The Major Import of Minor Characters in the Elisha Story-Cycle

BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY Master's Thesis Equivalent The Major Import of Minor Characters in the Elisha-Story Cycle Daniel Walter Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. Hashlamot in the Zalman Shamir Department of the Bible, Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel 2017 This work was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Joshua Berman Zalman Shamir Department of the Bible, Bar-Ilan University Table of Contents English Abstract i Abbreviations vi Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview: The People and their Prophet 1 1.1. Introduction and History of Research on the Elisha Story-Cycle 1 1.1.1. The Historical Context: Social-Scientific Criticism 1 1.1.2. Genre Analysis: The Development of Form Criticism 9 1.1.3. From Form Criticism to Literary-Aesthetic Criticism 12 1.2. The Literary Role of Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative 17 1.3. The Major Importance of Minor Characters: The Contribution of this Thesis 23 1.3.1. The Justification for a Study of Minor Characters in Elisha Narratives 23 1.3.2. Thesis Paragraph 25 1.4. Methodological Approach 26 Chapter 2. Direct Appeal Agents: Ordinary Miracles for Extraordinary People 30 2.1. Introduction 30 2.2. The Healing of the Waters at Jericho (2 Kings 2:19-22) 33 2.3. Pools of Water in the Wilderness of Edom (2 Kings 3:4-20) 37 2.4. The Deliverance of a Family from Debt-Slavery (2 Kings 4:1-7) 40 2.5. The Sons of the Prophets Face Various Challenges (2 Kings 4:38-41, 42-44; 6:1-7) 45 2.5.1. Life from Death in the Pot (4:38-41) 46 2.5.2. The Original Multiplication of the Loaves (4:42-44) 47 2.5.3. A Lost Axe-Head (6:1-7) 49 2.6. Conclusion 50 Chapter 3. Prophetic Referral Agents: Ordinary People with Extraordinary Influence 54 3.1. Introduction 54 3.2. Referral to the Prophet of Water (2 Kings 3:1-20) 58 3.3. Referral to the Prophet of Healing (2 Kings 5:1-19a) 63 3.3.1. The Little Israelite Maidservant (5:1-4) 63 3.3.2. The Humble Servants (5:13, 14) 66 3.3.3. Saul's Wise Servants (1 Samuel 9:1-10; 16:14-23) 70 3.4. Referral to the Clairvoyant Prophet (2 Kings 6:12) 75 3.5. Referral to the Prophet's Oracle (2 Kgs 7:13) 77 3.6. Conclusion 80 Chapter 4. Surprise Agents: Invaluable Ordinary People 83 4.1. Introduction: Character Surprise in Biblical Narrative 83 4.2. The Edifying Surprise of Naaman the Syrian, a Major Secondary Character 87 4.3. Agents of Surprise: The Surprise of Minor Secondary Characters 90 4.3.1. Divine Insight for a Servant (2 Kgs 6:15-17) 92 4.3.2. Four Fortunate Lepers (2 Kgs 7:3-12) 97 4.3.3. Company of the Surprised Prophets (2 Kings 2:15-18) 100 4.4. A Surprising Minor Character in the Elijah Narratives (1 Kgs 18:7-16) 103 4.5. Conclusion 104 Chapter 5. Thesis Conclusion 106 Bibliography 108 Hebrew Abstract ‫א‬ Abstract This thesis is a literary analysis of minor secondary characters in the Elisha narratives (2 Kings 2-8). I define a minor secondary character as one that appears once or twice in this corpus and either plays a minor role or a leading role in a short story (seven verses or less). The great and diverse cast in the Elisha stories feature many common Israelites and foreigners, besides kings, high officials and the prophet himself. I contend that the narrative function of minor secondary characters is not only to provide indirect characterization for major characters, but also to express central themes of the Elisha narratives. The prominence of minor secondary characters in the Elisha narratives reflects both on the particular historical context of the stories and the unique calling of Elisha ben Shaphat. In my introductory chapter, I offer a survey of recent scholarship on the Elisha story-cycle (1.1). First, I summarize the recent history of social-scientific analyses of these stories, which aim to reconstruct the social, economic and religious atmosphere of the Kingdom of Northern Israel (KNI) during the Omride dynasty. I draw on social-scientific criticism since it applies modern social theory to textual analysis with selective use of material evidence to establish the social context of the biblical text, while cautioning against its tendency toward generalization. During this period, the KNI endured unprecedented changes, transitioning from a tribal society to a centralized monarchy. Israelite peasants encountered extraordinary social pressures owing to the great economic, political and religious changes initiated by the Omrides in the KNI. The introduction of Phoenician cults endangered traditional worship of YHWH. The development of agriculture from subsistence farming on tribal plots to commercial latifundia to produce cash-crops for export threatened traditional social structures and transformed peasant land-owners into tenant farmers. Militarization i to protect domestic interests introduced further competition for precious land and production resources. The Omrides' international and cosmopolitan outlook benefitted the royal house and nobles that aligned themselves with these new policies but left many others in extremis. I then turn to a history of the literary study of the Elisha narratives, including form critical and literaryaesthetic scholarship. I show how scholars of both schools have endeavored to establish the genre of these stories as foundational for understanding its meaning. Recent scholarship has proposed vastly different genre categories, including general and specific, genre labels. My survey demonstrates that genre analysis, in its tendency to establish the “correct” genre, unnecessarily limits the multivalence of the Elisha stories. Following this survey, I open a case for the study of minor secondary characters in the Elisha narratives (1.2). The character of Elisha is primarily understood through his actions. Unlike his predecessor Elijah who contended with Ahab and the people of Israel for the sole worship of YHWH, Elisha is not distinguished by a correspondingly discernible divine message. This gap casts a shadow of ambiguity on the character of Elisha, despite his prominence in the book of Kings. Consequently, several scholars have attempted to fill this gap by interpreting his portrayal as negative. However, Elisha is consistently portrayed as available and helpful, and he is almost always portrayed in the company of others. Many of these “others” include minor secondary characters, representing common Israelites, who relate to Elisha as one who can solve various problems. Recent literary-aesthetic scholarship reveals that within the realm of biblical storytelling, minor characters are not intrinsically important, often functioning as an accessory to the plot. When they are important, their literary function is usually indirect characterization of the major characters. However, minor secondary characters in the Elisha narratives are distinctive in several ways that merit examination. In my next section (1.3), I establish my thesis. I briefly discuss a recent trend in New Testament scholarship to recognize that minor characters are instrumental to the expression of key themes of the gospels. Similarly, I propose that minor secondary characters are key message-bearers ii in the Elisha story-cycle. The stories ascribe worth and importance to ordinary folk, counterculturally, during a period in Israel's history when they were severely marginalized. Though they wield neither royal nor prophetic authority, they contribute positively and significantly to the outcome of the Elisha narratives and to the accomplishment of divine purposes therein. In the following section, I discuss my methodology (1.4). I discuss the difference between generic realism and generic conceptualism as defined by Kenton Sparks, which provides a theoretical framework to the classification methodology I employ. I aim to classify types of minor secondary characters and analyze their role through comparison and contrast with stories within the Elisha corpus and without. The classification of literature or genre analysis is understood to be utilitarian, subject to the research aims of the scholar, not a universal or absolute taxonomy. As such, the literary categories I define are intended for the analysis of minor secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle. They are “handles” to facilitate intertextual comparison and contrast. In analyzing similarities between minor secondary characters, common motifs and broad themes emerge. In elucidating their differences, the unique message of each story is afforded focus. Each chapter groups minor secondary characters together according to a specified function within the narrative and seeks to determine their literary role and corresponding theological theme. In each of these chapters, narrative elements of characterization and thematic considerations will be explored. Chapter 2 analyzes characters who approach Elisha directly seeking a solution for a specific problem. I establish the category “Direct Appeal Miracle Stories” as one in which a secondary character approaches the prophet, who solves their problem by working a miracle. These stories have a similar literary structure that proceeds from the Presentation of the Problem (by the minor character) to the Presentation of a Solution (by Elisha) to the Resolution (cooperation of both Elisha and the minor character). Common elements of the working of the miracle in these stories include obedience of the secondary character, usage of physical material, prophetic action, and oracle/fulfillment formula in the name of YHWH. Not every element is present in the miracle of every story. As I show, the absence or presence of certain elements elucidates the unique situation iii of the story and bears thematic relevance. Chapter 3 analyzes characters who appear abruptly and very briefly (typically only one verse) to dispense advice, which, when followed by a floundering leader, results in the successful outcome of the story. In these stories servants are the unsung heroes. Rarely in biblical literature are servants afforded such a pivotal role. I call such characters “Agents of Prophetic Referral,” since each one refers his or her master to the person or activity of Elisha. As opposed to the ordinary folk in the “Direct Appeal Miracle Stories,” kings and officials require the assistance of their sagacious servants. The employment of such characters subtly critiques the ruling class. These servants highlight the critical theme of submission in the Elisha story-cycle by offering their advice forcefully while avoiding insubordination. While their advice displays mundane wisdom, the execution of their advice achieves results that accomplish divine purposes for Israel and the surrounding nations. These characters demonstrate that divine providence is accomplished through ordinary people, as well as prophets and kings. Ultimately, kings, prophets, and servants all serve YHWH, and to faithfully discharge their duties demands submission to God's authority. Chapter 4 analyzes characters who reveal a surprising element in the stories. I call such characters “Surprise Agents” because the reader discovers the surprise concurrently with and through the perspective of the character. In each case, the Surprise Agent reveals unexpected and relevant facts that change the course of the plot, and draws attention to thematic elements that accompany the plot twist. While major characters can similarly reveal a surprise, such a literary device is employed to draw attention to a previously undisclosed deficit in that character. Minor secondary characters, on the other hand, draw attention to the central moral theme the author wishes to convey, as they do elsewhere in the Elisha story-cycle. Some of these key theological themes include the following. Despite the taxing policies imposed by the Omrides, YHWH has not abandoned his people but is actively working through his prophet Elisha to deliver and preserve his people. Despite the stratification of Israelite society, YHWH has not consigned his people to suffer as victims, but through the working of Elisha's iv miracles has assigned them an active role in national deliverance. Minor characters portray ordinary people as empowered and empowering. They do not wield prophetic or royal power, but they can participate in the miracles through their active obedience and contribute to the welfare of the kingdom by dispensing timely insights to their leaders. Relative to their cursory appearance in each story, their impact on its outcome is prodigious. v List of Abbreviations AOTC Abington Old Testament Commentaries BI Biblical Interpretation BSac Bibliotheca Sacra CBR Currents in Biblical Research CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly COS Context of Scripture FOTL Forms of Old Testament Literature IBT Interpreting Biblical Texts JANES Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JBS Jerusalem Biblical Studies JHS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series NIB The New Interpreter's Bible NIBC New International Biblical Commentary NT Novum Testamentum OTL The Old Testament Library PIB Pontificio Istituto Biblico TB Tyndale Bulletin TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries VT Vetus Testamentum WBC Word Biblical Commentary WeBC Westminster Bible Companion vi 1. Introduction and Overview: The People and their Prophet “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” --Nelson Mandela 1.1 Introduction and History of Research on the Elisha Story-Cycle In the stories of Elisha, one of Israel’s most powerful and charismatic prophets, ordinary people play a critical role. While the miracles of Elisha dominate the story-cycle, the faith-in-action of secondary characters is central to the successful outcome of many of the stories. While the majority of the narrative from Genesis to II Kings revolves around patriarchs, kings, military officials, and prophets, the Elisha narratives feature townspeople, outcasts, landed gentry, peasants and the prophetic circle of disciples. Written in a historical context of considerable social stratification in northern Israel, these stories portray ordinary people as valuable members of society. While some are featured as major characters in the story, the majority of them appear very briefly to fulfill a vital role in the unfolding of the plot, to highlight key theological themes of the story, or to provide contrast to another character. The minor characters that appear in the Elisha stories are notable not only because a great number of them feature in the stories, but also because of their great diversity, especially in the representation of ordinary folk.1 1.1.1. The Historical Context: Social-Scientific Criticism Since the 1970s, scholars have employed social-scientific methods to better understand the 1 The large cast of minor characters has been noted for the book of Kings in general. Cohn states, “Kings is the biblical book with the largest roster of actual characters, individuals whose lives are literarily represented.” Robert L Cohn, “Characterization in Kings,” in The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 89.) and the Elisha stories in particular, Uriel Simon, “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative,” JSOT 46 (February 1990): 15. Bodner notes their diversity in the Elisha stories, Keith Bodner, Elisha’s Profile in the Book of Kings: The Double Agent (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 157. social milieu of the Bible.2 The method focuses on elements of the text with which one can piece together the cultural setting represented in the narrative using conceptual models. The primary concern of this method is the examination of “the social and cultural dimensions of the text and of its environmental context....”3 Social-scientific criticism is a sub-discipline of biblical exegesis, which “studies the text as both a reflection of and a response to the social and cultural settings in which the text was produced.”4 Such analysis yields useful insights into the historical context represented in the biblical narrative that can complement more pure text-based disciplines such as form criticism and literary-aesthetic criticism. Marvin Chaney laid the groundwork by conducting a systemic survey of the socioeconomic development of the Israelite monarchic period. Chaney applied political and economic models of agrarian monarchies to reconstruct the social context, bringing textual and material evidence in support. His primary concern was to deconstruct static caricatures of the Israelite monarchy and to isolate the significant societal changes that occurred during the First Temple Period.5 One of the most significant was the social stratification of the peasant agrarian economy during the United Monarchy, resulting from the aggrandizement of an elite class that controlled the majority of the society's wealth, resources, and services.6 Under the leadership of Jeroboam, the northern ten tribes broke away from southern hegemony, rejecting Solomonic corvée labor and returning to a decentralized economy based on patriarchal agrarian domains. During the late 10th and early 9th centuries, the Kingdom of Northern Israel (KNI) was characterized by relative social equality, decentralized worship of YHWH, and political instability as northern royal dynasties were shortlived.7 Breaking with the political and religious policies of their predecessors, the Omride kings 2 3 4 5 6 7 For a history of this discipline see John H. Elliott, What Is Social-Scientific Criticism? (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993), 17–35; Cyril S. Rodd, “On Applying a Sociological Theory to Biblical Studies,” JSOT 19 (1981): 95– 106. Elliott, Social-Scientific Criticism, 7. Ibid., 8. Marvin A. Chaney, “Systematic Study of the Israelite Monarchy,” Semeia 37 (1986): 54–55. Ibid., 55–56. Here, Chaney cites the research of Lenski and Sjoberg, who researched agrarian monarchies. He states that less than two percent of the population would have controlled approximately half of the goods and services, based on analogous development of similar societies to that of monarchic Israel. Ibid., 70–71. 2 made alliances with their Phoenician neighbors to the north, ending a half-century of interclan strife, and introducing wide-ranging religious and economic changes to the KNI, such as the introduction of Phoenician cults as state-sponsored religion and participation in the international export market. According to Chaney, two economic developments, in particular, re-introduced social stratification and resulted in the deprivation of Israel's peasantry. One was the establishment of a standing army. Chaney cites the Kurkh Monolith Inscription of Shalmaneser III (COS: 2.113A), according to which Ahab commanded a force of 2000 chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers. The development of a standing army, among other factors, created a demand for horses and the means to support them. The cultivation of pastureland for hay and straw strained economic resources, leaving many in economic extremis.8 The other was latifundialization, that is, “the process of land accumulation (large estates, hence latifundia) in the hands of a few wealthy landowners to the deprivation of the peasantry.”9 Self-sufficient family farms would be bought up by the wealthy and transformed to larger, more efficient commercial farms, producing wine and oil that would have been ideal cash crops for export.10 Latifundialization would have resulted in an impoverished landless peasant class with no means to sustain themselves in times of war or natural disaster.11 While Chaney's theories on the development of Israelite economy are reasonable, they rely heavily on the conceptual models with scant evidence to support them.12 Other scholars such as Bendor, disagree that there was such sharp social stratification or polarization of social classes; he attributes the poverty and debt-slavery mentioned in the Elijah and Elisha narratives solely to natural disasters such as famine.13 At the same time, Chaney supports his model of economic 8 9 10 11 12 13 Ibid., 69. D.N. Premnath, “Latifundialization and Isaiah 5.8-10,” JSOT 40 (1988): 49. Chaney, “Systematic Study of the Israelite Monarchy,” 73. Ibid., 71–72. For example, concentration of land ownership and increased agricultural specialization is very difficult to substantiate based on the archaeological and textual evidence, Paula M. McNutt, Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), 154. S. Bendor, The Social Structure of Ancient Israel: The Institution of the Family (Beit ’Ab) from the Settlement to the End of the Monarchy, JBS 7 (Eisenbrauns, 1996), 268–270. 3 development with evidence that largely derives from the biblical text. He strings clues in the text together that fit the model of the development of an agrarian monarchy. For example, the establishment of markets in Damascus intimate international trade (1 Kgs 20:34), the search for pastureland for the horses during a drought indicate the priority of a standing chariot force over the needs of the people (1 Kgs 18:5), the description of King Uzziah's wealth in 8th century Judah indicates a preference for agricultural specialization on royal lands (2 Chr 26:10). Chaney also cites archaeological evidence such as the layout of the royal quarter of Samaria as evidence for social stratification.14 However, he does not cite any evidence for latifundialization in the 9th century KNI. While an analogous process may be represented in the story of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kgs 21:1-16), the buying and conglomeration of land is only attested in 8th century Judah (Isa 5:8-10; Mic 2:1-5).15 Nevertheless, Chaney's survey provides a plausible conceptualization for the historical context of the Elisha narratives, and though the evidence is scant, there is support in both the biblical text and the archaeological record. However, Chaney makes a conceptual leap in his interpretation of the narratives themselves. He postulates that the Elijah/Elisha chronicles are examples of folklore, an outlet for the expression of mundane needs. An impoverished peasant class would have produced these narratives in an attempt to mediate between mundane and spiritual forces responsible for their deprivation.16 Chaney's textual exegesis and postulated provenance derives directly from the reconstructed social milieu, instead of the text itself. The research of Todd and Renteria developed the broad social survey of Chaney to focus on the dynamics of power struggle between of the Omride kings and their Yahwistic opposition. They postulate that the economic pressure to produce cash crops for international trade, resulting in latifudialization, would have created a class of landless “expendables” from whom pockets of dissenters such as the “sons of the prophets” began to form.17 Todd claims that Elisha and his 14 15 16 17 Chaney, “Systematic Study of the Israelite Monarchy,” 71–73. For a more detailed study of latifundialization in the Bible, see Premnath, “Latifundialization and Isaiah 5.8-10.” Chaney, “Systematic Study of the Israelite Monarchy,” 72. Judith A. Todd, “The Pre-Deuteronomistic Elijah Cycle,” in Elijah and Elisha in Socioliterary Perspective, ed. Robert B. Coote (Atlanta: Scholars, 1992), 6–8. 4 followers, the sons of the prophets, “provided an ideological and organizational base for advocating Yahwistic socio-ethical concepts throughout the society on all levels.”18 She surmises that a segment of the upper class would have been appalled by Ahab's treatment of Naboth, perhaps fearing for their own tribal inheritance. This segment may have included the Shunnamite woman, the elders of Samaria (2 Kgs 6:32), and the donors in Baal-Shalisha (4:42), who all appear to support Elisha.19 However, Todd exaggerates her claim that with their support, Elisha's activities fomented the popular uprising against the Omrides that ushered Jehu to the throne.20 Such a theory finds little basis in the Elisha narratives themselves. While it may account for the enmity portrayed between the king of Israel and Elisha in a few of the longer narratives, the majority of the stories where Elisha is cooperating with the king or interacting with other Israelites cannot be explained as such.21 These stories do not attribute the conditions suffered by the people to the Omride kings or any specific royal policy. The assumption that the Shunammite woman was a supporter of Elisha's popular revolution, as Todd suggests, lacks any basis in the text.22 The Shunammite's refusal to accept royal favors (2 Kgs 4:13) does, however, intimate a tension between an ascendant central monarchy and the patriarchal/tribal domain. It also suggests, however, that Elisha was to some degree allied with this monarchy, although the text does not say whether the king is of Omri's or Jehu's dynasty. Rentería is more cautious. She assumes one can know little about the historical Elisha's political motives; rather, she claims Jehu and his supporters would have co-opted oral Elisha stories to compose and circulate a “legitimation document” to garner broad-based support among discontent Yahwists.23 However, the insurmountable weakness in this claim remains the anonymity of the king between 2 Kgs 3:11 and 8:15. In each story where the king of Israel appears, 18 19 20 21 22 23 Ibid., 1–2. Ibid., 9. Ibid., 1. Rentería concedes this as a weakness in this theory, Tamis Hoover Rentería, “The Elijah/Elijah [sic; Read Elisha] Stories: A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Prophets and People in Ninth-Century B.C.E. Israel,” in Elijah and Elisha in Socioliterary Perspective, ed. Robert B. Coote (Atlanta: Scholars, 1992), 77. However, later she claims that Jehu would have included both stories about nobles and kings as well as peasants interacting with Elisha to garner support from both socio-economic classes, Ibid., 92–93. Todd, “The Pre-Deuteronomistic Elijah Cycle,” 9. Rentería, “The Elijah/Elisha Stories,” 77–81. 