the saints who came out of their graves after the resurrection of Christ (Matthew 27:53); and (7) the Marvel of All Ages - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! (Recorded in all of the Gospels).

We are amazed that some scholars have concluded from this narrative that Elisha did not receive the double portion of the spirit of Elijah as he had requested, basing that notion upon the gradual response of the dead child here as contrasted with the quicker response when Elijah raised the son of the widow of Sarepta. We reject such a view, because two miracles of resurrection are accredited to Elisha, one occurring even after his burial, whereas Elijah raised the dead only once.