5 the scholar must decide whether it reflects the house of Omri or Jehu. Finally, Todd, Rentería, as well as Chaney take only political and economic motives into account, without consideration for religious phenomena in the text. They tacitly adhere to a social development theory which seeks to identify the underlying material causes to religious experience, regarding, for instance, religious loyalties to be simply an extension of political loyalties, and cults, tools of political influence. Though such an approach has an air of objectivity, in the end it distorts the portrayal of the context they are attempting to reconstruct since spiritual and psychological motives also lie behind historical events, not only political and economic.24 Norman K. Gottwald defines this “deep-rooted tacit assumption” incisively when discussing the phenomenon of religious conversion in ancient Israel: “without exception, everything told us in the Bible about Israel's origins is set for late redactional frames that give an airily religious version of Israel's beginnings which must be thoroughly 'deconstructed' and 'reconstructed' into a social historical rendering of human activities.”25 Petersen, Long, and Overholt, on the other hand, did account for religious phenomena in the text in their social-scientific research, resulting in a clearer picture of the religious context of ninth century Israel. Petersen frames the social context in terms of a conflict of religious identity, while acknowledging the social stratification resultant from royal economic policy. The religious innovation of the Omride dynasty was the introduction of state-sponsored worship of Phoenician deities to the Yahwistic society of northern Israel. Petersen seeks to define the title “man of God” and the circle of “the sons of the prophets” as segments of society who remained faithful to YHWH and were forced to the periphery of society.26 He states that in peripheral cults, marginalized members of society, especially women, follow a shaman-like leader and engage in ecstatic religious 24 25 26 In his brief review of the scholarship of history of religions, Hoffmeier differentiates between social evolutionary model of the development of religions, which has been rejected but whose influence continues to pervade among biblical scholars today, and the phenomenological approach which investigates religious development critically but sympathetically as an “insider.” James Karl Hoffmeier, Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism (Oxford University Press, 2015), 137–138. Norman K. Gottwald, The Hebrew Bible in Its Social World and in Ours, Semeia Studies (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1993), 76. David L. Petersen, The Roles of Israel’s Prophets, JSOTSup 17 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981), 46–50. 6 activity.27 Elisha is typical example of a “peripheral prophet,” a charismatic leader who enjoys a symbiotic relationship with other marginalized people. He was responsible for the welfare of people who validated his credentials as a charismatic leader. Both Long and Overholt compare the Elisha narratives to stories in modern shamanistic societies. The purpose of such modern stories, and by analogy the ancient Elisha narratives, is to establish and strengthen the authority of the shaman or prophet.28 Long maintains, however, that such stories would have circulated after the demise of the prophet, and would not have been used to establish the authority of Elisha himself. Rather, they would have addressed a burgeoning skepticism in the prophetic office itself as well as reinforcing “broad theological themes related to the fundamental relationship believed to exist between God and Israel.”29 Additionally, he notes that the positive portrayal of common folk would have encouraged an audience of the same social setting.30 The benefit of social-scientific research is the reconstruction of a historical context that would have produced the Elijah/Elisha chronicles. Based on the above discussion, I proffer the following socio-historical framework, drawing on the conclusions of social-scientific scholarship that have gained wide-spread consensus. First, I only assume to know only what can be demonstrated from modern historiographical methods with a reasonable margin of doubt. Therefore, I relate to the Elisha stories as accurate portrayals of their historical context, the 9th century KNI, and to its characters as literary representations, accurately reflecting the life-setting, actions, and speech of historical figures, as demonstrated by the foregoing survey of scholarship. I summarize that historical context, citing the biblical text where appropriate: a shift toward deeper involvement in international affairs can be discerned in the royal policies of the Omride dynasty from previous dynasties of the KNI. This involvement included the introduction of state-sponsored 27 28 29 30 Ibid., 47–49. Thomas W Overholt, “Seeing Is Believing: The Social Setting of Prophetic Acts of Power,” JSOT 23 (July 1982): 9–10, 21–23. Burke O. Long, “Social Setting for Prophetic Miracle Stories,” Semeia 3 (1975): 57. Long concludes that one of the objectives of the stories was to bolster the faith of the common person, Ibid., 55–58. This may indicate that the provenance or intended audience of the Elisha stories was peasantry. Robert LaBarbera, “The Man of War and the Man of God: Social Satire in 2 Kings 6:8-7:20,” CBQ 46, no. 4 (October 1984): 651. 7 worship of Phoenician deities (1 Kgs 16:31-33), establishment of foreign trade (1 Kgs 20:34), and the establishment and maintenance of a standing army (compare 1 Kgs 20:15, where King Ahab assembles an ad-hoc army with 1 Kgs 22, where he has employs chariots). These policies would have succeeded in achieving prosperity for a privileged few, but the majority of the population would have been marginalized and impoverished from these substantial societal changes. Family farms were acquired by, perhaps forcefully, and consolidated into larger estates, as in the story of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kgs 21:1-16). Although new advances in technology, such as the widespread production and use of iron implements, brought about advances in agriculture, these implements were still unaffordable for landless peasants, as is demonstrated by the grief of the prophet who loses a borrowed axe-head (2 Kgs 6:1-7). Without a base of economic support in the tribal inheritance, widows and orphans became particularly susceptible to debt-slavery, as shown by the desperation of the prophet's widow (2 Kgs 4:1-7; cf. Mic 2:9). Additionally, the population was constantly under the threat of war (1 Kgs 20, 22; 2 Kgs 3, 5-8); victims were subject to exile and slavery (2 Kgs 5:1-2) and suffered sub-human conditions during siege warfare (2 Kgs 6:24-31). Even during times of relative peace, natural disasters, such as drought and famine, ensured that the population lived constantly in the shadow of death by starvation (1 Kgs 17:17-24; 2 Kgs 4:38-41; 2 Kgs 8:1). While kings and other elite also endured hardships during this period (2 Kgs 3:9-10; 6:810; 24-31), such conditions ensured that peasants were even more susceptible since resources for militarization competed with the scant resources available for ordinary people (1 Kgs 18:1-5). That King Ahab sends Obadiah out looking for pastureland to feed the horses during a three and a half year drought is a negative testimony to a people silently starving. While social science is effective for determining the social context, scholars must be careful to avoid overriding details in the text when applying conceptual models based on social theory. If certain historical details in the text are at variance with the model, then the model may be too simplistic or inappropriately applied. I offer one example of a model inappropriately applied. While 8 Elijah might fit the paradigm of Petersen's “peripheral prophet,” Elisha does not. His continual engagement with the kings of Israel throughout the story-cycle render this designation unsuitable. Although he expresses disdain for Jehoram, his presence with the Israelite invasion force and willingness to facilitate a miraculous provision of water befits a court prophet (2 Kgs 3:13-20). At the same time, were it not for his involvement in the lives of ordinary people and the marginalized of society, Elisha would be considered one of the elite (see 2 Kgs 4:13). Scholars must be extremely cautious about basing textual exegesis on their own reconstructed social history. I propose to base my exegesis on literary analysis of the text, allowing for complexity and attempting to incorporate as many divergent details as possible, while drawing sparingly from the social-scientific reconstruction, to illuminate the historical background. It is to a history of the literary analysis of the Elisha narratives that I know turn. 1.1.2. Genre Analysis: The Development of Form Criticism A review of recent research on the book of Kings concludes: “The main contribution of recent research on the prophetic narratives on Elijah and Elisha is focused on determining their literary genres.”31 According to Kenton L. Sparks, determining a text's literary genre is the endeavor to name and classify a text, by comparing and contrasting texts that are similar to it.32 While Sparks calls this “genre criticism,” I shall use “genre analysis” instead, since it is an analytical tool that can inform different methodological approaches to the text. It is not a sub-discipline of biblical exegesis itself like form criticism, redaction criticism, or tradition-historical criticism. Largely the concern of form criticism,33 genre analysis has also influenced the field of literary-aesthetic criticism,34 in the 31 32 33 34 Michael Avioz, “The Book of Kings in Recent Research (Part II),” CBR 5, no. 1 (October 2006): 31. My discussion of genre and genre analysis is informed by Kenton L. Sparks, “Genre Criticism,” in Methods for Exodus, ed. Thomas B. Dozeman, Methods in Biblical Interpretation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 55–67. Form criticism is “the methodology that has focused on classifying and comparing literary genres...” Kenton L. Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005), 5. In this study I will use “literary-aesthetic criticism” to refer to a method that is sometimes called alternately “rhetorical criticism,” “new criticism,” “literary criticism,” or the more broad yet descriptive “synchronic analysis.” Examples of literary-aesthetic scholars of the Elisha story-cycle who use genre analysis include Moore, who describes the three stories of 2 Kgs 5, 6:8-23, and 6:24-7:20 as “didactic salvation stories,” Rick Dale Moore, God 9 endeavor of achieving greater clarity in classifying narratives. Moore provides a thorough review of scholars who sought to classify the Elisha stories, including many form-critics and literary critics, including Gunkel, Gressman, Koch, Plöger, Bronner, Rofé, Culley, Long, and others.35 Early formcritical scholars tended to classify texts rigidly into presumed universal genre, such as, the “legend” or “individual lament psalm.”36 They attempted to recover the original oral tradition of individual narratives and poems, which could be correctly identified by their form.37 Genre categories were general and encompassing: umbrella terms (Oberbegriffe) such as “saga” were understood to be universal categories, covering works of literature from vastly different cultures and time periods. According to Burke O. Long, a form critic himself, Oberbegriffe failed to account for genre criteria that may have informed the literary context of the author (tradition history), leaving “the essential descriptive task undone.”38 Another limitation of early form criticism is that genre was determined by certain aspects of the text to the exclusion of others. The form-critics maintained that each text was properly assigned to its genre based on mood, form, and life-setting.39 However, aspects of content, such as literary features and theme were not considered. As form criticism developed, scholars sought to appreciate the unique features of individual narratives, resulting in a proliferation of genre terms or an abandonment of generic analysis altogether.40 Thus, genre analysis in formcritical scholarship tends to promote endless debates about assigning the correct generic category as 35 36 37 38 39 40 Saves: Lessons From the Elisha Stories, JSOTSup 95 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990), 150. However, even his fine, detailed analysis does not incorporate the “short 'interruption' of 2 Kgs 6:1-7,” Ibid., 70. which cannot be classified under this same heading. Another example is Yael Shemesh, who classifies the entire Elisha cycle of stories as “saints' legends,” or the Hebrew term “‫שבח‬,” Yael Shemesh, “The Elisha Stories as Saints’ Legends,” JHS 8 (December 31, 2008); Yael Shemesh, “The Stories of Elisha: A Literary Analysis” (Ph.D. Dissertation, BarIlan University, 1997), 56–59. “Classifying the Elisha Stories” in Moore, God Saves, 11–68. Sparks, “Genre Criticism,” 60. Thomas Römer, “The Form-Critical Problem of the So-Called Deuteronomistic History,” in The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century, ed. Marvin A. Sweeney and Ehud Ben Zvi (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 241–242. Burke O. Long, “2 Kings III and Genres of Prophetic Narrative,” VT 23 (1973): 337–338. Sparks, “Genre Criticism,” 58. Sparks cites Herman Gunkel, The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction (trans. Th. M. Horner; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967), 10. Moore cites the influence of Gunkel in the former tendency. He cites six commentaries from the 1950s to the early 80s that continued to broad genre classification “legend” to represent the majority of the Elisha stories, despite the fact that this labeling served largely as “background comment” rather than a result of exegesis, Moore, God Saves, 31. He mentions Hobbs and DeVries as opposing trends, typical of the latter. While Hobbs completely abandoned genre labeling as too restrictive, DeVries defined several levels of sub-genre (11 types) and sub-classifications of prophetic literature, some with only one example, Ibid., 56. 10 well as correctly defining the genre.41 Alexander Rofé identified the limitations of form criticism to adequately account for the literary variety of the prophetical stories. Analyzing the Elisha story-cycle as his prime example, he sought to determine genre categories based on content rather than form.42 He attributed the nonuniformity in the stories to various authors and to different developmental stages of transmission from oral to written.43 He expanded the categories of genre classification to account for these differences since he understood proper classification “as a means for broadly detecting the message of a literary work.”44 Rofé grouped a number of short stories about Elisha under the genre legenda, employing a latin genre term used to classify the stories about medieval Christian and Jewish saints. Legenda, such as the two short stories appearing in 2 Kgs 2:19-25, are characterized by unmerited “minor deliverances” performed by the man of God primarily through magical means. The stories feature ordinary people, portrayed as character types, and thus encourage admiration for Elisha and excitement about God's involvement in their everyday affairs.45 Although his attention to the literary details of each story set the standard of interpretation for these underappreciated stories, a weakness is apparent in Rofé's approach. Although he utilized close reading, his exegesis relied heavily on diachronic analysis. His chief consideration for genre categorization was to trace “back the creative activity which expanded the original form of a folk tale.”46 The shorter legenda are underdeveloped, written digests of an oral story absent of literary shaping,47 whereas stories of his genre category “Elaboration on the Legenda,” such as 2 Kgs 4:8-37, are truly “literature” since they display sensitivities such as the moral duties of prophets and kings and “discernment of the human soul.”48 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible, 6. Alexander Rofé, “Classification of the Prophetical Stories,” JBL 89, no. 4 (December 1970): 428. He explains the inadequacy of one umbrella term, such as “legend”, to describe all the prophetical stories based on four differentiating factors: 1. Stories have varying lengths, 2. Some stories have no miracles, 3. Some stories “describe the misdeeds of the prophet rather than his achievement (I Kings 13:11 ff.),” 4. For miracles stories, there are differences as to how, why, and for whom the miracle is accomplished, Ibid., 430. Rofé, “Classification of the Prophetical Stories,” 430, 432–433. Ibid., 440. Alexander Rofé, The Prophetical Stories: The Narratives About the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, Their Literary Types and History, 1st English Edition (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988), 14–17. Rofé, “Classification of the Prophetical Stories,” 440. Ibid., 432–433; Rofé, The Prophetical Stories, 18. Rofé, “Classification of the Prophetical Stories,” 434. 11 Also the influence of source criticism on his analysis prevented him from appreciating unique aspects of each story. For instance, in two legenda, Elisha performs the miracle, invoking “the word of YHWH;” however, Rofé attributes this to editorial additions of the Deuteronomist since the miracles of the legenda are magical and independent of YHWH.49 Ultimately, this shortcoming curtailed his goal to classify stories based purely on content since diachronic aspects of his exegesis enabled him to “flatten out” details of the text that mitigated against his interpretation. However, his work laid a critical foundation for future scholars to focus exegesis on content and message: “Full realization of what that message is can be attained only by attentive and perceptive examination of the single piece of art.”50 1.1.3. From Form Criticism to Literary-Aesthetic Criticism In his seminal article, James Muilenburg made “an appeal to venture beyond the confines of form criticism into an inquiry into other literary features which are all too frequently ignored today.”51 Calling it “rhetorical criticism,” he urged that the circumspect scholar will not fail to supplement his formcritical analysis with a careful inspection of the literary unit in its precise and unique formulation. He will not be completely bound by the traditional elements and motifs of the literary genre; his task will not be completed until he has taken full account of the features which lie beyond the spectrum of the genre.52 Although Muilenburg was primarily concerned with Hebrew poetry, “rhetorical criticism” has since been applied to Hebrew narrative as well. As if in response to Muilenburg's call, B.O. Long combined analysis of literary features to his form-critical approach. In his article on genre analysis, Long discussed the difficulties scholars faced in assigning genre categories. Terms lacked precision, differed in translation and usage, and Oberbegriffe left the interpretive task unfinished.53 Terms such as “legend,” “historical narrative,” or “didactic narrative” failed to express the central thrust of 49 50 51 52 53 Rofé, The Prophetical Stories, 17–18. Rofé, “Classification of the Prophetical Stories,” 440. James Muilenburg, “Form Criticism and Beyond,” JBL 88, no. 1 (March 1969): 4. Ibid., 7. Long, “2 Kings III and Genres of Prophetic Narrative,” 337–338. 12 a given narrative.54 In his exegesis of 2 Kings 3, Long preceded his genre analysis with literarytraditional and formal analyses, insisting that genre must take into account both content and form (structure), which determines essential content. His analysis of both the literary features and the structure lead him to the conclusion that Elisha's prophetic oracle and its fulfillment were central to the narrative. He concluded that the genre “oracle-actualization narrative” most adequately described this and many other of the Elisha narratives. The key to their interpretation was not veneration of the prophet, nor recounting of history, but understanding them as demonstrative theology. Though later Long would reverse course on his view of genre, returning to the more generic categories of Gunkel,55 he continued to emphasize the importance of both formal structure and content, including literary features.56 His analysis of the short miracle stories yielded an important insight: while the content emphasizes Elisha himself as wonder-worker, structural considerations relate Elisha to a tradition of wonder-working prophets whose power originates from God.57 Fretheim also sought to appreciate the unique features and message of each narrative. While uncritical of form criticism overall, he expressed concern that various literary types were being “flattened out into a single genre.”58 Nevertheless, he labeled the majority of the prophetical stories from 1 and 2 Kings as “symbolic narrative,” which shared two features. First, like Rofé, he read characters as “types”: their words and actions are not reports of specific historic events but represent broad patterns characteristic of ninth century northern Israel.59 As Rofé had pointed out, characters appeared as types most often in the shorter legenda, whereas longer genre tended to exhibit more profound explorations of the human soul. Second, he pointed to “significant levels of 54 55 56 57 58 59 Ibid., 345. Moore provides an excellent analysis of Long's reversal of his view on genre, Moore, God Saves, 58–60. Burke O. Long, 2 Kings, FOTL 10 (Eerdmans, 1991). Ibid., 32–35, 48–51, 63–65, 79–81. That Elisha sits in this tradition provides him immunity from the trend of scholarship that views the Elisha story-cycle as largely critical of him, Wesley J. Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, JSOTSup 286 (A&C Black, 1999); Paul J. Kissling, Reliable Characters in the Primary History: Profiles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, JSOTSup 224 (A&C Black, 1996). Terence E. Fretheim, First and Second Kings, WeBC (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), 139. Ibid. 13 intertextuality” present in the story-cycle, as indications of the author's interpretation of the events recounted.60 Though not a literary genre, this designation “symbolic narrative” as an Oberbegriffe also threatened to “flatten out” interpretation and excluded possibility of historic specificity. Additionally, the term reflected the philosophical underpinning of the scholar rather than the content of the narratives. In the early 1980s, the first literary-aesthetic analyses of the longer Elisha stories began to appear. In his analysis of 2 Kings 5, Fretheim departed from Rofé and other exegetes who claim that the purpose behind the Elisha stories is to encourage veneration of the prophet. He noted how Elisha stays in the background throughout the story,61 refusing to accept credit or reward for the miracle, so that focus is shifted to the grace and mercy of God.62 Cohn also differed with Rofé by demonstrating, that although it contains clear doctrinal declarations, 2 Kgs 5 is artfully crafted, with a chiastic structure and realistic, round characters. Terming it a “didactic legendum,” he highlighted six religious or moral truths, concluding religious doctrine is expressed through the artistry of the story.63 For Cohn, the genre label (borrowed from Rofé) was a footnote to his exhibition of the literary features of the story, and his article would not have suffered for lack of it. LaBarbera took a slightly different approach in his analysis of 2 Kgs 6:8-7:20, which he considered one narrative in three parts. Combining a close reading with social-scientific tools, he concluded that these chapters comprised a clever folk satire of the ruling elite.64 He deftly identified many literary features including puns, irony, and intertextual allusions. He pointed out how these stories exhibit kings and other elite as foolish and indebted to their servants, who consistently guide them to the right conclusions.65 His concluding remark that Elisha is portrayed as taking sides with the simple peasant folk against the ruling elite, however, oversimplifies Elisha's relationship with those elite as 60 61 62 63 64 65 Ibid., 140. Terence E. Fretheim, Deuteronomic History, IBT (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1982), 145–151. Ibid., 154. Robert L. Cohn, “Form and Perspective in 2 Kings V,” VT 33, no. 2 (1983): 183, 184. LaBarbera, “Social Satire,” 637. Ibid., 651. 14 portrayed in these and other stories.66 Although his close reading is penetrating and insightful, his conclusion drew more from social science than his literary analysis. T. R. Hobbs penned one of the first commentaries on 2 Kings using literary-aesthetic criticism. Following in the footsteps of Alter, Fokkelman and others, Hobbs also avoided judgments about sources and composition history to present an interpretation based on synchronic analysis, drawing attention to its literary techniques, considering the text of 2 Kings “not so much as a collection of disparate parts, but as a well-constructed whole.”67 Hobbs pointed out the futility of tracing the narrative's development from oral stories by noting the contradictory conclusions drawn by Rofé and the form critics, such as Koch, and that even if one could be certain, such reconstructions are of marginal utility for interpreting the text.68 Additionally, Hobbs eschewed genre categories as unhelpful for interpretation since, “the search for common formal features is that the common elements are stressed to the detriment of the individual features.”69 For Hobbs, it is only in the particulars of a story that bear the author's genius and intent. R.D. Moore criticized both Hobbs and the later work of Long for disposing with careful genre analysis, maintaining that despite its limitations, genre classification is useful for achieving proper interpretation of the text.70 Though past genre classifications had “prematurely closed off interpretation,” Moore insisted that adequate treatment of a narrative focuses not only on the unique features of each text but also its typicalities that complement these features to “reveal a quite specific pattern of meaning and function.”71 In his study of the three long stories from 2 Kings 5-7, Moore proceeded from literary-aesthetic analysis of each individual story to gain an appreciation of its particular features to a treatment of the stories in their of their literary and historical context. 66 67 68 69 70 71 For example, the king of Samaria defers to Elisha and calls him by an honorific title (2 Kgs 6:21). Elsewhere, Elisha is seated with the elders of Samaria and appears to have enlisted them to help him when the king threatens his life (2 Kgs 6:32). In 2 Kgs 5, Elisha helps the King of Aram's chief military official and curses his own servant. What is important is not that one is elite and the other peasant, but that one (the foreign military general!) submits humbly to the authority of YHWH while the other does not. T. R. Hobbs, 2 Kings, vol. 13, WBC (Thomas Nelson, 1986), xxvi. Ibid., 13:17. Ibid., 13:45. Moore, God Saves, 62, 66. Ibid., 62. 15 Moore's analysis of character, motifs, puns and key words (leitworten), with his attention to narrative pace and perspective, deftly demonstrates the literary sophistication of these stories and draws out their key theological themes. He cogently argues against four differing interpretations72 to make his case that these stories are “efforts by loyal Yahwists to identify and explicate the saving action of Yahweh at a time when Aram's sustained military threat against Israel placed a question mark over Yahweh's role as Israel's deliverer.”73 At the end of his analysis, Moore coins the phrase “didactic salvation stories” as the most appropriate genre label since they “offer fresh insight into Yahweh's saving activity in ninth-century Israel.”74 However, he rests the definition of this genre term on the whole of his analysis, fails to provide a concise definition of it, and does not suggest application of it for other narratives. Like Rofé, Cohn, Long and others, Moore contributes a brilliant exegesis of the Elisha narratives, and his insights have informed my own analysis75 as well as that of many others, but his genre category while providing a convenient handle on the stories, adds little value to his work or the scholarly discussion. Yael Shemesh focused her attention on the short Elisha narratives, the first to undertake a literary-aesthetic critical study on these texts. A previous generation of scholarship had judged them absent of “literary shaping.”76 Shemesh, however, demonstrated the literary artistry and expressiveness of the shorter stories, which employ sophisticated techniques such as analogy.77 She indicates numerous structural and verbal parallels among stories within the Elisha narratives and between these narratives and the Elijah cycle and other biblical narratives.78 One important 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 Moore argues that the interpretations “Prophetic Veneration,” “Prophetic Conflict,” “Conflict with Baalism,” and “Class Conflict,” Ibid., 105–128. “are flawed in varying degrees by the tendency to stress certain aspects of the content and context of the narratives to the neglect of others,” Ibid., 149. Avioz identifies the main proponents of each of these interpretive theories in his section, “The Literary Genres of the Elijah-Elisha Narratives,” Avioz, “The Book of Kings in Recent Research (Part II),” 31–32. Moore, God Saves, 128. Ibid., 147. See also Ibid., 150, n. 2., where Moore identifies the focus of the narratives as “Yahwism's theological struggle with Aramean domination.” One example is in his analysis of 2 Kgs 5, he isolates the dominant pattern of the story: “help and solution for the great one will be mediated through lowly persons,” Moore, God Saves, 71–72. Rofé, The Prophetical Stories, 18. Shemesh, “Stories of Elisha”; Yael Shemesh, “Elisha and the Miraculous Jug of Oil (2 Kgs 4:1-7),” JHS 8 (2008). For an example of the former, see Shemesh, “Elisha and the Miraculous Jug of Oil,” 3–7.. For an example of the latter, see Ibid., 8–10, 12, 15–17. 16 contribution of her latest scholarship has been to refute the recent tendency in Elisha scholarship to view author of the story-cycle as critical of him.79 She regards the narratives as the oldest example of hagiographic stories in Jewish literature, calling them “saints’ legends” or “prophetic hagiography,” based on their similarity to the genre of the legends of Jewish saints. As opposed to Moore, she provides a concise definition of these two, apparently equivalent, genre labels in her conclusion: stories that “express the worshipful attitude and the intensity of the religious experience that people felt in the presence of the embodiment of holiness in the Lord’s emissary, the holy man of God, Elisha.”80 Although she reached the opposite conclusion of Rofé with respect to his judgment of the literary accomplishment of these stories, she arrived to nearly the same generic and interpretative conclusion, that the purpose of the stories is to venerate Elisha.81 This, once again, demonstrated the inadequacy of generic terms, which illuminate a particular scholar's understanding of authorial intent but provide only partial insight into the full thematic thrust of the narratives themselves. I will now turn to content considerations as I frame my analysis of the Elisha narratives. 1.2. The Literary Role of Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative After Elisha is appointed as successor to Elijah in 1 Kings 19, Elisha disappears for four chapters until he reappears suddenly on the eve of his master's heavenly ascension. No details about his apprenticeship to Elijah are revealed in the ensuing chapters other than that “he assisted him” (1 Kgs 19:21; ‫)וישרתהו‬. Suddenly, in 2 Kings 2 after four chapters, Elisha is portrayed as fiercely loyal to his master while balancing his interests with a group known as “the sons of the prophets.” The reader's first impression of Elisha is his involvement with ordinary people. Before leaving to follow Elijah, Elisha, son of Shaphat, slaughters his oxen and feeds the people, then kisses his 79 80 81 She provides detailed rebuttals of scholars who find either individual stories critical of Elisha (such as Amit, Roncace, Shields, Zackovitch and others) or the entire cycle (such as Bergen and Kissling), Shemesh, “The Elisha Stories as Saints’ Legends,” 10–38. Ibid., 40. Although he called them “prophetic legenda” note the similarity of definition to that of Shemesh's definition of “Saints' Legends” on Rofé, The Prophetical Stories, 16–17. See also his comparison of the Elisha stories to the legends of Jewish and Christian saints, Rofé, “Classification of the Prophetical Stories,” 429. 17 parents goodbye. In contrast to Elisha, the biblical narrative does not mention Elijah's family or pedigree; he is named only in relation to his town of origin in the hill country of Bashan in the Transjordan (1 Kgs 17), a geographic area he never visits. Elijah is nearly always portrayed as independent and solitary—the lone prophet maintaining sole worship of the YHWH. Elijah escaped to Wadi Kerith to be fed by ravens alone, battled the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel alone, then ran 40 days in the wilderness to Mount Horeb alone. He insisted to YHWH twice that he was the only one in all of Israel who remained faithful to him (1 Kings 19:10, 14). Despite being corrected by none other than YHWH that there were 7000 prophets faithful to him, one of whom was his supposed apprentice, we encounter him seated alone on a mountain top toward the end of his prophetic career (2 Kgs 1). Elisha, on the other hand, is always portrayed interacting with other people, not only with kings and court officials, but most often with ordinary people from different walks of life. He interacts with townspeople, peripheral prophets,82 servants, women, foreigners, as well as generals and kings. Despite a few episodes that recall his fire-brandishing predecessor (2 Kings 2:23-24; 5:25-27; 7:1), Elisha is everywhere to be found, busily engaged in helping people of all backgrounds with their various problems. Elisha is consistently reliable: he helps every person who appeals to him (even, begrudgingly, those he disapproves of, e.g., 2 Kgs 3:15). Walter Brueggemann compares Elisha to a magnet, drawing needy people to himself.83 The Elisha stories, which take place in a variety of settings, are not necessarily written in narrative sequence.84 Elisha's long career (a minimum of 57 years) began with his appointment to 82 83 84 I differentiate between court prophets who served the Omride kings and the group known as “the sons of the prophets” ‫בני נביאים‬, peripheral prophetic communities who lived in poverty the Jordan valley, and who are portrayed as dependent on Elisha as charismatic leader. For more on the ‫ בני הנביאים‬see Petersen, The Roles of Israel’s Prophets, 43–50; Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:25–27; Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 57–59. Walter Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2000), 319. Departure from chronological sequence in biblical narrative is typically represented by the use of disjunctive waw. The majority of the stories in the Elisha story-cycle (9 out of 17; cf., 0 of 9 Elijah stories) begin with the waw + subject + qatal as opposed to the wayyiqtol, which indicates narrative sequence, Paul Joüon and T. Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome: PIB, 2006), §118. “This feature of succession characteristic of the wayyiqtol construction becomes particularly evident when biblical writers, when they do not want to express succession, deliberately avoid wayyiqtol and replace it with w- .. qatal,” Ibid., §118d. However, Joosten demonstrates that wayyiqtol indicates only simple preterite and that sequence must be inferred from the context, Jan Joosten, The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis Elaborated on the Basis of Classical Prose (Simor Publishing, 2012), 165–178, 212ff. 18 the prophetic office during the reign of Ahab and extended through the reigns of Jehoram (12 years), Jehu (28 years), Jehoahaz (17 years), and Jehoash (16 years), during whose reign he died. Scholars frequently debate the identity of the king in 2 Kgs 5-8, who is portrayed at times as reverent and admiring of Elisha but other times as critical and threatening.85 Satterthwaite presents the best case for the literary coherence of the Elisha story-cycle, but at the same time, he argues for “the deliberate presentation of events out of chronological sequence.”86 Neither the individual characters themselves nor the relationships between them display discernible development, nor are the individual narratives provided with chronological markers.87 What these stories have in common is thematic: Elisha is consistently available and willing to render assistance to the king, the foreign soldier, the poor widow, or the whole nation, if need be. While scholars have noted Elisha's community involvement, especially in contrast to Elijah's reclusiveness,88 very few have focused their analysis on the secondary characters with whom he interacts. As a powerful, enigmatic, and sometimes controversial character among biblical kings and prophets, Elisha is a fascinating and popular focus of research.89 However, little attention has been paid to the quiet but crucial contribution of the multifarious secondary characters to the storycycle. Their contribution is particularly important considering the lack of explicit verbal message in the Elisha stories.90 Elisha's direct speech generally lacks unequivocal moral or theological exhortation, with few exceptions.91 Striking is Elisha's supremely ambiguous response, “Go in 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 Jehoram is mentioned in 2 Kgs 3:8 and not again until 8:16; in the intervening five stories where the king is mentioned, he is called simply “the king of Israel.” Philip E. Satterthwaite, “The Elisha Narratives and the Coherence of 2 Kings 2-8,” TB 49 (1998): 27. The story of 2 Kings 8:1-6 is an exception. Gehazi clearly refers the king to the story of Elisha's miraculous raising of the Shunammite woman's son (2 Kgs 4), although he seems to show no signs of permanent skin disease (2 Kgs 5). 2 Kgs 6:24 is another exception, but is also puzzling. That it begins with ‫" ויהי אחרי כן‬afterwords” clearly links the opening of this story with the foregoing, although 6:23 seems to indicate a permanent cessation to hostilities between Israel and Aram. Leah Bronner, The Stories of Elijah and Elisha as Polemics against Baal Worship (Leiden: Brill, 1968), 28–29. See, for instance, in Avioz's review of the research on the Elisha narratives from 1990-2005, Avioz, “The Book of Kings in Recent Research (Part II),” 26–35. This lack of a message has been noted as a criticism of Elisha as a prophet, Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 14, 176. However, Shemesh uses this to support her view of Elisha as “Holy Man of God” not prophetic emissary, Shemesh, “The Elisha Stories as Saints’ Legends,” 38, 39. For instance, note Shemesh's discussion on the moral and religious implications of Elisha's cursing of the jeering boys of Bethel. In her analysis, she discusses three separate reasons why Elisha might have taken offense based solely on Elisha's baldness, Shemesh, “The Elisha Stories as Saints’ Legends,” 12, 13. Since Elisha utters no statement explaining the nature of his offense, much is left up to conjecture. 19 peace,” to Naaman's request to make exceptions to biblical worship of YHWH, in whose name he had just uttered a dramatic profession of faith (2 Kgs 5:17-19). In 2 Kgs 3:13, Elisha criticizes the Omride kings for their introduction of Baal worship to northern Israel, although this criticism is somewhat veiled. In 2 Kgs 5:25, Elisha pronounces judgment on Gehazi, apparently for his materialism. Yet, the basis of his criticism is only fully understood in light of Elisha's action: his own refusal to accept material reward (2 Kgs 5:16). In other stories where Elisha pronounces judgment on another character (2 Kgs 2:23-24 and 7:1-2), the reason for the judgment must be inferred. Additionally with no recorded communication between YHWH and the prophet, mention of the prophet's internal reflections, or explicit narrator statements to evaluate him, Elisha's actions bear the onus of characterizing the prophet.92 Bar-Efrat issues this warning in writing about characterization based on character actions: if the author refrains “from revealing to us what are the internal motives which give rise to the actions and as in real life, we have to build hypotheses about people's motives.”93 And it is frequently out of a character portrait of Elisha based on hypothetical motives that the thematic message of the Elisha story-cycle is construed. For example, Both Bergen and Kissling construct highly critical portraits of Elisha, based on their analysis of Elisha's deeds. The former sees Elisha as a failure to live up to what the reader would expect from a prophet, who performs miracles that are of questionable origin, usefulness, and sustainability.94 The latter portrays him as simply unreliable, primarily by questioning the morality of his miracles.95 Both scholars rely heavily on comparison and contrast with the prophet-emissary Elijah. Whereas, Shemesh, who maintains that Elisha is properly understood as a wonder-working “Holy Man of God” not a prophet-emissary, constructs a completely positive portrait of Elisha from her analysis of the same miracles and of the stories as intending to praise him.96 Inherent in their analyses is an assumption 92 93 94 95 96 Levine notes that in contrast to Elijah, communication between God and Elisha is never mentioned, only assumed, Nachman Levine, “Twice as Much of Your Spirit: Pattern, Parallel, and Paronomasia in the Miracles of Elijah and Elisha,” JSOT 85 (1999): 44, 45. Shimeon Bar-Efrat, Narrative Art in the Bible (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 77. Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 14, 43–45. Kissling, Reliable Characters in the Primary History, 195–199. Shemesh, “The Elisha Stories as Saints’ Legends”; Shemesh, “Stories of Elisha.” 20 that the thematic meaning of the story is based on the characterization of the main character Elisha. In light of these differing interpretations, I propose that a systematic analysis of secondary characters and the portrayal of their interaction with Elisha will offer a new lens through which these stories can be interpreted, and suggest their manifold thematic import. Uriel Simon states in his conclusion of his seminal article about minor characters: “In view of the biblical narrative's quest for theological understatement and its eschewing of ethical value judgments, it is the minor characters who often provide the key to the message of the story.”97 Such a statement is, of course, not evident. Simon covers much expository ground in his evaluation of the importance of minor characters, from those whom the author conjures up and dispatches as a “formal expression of the subordination of the secondary to the chief character”98 to key messagebearers. A more widespread view of the function of minor characters is to provide indirect characterization of the main ones; in other words, they are the background from which the principals stand out.99 Moses' heroism at the Midianite well shines in light of the shepherds' abuse, David's courage to fight Goliath sets him apart from his brothers, and Ruth's dedication eclipses that of Orpah. One of the limitations of analyzing minor characters is their relatively low level of characterization. The biblical author paints each character with sufficient depth to fulfill their role in the story. Adele Berlin defines three different categories of minor characters based on their level of characterization. While a “full-fledged character” and a “type” roughly corresponds to “round” and “flat” characters, she discerns a third category, an “agent,” her lowest level of characterization. According to Berlin, agents are not important for themselves, and nothing of themselves, their feelings, etc., is revealed to the reader. The reader cannot relate to them as people. They are there for the effect that they have on the plot or its characters. They are necessary for the plot, or serve to contrast 97 98 99 Simon, “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative,” 18. Ibid., 13. Bar-Efrat, Narrative Art in the Bible, 86, 87. 21 with or provoke responses from the characters.100 Agents are not consequential in their own right since they exist only as an accessory to the plot or to characterize the majors. The literary function of minor characters representing peasants, servants and other common people often mirrors their function in real life--to wait upon the major characters they serve, to appear and disappear as necessary. An example of this phenomenon is the role of Abraham's two servants in Genesis 22. They set off with Abraham and Isaac, balancing the cast of four characters, father, son and two servants. They conveniently disappear, obeying Abraham's command to stay with the provisions without verbal response, while father and son go off alone to Mt. Moriah. Their silent disappearance focuses the reader on the relationship between father and son, conveying a sense of intimacy and poignancy.101 When Abraham rejoins the servants for the return trip, Isaac is notably absent. Afterward, Abraham and Isaac are never portrayed together until Isaac returns to bury his father with Ishmael. Instead of encumbering the reader with nonessential details about minor characters, the author focused the reader on the characterization of the principals and the action of the plot.102 While, indeed one of the functions of minor characters is to accentuate certain personality traits of the majors by means of contrast, I will maintain that the secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle not only provide indirect characterization of Elisha and major secondary characters, but they also make a direct contribution to the thematic message. The sheer number and diversity of secondary characters appearing in a variety of roles in the Elisha narratives is an exception to the biblical reductionism of dramatis personae. While some of these minor characters might be 100 101 102 Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1983), 32. However, elements of this definition inhabit all three levels. In listing her examples, all women in David's life, she identifies “agents” (Abishag and Bathsheba in 2 Sam 11-12), “types” (Abigail), and “full-fledged characters” (Michal and Bathsheba in 1 Kgs 1). These females portrayed in varying levels of characterization are all minor characters, and according to Berlin, their literary function is indirect characterization of David: "The result in all of these cases is an indirect presentation of David, in which various aspects of his character emerge naturally, outside of the glare of direct scrutiny,” Ibid., 33. I understand the “disappearance” of Isaac as intentional literary device, contra Simon, “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative,” 13. Grossman shows how the disappearance of minor characters achieves its intended literary purpose, in analyzing the character of Esther's servant Hathach, Jonathan Grossman, “The Vanishing Character in Biblical Narrative: The Role of Hathach in Esther 4,” VT 62, no. 4 (October 2012): 561–71. Rather than a primitive feature of biblical literature, this “reticence” to sketch out the personalities of many of the minor characters achieves literary focus and clarity, Simon, “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative,” 11–13. 22 considered “agents” in Berlin's categorization, many of them are portrayed with considerably more depth of emotion, wisdom, and faith. Although many feature in just one or two verses, the author has managed to create realistic minor characters with minimal means of portrayal that is typical of biblical narrative.103 Additionally, their literary-aesthetic and thematic contribution to the story suits them to be key message-bearers. 1.3. The Major Importance of Minor Characters: The Contribution of this Thesis 1.3.1. The Justification for a Study of Minor Characters in the Elisha Story-Cycle To date, no one has offered a systematic analysis of the minor secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle. To propose the usefulness of such a study, I turn momentarily to New Testament scholarship. Recently, New Testament scholars have produced a spate of articles and several monographs examining the literary role and thematic contribution of minor characters in the gospels.104 Several scholars of the Book of Mark have shown that minor characters in that gospel are essential message-bearers. E.S. Malbon defines a minor character as “one who lacks a continuing or recurrent presence in the story as narrated.”105 She finds that minor characters in Mark are far from stereotyped; rather, they provide a “continuum of responses” to Jesus from opposition to “fallible followers.”106 Since they are portrayed both positively and negatively, they “open the story of Jesus” and the possibility of discipleship to anyone who reads the Gospel of Mark.107 According to J. F. Williams they bear the theme of central significance to the gospel: that anyone can become a disciple of Jesus, but no one will find the path of discipleship easy.108 Gardner agrees with Williams' 103 104 105 106 107 108 Yairah Amit, Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible (Fortress Press, 2001), 71. For example, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000); Joel F. Williams, Other Followers of Jesus: Minor Characters as Major Figures in Mark’s Gospel (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994). Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, “The Major Importance of the Minor Characters in Mark,” in The New Literary Criticism and the New Testament, ed. Elizabeth Struthers Malbon and Edgar V. McKnight (A&C Black, 1994), 60. This is close to my definition of a minor secondary character as noted above, where I differentiated between major and minor secondary characters. Ibid., 64. Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, “Disciples/Crowds/Whoever: Markan Characters and Readers,” NT 28, no. 2 (April 1986): 104. Joel F. Williams, “Discipleship and Minor Characters in Mark’s Gospel,” BSac 153 (September 1996): 342–343. 23 conclusion and adds that minor characters who exercise their faith in Jesus “prepare the way of the Lord,” removing obstacles from the advancement of God's purposes, and countering other characters who present obstacles.109 Malbon notes that minor characters serve as an important bridge to the reader: while the implied reader may identify either with Jesus or with his fallible followers, (many of whom being minor characters) he or she will most likely identify with the values of Jesus but with the situation of the followers.110 My intention with the foregoing brief survey is not to suggest thematic parallels between the gospels and the Elisha narratives themselves. I offer the analogy merely to suggest the usefulness of similar full-length analysis of minor characters in the Elisha narratives. Hebrew Bible scholars have already noted similar distinguishing features of the portrayal of ordinary folk in the Elisha narratives, but none to date have offered a systematic analysis of minor characters. Long was among the first to highlight their atypical role. He contrasted Naaman with the captured Israelite servant girl and noted that her suggestion carries a “mysterious generative power.”111 Later on, Naaman's servants display “naive good sense” in contrast to his chauvinism, as they persuasively yet politely encourage Naaman to follow Elisha's instructions.112 Cohn made more structured observations about minor characters, remarking how often servants offer a wise word to a king or other leader in a critical situation. He read these characters as a literary device of the author who wished to denigrate and undermine the authority of that king.113 Hens-Piazza advanced the discussion, observing that minor characters play a pivotal role in many of the Elisha stories. Though they often portray the “powerless” in society, they are used as “agents of the all-powerful God.”114 Elisha does not treat them as victims, she maintains, rather he empowers them, directing them to participate in the outworking of the miracles he performs.115 Bodner draws numerous literary and 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 A Edward Gardner, “Reading between the Texts: Minor Characters Who Prepare the Way for Jesus,” Encounter 66, no. 1 (2005): 49. Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, “Text And Contexts: Interpreting The Disciples In Mark,” Semeia 62 (1993): 92. Long, 2 Kings, 70. Ibid., 72. Robert L. Cohn, 2 Kings (Liturgical Press, 2000), 21, 45, 52–53. See also, Long, 2 Kings, 41. Gina Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, AOTC (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006), 276. Ibid., 255, 256. 24 thematic parallels between different minor characters, demonstrating how they characterize not only major characters, such as Elisha, the king, and Naaman, but even other minor characters. For instance, he points out how the Syrian king's servants in 2 Kgs 6:12 “continue the plot and provide indirect characterization of Elisha,” while noting how they contribute, along with Naaman's servants (2 Kgs 5:13), to a positive portrayal of “rank-and-file Arameans.”116 He also compares them to the Israelite servant girl (2 Kgs 5:2-3) since “both characters understand something unique about the prophet and relay this information to the highest-ranking Aramean leaders.”117 Despite all these observations, his section on “On Minor Characters 'The Ensemble'” draws rather modest conclusions, limiting their literary role to the characterization of different facets of Elisha's personality.118 While these scholars have noted the peculiar portrayal of minor characters in the Elisha narratives and have ventured some insightful comments about their importance, none to date have offered a systematic analysis of their literary role and contribution to the thematic message of the story-cycle. In this study, I intend to rectify this omission. 1.3.2. Thesis Paragraph Through a literary-aesthetic analysis of the author's use of minor characters in the Elisha story-cycle, I intend to support the following thesis. Frequently, ordinary townspeople, servants, mothers, foreigners, and those on the margins of society make a pivotal contribution to the ministry of Elisha. The affirmative portrayal of ordinary people ascribes worth and importance to the marginalized of society and serves as a subtle critique to kings, military leaders, and other power brokers in society. In many of the stories, kings and military generals are shown to be dependent upon the ordinary people serving them. In a period when ordinary Israelites were increasingly marginalized, impoverished, and oppressed as a result of damaging royal policies introduced by the kings of northern Israel in the ninth century, the ministry of Elisha is an overall boon for Israelite 116 117 118 Bodner, The Double Agent, 107, 108. Ibid., 156. Ibid., 157. 25 society because he empowers ordinary folk to play their role in Israel’s salvation history, using the resources at their disposal. Finally, these stories convey a powerful theological message through their unique portrayal of ordinary folk: the inexorable purposes of YHWH for Israel and the nations (i.e., divine providence) are fulfilled not only through powerful figures and great miracles, but also through simple acts of obedience carried out by humble and faithful people. 1.4. Methodological Approach My method of naming and classifying Elisha stories involves identifying stories whose plot and interactions between Elisha and the minor characters share several affinities. Additionally, I have selected several biblical narratives outside the Elisha stories for comparison that also share these same affinities. The categories I will define and use for my analysis are not genre categories in a formal sense. Rather they are “analytical genre,” i.e., theoretical categories that I have created and defined to facilitate my analyses of texts in the present study.119 I draw on Sparks' helpful distinction between “generic realism,” the theory that each literary work is properly classified by its own proper genre and “generic conceptualism”120 in which, “generic categories are essentially taxonomic inventions.”121 Generic conceptualism is more versatile and utilitarian than generic realism. It is not limited to fixed, universal genre categories but facilitates the creation of new categories, appropriate to the methodological approach and research aims of the scholar. Biblical narrative is multivalent, and no single discipline can offer an exhaustive exegesis. For example, if a particular biblical narrative is to be analyzed for its folkloric elements, then the scholar will wish to invoke folkloric genre categories, if for its historical features then historical nomenclature, if for its sociological significance then social-scientific, etc. Sparks notes that an unfortunate result of generic realism is “the persistence of debates about the definitions of certain biblical genres.”122 However, in generic 119 120 121 122 My analysis has more or less followed the “essential theoretical elements and practical activities” of genre criticism as laid out by Sparks, “Genre Criticism,” 63–64. Which he also calls “generic nominalism”, Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible, 6. Ibid. Ibid. 26 conceptualism, genre categories need not rule one another out. A narrative, such as the siege of Samaria (2 Kgs 6:24-7:20), may be simultaneously classified a didactic salvation story, a social satire, and a saint's legend, depending on the method of the exegete. Such a multifaceted story relays a complex of messages: despite the extreme suffering resultant from poor domestic policies and the horrors of siege warfare, God is still active, saving his people, while judging those who are unfaithful, through the oracles and miracles of Elisha, and the action of ordinary people. In the following chapters, I will conduct a literary-aesthetic analysis of minor secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle, comparing them with major secondary characters within the cycle or with minor characters in other biblical narratives where appropriate.123 My analytical process corresponds to what Sparks calls genre criticism—“a complex interpretive exercise that seeks to understand the nature, meaning, and significance of a text by creatively comparing it with similar texts and/or traditions.”124 I begin with a close reading of the target text, including special attention to the minor and major secondary characters and proceed to a comparison and contrast with other biblical narratives that share affinities, especially with respect to the treatment of secondary characters. My category, the “Direct Appeal Miracle Story,” for instance, invites comparisons between a target text in the Elisha story-cycle and other texts in that same cycle where a secondary character appeals directly to Elisha, who responds by performing a miracle. Special attention will be given to differences between similar texts within this grouping, for it is precisely at these points of divergence that a story's particular thematic message is clearly shown. Furthermore, I will contrast stories outside the Elisha corpus that share many of the target text's affinities, but do not employ secondary characters in the same way as the target text. At the same time, while these 123 124 For the purpose of my analysis of the Elisha narratives, I define a “primary character” as one who appears in multiple stories within the Elisha story-cycle as a lead character. A “major secondary character” is one who appears as a lead character in one long story only or who appears in multiple stories but not as a lead character. A “minor secondary character” appears in only one or two stories, not in the lead role, or in the lead role of a short story (seven verses or less). I define the “lead character” of a story according to the criteria of focus of interest, quantitative, structural, and thematic, Amit, Reading Biblical Narratives, 88. According to these definitions, Elisha is the only “primary character,” while Naaman, Gehazi, the woman of Shunem, and the king of Israel are “major secondary characters,” while the rest are “minor secondary characters.” When treated as a collective, the “sons of the prophets” are also “major secondary characters.” Sparks, “Genre Criticism,” 63. (His italics) 27 stories display a large degree of resemblance within the corpus of Elisha narratives, they differ from similar narratives in the rest of the Hebrew Bible. These stories might fall under the same genre label but differ in significant ways, in particular, with respect to the role of minor secondary characters.125 Using Berlin's category of an “agent” as a springboard, I will analyze three character groupings, according to their function in the plot in the following three chapters to support my thesis. In chapter two, “Direct Appeal Agents” approach Elisha with the mundane problems of everyday life. They come full of faith that Elisha is both willing and able to help them. They receive not only solutions but empowerment and encouragement as the prophet involves them in the execution of individual miracles on their behalf. Typically, the prophet calls on them to draw from their own resources and participate in the execution of the miracle or other act of deliverance. In chapter three, “Agents of Prophetic Referral” share timely wisdom with their superiors correcting the judgment errors of kings and other elite to resolve the presenting threat or dilemma. Many refer their superiors to Elisha when faced with a threat or dilemma, while others wisely and gently provide critical advice to a superior who is on the verge of making a foolish decision. When the hesitant or faltering leader takes their advice, the narrative events unfold in alignment with divine providence. Unknowingly, these well-intentioned servants achieve a higher purpose than they intend. In chapter four, “Surprise Agents” enter the story to reveal a surprising turn of events in the narrative. While the previous two character functions are commendable for their faithful actions or timely wisdom, these ordinary folk participate in the unfolding of divine providence by virtue of their presence and proximity to Elisha the man of God. They bear witness to God's grace and his miraculous acts of deliverance on their behalf. Rather than defining new literary genres, I will use these terms as convenient groupings that aid in analyzing the common and unique features of these characters and their stories. Accordingly, I will ask research questions pertinent to each of these 125 An example that I will analyze in Chapter 2 is a comparison between Moses' sweetening of the waters at Marah (Exod 15:22-26) and Elisha's healing of the waters of Jericho (2 Kgs 2:19-22). Numerous parallels exist between these two short stories, and both may be considered “Direct Appeal Miracle Stories.” 28 three groupings, and I will analyze examples of minor secondary characters in the Bible outside the Elisha story-cycle for points of comparison and contrast. My goal is to present an assessment of the contribution of minor secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle can be fully appreciated. 29 2. Direct Appeal Agents: Ordinary Miracles for Extraordinary People “The people have the power. All we do have to do is awaken the power in the people.” --John Lennon 2.1. Introduction The first group of minor secondary characters we will examine are examples of faithfulness in the Elisha story cycle. While many of them are leading characters of the stories in which they appear, the stories themselves are short—generally seven verses or fewer—and they appear only once in the story-cycle.126 Their degree of characterization is consistent with other minor secondary characters we are considering in the Elisha story-cycle. The author portrays them with a few critical brush strokes of color and personality as examples of faithful and obedient followers. While they are not subservient to the plot like “Agents,” neither are they afforded full development of character like Berlin's “Type” or Cohn's third category of characterization “Characters who Play Supporting Roles.”127 Similarly, the function they play in the narrative is consistent. Like Abigail and her servants (1 Sam 25), they are “Exemplars,” or model characters.128 The reader can easily identify with their situation, understand their attitude, and imitate their actions. Each of the minor secondary characters faces a significant problem. While they do not share Elisha's divine insight, quite often they have an awareness that relief lies within God's providence through the prophet's agency. They 126 127 128 One exception to this are ‫“ בני הנביאים‬the sons of the prophets,” who appear in several short stories. While one might consider them a collective character, a different individual is distinguished from the group in each of the stories in which they appear. See Section 2.5 below. Another exception is the woman of Shunem. She is afforded full characterization. She also distinguishes herself in that she does not initially approach the prophet, but he comes to visit her and performs his first miracle for her, unsolicited. This story will be discussed my forthcoming Ph.D. Dissertation, ‫בעזרת השם‬. Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 1983, 23–32; Cohn, “Characterization in Kings,” 96. Malbon, “The Major Importance of the Minor Characters in Mark,” 64–65. 30 have faith that Elisha, the man of God, is able to solve the problem they are currently facing. Also, they each have direct access to approach the prophet. In each case, Elisha listens to their complaint and furnishes a miracle to solve their problem. Each of the stories we will examine in this chapter involves a miracle. A miracle story is a story in which the deity intervenes to help (or to punish) the characters by supernatural means, either directly or through an agent.129 In a Direct Appeal Miracle Story a miracle is wrought in response to a personal appeal made by the character(s) who is/are in need. Those who appeal to Elisha, here called “suppliants,” are characterized by their great diversity: kings, villagers, widows, prophets and foreigners all approach the Israelite prophet alike. Elisha provides a miraculous solution that resolves the problem for everyone who appeals to him. The benefits of his prophetic power seem to know no bounds, limits, or conditions.130 The story of Naaman demonstrates this ideal. The only precondition Elisha places on Naaman is that he obey the prophetic instructions that prescribe his healing. Naaman's confession of faith in the God of Israel follows his miraculous healing and is not a prerequisite to it. The level faith required of any of the suppliants is just enough that they approach Elisha with their problem and execute his instructions. No other moral or religious conditions are a factor in Elisha's granting the request of a suppliant. Typically there are four elements of a miracle in the Elisha story-cycle: they include: 1) the obedience of the secondary characters to a prophetic command; 2) physical material that the prophet uses to perform the miracle; 3) the prophetically uttered word of the LORD; and 4) a prophetic action involving the physical material. The presence of each of these plot elements focuses on the interaction between the prophet and the secondary character(s), rather than the interaction between the prophet and the deity. For every solicited miracle, Elisha enlists the participation of the secondary character(s) who approaches him.131 Elisha involves the will, 129 130 131 R. Culley, Studies in the Structure of Hebrew Narrative (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), 71. A few reservations that Elisha holds will be discussed further below, e.g., his reservation about helping Jehoram in 3:13-14, and his momentary pause before helping the prophet's widow in 4:2. Again the story of the Shunammite woman in 4:8-37 is an exception. Elisha does two miracles for her against her will, in the first case, and without her participation, in the second. It is an example of a “prophet education story.” On the education of the prophet Elijah, see Moshe Garsiel, From Earth to Heaven: A Literary Study of Elijah 31 obedience, and resources of these characters in the execution of the miracle. Therefore, these characters are not merely passive observers but active participants in their own deliverance. Instead of a one-man show, Elisha, the man of God, involves ordinary people in everyday acts of deliverance and salvation. Thus, Elisha affirms the power and personhood of each man or woman who appeals to him, making divine power accessible to ordinary people through the prophet as mediator.132 Such a powerful message would have revitalized ostracized Yahwists and impoverished peasants languishing under the Omride kings. Both long and short stories are built on the simple plot outline consisting of three parts: 1) the Presentation of the Problem; 2) the Presentation of the Solution; 3) and the Resolution.133 The suppliant simply relates the problem to the prophet, leaving his or her request implied. The unstated request has been understood as respect for the prophet, giving him freedom to intervene or not;134 however, there are no stories where Elisha fails to help the suppliant. It more likely reflects a simple faith that the prophet not only has the power to solve the problem but will also know the best course of action. Suppliants never propose solutions that require divine intervention. Thus, the Presentation of the Solution is always given by the prophet. However, as mentioned, the suppliants are highly involved in the execution of the solution. Elisha enlists their obedience and their resources (the requested Physical Material) as a prerequisite to the miraculous solution. The prophet then performs the miracle or directs the suppliant to perform action that will accomplish the miracle. Usually, although not always, this involves a particular prophetic action (e.g., throwing the physical material) and/or declaring the word of YHWH. The story concludes with a short narrative exposition, confirming that the miracle indeed occurred and resolved the problem. 132 133 134 Stories in the Book of Kings (Bethesda, MD: Capital Decisions, Ltd., 2014), 35–50, 83–99. This will be discussed further in Chapter 4, when we analyze the “Surprise Agent,” Elisha's servant in 2 Kings 6:15. In direct response to Elisha's intercession, God grants Elisha's servant divine insight to see what only Elisha sees, the heavenly armies surrounding and protecting them. Long, 2 Kings, 34. For a specific example, see Culley's analysis of 2 Kings 2:19-22 Culley, Studies in the Structure of Hebrew Narrative, 73–75. Bergen's basic elements to this plot paradigm include some characters, problem, solution, which confuses characters with elements of the plot, Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 67. So Rofé, The Prophetical Stories, 16–17. 32 2.2. The Healing of the Waters at Jericho (2 Kings 2:19-22) The story of the healing of the waters at Jericho in 2 Kings 2:19-22 is paradigmatic in the Elisha story-cycle.135 The story opens abruptly with the problem, the first element of the plot, without a narrative exposition revealing any background information.136 “The men of the city” are introduced by their speech: they address Elisha with a brief and direct presentation of the problem: although the site of the city is good, the water is bad, causing the land to be unfruitful (‫משכלת‬,137 literally “causes bereavement”).138 The men are portrayed as polite and reverent: they address Elisha in the third person as ‫“ אדוני‬my lord.” Their request that Elisha help them is implied in the description of the problem and the disparity between the “good site” and the “bad waters.” What stands out in their request is the seemingly superfluous phrase ‫“ כאשר אדוני רואה‬as my lord sees” (vs. 19). In an obvious sense, Elisha can see the good layout of the city because he has been residing at Jericho (vs. 18).139 However, what Elisha “sees” often transcends ordinary human vision. Their presentation of the situation to Elisha reveals their ultimate trust that he knows how to solve the problem and will do it. The phrase serves as a link connecting their presentation of the situation to their faith in Elisha. In 2 Kings 2, the root ‫ ראה‬functions as a leitwort in the passage. “A Leitwort is a word or word-root that recurs significantly in a text...: by following these repetitions, one is able to decipher or grasp a meaning of the text, or at any rate, the meaning will be revealed more 135 136 137 138 139 As Bergen aptly notes, it functions similarly to the Othniel story (Judg 3:7-11) in the book of Judges. Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 67. The secondary characters and even the name of the city is anonymous. Since from vs. 18, we know that Elisha is staying at Jericho (‫)יושב ביריחו‬, Yael Shemesh takes the omission of the place name in vs. 19 as an indicator that this story is taking place in the same city, and that the stories are to be linked chronologically, Shemesh, “Stories of Elisha,” 17. Additionally, many commentators recognize 2 Kings 2 as a geographic chiasm, with vss. 15-25 describing the reverse geographical order of vss. 1-7, and even Elisha's return to Mount Carmel, inextricably associated with Elijah. See Ibid., 18, 19. Bergen notes that the chiasm is “near success” indicating a “failure of the story to resolve itself.” Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 56, 57. Whether complete or not, the opening episode demonstrates that Elisha's ministry will be itinerant. In the space of 7 short verses, Elisha performs wonders in two different cities and then stayed at a rural (Mt. Carmel) and an urban (Samaria) location. Although, as Hobbs notes, the piel of ‫ שכל‬occurs only here, it need not necessarily be taken as causative. Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:23. It might be tempting to posit that since it was re-constructed during the reign of King Ahab, the curse of Joshua caused the disaster mentioned here (Joshua 6:26; 1 Kings 16:34). And it may be understood that Elisha is reversing Joshua's curse in some sense. However, Joshua 6:26 specifies that only its builder would be cursed, not the city itself, and its fulfillment in 1 Kings 16:34 confirms that the extent of the curse is limited. Shemesh notes the repetition of the root ‫ ישב‬in vss. 18 and 19. Shemesh, “Stories of Elisha,” 140. 33 strikingly.”140 The granting of Elisha's request to receive a double portion of Elijah's spirit was contingent upon his ability “to see” (‫ )ראה‬Elisha's fiery ascent heavenward (vs. 10). The text emphasizes that indeed Elisha “saw” the event and then “he saw” no longer (‫ ראה‬twice in vs. 12). Therefore sight in this paradigmatic chapter often transcends the physical and the human, indicating the divine insight of a prophet as qualification for the office. The root ‫ ראה‬is used slightly differently but in a related way for other characters. When Elisha returns from crossing the Jordan, the company of prophets “see” (‫ )ראה‬that the spirit of Elijah indeed rests on Elisha, and they pay homage to him by virtue of his succession (vs. 15), even though they don't know what happened to Elijah. Their insight is limited to the recognition of Elisha as God's appointed prophet and successor to Elijah. This is a divine, not a human insight. The men of Jericho, likewise, recognize that, as Elijah's successor and heir of a double portion of his spirit, Elisha has insight, which includes both a common knowledge of the situation of the city. Thus, for the prophet, “vision” or “insight” includes the ability to see or understand what is going on both in the earthly realm and the heavenly realm. The men of Jericho's earthly problem will be treated with a heavenly solution. For minor secondary characters, on the other hand, “insight” is the ability to recognize the “spirit” of the prophet and to turn to him in their hour of need.141 After the problem is briefly presented (vs. 19), the story immediately proceeds to the Presentation of the Solution (vs. 20). Elisha responds to their implied request by commanding the men to bring him a new bowl and put salt in it. Elisha's response to a perceived need without waiting for a specific request will set a precedent for the story-cycle. The men act in obedience to his command even though, logically, adding salt to water would exacerbate the problem.142 In 140 141 142 Robert Alter's translation of Martin Buber's Werker, vol. 2, Schriften zur Bibel (Munich, 1964), 1131 in Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 116. For the category of minor characters we are analyzing in this section, this definition will suffice. Later, we shall, see that several minor characters possess such insight apart from recognizing the explicit authority of the prophet and without directly encountering him. One is given divine insight into the heavenly realms through Elisha's specific intercession. Elsewhere in the Bible, sprinkling salt is associated with the complete destruction of a city (Judg 9:45). Gunkel's assumption that these are magical devices rests on analogies to medieval and modern Western fairy tales fails to acknowledge that the prophet performs the miracle by “the word of YHWH,” Hermann Gunkel, The Folktale in the 34 retrieving these items, the men of Jericho affirm their faith that Elisha can solve their problem despite the illogic of his request. Additionally, they become participants in the healing miracle, not merely observers. The prophet does not execute the miracle alone.143 The role of the secondary characters is reflected in the construction of the plot: the story does not proceed immediately from the Presentation of the Problem to its Resolution, but a middle step, the Presentation of the Solution, elicits the cooperation of minor secondary characters with the prophet in the healing of their waters. Having enlisted the obedience of the men of Jericho and collected requested physical material, the first two ingredients of the prophetic miracle, the story proceeds toward Resolution. Elisha goes to the source and throws the salt in and declares the water source “healed” according to the word of YHWH. The prophetic action here, as in several other stories, involves throwing the requested physical material. The word of YHWH is delivered by the prophet in the first person “I have healed these waters” (vs. 21). The word “healing” ‫ רפא‬can be associated with fertility, countering the “infertility” ‫ משכלת‬of the land.144 A narrative exposition confirms the Resolution, the lasting effect of the miracle on the spring. The waters have been healed “to this day” according to Elisha's spoken word. As paradigmatic story, all four elements of the Direct Appeal Miracle Story are present (physical material, i.e., salt in a new bowl, obedience of a secondary character, i.e., fetching the physical material; prophetic action, i.e., throwing the physical material, and the word of YHWH spoken and reported as confirmed). Deviation from this pattern in the rest of stories we will analyze will be critical for the interpretation of each story. However, the inner consistency of these stories within the Elisha story-cycle will also reveal their theological message, as the following intertextual comparison will begin to demonstrate. The story of the healing of the waters of Jericho is similar in many respects to Moses' 143 144 Old Testament, trans. Michael D. Rutter (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987), 114. Two commentaries note how Elisha enlists the help of the people in performing this miracle, but they do not comment on its significance. Cohn, 2 Kings, 16; Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 236. In response to Abraham's intercession, YHWH had healed (‫ )רפא‬Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children (Gen 20:17). John Gray, I and II Kings: A Commentary, Revised Edition, vol. 9, OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 1971), 479. 35 sweetening of the waters at Marah (Exod 15:23-25). The parallels have been noted by several scholars.145 The major difference between the two, as we shall see, is that in Exodus 15 the narrative focus is on the exchange between God and the prophet; whereas, in 2 Kings 2, the focus is on the exchange between the prophet and the people. The story begins with a narrative exposition setting up the need for a divine intervention (Exod 15:23). The people complain to Moses in vs. 24 about the bitter waters. Thus, the presentation of the problem is similar to the Elisha story: people-in-need approach a prophet they know can resolve their problem. Their request is implied from their complaint. Here the stories diverge. At this point the focus of the story shifts from between prophet and people to between prophet and deity. Moses does not address their complaint, but immediately cries out to YHWH, who shows him a log. Moses understands he is to throw the log in, and the waters become sweet. The passage concludes with the word of YHWH, that presumably Moses relays to the people.146 Thus, of the four elements of the miracle, obedience, physical material, prophetic action, and word of YHWH, all our present, but one is significantly altered.147 Here, Moses obeys an implied command of YHWH to obtain the required physical material, whereas Elisha commands the people to bring it. Additionally, Elisha does not “cry out” ‫ צעק‬to YHWH. The interaction between deity and prophet is not detailed. Instead, the story emphasizes how the prophet who performs a miracle to relieve the need of the people draws from their resources, enlisting their participation and obedience. Levine notes that the Bible is strangely silent about God's communication with Elisha, but he mentions that God's withholding of information from Elisha in 2 Kgs 4:27 (‫“ )העלים ממני‬by definition tells us that God speaks to Elisha.”148 Bergen, on the other 145 146 147 148 Choon Leong Seow, “1 & 2 Kings,” in NIB, ed. L. E. Keck and et al., vol. 3 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999), 178; Marvin A. Sweeney, I & II Kings, vol. 9, OTL (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 275; Cohn, 2 Kings, 17; Long, 2 Kings, 35. The grammar is ambiguous. At the end of vs. 25, only 3ms pronouns appear. I take this to mean that Moses is relaying a the word of YHWH to the people. However, a further difficulty is encountered in vs. 26, where the YHWH refers to himself both in the third person ‫ יי אלהיך‬and the first person: ‫אני יי רפאך‬. Note the use of the word ‫ רפא‬used here in contradistinction to the diseases of the Egyptians, but used at the conclusion of the miraculous sweetening of water. Thus, Elisha does not take the place of YHWH, counter Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 44. Elisha parallels Moses in that he carries out the prophetic action and delivers the word of YHWH. Levine, “Twice as Much,” 44–45. 36 hand, is excessively critical of Elisha at this point who calls it a “disquieting component” of the story that the miracle is performed according to Elisha's word ‫כדבר אלישע‬.149 Rather than drawing a distinction between the word of YHWH and the word of the prophet, the author is establishing the trustworthiness of the prophet to deliver God's word.150 2.3. Pools of Water in the Wilderness of Edom (2 Kings 3:4-20) The next story in the cycle featuring a secondary character who makes a direct appeal to Elisha is the miracle of the pools of water in the Wilderness of Edom (2 Kings 3:4-20).151 This Direct Appeal Miracle Story contains almost all the same basic elements as the healing of the waters of Jericho, with a few key omissions. I will begin my analysis of the story from the water crisis that threatens the armies of Israel and Judah on their way to Moab. The outline of the story includes a clear Presentation of the Problem (vss. 9-14), Presentation of the Solution (vss. 15-19), and Resolution (vs. 20). When faced with the water crisis, Jehoram the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah react in opposite ways. While Jehoram despairs and blames YHWH for the crisis and the military failure he is sure will result of it, Jehoshaphat suggests consulting a prophet of YHWH.152 149 150 151 152 Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 67. In succeeding chapters, his reliability as a true prophet and successor of Elijah grows as his authority is recognized by the prophetic community (2 Kgs 2:15), then recognized by kings (2 Kgs 3:12), and finally, he is bestowed the title ‫ איש האלהים‬first by the narrator in 4:7, then ‫“ איש אלהים קדוש‬holy man of God” (2 Kgs 4:9) by the Shunammite woman before he performs a miracle (cf. 1 Kgs 17:24), and he retains the title for the duration of the story-cycle. Afterwards Elisha is called ‫ איש האלהים‬by characters and by the narrator 26 times between 2 Kgs 4-8. After a sole reference to Elisha in chapter 13, the term disappears from the book of Kings except twice in chapter 23 to refer an older prophet. Rather than mechanically reporting the source of every prophecy and confirming that its fulfillment is indeed of YHWH, many stories omit these for the sake of brevity and artfulness. As if to dispel all doubt, the full prophetic Oracle-Fulfillment formula (for definition, see Long, 2 Kings, 322.) is found in the story in 2 Kings 4:42-44, substantiating “that Elisha's provision rests not on his personal power but on YHWH's.” Cohn, 2 Kings, 34. The continuation of the story (vss. 21-27) as well as the political implications of Elisha's involvement with such a war will be dealt with in my chapter on Elisha and the King of the dissertation. The reader wonders whether the kings had consulted YHWH before setting out to battle. Numerous verbal parallels exist in the interaction between Jehoshaphat and the Israelite king in 1 Kgs 22:4-7 and 2 Kgs 3:7-11. In a parallel story, Jehoshaphat makes the same recommendation to Ahab (‫ )האין פה נביא ליהוה עוד ונדרשה מאותו‬upon consulting with the prophets of Baal before setting out to battle with the Arameans (1 Kgs 22:7), whereas in the present story he makes the same suggestion (‫ )האין פה נביא ליהוה ונדרשה את יהוה מאותו‬only after. Another notable difference is that whereas Jehoshaphat insists that Ahab inquire first of the LORD (1 Kgs 22:5), he asks Jehoram which route they should take (2 Kgs 3:8). One could make a case that the kings did not consult a prophet of 37 Many commentators note the disparity here between the virtue of the king of Judah and the faithlessness of the king of Israel. In presenting the solution, Elisha does not merely show up at the moment of crisis; rather, his entry into the story is delayed until his presence and authority are recognized by an unnamed servant153 and the kings, who go down ‫ ירד‬to consult with Elisha. They do not summon Elisha; they go to him. This is a consistent pattern in the stories of Elisha. Those who consult with Elisha go to him, regardless of rank (2 Kings 2:19; 4:12, 15, 25; 5:9; 6:32-33; 8:89; 13:14). In this Elisha is unique among the prophets in the Bible.154 The performance of the miracle is contingent upon the secondary characters' recognition of Elisha's authority and their direct appeal to him. Just as Naaman's physical descent (‫ )ירד‬to the Jordan River (2 Kgs 5:14) evinces his submission before the prophet, so too does the descent of the kings to Elisha. Much more so than other prophets, Elisha represents the presence and authority of YHWH to the people. Just as the divine presence is not summoned but sought with reverence, so it is with Elisha. Uncharacteristically, Elisha hesitates to help a suppliant. Nowhere else in the Elisha storycycle, does Elisha express reluctance to help someone who comes to him.155 He indicates the idolatry of Jehoram's family as occasion for his refusal to help (3:13). However, even this, the most egregious of offenses consistently condemned by his predecessor, he is willing to overlook and 153 154 155 YHWH; see, e.g., Iain W. Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, NIBC 7 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000), 182. On the other hand, there is good reason to believe that such a prophetic consultation session did take place. As Long notes, “The intentional gap in the narrative suggests that Jehoshaphat did not see any reason to challenge Jehoram's prophets, as he questioned Ahab's 'yes-men' prophets in 1 Kings 22, until the coalition was dying of thirst in the desert.” Jesse C. Long Jr., “Unfulfilled Prophecy or Divine Deception? A Literary Reading of 2 Kings 3,” StoneCampbell Journal 7 (Spring 2004): 108. Additionally, Jehoram specifically blames YHWH for the crisis at hand (2 Kgs 3:10), a point that cannot be dismissed as random blaming because he later insists to Elisha that YHWH sent them into battle (2 Kgs 3:13), a point that Elisha does not contend. The reader must conclude that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram did consult with some prophets of YHWH before going to battle, and they received unambiguous authorization to march. The role of King's Jehoram's officer (vs. 11) in pointing the fumbling kings toward the prophet Elisha is yet another role of secondary characters to be analyzed in Chapter 3: minor characters, often servants of royal figures or high officials, who appear very briefly just to refer their embroiled master or mistress to the miraculous power of Elisha. When kings desire to speak with a prophet, they either send officials or servants to communicate with the prophet (2 Kgs 19:1-5; 22:14; Jer 21:1-2; 37:3) or they summon the prophet (1 Kings 1:32; 22:9, 15; 2 Kgs 1; Jer 38:14), as their counterparts did in the ancient Near East (Exod 7:11; Dan 2:2; 4:6; 5:13). Only rarely, and for good reason, does a king go to the person he wishes to consult (1 Sam 28). Most often, however, prophets are not consulted. They just show up when they have a word from God to declare to the king (1 Sam 13:10; 15:12; 2 Sam 12:1; 24:13; 1 Kings 13:1; 17:1; 21:17ff.; 2 Kings 19:20; 20:1; Jer 34:1-5; Jonah 3:4). With the exception of the present story and possibly 2 Kings 4:2, nowhere else does Elisha hint at any limit to what he is willing and able to do to help anyone who appeals to him. 38 offer his services by virtue of Jehoshaphat's presence, the king who recognizes that the word of YHWH is with him (3:12). The presentation of the water problem, already known to the reader, is not recounted to the prophet. It is assumed that Elisha knows of the problem or that he ascertains the problem and its solution through prophetic insight. However, revelation of that insight is further made contingent upon the obedience of secondary characters when Elisha requests that they bring him a resource not at his disposal, a musician (v. 15). Having recognized Elisha's authority and obeyed his command, the kings now receive a word from YHWH that presents solutions to both the water crisis and the military expedition (vv. 16-19). The emphasis in the story is on the spoken word of YHWH, not on character action, since the kings lack faith in God, as is evident from Jehoram's desperate cry (v. 10). The Resolution, the report of fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy, is described in the following verses (vv. 20-25). Uniquely, in the Elisha story-cycle, although the prophecy is reported as being fulfilled, it is not reported as being fulfilled “according to the word of YHWH” ‫כדבר יי‬. In other stories where Elisha utters a prophetic oracle according to the formula “Thus says YHWH” ‫כה אמר יי‬, the description of its fulfillment includes a comment by the author that it was fulfilled according to the word of the prophet or the word of YHWH (2:22; 4:44; 7:16; cf. Elijah in 1 Kgs 17:16; 22:38; and 2 Kgs 1:17).156 The omission is significant because Elisha does not prophesy the eventual outcome of the battle (vv. 26, 27).157 Thus, while the basic outline of the miracle story is clearly seen (Presentation of the Problem to the Solution to the Resolution), only some of the four elements of the miracle story are present: the obedience of a secondary character (providing music), the physical material (in this case, the musician and an instrument), 156 157 For a definition of the Oracle-Fulfillment formula, see Long, 2 Kings, 322. The Oracle formula is usually delivered by the prophet “Thus says YHWH” ‫כה אמר יי‬. And its fulfillment is generally recorded, “according to the word of YHWH” ‫( כדבר יי‬or some variant thereof). The “word of YHWH” is mentioned in only three of these stories 2:1922; 3:4-20; and 4:42-44. After Elisha is established as “the man of God” in chapter 4, he only utters the oraclefulfillment formula when a minor secondary character reacts with doubt to his instructions (e.g., 2 Kings 4:42-44 and 7:1; in 9:2 he commands his servant to speak the Oracle formula in anointing Jehu as king of Israel, but he does not deliver the oracle himself). As Provan (Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 183–184.) notes, everything that Elisha prophesies comes true, but he did not prophesy everything everything that happened. Rather than a false or deceiving prophecy (as in the parallel story, 1 Kgs 22), Elisha's prophecy appears to have been incomplete. Elisha either intentionally withheld information or God intentionally gave him an incomplete picture. 39 prophetic action involving that material (listening to the music),158 and two words of prophecy in the name of YHWH (vv. 16-19). After the kings demonstrated sufficient faith (and humility) by approaching Elisha, their involvement in obtaining a prophetic word is very minimal. The action of fetching a musician was not difficult for the kings and was probably done by proxy. As we shall see, Elisha involves every secondary character that appeals to him in the miracle process, but those who are in need of empowerment, he involves more. On the other hand, emphasis on the uttered word of YHWH, usually in the Oracle-Fulfillment formula is used for building faith. In our story, the unique omission of the Fulfillment formula indicates that, despite its length, Elisha's prophecy in 3:16-19 was incomplete. It may constitute his subversive protest to an ill-advised military excursion or to the appropriation of prophetic power to achieve royal ends that ultimately do not benefit the people of Israel.159 This would constitute the sole limit of the extent to which Elisha is willing to benefit a suppliant with his miraculous powers and prophecy. He delivers Israel's armies from dying of thirst and predicts military successes, but ultimately does not support the overall political goal of invading Moabite territory. 2.4. The Deliverance of a Family from Debt-Slavery (2 Kings 4:1-7) One of the more compelling direct appeal stories is that of a prophet's widow and her children.160 The story opens immediately with the Presentation of the Problem (vv. 1-2). With a bare exposition sufficient to identify the woman, she immediately springs to action, “crying out to” ‫צעק‬ ‫ אל‬to the prophet. In comparing other women who “cry out” for justice, she is exceptional in that 158 159 160 Instead of holding and throwing something, the “hand of YHWH” is described uniquely as coming upon Elisha (v. 15). For a discussion of possible reasons for the non-fulfillment of Elisha's oracle in 3:18 and the defeat of Israel at the hands of the Moabites as recorded in 3:27, see Robert B. Chisholm, “Israel’s Retreat and the Failure of Prophecy in 2 Kings 3,” Biblica 92 (2011): 70–80; Long Jr., “Unfulfilled Prophecy or Divine Deception? A Literary Reading of 2 Kings 3”; Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 182–184; André Wénin, “La Cohérence Narrative de 2 Rois 3: Une Réponse à Jesús Asurmendi,” BI 14, no. 5 (2006): 444–55. Targum Jonathan adds that the widow was wife of Obadiah (A. J. Rosenberg, The Book of Kings 2 (New York: Judaica Press, 1989), 259. His faithfulness is recognized by the author (1 Kgs 18:3-4), but he was snubbed by Elijah (v. 15). Thus, her appeal “you know...!” discloses a history between Elisha and her husband, thus taking on a personal tone, and perhaps implies a moral obligation, Long, 2 Kings, 49. 40 she cries out to a prophet, not to the king (cf. 2 Kgs 6:26, 8:3, 5).161 She does not cry out to the king since presumably either the king is responsible for cases like hers or inaccessible. Approaching Elisha is recognition of his authority and confidence that he can provide a solution. In light of the oppressive economic policies introduced by the Omrides and their desecration of the cult of YHWH, the prophet Elisha is the only source for delivering divine justice to the people of Israel. As in the previous stories, the suppliant does not propose a solution. Uniquely in these stories, Elisha first asks what he can do for her. However, she never answers him, indicating that she understood her complaint to be sufficient as an appeal. Alternatively, Elisha may have may have intended the question as rhetorical. Perhaps Elisha pauses briefly here to consider the legal ramifications of helping her out of her debt. Without indication of Elisha's tone of voice or pauses in speech, this is difficult to support. More likely the question indicates that Elisha understands his obligation to help her.162 He shows that he is not at a loss for a solution by immediately asking a different question: “What do you have in your house?” (v. 2). Instead of demanding a specific object as before, Elisha shows a willingness to work with whatever the widow has. Because she is destitute and appears to have no resources at her disposal, Elisha will fully involve her and her family in the working of the miracle. There is a slight modification to the Presentation of the Solution (vv. 3-4): instead of asking the woman to bring her sole possession, a jug of oil, to him, he sends her “to borrow” ‫ שאל‬additional vessels from all her neighbors, and then go directly home to begin pouring. That the widow is to borrow the vessels is significant: she is not a beggar, for ultimately she will return them. This time Elisha will not perform the miracle, nor will he be present; rather, the widow and her children do so, behind the closed doors of their house. Compared 161 162 Yael Shemesh remarks that “In the Bible, appeals for help are almost always addressed to the Lord or the king.” “Her appeal is a cry for help by a person in distress, not a request for protection under the law: the widow has no legal grounds to sue the creditor, who is acting according to the law, even if not mercifully.” Shemesh, “Elisha and the Miraculous Jug of Oil,” 7. Despite her desperation, she addresses Elisha very respectfully referring to herself as ‫ ;שפתחך‬for more on her respectful language, see Ibid., 9, 10. ‫“ מה אעשה לך‬What shall I do for you?” is the same question Elijah asks Elisha in 2 Kgs 2:9 and that David asks of the Gibeonites in 2 Sam 21:3, 5. Elisha asks a similar question about the Shunammite woman (2 Kgs 4:13). His sense of obligation may be due to his familiarity with her family. Bergen emphasizes Elisha's social obligation to help the widow. Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 85. 41 to other stories, her task is significantly more difficult, her participation more involved. The narrative portrays her as fully active, while the prophet directs and observes, to maximize her role in the miraculous deliverance. As the suppliant with the greatest need and the least means, she is most in need of empowerment. Elisha not only provides for her material needs, but also honors her and elevates her status in society by enabling her to become a contributing member. Elisha commands her not to limit her borrowing of vessels to just a few, for the extent of the miracle will be contingent on her effort (v. 3).163 Thus, Elisha not only involves the widow and her children, he empowers them, by enlisting their resources, energy, and relationships with other families. The Resolution (vv. 5-7) contains a fire-storm of feminine verbs (“she went” ‫ותלך‬, “she closed” ‫ותסגור‬, “she was pouring” ‫מוצקת‬, “she said” ‫ותאמר‬, “she came” ‫ותבוא‬, “she told” ‫ותגד‬, “Go!” ‫לכי‬, “Sell!” ‫מכרי‬, “Pay!” ‫שלמי‬, and “Live!” ‫)תחיי‬. The widow is the main actor of this story! No doubt their entire village would have wondered at this widow and her children collecting empty jars and would have been surprised to purchase them from her full of oil at the local market. What was performed “behind closed doors” would not have remained secret for long. What appears to be Elisha's first miracle for an individual164 would have been celebrated by the whole community. Furthermore, the miracle is one of “overabundance,” as indicated by the use of the root ‫יתר‬. Not only does the miracle provide the family with a way of escaping debt-slavery, their immediate and pressing concern, but it provides sufficient income for them to live on after they are liberated from debtslavery. While the obedience of the secondary characters and the physical material feature largely in this story, prophetic action is limited to his command, and the authority of YHWH is implied by the established prophet, whom the author now calls “the man of God” ‫ איש האלהים‬for the first time (v. 7). In comparing this miracle story with a similar story in the Elijah story-cycle, key similarities 163 164 Cohn, 2 Kings, 25. Shemesh, “Elisha and the Miraculous Jug of Oil,” 5. 42 and differences arise, highlighting the role of the secondary character, in each case a widow.165 Like the miracle stories in the Elisha story-cycle, the story in 1 Kings 17:8-16 includes the same elements: the obedience of a secondary character (v. 15) to the prophetic command (preparing Elijah a cake of bread; v. 13), physical material (her jar of flour and jug of oil; v. 12), a prophetic oracle (“Thus says YHWH;” v. 14) and its fulfillment (“according to the word of YHWH;” v. 16), and prophetic action (eating; v. 15).166 Also, the basic outline of the direct appeal miracle story, Presentation of the Problem to Presentation of the Solution to Resolution, is essentially the same yet with one significant omission. In her analysis, Yael Shemesh has noted six points of difference between the two stories.167 Her second, fourth, and sixth differences are relevant to our discussion. The questions have to do with who initiates the discussion, who benefits from the miracle, and the role of YHWH vis-à-vis the prophet. In 1 Kings, YHWH initiates the action by sending Elijah to the widow of Zarephath, and it is the prophet who approaches her with a request for water and bread (17:10-11). In our story, the widow of the prophet initiates by approaching the prophet with her complaint (2 Kgs 4:1). In Elijah's story, the prophet himself is portrayed as a needy person, whom YHWH sends to the widow, another needy person, for food. Thus, while the basic outline of the Direct Appeal Miracle Story is maintained, the problem (hunger) is shared by secondary character and prophet alike; both are in need of empowerment and both stand to benefit from the miracle. The Presentation of the Problem in 1 Kgs 17, is therefore, unnecessary since the need is mutually understood. Therefore, after her initial obedience, the extent of the miracle depends not on the widow's effort, but on a change in the conditions, namely, the end of the famine (1 Kgs 17:14). On the other hand, the extent of the miracle in the Elisha story depends on the effort of the prophet's widow since her family alone faced debt-slavery in their community, whereas the widow of 165 166 167 As a reminder, my definition of a minor secondary character is one who appears only once or twice in the Elisha story-cycle. Although she may be the leading character in her story, the widow appears only once in a short story (2 Kgs 4:1-7); therefore, she is a minor secondary character in cycle of the Elisha narratives While eating is participation, no prophetic action is mentioned to work the miracle itself. The jug of oil and the jar of flour supernaturally supply the need of the widow without further prophetic intervention. As in the story in 2 Kgs 4, the prophetic word and the obedience of the widow are sufficient to effect the miracle. Also, the OracleFulfillment formula, found in the Elijah story is notably absent in the Elisha story, as we shall see. Shemesh, “Elisha and the Miraculous Jug of Oil,” 15, 16. 43 Zarephath faced starvation with the rest her community. Finally, the role of YHWH in the two stories is vastly different. While God plays a major role in the Elijah story, not only in sending him to Zarephath but also present in Elijah's Oracle-Fulfillment formula, God's role is unstated in the Elisha story. The name of God is only mentioned briefly in the widow's description of her deceased husband (“he feared YHWH” in vs. 1), and in the narrator's application of the title “the man of God” ‫ איש האלהים‬to Elisha (v. 7). These differences are reflected by the different settings of each story. Elijah, at this point was unknown both to the widow and to the reader, and stood to establish himself as a true prophet (which he succeeds in doing at the end of the subsequent story). By chapter 4 of 2 Kings, however, the prophet's widow and the reader are both acquainted with Elisha. Whereas the widow of Zarephath concludes, after witnessing two miracles of Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God...” (1 Kgs 17:24), from the outset, the prophet's widow tells Elisha what she is sure he already knows, “you know that your servant feared YHWH...” (2 Kgs 4:1).168 Like the men of Jericho, she displays confidence in the insight and understanding of the prophet. Approaching Elisha full of faith, she has no need of reassurance, showing no reluctance or hesitation to obey Elisha's command. What she needs is empowerment. Whereas Elijah was present at the widow's house (1 Kings 17:15ff.), the story in 2 Kings 4 emphasizes the absence of Elisha by her closing the door behind her and her family (vv. 4, 5). Additionally, the extent of the woman's obedience and faith is highlighted by her return to Elisha to receive further instructions (v. 7), even though the jugs of miraculous oil are suggestive enough of what she should do with them. Elisha empowers her further by giving her a second list of commands to carry out, obliging her community to face her once again, this time not as a needy widow, gathering vessels, but as a merchant (Prov 31:14), selling precious oil and returning their borrowed vessels. 168 Another parallel is the woman of Shunem, who states what she knows about the prophet at the beginning of the story: “See now, I know (‫ )ידעתי‬that he is a holy man of God” (2 Kgs 4:9). 44 2.5. The Sons of the Prophets Face Various Challenges (2 Kings 4:38-41, 42-44; 6:1-7) Finally, three additional short stories portray Elisha's relationship with a group called ‫בני‬ ‫“ הנביאים‬the sons of the prophets.”169 The first occurrence of this phrase is found in the Elijah/Ahab story-cycle (1 Kgs 20:35-43). A man from “the sons of the prophets” has several interesting parallels with Elisha. First, he speaks by the word of YHWH (according to the author; v. 35); second, there is no record of his communication with YHWH; third, his command to his fellow prophets to strike him does not include an authenticating stamp that he is speaking according to YHWH's word (such as ‫ ;)כה אמר יי‬despite this, disobedience to that word is met with swift and severe consequence (v. 36). Finally, the king recognizes him as “from among the prophets” ‫מהנביאים‬, not simply from ‫בני הניביאים‬.170 The sons of the prophets in the Elisha story-cycle, on the other hand, seem to be highly dependent on Elisha and subservient to him. Although one might consider this group a collective character, in each of the three stories we will discuss, individuals distinguish themselves from the group—Elisha's “servant” ‫ נער‬and “one” ‫ אחד‬who goes out to the field in (4:38-41), a “man” ‫ איש‬from Baal Shalishah and Elisha's “assistant” ‫ משרת‬in 4:42-44, and “the one” ‫ האחד‬who loses his axe-head in 6:1-7. As we shall see, the author makes use of slightly different terminology in describing these individuals and the groups as a whole to portray Elisha interacting with a great number and variety of people, both as individuals and as a group. Conversely, “the sons of the prophets” who appear in 2 Kgs 2 speak, act, and interact with Elisha purely as a collective. Curiously, no interaction is recorded between them and Elijah, despite Elisha's discussions with groups of prophets in three different locations as he accompanied Elijah on his way to the Jordan River. While they seem aware of Elijah's authority and eccentricities (2 169 170 For an excellent review of the scholarly literature on the group the “sons of the prophets,” albeit a rather pessimistic view of the group itself, see Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 57–60. This passage supports the accepted view that this particular use of the word ‫ בן‬indicates membership within a group or guild, not familial relations. Meir Weiss, The Bible from Within: The Method of Total Interpretation (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984), 103. 45 Kgs 2:16), they appear to have no direct contact with him.171 In each of the stories we will analyze here, the sons of the prophets as a collective or one of their members bring a problem to Elisha's attention. Once again, in the Presentation of the Problem none of the suppliants state a direct request or even propose a solution to Elisha. Elisha presents a Solution to them, contingent on their obedience and use of requested physical material. Some stories will feature the prophetic action of throwing, others the oracle-fulfillment formula. Again, each slight difference and deviation from the pattern is fraught with meaning. Then, the Resolution is briefly presented, confirming that Elisha's solution did in fact solve the presenting problem. 2.5.1. Life from Death in the Pot (4:38-41) The first story begins with an exposition of three brief sentences, setting the context in Gilgal during a famine (2 Kings 4:38a). The story proper begins with Elisha commanding “his servant” ‫ נערו‬to cook stew for the sons of the prophets (38b) and continues with (another) “one” ‫ אחד‬going out to search for ingredients for the stew. The text emphasizes the incompetence of the secondary characters. Though he intends to pick “herbs” ‫ארת‬, he finds and picks “wild gourds” ‫ פקעת שדה‬instead, returning to cut them up in the stew, although “they did not know” ‫( לא ידעו‬v. 39).172 The ignorance of Elisha's servant and the other prophet threaten the company with poisonous food. Upon pouring the stew out for the company to eat (v. 40a), the prophets cry “Death in the pot, O Man of God!” ‫( מות בסיר איש האלהים‬v. 40b).173 The prophets address him as “the man of God” ‫ איש האלהים‬as is consistent in 2 Kgs 4 and following. The Presentation of the Problem constitutes the indirect appeal of the suppliants, who are already in Elisha's presence (v. 38). In response, 171 172 173 Perhaps this is due to Elijah's treatment of Obadiah (1 Kgs 18:3-16) or his own strict and limited criteria of who counts as faithful, much less a prophet of YHWH (19:14)! After a succession of five singular verbs in this verse, unexpectedly, the text switches to plural. Presumably “they” include Elisha's servant and the one who went out to find ingredients. Many commentaries downplay the significance of this miracle, assuming that “death in the pot” means that the gourds were excessively bitter to the taste and therefore inedible or that the stew was over-salted. See, for example, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:53; Gray, I and II Kings, 9:449. On the other hand, given the context of a famine, the spoiling or poisoning of the stew would have constituted a significant loss, so the miracle must be taken more seriously. 46 Elisha commands the prophets to bring flour (v. 41aα). The execution of this command is not reported but assumed because the prophetic action of throwing the requested material immediately follows (v. 41aβ). A second prophetic command follows to pour out the stew to be eaten (v. 41bα).174 The story concludes with a short exposition confirming that nothing bad was found in the stew (v. 41bβ). No word of YHWH is confirmed since Elisha did not deliver an oracle in the name of YHWH. Of the four elements in the Direct Appeal Miracle Story, only an oracle-fulfillment formula is missing. This is expected because the prophet's authority is established and none of the characters express doubt. The subtly remarkable feature of this story is the number of times Elisha issues a command to secondary characters in this short story: “Lay out!” ‫ שפת‬and “Boil!” ‫ בשל‬in v. 38; “Bring!” ‫ קחו‬and “Pour out!” ‫ צק‬in v. 41. The only action the prophet undertakes is the throwing of the physical material, in this case flour. The preparing of the stew, retrieving of the flour and pouring of the stew again are all performed by the sons of the prophets who are portrayed as fumbling and incompetent. Here they are not struggling with doubt but with impotence, although their situation is not so nearly as dire as that of the widow. Elisha, therefore, omits the oraclefulfillment formula since their faith is not lacking, and he empowers them by maximizing their involvement in the execution of the miracle. 2.5.2. The Original Multiplication of the Loaves (4:42-44) The setting of the second story is completely different from the previous story. There is no famine in the land, as a man arrives from Baal Shalishah bringing Elisha twenty loaves of barley bread and fresh ears of grain from the first-fruits of the new season. Besides beginning the story with disjunctive waw + noun, completely different designations for people are used in this story. The phrase ‫ בני הנביאים‬does not appear. The person who brings the loaves is a “man” ‫איש‬, and the people gathered are, alternatively “people” ‫ עם‬and “men” ‫איש‬. Some commentators assume that 174 Just as the servant and the “one” prophet are anonymous, so are Elisha's commands. His first command to bring flour is masculine plural, while his second command is masculine singular. 47 these 100 men must be “the sons of the prophets,”175 but they could be a different group of prophets from the previous story (see 2 Kings 2: large groups of the sons of the prophets lived in different towns), or a different community altogether. Elisha then commands the man to serve them as a community meal, a mere three words in Hebrew ‫תן לעם ויאכלו‬, “give [the bread] to the people, so they can eat” (v. 42). Elisha's “assistant” ‫משרת‬176 protests his command to feed 100 men with 20 loaves of bread (v. 43), presenting the problem of insufficiency to Elisha. In response, Elisha repeats the command word-for-word and adds that the people would eat and have leftovers with the oracle formula “Thus says YHWH” ‫( כה אמר יי‬v. 43). The Presentation of the Solution satisfies the skeptical assistant, and the miracle occurs when he obeys Elisha (v. 44). Here, the minor secondary characters are not portrayed as incompetent. Rather, the narrative features the assistant's initial doubt and reluctance to obey Elisha's command. More than just meeting physical hunger, the prophet also builds faith in his assistant, first verbally through uttering the oracle formula, and second experientially through his own participation in the miraculous distribution.177 The assistant's doubt also establishes that even when Elisha does not specifically speak the name of YHWH, God's power is behind his word and the miracles he performs.178 This story closely parallels 1 Kings 17:816 in that Elijah first, and without any explanation, commands the woman to provide him with food and drink. Only after she understandably displays her skepticism, does Elijah reassure her through an oracle of YHWH that she need not worry about the stark conditions of her pantry. The widow of Zarephath needs empowerment as well as faith, so her task involves considerable risk, and she is 175 176 177 178 See, e.g., Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 188. The word ‫ נער‬is used in the previous story to indicate Elisha's servant. Some assume this is the same person Gehazi (see, e.g.,Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, 325.). However in the stories where Gehazi appears (4:8-37; 5:20-27; 8:1-6), he is always called by his name, “Gehazi” or “Gehazi, Elisha's servant” (‫ נער אלישע‬or ‫)נערו‬, never ‫משרת‬. Even earlier in the the Naaman story, Elisha sends out a “messenger” ‫מלאך‬, not Gehazi. Slight changes in the vocabulary like this give the reader a sense of a large cast secondary characters, augmenting the impression that Elisha interacted with numerous different people, most of whom were ordinary folk. Note the same emphasis in the New Testament story: “You give them something to eat,” (Mark 6:37) Jesus tells his incredulous disciples. For this insight, I am grateful to Bergen, who in spite of this, still managed to suspect Elisha, Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 110. This story clearly establishes that Elisha's power rests in God, Cohn, 2 Kings, 34. 48 rewarded for her obedience (v. 15).179 In the present story, the assistant is not in need of empowerment, so his assigned task of setting out food is neither difficult nor risky; therefore, secondary character action is not emphasized beyond obedience to a simple command. The story concludes with the Resolution, the report of the miracle and a Fulfillment oracle, confirming that everything happened “according to the word of YHWH” ‫( כדבר יי‬v. 44). 2.5.3. A Lost Axe-Head (6:1-7) The third story featuring Elisha and the sons of the prophets appears a chapter later. Criticism that would seek to detract from its literary value or question its location in the story-cycle are unfounded.180 A unique feature of this, the last Direct Appeal Miracle Story, is its relatively long introduction (vv. 1-4).181 It describes two significant developments for the company of the prophets. One is that their housing needs are growing, apparently commensurate with the growth of their community. A second more important development is that the sons of the prophets have gained a measure of self-reliance and initiative. In breaking with the pattern of every previous story, the sons of the prophets approach Elisha with a problem and a proposed solution. Following their complaint about a lack of accommodations (v. 1), the company proposes a specific solution to Elisha, requesting his approval and his presence (vv. 2-3). Their subservient posture recalls the request of the 50 prophets at Jericho to send out a search mission for Elijah. Only reluctantly did Elisha grant their futile request; whereas here, he patently approves it. Their additional request for Elisha to accompany them foreshadows the Problem. In fact “the one” ‫ האחד‬who asked that Elisha accompany them on their log-felling trip (v. 3) is likely the same as “the one” ‫ האחד‬who loses his 179 180 181 I.e., baking Elijah a cake of bread first from her last ingredients before preparing something for her son and herself. Long states that the story is disconnected from the narrative scope of surrounding stories and that is “stylistically wooden and unimaginative,” Long, 2 Kings, 80. Both Sweeney and Satterthwaite convincingly demonstrate the literary connections between this story and the story of Naaman, Sweeney, I & II Kings, 9:296; Satterthwaite, “The Elisha Narratives and the Coherence of 2 Kings 2-8,” 18, 19. Satterthwaite says it best: “the king of Aram has lost his axe-head (Naaman, his victorious general, incapacitated through leprosy), which is restored to him after immersion in the Jordan when Naaman does what Elisha says.” Ibid., 19. For this reason “no other story in the Elisha material is quite the same,” Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:73. 49 axe-head, complaining rather curtly, “Alas, my master, it was borrowed!” (v. 5), considering the author's subtly careful use of terms.182 As before, the Presentation of the Problem with an unstated request demonstrates the faith of the secondary character in the ability of the prophet to find and execute an adequate solution. In the Presentation of the Solution, Elisha again involves those who stand to benefit from the miracle. For the first time, Elisha himself procures the physical material, a stick; he does not ask the prophets to bring him one. In this story (as in 4:38-41), the prophetic action, “throwing” of the physical material at the problem is an essential element of the miracle; no reference is made to the word of YHWH or to God at all. After the axe-head floats, he commands the careless prophet to take it up. The story concludes with the action of the minor secondary character, picking up the axe-head in obedience to the prophet. The obedience follows the performance of the miracle. The prophets are not in need of empowerment, nor do they doubt Elisha. They just need a bit of help, and Elisha obliges with an every-day miracle but does not leave them uninvolved. 2.6. Conclusion In his concluding reflections on 2 Kings 6:1-7, C.L. Seow states, “The presence of stories like this one is a powerful reminder to us that ministry involves attending to the seemingly ordinary needs and anxieties of people coping with life's routines.”183 For the stories we have analyzed, I aver, rather, that Elisha attends to all kinds of needs mostly of ordinary people who demonstrate their faith in God by entrusting their problems to the divinely-appointed man of God. The direct appeal stories largely exhibit faithful characters who possess a simple faith that Elisha can do something about a presenting problem, while being hesitant to request something specific from him. By means of comparison, no secondary characters (ordinary or otherwise) appeal to Elijah.184 182 183 184 Cohn, 2 Kings, 43. Although he cannot be equated with the ‫“ אחד‬one” who went out to gather herbs in the field (4:39). Seow, “1 & 2 Kings,” 202. My emphasis. A case could be made for the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17:18. However, Elijah did initially approach her in the previous story (vv. 8-16), and her complaint to her prophetic roommate in v. 18 seems more of a bitter lament over loss than an implied request that Elijah do something to ease her pain. 50 Besides the short stories of 1 Kings 17, Elijah does not use his miraculous powers to benefit anyone. Whereas late in his life, Elijah has to waylay a royal Israelite delegation on their way to inquire of Baal Zebub, Elisha receives a royal Aramean delegation who wishes to inquire of YHWH. Evidently, the common person did not have access to a Man of God,185 but there were other ways petitioning the deity. Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8 lists a number of situations where Israelites could approach God through prayer at the temple. Many are similar to situations facing characters in the Elisha stories, such as drought (1 Kings 8:35-36), famine or disease (vv. 37-40), war (41-43), or even the needs of a foreigner (vv. 44-45).186 Direct appeal to the deity at a holy site preceded the building of the temple, as is indicated by the stories of the Danites and Micah's Idol (Judges 17-18) and Hannah's supplication (1 Sam 1). However, in the time of a Elisha, a significant shift took place. Access to divine succor became available not only to those who approached a holy place, but also for those approached a holy man.187 Additionally, Elisha's itinerant nature ensured widespread access to that life-giving power, especially for common folk, struggling with the problems of everyday life.188 As Alexander Rofé has noted, “These tales express the attitude of fear and admiration of the simple believer toward the Holy Man, his wonder at the supernatural acts of the Man of God and his excitement at the involvement of the Divine in daily affairs.”189 While this is true, I would also seek to add “his or her participation in divine acts of deliverance.” Elisha 185 186 187 188 189 Because of a lack of evidence of such stories outside the Elisha story-cycle, this assertion must remain tentative. In 1 Sam 9:6-9, however, Saul and his servant seem to refer to custom, whereby anyone can purchase an oracle from a “seer” to help with mundane problems. However, a full story describing this practice is never recounted, and Saul is no common person as he soon finds out. Miraculous interventions are done for characters who figure largely in salvation history, such as patriarchs, judges, prophets, and kings. In comparing miraculous birth stories, the story of Shunnamite woman stands out in that her son does not feature in Israel's history. As in the Elisha stories, Solomon's prayer does not envision any limitations upon whom God would be willing to help. “In the 'God-Israel' relationship there is no threat of ruin through unfaithfulness....” Eep Talstra, Solomon’s Prayer: Synchrony and Diachrony in the Composition of 1 Kings 8, 14-61 (Kampen, the Netherlands: Kok Pharos Publishing House, 1993), 168. Additionally, in both, “'the struggle against idolatry' is lacking.” Ibid., 259. Elisha appears to function as a semi-omnipresent temple. That characters always approach him and never summon him further suggests this comparison (See section 2.3, esp. note 154). Levine has also pointed out a number of interesting parallels between Elisha and the Temple. Both the Elisha stories and 1 Kings 7 contain a high concentration of the root ‫" יצק‬to pour, to cast.” Also, the 12 yoke of oxen Elisha is driving when Elijah calls him (1 Kgs 19:19) parallel the 12 bulls in the Temple (1 Kgs 7:25). “Clearly (the equivalent of) Elisha's temple is built by pouring food for the hungry and doing miracles for poor people and pouring water on the hands of Elijah,” Levine, “Twice as Much,” 29–30. I plan to discuss the concept of Elisha as Temple, its implications and the significance of this shift taking place in the KNI of the 9th century in my forthcoming dissertation. Rofé, The Prophetical Stories, 16. 51 provided not only access to divine power, but also encouraged their participation with the prophet as co-partners in acts of deliverance. None of the secondary characters who make their appeal to Elisha directly are spectators in their story. All of them play a role in obeying a command of Elisha whether difficult or easy, and all of them contribute from their own resources, whether it is simply fetching the required material or knocking on every door in town to gather her community's resources. Table: Four Elements of the Direct Appeal Miracle Story Story Presenting Problem Obedience Physical Prophetic Oracleof S.C. Material Action Fulfillment v. 21; v.22 Uniqueness 2:19-22 Bad City Water v. 20 v. 20 v. 21 All four present 3:4-20 Insufficient Water v. 15 v. 15 – 4:1-7 Debt-Slavery vv. 3-6; v. 7 v. 2 – – Minimal prophetic involvement 4:38-41 Bad Food v. 41 v. 41 v. 41 – No word of YHWH 4:42-44 Insufficient Food v. 42-44 v. 42 – v. 43; v. 44 Suppliant protests before obeying 6:1-7 Lost Property v. 7 v. 6 v. 6 – Obedience after miracle vv. 16-17; - Oracle, no fulfillment Elisha's hesitation Exceptional Direct Appeal Miracle Stories 4:8-17* Barrenness – 4:18-37* Death v. 31 (Gehazi obeys) 5:1-20* Disease v. 14 – – – Absence of all elements v. 31 vv. 34-35 v. 27, 33 Presence of all (Staff to (Repeat (Disruption elements but each has Gehazi) Action) and Prayer) a significant twist v. 14 – – Suppliant expected both prophetic action and oracle-fulfillment * As longer stories, featuring major secondary characters (both the Woman of Shunem and Naaman are full-fledged characters), these stories will be discussed in my forthcoming PhD. Dissertation. I put them on this chart by means of contrast, to show that the pattern is also relevant to these stories, although they are longer and more developed. An interesting contrast exists between the prophet's widow and Naaman. The prophet assigns them both tasks to fulfill that accomplish the miracle without any Prophetic Action. However their tasks are very different and are assigned to accomplish different purposes. The widow is assigned a difficult task in order to empower her, while Naaman is assigned an easy task to humble him (5:13). Further contrast exists between these two characters and the woman of Shunem: the prophet assigns her no tasks to accomplish. 52 Only in the first story (2:19-22) do all four elements of the Direct Appeal Miracle Story appear, setting a precedent (see Table 1). In the other stories, one or two of the elements is missing or incomplete. The elements obedience of a secondary character and physical material appear more frequently than the prophetic oracle-fulfillment formula or even the action of the Man of God himself. Specific action on Elisha's part is only recorded in 2:19-22; 4:38-41; and 6:1-7. In these stories that action is always throwing the requested physical material. In 4:1-7 and 42-44, all the action is carried out by the secondary characters at Elisha's command, and in 3:4-20, Elisha is described as passively listening to a musician when he receives a divine word. Yet in all six stories, the obedience of secondary characters plays a central role in the enactment of the miracle or the giving of the divine word (as in 3:4-20). While these differences certainly reflect the unique situations in each story as discussed above, the elements that are present in every story display a consistent pattern in Elisha's ministry—helping every suppliant while enlisting their participation. Additionally, although every story contains a supernatural event, the interaction between the prophet and the deity is unstated. Instead the narrative focuses on the relationship between Elisha and the people, and how Elisha cares for all people-in-need, especially seeking to empower those of little means. The man of God is not only involved in their lives, addressing their various concerns, but he also involves them in the solution to their own problems, consistently addressing those concerns in a way that empowers them and develops their confidence, while rewarding them for their simple faith that acknowledges their dependence on God.190 Those who approach Elisha in faith leave, not only with solutions to their problems, but with an experience that has built their faith in God and confidence in their own value and worth as people with a meaningful role to play in God's story. 190 Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 255–257. 53 3. Prophetic Referral Agents: Ordinary People with Extraordinary Influence “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” --Proverbs 22:29 3.1. Introduction In the Elisha story-cycle, a number of secondary characters demonstrate their faith in the prophet who is able and willing to assist them in their distress. At the end of Chapter 2, I mentioned that no secondary characters appealed directly to Elijah to avail themselves of his miraculous powers. No doubt Obadiah's task of sustaining the 100 prophets in caves would have been easier had Elijah provided a miraculous food supply. Similarly, no secondary character refers another to Elijah for help when facing a problem. No doubt Naboth's downfall could have been averted had a servant referred him to Elijah before Jezebel orchestrated his demise.191 On the other hand, we see several minor secondary characters pointing their distressed superiors to Elijah's successor. This unique role of secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle I call a Prophetic Referral. It is a role filled most often by faithful servants, ordinary folk, who play a pivotal role in the story, though they appear only briefly, by referring a king or other leader in distress toward the prophet Elisha himself or toward a course of action that coincides with an oracle of Elisha. While the Omride kings have forsaken YHWH and impoverished their people, their success is predicated on listening to those whose faith in YHWH is exemplified through their reliance on his prophet. These characters consistently display wisdom, common sense, or clear-headedness that 191 Elijah appears in the story immediately after Ahab takes possession of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kgs 21:16). He arrives only to judge Ahab and his family line. Had Elijah arrived earlier in the story, he may have played a different role entirely. 54 exceeds that of their leaders to solve a presenting problem. The revelation of their wisdom stimulates movement in the plot and its associated thematic elements on two levels—the mundane human level of the presenting issues of the day and the level of divine providence. I define divine providence as the inexorable purposes of YHWH for Israel and the nations that are accomplished through means both ordinary and miraculous, by agents both human and divine. The most obvious example in the Elisha stories is the little Israelite servant girl who suggests to her mistress that Naaman appear before Elisha (2 Kings 5:3). Though “nameless and inconsequential,” she “knows what the great general does not know and needs to know.”192 On the mundane level, she knows that her master is in need, and that the prophet Elisha is both willing and able to help almost anyone who approaches him. On the level of divine providence, her suggestion is provocatively irrational. Although human wisdom would dictate other than sending one's greatest general behind enemy lines for a doctor's appointment, her advice accorded with the divine plan for Naaman, resulting not only in his healing but also his conversion. Keith Bodner compares her role to that of the Aramean military advisor in a subsequent story who informs his king that Elisha is the source of their intelligence leak (6:12). Both minor secondary characters, he says, “understand something unique about the prophet and relay this information to the highest-ranking Aramean leaders.”193 That unique understanding not only leads to the to solution the presenting problem, often in surprising ways, but also the fulfillment of divine aims. The leaders in these stories (here both Aramean, but their actions mirror their Israelite counterparts) are simply ignorant of what to do facing a critical decision and are often portrayed with biting irony as rash and foolish. Despite their own lack of faith, they all take immediate action in line with servant’s advice to their own benefit. Whereas, the Direct Appeal Secondary Characters are rewarded for their own faith, in these stories, kings and other leaders, both major and minor secondary characters,194 are rewarded for the faith of their 192 193 194 Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, 332. Bodner, The Double Agent, 156. For my analysis of secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle, I define a “minor secondary character” as one that appears only once in a story (such as the prophet's widow in 2 Kgs 4:1-7 or Elisha's assistant in 2 Kgs 6:15-17), while a “major secondary character” appears either as a principal character in a long story or reappears in several stories (such as Naaman or Gehazi). 55 subordinates. Often the benefits of the miracle extend far beyond that particular leader to benefit the people as well. The miracles of these stories tend to be national in scope, whereas the miracles of the Direct Appeal type were for the individual and his or her local community. The Agents of Prophetic Referral in the Elisha stories, therefore, influence state leaders, who are on the verge of making decisions of national and international import. Whereas Direct Appeal agents establish the intrinsic value of the common people, Prophetic Referral agents establish their value to king and country. Though they appear very briefly—sometimes merely a half verse—their role must not be underestimated. We will explore these questions: what necessitates the appearance of such characters? What contribution do they make to the narrative that would be lost were their characters edited out in keeping with the customary economy of biblical narrative? Categorization of such secondary characters can be elusive. Quantitatively, they appear for a maximum of two verses, according well with Adele Berlin's “Agent” or Robert Cohn's “Figures that make cameo appearances.”195 They frequently enter the narrative at the moment their advice is required and silently exit immediately after it is given. However, their impact on the plot relative to the duration of their appearance in the story exceeds that of all other secondary characters. Their impact is felt primarily through their speech. To draw attention to their importance, the exact words of each of these characters is recorded. Instead of being generalized in an exposition,196 each is given a unique line, revealing their timely insight into their master's problem. Though brief in appearance, their role is pivotal to the plot beyond that of a mere human prop,197 likening them to “types” or “supporting characters” who act as foils for the main character. Therefore, I propose to categorize them according to their function as Agents of Prophetic Referral. Their literary function or role is to perceive the nature of the dilemma facing a major character, and to dispense well-timed advice, that when heeded, solves the immediate issue and rights the course of the plot. A modern 195 196 197 See Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 1983, 23–32; Cohn, “Characterization in Kings,” 92. For instance, “Then one of the king's servants reminded him that the prophet Elisha could help.” See Berlin's analysis of “agents,” particularly Bathsheba in 2 Sam 11-12, Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 1983, 23–32. 56 equivalent is just before the main character in a suspense/thriller movie is about to open the closet door where the killer awaits, she receives a timely phone call from a friend, warning her of the impending danger. As such, they function as a deus ex machina, saving the day in the nick of time. In the Elisha story-cycle, their advice points the major characters toward the person or prophecy of Elisha. The major characters, who are either facing their problem irresolutely or intent on making an inauspicious decision, always take their advice, leading to satisfactory resolution of the plot. Another unique aspect of prophetic referral characters is that, though they are all servants, both Israelite and foreigner alike fulfill the same role. Not only common Israelites but common Syrians are afforded insight into the workings, words, and will of Elisha, the Man of God. In light of these observations, I will ask additional research questions. What advantage did the author see in portraying such an interaction repeatedly between superior and servant? What message did the author wish to convey about the role of a servant through these characters? What is the meaning of their diversity? Their counterparts in stories outside the Elisha stories are not always duly heeded, showing a range of literary functions these minor secondary characters can play (e.g., the Levite's servant in Judg 19:10-14). Since the structures and elements found in these stories are diverse, and the role of these secondary characters is short, I will focus my analysis on the role of the servant, the interaction between servant and leader, and the pivotal role that servant plays in the plot. The fact that several such characters appear in the Elisha story-cycle, dispensing their wise advice to their superiors draws attention to their role.198 In light of my observations I made in the introduction on the socio-economic, political, and religious changes introduced by the Omrides, I offer initial answers to the above questions before beginning my analysis of the texts. The wisdom wisdom these subordinates display derives from their submission to YHWH through reliance on his prophet Elisha. These servants realize that the 198 In the five examples I will examine, all are servants of the king or military general. Although effectively, we should refer to some of them as royal advisors or generals themselves, each is literally called a servant (‫ נערה‬or ‫)עבד‬. Examples include 2 Kings 3:11; 5:2; 5:13; 6:12; and 7:13. Similar examples outside the Elisha story-cycle also involve servants (‫ה‬/‫ נער‬or ‫ )עבד‬who dispense invaluable advice (1 Sam 9:5-8; 16:14-19 ; 25:14-17 ; and Judges 19:11). 57 solution to the problem facing their superiors is beyond human power or intellect. Their solution is elegantly simple: refer them to the words or person of Elisha, the man of God. The contrast between fumbling superior and wise servant is stark. This contrast subtly discredits kings and high-ranking officials in the eyes of the reader, but more importantly, it subtly elevates the servant, intimating the potential for ordinary folk to play a critical role in God's providence. Ultimately, the stories demonstrate that wisdom and power reside in God alone, and authority figures and ordinary folk alike are exhorted to submit to God's providential rule. 3.2. Referral to the Prophet of Water (2 Kings 3:1-20) Of all the characters who could have been edited out of the Bible, the servant of Jehoram before the battle of Moab must be considered first. The majority of commentators do not discuss the servant's role in the story, although many discuss the significance of his words.199 Quantitatively, he fulfills his role in a mere half verse (2 Kgs 3:11b). Commentaries that focus on the literary aspects of the text suggest that the servant's appearance is a foil for the faithless king of Israel.200 This is a fair initial assessment of his role, but we believe it goes beyond this. One factor that contributes to the apparent insignificance of this character is that his role is shared with another secondary character. Only at the prompting of Jehoshaphat does the servant speak up, and afterwards, Jehoshaphat confirms the worthiness of his words (vv. 11a, 12). As Hobbs notes, “Jehoshaphat provides the salvation from the immediate crisis through the prophet Elisha.”201 If this is the case, 199 200 201 Although many comment on his description of Elisha as “one who poured water on the hands of Elijah,” no one comments on the significance of these words placed in the mouth of a servant. See for instance, Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, 308; Gray, I and II Kings, 9:435; J. Rawson Lumby, The Second Book of the Kings, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (London: Cambridge University Press, 1889), 25; James A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary of The Books of Kings, ed. Henry Snyder Gehman, The International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1951), 360; Richard D. Nelson, First and Second Kings, 1st edition (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987), 166; Seow, “1 & 2 Kings,” 183; Elchanan Samet, Pirkei Elisha, ed. Uri Samet and Eyal Fishler (Ma’aleh Adumim: Ma’aliot Shalom Al Yisrael Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, 2007), 147. Mead mistakenly attributes the saying to the narrator, James K. Mead, “‘Elisha Will Kill?’ The Deuteronomistic Rhetoric of Life and Death in the Theology of the Elisha Narratives” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1999), 138. Hobbs here describes, Jehoshaphat as “an innocent third party who opens the way for the activity of Elisha,” comparing the king of Judah, not the servant of the king of Israel, to the Israelite slave girl in Naaman's story, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:36. Cohn, 2 Kings, 21; Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 243; Long, 2 Kings, 41. Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:36. 58 then what is the function of the servant in the story? Faithful King Jehoshaphat clearly serves as a foil to faithless King Jehoram. And since the author portrays this southern king as acquainted with a northern prophet, would not the conventions of biblical narrative dictate that a king introduce Elisha and streamline the plot of an extraneous character? Since we have analyzed 2 Kings 3 in Chapter 2, our analysis here will focus on the servant by comparing 2 Kings 3 with its literary parallel, 1 Kings 22. Strong structural similarity exists between the two stories, as well as numerous verbal and thematic parallels (see Table 2 below). In both stories, the king of Israel intends to initiate an offensive military campaign. Before doing so, he appeals to Jehoshaphat king of Judah to form a military alliance. In both stories Jehoshaphat's response reveals his wholehearted support for the king of Israel and his plans (2.). The verbal parallels between the king of Israel's request and the king of Judah's answer are sufficient to establish intertextuality,202 while the differences preserve the integrity of each story. The stories diverge when Jehoshaphat insists upon prophetic inquiry before going out to battle in, whereas the kings march out to war after a brief military council in 2 Kgs 3:8 (3).203 The stories converge again in tight verbal agreement but in different contexts. After hearing 400 supposed prophets of YHWH all in agreement on the king's success, Jehoshaphat asks if there is one more prophet of YHWH that they can consult. After hearing the king of Israel disparage and blame YHWH for their predicament, Jehoshaphat asks if there is a prophet of YHWH from whom they can consult YHWH (5). Jehoshaphat counters Jehoram's cry of desperation and blame by suggesting that YHWH is the solution not the source of their trouble. Although Jehoshaphat's question is nearly the same, wordfor-word, the difference in situations could not be more stark. In 1 Kings 22, the kings are portrayed in ceremonious pomp, seated on thrones, conducting a courtly discussion while they summon prophets and consider their counsel (v. 10). In 2 Kings 3, the kings are lost in the desert, defeated, 202 203 For a text-critical comparison of these two passages, see Simon J. De Vries, “The Three Comparisons in 1 Kings XXII 4B and Its Parallel and 2 Kings III 7B,” VT 39, no. 3 (1989): 283–306. For a brief literary comparison, see Mead, “Elisha Will Kill?,” 135–137. On whether a royal-prophetic consultation is implied in 2 Kings 3, see note 152 of Chapter 2. 59 and about to die of thirst (vv. 9-10). The stage is set for an Agent of Prophetic Referral. Whereas in 1 Kgs 22, King Ahab reluctantly introduces Micaiah ben Imlah, the narrative of 2 Kgs 3 adds a new character to introduce and commend Elisha to the desperate kings, who disappears as soon as his role is fulfilled. The character is a servant of Jehoram. Table: Comparison of 1 Kings 22 and 2 Kings 3 1 Kings 22 2 Kings 3 1. Mobilization for war (v. 3) 1. Mobilization for war (v. 6) ‫ויאמר מלך ישראל אל עבדיו‬ ‫הידעתם כי לנו רמתגלעד‬ ‫ואנחנו מחשים מקחת אתה מיד מלך ארם‬ ‫ויצא המלך יהורם ביום ההוא משמרון‬ ‫ויפקד את כל ישראל‬ 2. An Israelite alliance with Jehoshaphat (v. 7) 2. An Israelite alliance with Jehoshaphat (v. 4) ‫ויאמר אל יהושפט‬ ‫התלך אתי למלחמה רמת גלעד‬ ‫ויאמר יהושפט אל מלך ישראל‬ ‎ ‫ כמוני כמוך כעמי כעמך כסוסי כסוסיך‬‎ ‫ו ילך וישלח אל יהושפט‬ ‫מלך יהודה לאמר מלך מואב פשע בי‬ ‫התלך אתי אל מואב למלחמה‬ ‫ויאמר אעלה‬ ‫כמוני כמוך כעמי כעמך כסוסי כסוסיך‬ 3. Jehoshaphat proposes consulting YHWH (v. 5) 3. The kings consult each other, go out to war, and face difficulties (vv. 8-9) 4. Ahab gathers his prophets (v. 6) 4. Jehoram despairs (v. 10) 5. Jehoshaphat requests another prophet of 5. Jehoshaphat requests a prophet to inquire of YHWH to inquire of (v. 7) YHWH (v. 11a) ‫ויאמר יהושפט האין פה נביא ליהו–ה‬ ‫ויאמר יהושפט האין פה נביא ליהו–ה‬ ‫עוד ונדרשה מאותו‬ ‫ונדרשה את יהו–ה מאותו‬ 6. King Ahab answers: Micaiah Ben Imlah (v. 6. A servant answers: Elisha Ben Shaphat (v. 8a) 11b) ‫ ויאמר מלך ישראל אל יהושפט עודאיש אחד‬‎ ‫ויען אחד מעבדי מלך ישראל ויאמר פהאלישע בן‬ ‫לדרש את יהו–ה מאתו ואני שנאתיו כי לא יתנבא‬ ‫שפט אשר יצק מים על ידי אליהו‬ ‫עלי טוב כי אם רעמיכיהו בן ימלה‬ 7. Jehoshaphat responds (v. 12a) 7. Jehoshaphat responds (v. 8b) 60 ‫ויאמר יהושפט אל יאמר המלך כן‬ ‫ויאמר יהושפט יש אותו דבר יהו–ה‬ 8. Kings go down to the prophet (v. 12b) 8. The prophet comes to the kings (vv. 9-14) 9. The prophet objects, king of Israel responds (vv. 13-14) 9. The prophet objects, king of Israel responds (vv. 15-16) 10. Two prophecies of military success (vv. 1619) 10. Two prophecies of military failure (vv. 1723) James Mead notes five points of criticism for Jehoram, which include actions characterized by incompetence, foolishness, and faithlessness.204 The text clearly denigrates Jehoram, but it also casts a shadow of aspersion on Jehoshaphat, who although generally faithful, is subtly criticized for his involvement in this offensive campaign and his failure to beware of allying himself with a militarily expansive kingdom of Northern Israel, failing to remember the colossal defeat of Ramot Gilead. Although he may be subtly implicated in Jehoram's foolhardy plan, Jehoshaphat is regarded highly by the text for his faithfulness to YHWH as his own words (v. 11) and the words of Elisha show (v. 14). While Jehoram acts in faithlessness, Jehoshaphat acts in faith; while Jehoram is despised by the prophet, Jehoshaphat is highly regarded. Thus, Jehoshaphat fulfills the role as a “foil” for Jehoram. Since a second foil would be superfluous, the servant performs a different function in the narrative. The role of the servant is to convey God's providential salvation to his people by pointing both kings to the prophet Elisha. As a servant, he models faithfulness, demonstrating that even ordinary people can contribute to a national scale change of course from destruction to life. This role is understood in light of the several key differences that emerged in the above analysis of the two parallel narratives. First is the desperation of major secondary characters in 2 Kings 3: the kings and their armies are faced with annihilation. Second, while Jehoshaphat shows himself to be incompetent and forgetful, Jehoram is rash and foolish besides, blaming God whom he knows can 204 Mead, “Elisha Will Kill?,” 135–136. 61 save them. His irrational outbursts portray a monarch leading his people off the brink into destruction. However, the servant's suggestion leads him to take immediate action in the opposite direction, averting national disaster. Third, instead of counseling Elisha how to prophesy, like the messenger does Micaiah in 1 Kgs 22:13, the servant simply points the desperate kings to Elisha.205 Fourth, the servant reveals new and unique insight into Elisha's character. He characterizes Elisha as one who “poured water on the hands of Elijah” his predecessor (2 Kgs 3:11b). While the precise meaning of this phrase is not known, it clearly refers to the period of Elisha's “servanthood.”206 The servant of Jehoram knows Elisha as the servant of Elijah. More importantly, the servant subtly reveals critical information about Elisha's servanthood and power: the prophet's ability to provide water is inextricably linked to his identity as a servant.207 Elisha's power does not derive from himself; rather it has been granted by one who is over him. An additional piece of critical information that is obvious and overlooked is that the servant knew that Elisha had accompanied them. Surprisingly, after a long, hot, and rambling journey, Elisha is present among the troops.208 The kings were not aware of his presence, but the servant did know. Elisha's prophetic power and God's providential plan are recognized first by an ordinary person, and only acknowledged secondarily by a king. Elisha had come along despite the danger, to accompany the soldiers, the servants, the common people, and it will be these people who will benefit from his prophecy. They will be provided with water miraculously to quench their thirst, averting a military defeat in the desert and solving the immediate and pressing need. While the kings also benefit, the goal of their military campaign, the conquest of Moab, will ultimately be frustrated, suggesting that divine disapproval of Israel's militarism does not rule out God's providential care for his people. 205 206 207 208 On the significance of the kings going down to Elisha rather than summoning him, see note 154 of Chapter 2. See Gray, I and II Kings, 9:435; Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:36; Lumby, The Second Book of the Kings, 25. Bergen notes the irony of this description of Elisha in the context of a water shortage, alluding to possible “comic aspects” in the text, Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 75. It seems to bear, rather, optimistic foreshadowing of Elisha's prophetic oracle (see Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 243.), showing the servant to be a person of keen insight into the significance of the problem and its solution. Bergen also draws attention to the oddity of Elisha's presence in this campaign. He interprets it negatively because of “his seeming unwillingness to inquire of YHWH for the king of Israel,” Bergen, Elisha and the End of Prophetism, 75. However, my analysis shows that it can be seen in a more positive light. Although he is critical of the king for his family's idolatry, he is present among the people and helps them, even accompanying an ill-advised military expedition. 62 3.3. Referral to the Prophet of Healing (2 Kings 5:1-19a) The story of Naaman's healing has been noted for its length, complexity of plot, and a large cast of characters.209 While the secondary characters perform different functions in the narrative, we will focus on the roles of two minor secondary characters, who refer Naaman to the prophet and his prophecy, respectively, keeping the Syrian general on track with his destiny with divine providence. Both characters are servants, who show great loyalty to Naaman that goes beyond the normal obligation of a servant; both provide Naaman access to insight that they uniquely possess. Naaman, a powerful general whose skin disease threatens him with a social ostracism,210 is healed and encounters the God of Israel through listening to the advice of his servants. Ironically, these humble servants not only display “naive good sense,”211 but also offer Naaman a glimpse into the workings of divine providence. Their words carry “a mysterious generative power”212 propelling Naaman across borders into enemy territory to meet the prophet in Israel and follow his unorthodox instructions. Because Naaman listens to his servants, breaking military and social protocol, he receives much more than physical healing. Humbling himself before the God of Israel, whose hand had been at work in his life from the beginning (v. 1), he attains his own servant heart. 3.3.1. The Little Israelite Maidservant Besides the many sharp contrasts between the captive Israelite maidservant and the great Syrian general Naaman,213 they share two common traits that bind this improbable pair of characters together—suffering and servanthood. Both traits are mentioned in the story's narrative exposition. 209 210 211 212 213 Cohn divides 2 Kings 5 into three “units,” that each center on different characters. Our analysis will concentrate on Unit A (vv. 1-14) and Unit B (vv. 15-19) only, whose central characters are Elisha Naaman respectively, Cohn, “Form and Perspective in 2 Kings V,” 171–172. In chapter 4, I hope analyze Unit C (vv. 20-27) when I examine the character of Gehazi under the category of secondary characters who are judged in my Dissertation. Overall, in 2 Kgs 5, Hobbs counts no less than 10 characters, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:59. The leprosy Naaman suffered from was not Hansen's disease but a skin disease that rendered him ritually unclean. See Sweeney, I & II Kings, 9:298. Long, 2 Kings, 72. Ibid., 70. Cohn, “Form and Perspective in 2 Kings V,” 174; Long, 2 Kings, 70; Moore, God Saves, 71–72. 63 The opening of the story is arranged chiastically, the author devoting an individual verse to each character in the exposition and affording each one verse of direct discourse (see Diagram below). Despite the fact that Naaman will prove to be the major character in this story, the opening structure centers on the Israelite maidservant. Moreover, his discourse derives from hers. He simply quotes her optative statement by saying ‫“ כזאת וכזאת דברה הנערה אשר מארץ ישראל‬Thus and such said the young girl from the land of Israel” (v. 4) without supplementing with his own opinion or desires. The author has double-underlined and bolded the function of this minor secondary character, even though she will not appear again in the story. Diagram of Opening of 2 Kings 5:1-19a A. Exposition: Introducing Naaman (v. 1) B. Exposition: Introducing the Israelite maidservant (v. 2) B'. Direct discourse: the Israelite maidservant speaks to her mistress (v. 3) A'. Direct discourse: Naaman speaks to his master (quoting the maidservant) (v. 4) Standing out from her fellow servants in the Elisha story-cycle, she merits a narrative exposition to explain her origin and role in Naaman's household (v. 2).214 Her origin is a history of personal and national suffering. Raiding Arameans have ravaged the people of Israel, and this little girl has been abducted and forced into slavery. Remarkably, instead of remaining captive to fear and resentment, she acts with compassion toward her master.215 At the end of a long list of accolades, we learn that he, too, is suffering, but not from war but from a disease (v. 1). Another common factor is that Naaman and the little Israelite maidservant are also both ‫לפני‬, “before” their master, he Aram's king (v. 1), she Naaman's wife (v. 2).216 In this story, the preposition ‫ לפני‬carries the dual denotations of physical presence and servanthood.217 She is the first character to speak in the story, and his speech echoes hers. She expresses her desire to her mistress that Naaman see Elisha using the interjection 214 215 216 217 Of all the Prophetic Referral Minor Secondary Characters, she appears the longest in a story, two verses (vv. 2-3). One verse is an exposition explaining her background and the second records her words. Bodner, The Double Agent, 88; Lai Ling Elizabeth Ngan, “2 Kings 5,” Review and Expositor 94 (1997): 594; Esther M. Menn, “A Little Child Shall Lead Them: The Role of the Little Israelite Servant Girl (2 Kings 5.1-19),” Currents in Theology and Mission 35, no. 5 (October 2008): 343. Yair Zackovitch, “Every High Official Has a Higher One Set Over Him”: A Literary Analysis of 2 Kings 5 (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1985), 26–27. Moore, God Saves, 73. 64 ‫“ אחלי‬If only!” (vs. 3).218 She refers to Elisha as ‫" הנביא אשר בשומרון‬the prophet who is in Samaria.” Later, Elisha will refer to himself as ‫“ נביא בישראל‬a prophet in Israel,” expanding the geographical territory of his domain. For now, the maidservant's knowledge that Naaman is in Samaria provides Naaman with a sufficient information to locate him, while providing the reader with indirect characterization of the prophet: even young Israelite girls are familiar with the prophet's whereabouts and his reputation for helpfulness.219 While Elijah could not be found nor counted upon to remain in one location (1 Kgs 18:10, 12; 2 Kgs 2:16), Elisha is consistently present and reliable. Finally, like many of the minor secondary characters in the Direct Appeal Miracle Stories, she shows absolute confidence that Elisha will heal Naaman “if only” he can approach him and be ‫“ לפני‬before” him (v. 3; see note 219), providing additional indirect characterization of Elisha. Although the main denotation of the preposition is certainly geographical here, the subtle second denotation of ‫ לפני‬as servanthood is also in view.220 Although Naaman is submitted to his master, the king of Aram, he must further humble himself before the prophet who is in Samaria. Thus, the suggestion of the little girl acts as a guide, not only indicating where the mighty general must go, but also who he must become. How could a captured slave girl living in Aram be so confident, precise, and bold in her suggestion? The answer lies in the depth of her insight and the power of her words. Along with a number of minor secondary characters in the Elisha stories, she knows that Elisha helps everyone who approaches him with a complaint, great or small. Her insight is eminently practical, perhaps based on her own witness or experience. As such, she is a purveyor of wisdom. Despite her utter powerlessness from a human perspective, she clearly wields the only sort of power that will have any sway in this story: the power of a servant,221 who is submitted to the will of God.222 Her absolute 218 219 220 221 222 "‫“ "אחלי אדני לפני הנביא אשר בשמרון אז יאסף אתו מצרעתו‬If only my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria. Then, he would heal him from his skin disease.” (2 Kgs 5:3). As Hobbs notes, this assumption shows that knowledge about Elisha is widespread, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:63. Moore, God Saves, 73. Ngan, “2 Kings 5,” 591. Zackovitch, Every High Official, 26. 65 trust in the prophet's ability and willingness to heal Naaman generates the opportunity for him to be physically healed by the prophet who serves the God who had guaranteed his military success, solving his immediate and presenting problem. While the Israelite maidservant may not have intended Naaman's submission to the God of Israel, her insightful suggestion creates this possibility as well. Her superiors receive her advice with utmost credulity. Not only does her advice quickly travel from Naaman's wife to the king, it is implemented by king and general without delay. While Naaman immediately perceives the necessity of geographic movement her advice entails, he could not have anticipated the development of character required of him. The powerful general who arrives with enough silver to buy the Hill of Samaria five times,223 with gold and clothing besides, and a clear expectation of how prophets are supposed to heal, learns that simple obedience is what the prophet requires. Naaman navigates the course charted by the Israelite maidservant through a number of minor characters, some helpful, some resistant, and even through his own pride until “he stands before” Elisha (v. 15; ‫)ויעמד לפניו‬. Her words are prophetic, not only generative but also predictive. Even though Naaman does not initially encounter Elisha when receiving instructions, he returns to him after being healed to express his gratitude in person (5:15).224 3.3.2. The Humble Servants Just as the sending of one minor secondary character (Elisha's messenger in v.10) exposes his pride and throws him into a fit of rage, so too does a group of minor secondary characters help Naaman regain his course. Like the Israelite maidservant, they share a timely and relevant insight that has escaped Naaman: the prophet's instructions, while offensive, are simple to carry out. While Naaman is a great man with great wealth who, expecting a great miracle, is now in a great rage, the servants encourage Naaman simply to follow the instructions. Their groundedness contrasts with his delirium, their simplicity, with his flamboyance. Narrative pace slows considerably to describe 223 224 See 1 Kgs 16:24. Cohn, “Form and Perspective in 2 Kings V,” 178; Moore, God Saves, 78. 66 Naaman's rage in a two-verse tirade that reveals his expectations of a personal encounter with Elisha and his disgust at being dispatched by the prophet's messenger (vv. 11-12). Naaman, whose only speech up until this point has been to quote the Israelite maidservant, is suddenly colored with realistic personality. He is portrayed as rash, foolishly endangering his physical healing and threatening to derail the entire plot. Furthermore, Naaman, embroiled in his own anger, jeopardizes his recognition of the God of Israel's providential hand in his life and the international affairs in which he plays a part. His servants, not mentioned in the narrative until now, also suddenly spring to life with a line of considerable rhetorical skill that reflects both respect and concern for their enraged master. Before they begin, their speech is introduced by three verbs ‫" ויגשו‬and they approached,” ‫" וידברו‬and they spoke,” ‫" ויאמרו‬and they said,” showing the care they take in addressing Naaman. Their speech itself consists of two questions: reversing the normal order to emphasize the direct object (‫ )דבר גדול‬first, the servants delay the interrogative until the end of the first sentence, and they ask the more pertinent question second.225 They cautiously but cleverly appeal to Naaman's sense of “greatness” first, catching his ear: “If a great thing the prophet had spoken to you...” (‫ ;אבי דבר גדול הנביא דבר אליך‬v. 13ab).226 They continue, closing in on their real intention, motivating Naaman to action: “...would you not do it?” (‫ ;הלוא תעשה‬v. 13ag). Having come a great distance with enormous wealth, he had already demonstrated his willingness to do “a 225 226 The grammar is unusual, confusing both ancient translators and modern commentators alike, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:57. Some translations take the servants' statement as conditional, “My father, if the prophet had told you a great thing...” (see JPS, KJV, NIV, NJB, NRSV), whereas others take it as declarative, “My father, a great word the prophet has spoken...” (see ESV, NIBC). The main difference, is how to understand the translation of their first word ‫אבי‬, and the clause that opens the apodosis. According to Jouon-Muraoka 105f, ‫ אבי‬is a conditional particle, opening the protasis of an unreal conditional sentence (like ּ‫ ; לו‬see also Job 34:36). The English translations that take it as conditional, insert a conditional particle into their translation since they also variously translate ‫ אבי‬as “Sir,” “My father,” or simply “Father.” Uniquely in the Elisha story-cycle, ‫" אבי‬my father” is a term of respect shown to prophets by kings (2 Kgs 6:21; 13:14) and other prophets (2:12), but not by other servants to their masters. Besides several times in the Elisha story-cycle and once in 1 Samuel (in an emotional appeal, David calls Saul ‫ אבי‬in 1 Sam 24:12, but note: HALOT classifies it as the conditional particle), the term ‫ אבי‬is restricted to blood relations in the Bible (God is called “my father” in Psalm 89:27, but this is metaphorical). Additionally, the phrase ‫ ואף כי‬that opens the protasis, is usually translated “how much more/less....” Thus, I translate the speech of the servants: “If a great thing the prophet had spoken to you, would you not do it? How much more so that he has told you, wash and be clean?” contra Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 195. Menn, “A Little Child,” 342. 67 great thing.” And he expected to be rewarded with a prophetic show of power. The servants' first question demonstrates their keen insight into their master's temperament.227 Their second question arrives to their intention: “How much more so that he has told you, wash and be clean?” (‫ואף כי‬ ‫ ;אמר אליך רחץ וטהר‬v. 13b). The servants' insight is penetrating, their logic convincing. Their questions compliment and challenge their master at the same time.228 Their request is not only reasonable but also tactfully and deferentially exposes Naaman's pride, now the only remaining obstacle between him and healing.229 As “arbiters of good sense” and encouragement,230 Naaman's servants, whose job description requires humility, invite Naaman to view the matter from their perspective.231 Though the servants do not display the same level of familiarity and trust in Elisha as the Israelite maidservant, their faith is notable since they like Naaman are foreigners. That they give credence to the strange methods of this Israelite prophet who has offended their master signifies that there is more at stake than just physical healing: the God of Israel is about to reveal himself to foreign aggressors. Their invitation disarms Naaman, allowing him to overcome his pride and rage, and he immediately heeds their servant-wisdom.232 For a second time in the story, Naaman unequivocally trusts in the words of a servant, whose concern for him and trust in the prophet lead to his well-being. Naaman's skin is transformed from that of a “great man” (‫ ;איש גדול‬v. 1) to that of a “young boy” (‫ ;נער קטן‬v. 14), becoming like the Israelite maidservant (‫ ;נערה קטנה‬v. 2), not only in appearance, but also inwardly, as he humbly submits to his servants' advice, the God of Israel and his servant Elisha.233 And so Naaman becomes a servant himself, to stand “before the 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 Fretheim, Deuteronomic History, 153. Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 261. Bodner, The Double Agent, 91; Moore, God Saves, 76. Bodner, The Double Agent, 91. Provan, 1 and 2 Kings, 192. Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 261. Esther Menn notes this comparison, Menn, “A Little Child,” 342, 345. Elisha's prophetic miracles point beyond himself as “a prophet in Israel” (2 Kgs 5:8) to the only God, who is in Israel (v. 15), as Naaman confesses, Ngan, “2 Kings 5,” 591–592. Zackovitch notes that only when Naaman is physically healed does he recognize the sovereignty of YHWH in his life, Zackovitch, Every High Official, 27. However, the healing was merely the catalyst. The caring intervention of his humble servants have modeled the submission of a servant for this great man, and have been instrumental in his character transformation to a humble servant of YHWH. 68 prophet” (v. 15) as the prophet himself stands “before” God (v. 16), and the little servant girl is “before” her mistress (v. 2). His speech reveals his inner transformation: he humbly refers to himself as ‫“ עבדך‬your servant” when addressing Elisha (vv. 15-19).234 Robert Cohn suggests the story of Naaman could have been summarized as follows: Naaman, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army, was valorous but leprous. When he heard of the power of Elisha, he went to Samaria to be cured. Elisha said to him, 'If you would be clean, wash seven times in the Jordan.' And Naaman did as the prophet said, and, behold, he was clean.235 Such a summary would cut out all the minor secondary characters in the story, including the two Agents of Prophetic Referral. While it provides resolution for the mundane issue of Naaman's illness, it omits the more profound issues: Naaman's character transformation and allegiance transfer to the God of Israel, which align him with divine purposes for Israel and her neighbors, as well as the issues of hierarchy, elevating the status of common people and emphasizing the dependence of “the great” on “the small.” From our analysis, it is clear that were the minor secondary characters omitted, so too would the deeper thematic meaning of the story. Naaman is depicted as dependent on his servants. Not only does he need to follow their advice to benefit from Elisha's healing power, but he also uses them as a model. Still despite his surprising humbling, impressive conversion, and confession of faith in the God of Israel, Naaman, his family, and his servants will not appear in the Bible again. Naaman's servants do not contribute to the overall shaping of salvation-history (as we shall see the servants of Saul and David do); rather, they contribute to the testimony of the submission of Syria's most powerful general to Israel's God. This feature sets apart the role of the servants in 2 Kings 5 from other Agents of Prophetic Referral in the Elisha story-cycle, and from Agents playing similar referral roles in other stories. The story of Naaman is less about the healing of a foreign general by an Israelite prophet than about how a mighty foreign general becomes a servant of the God of Israel.236 The message of these minor 234 235 236 Moore, God Saves, 78. Cohn, “Form and Perspective in 2 Kings V,” 173. Moore, God Saves, 73. 69 secondary characters is clear: those who appear to be in power are really powerless unless they assume the posture of a servant and submit to the will of God. Ultimately, Naaman benefits from the wisdom of his wife's Israelite maidservant and from that of his own servants, but he plays no further role in Israel's salvation-history. However, his example, and theirs endure as a model of faithfulness to the God of Israel. Despite lacking an enduring presence in Israel's history, this story shows that all people, both nameless servants and great generals, both foreigners and Israelites, men and women, captive and free can align themselves with divine providence if they become servants and submit to the will of God, whether expressed in the words of the prophet or in the words of a humble servant. In this story, the thematic thrust is character transformation; however, the following intertextual comparison will show that the more common role of Agents of Prophetic Referral is to urge their master to act in alignment with God's plan for Israel's salvation-history. There, the chief contribution of the minor secondary characters is not to influence change of character but to point the main character toward a certain course of action, in alignment with divine providence. Both of the following examples are taken from the account of Saul in 1 Samuel at different points in his life. 3.3.3. Saul's Wise Servants (1 Samuel 9:1-10; 16:14-23) Saul, who is portrayed initially with optimistic ambiguity (1 Sam 9-10) then with unreserved approval (1 Sam 11) before succumbing to his long and catastrophic downfall (1 Sam 13-31), encounters two Agents of Prophetic Referral, minor secondary characters who refer him to someone who can provide a solution to a problem Saul is experiencing.237 In each case, the servant's suggestion is sound and wise, providing a practical solution for Saul. Moreover, the advice of each of these servants is laden with divine purpose, introducing Saul to Samuel and David, the two most influential characters in the life of Saul and in the contemporary course of salvation history. Saul meets both Samuel and David through the agency of a servant, a minor character whose insight 237 Robert Alter notes the similarity in function between these two minor characters, Robert Alter, The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel, Later Printing edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000), 98. 70 exceeds his own. The servants not only refer Saul to the person who can help when he is disconcerted and unable to proceed, but they also provide him with additional insight into the solution of his problem. Thus, their appearance in the story is slightly longer (3-4 verses instead of 1), and their role is slightly more involved than their peers in the Elisha story-cycle. Still, their primary role is to speak advice to their non-plussed master, who responds by acting on their advice. However, while they also serve as character foils to Saul, the effect of their characterization is secondary and muted, and they offer him little potential for change, unlike the servants of Naaman. In 1 Samuel 9:5, Saul despairs of his mission to recover his father's lost donkeys and expresses his intention to return home empty-handed. His servant, who was introduced at the beginning of the story (v. 3), refers Saul to an anonymous man of God, in whose ability the servant places great confidence (v. 6). Saul initially hesitates to take his servant's advice for fear that he has nothing to offer the man of God as payment (v. 7). Again, the servant provides the solution (v. 8). After a brief narrative exposition explaining ancient terminology, Saul immediately accepts the advice of the servant despite his earlier fear that his father had begun to worry about him (v. 10). Jonathan Jacobs notes two unusual features in this vignette: one, Saul's servant is not the typical, biblical compliant attendant, and two, “the hero accepts the opinion of the secondary character.”238 The text portrays the servant as loyal and resourceful, enabling Saul to complete his father's task despite his own reluctance.239 Additionally, these features comprise a number of key events that appear to be coincidences in the development of the larger events of salvation-history, namely the anointing of Saul. The two plot-goals—the location of Kish's donkeys and the anointing of Saul, on the planes of mundane concerns and divine providence—are cleverly intertwined throughout the story.240 238 239 240 Jonathan Jacobs, “The Role of the Secondary Characters in the Story of the Anointing of Saul (I Samuel 9-10),” VT 58, no. 4–5 (2008): 496. Hildebrandt also notes this first feature, Samuel Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul: ‘Minor’ Characters and Royal Commentary in 1 Samuel 9–31*,” JSOT 40, no. 2 (December 2015): 184. Contra Jacobs who describes the servant as “stubborn and argumentative,” (Jacobs, “Secondary Characters in I Sam 9-10,” 496.) the servant is an excellent example of forceful backup, who does not allow Saul to fail in his mission and filial duty. The servant does not “argue” with Saul; rather, he introduces Saul to possibilities he had not considered before. Antony F. Campbell, S. J., 1 Samuel, FOTL 7 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 106–109. 71 A few differences emerge between this story and the Prophetic Referral stories in the Elisha cycle. First, while the servant does dispense timely and accurate advice to his despairing master, he is less confident of that information. First, the servant does not know Samuel's name, calling him by his title, ‫" איש אלהים‬man of God.” Second, although he does show familiarity with the ability of the man of God (“all that he says comes true”), he expresses a small measure of doubt as to whether he would be willing to help them (“perhaps, he will tell us the way to go....”) (v. 6). Nevertheless, his suggestion is powerful enough to convince Saul to take his advice. And while the servant could serve as a foil to Saul (e.g., the servant's persistent resourcefulness vs. Saul's irresolute negligence), the text does not explore such issues as Saul's character, nor does any event in the story (1 Sam 910:16) comprise a major development of his character. While his encounter with Samuel comprises a character-shaping event with a lot of potential for Saul, the text makes no mention of any significant development. While God gives him “another heart” and he “prophesies,” he nonetheless remains meek if not fearful (cf., 9:21; 10:16, 22). Samuel Hildebrandt discusses characterization of Saul as function of the minor character. He notes that the servant displays traits of a good king; by comparison, “the future king of Israel as someone who requires direction, advice, and even financial support from one of those he ought to lead”241 While this may be true, such characterization methods are subtle, and contribute veiled foreshadowing of his flaws to be revealed, at most, since characterization of Saul is not emphasized in the rest of the passage (1 Sam 9:1-10:16). Rather, the main function of the servant, as with other minor characters in the passage, is to teach Saul (and the reader) that the events surrounding Saul's anointing as king of Israel are ordained by divine providence, a function of plot and theme, rather than characterization. Saul is portrayed as a simple, young, country nobleman, whose lack of ambition is consistent throughout the story (see e.g., 1 Sam 9:21).242 Here the servant showcases the numerous “coincidences” that comprise the background.243 His function as Prophetic Referral Agent is to move Saul towards the intertwined 241 242 243 Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul,” 185. Campbell, S. J., 1 Samuel, 105. Jacobs demonstrates how the “coincidences” in the first half of the story, leading up to Saul's encounter with 72 goals of the plot, an encounter with the prophet Samuel. He is aware only of the human concern of recovering the donkeys, but his language hints at the servant's insight. By using the particle "Behold!” to begin both of his lines (v. 6 and v. 8), he invites Saul to view the situation from his perspective. Saul also begins his second speech line with the particle ‫( הנה‬v. 7), in a response of protest to his servant's suggestion that they have nothing with which to pay the man of God. Thus, the servant's second use of ‫ הנה‬introduces his insight that counters Saul's lack of insight.244 By insisting that Saul seek the counsel of the man of God, the servant not only persists in aiding Saul in his temporal task, but he unwittingly serves divine providence as well. By referring Saul to Samuel, he functions, along with several other secondary characters as a narrative device whose function is to “direct Saul toward his fixed destiny.”245 The second Agent of Prophetic Referral introduces Saul to David in 1 Samuel 16:14-23.246 In this narrative, the servant (and the group of servants from which he emerges) shows deep and uncanny insight in line with divine providence in a way that is unparalleled among these examples, not only into the qualities of David but also into the nature of Saul's problem. Benjamin Johnson has noted how the servants' penetrating diagnosis of Saul's malady (v. 15) shows a high degree of verbal similarity with narrative exposition (v. 14), and that their suggestion of a solution (v. 16) has several verbal parallels with the narrator's account of its application (v. 23).247 The servants know that Saul's condition is no ordinary depression but an “evil spirit,” and that the application of soothing music is required to drive the spirit away. The servants are more than just perceptive: they are able to predict precise outcomes with prophetic power, and they know what the omniscient narrator knows, the only persona in biblical literature that has reliable insight into divine 244 245 246 247 Samuel, are only coincidences from Saul's perspective, and are revealed as divine design in the second half of the narrative when Samuel prescripts a number of specific encounters in the second half of the narrative, Jacobs, “Secondary Characters in I Sam 9-10,” 503–506. On the use of ‫ הנה‬in this passage, see Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul,” 184, n. 14. Jacobs, “Secondary Characters in I Sam 9-10,” 505. Despite the fact that Saul's servants play quite a major role in the Saul narrative (1 Sam 9-31), Hildebrandt takes note of a significant lacuna in their presence from 1 Sam 10 until 16. In other words, no servants appear to prevent Saul from making the mistakes that lead to his downfall. Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul,” 186. Benjamin J M Johnson, “David Then and Now: Double-Voiced Discourse in 1 Samuel 16.14-23,” JSOT 38, no. 2 (December 2013): 204, 205. 73 providence.248 Like the story in 1 Samuel 9, their advice comes in two stages. First a group of servants suggests that Saul seek a skilled musician to provide music therapy (v. 16). Second, a single servant emerges from the group to provide a glowing recommendation of David (v. 18). Unlike the previous story, Saul's responses to both of these suggestions is total compliance. Additionally, the servants initiate the dialogue; Saul simply responds. This story more closely parallels many of the Prophetic Referral stories in the Elisha cycle. First, the problem facing king Saul is beyond his ability solve or even to diagnose.249 Like Jehoram and Naaman in 2 Kings, he is completely helpless and beholden to his servants. Second, the king's response, like that of Jehoram and Naaman, is immediate compliance. Third, the servant, who recommends David, shows insight, not only into David's musical skills, but also lists many of his traits that make him suitable for the kingship, and he seems to prescribe action that leads to David's ascension to the throne. Robert Alter wonders whether he is a “pro-David mole” in the court of Saul.250 More likely, the servant is speaking on two levels—the first addressing Saul's presenting problem and the second representing the concerns of the author, the first addressing the pressing, the second, the providential.251 While the text does not speak of the prophetic abilities of this servant or other such Agents of Prophetic Referral, their spoken advice betrays a level of wisdom that exceeds mundane purposes and penetrates into the realm of divine purposes. Though their advice is given without the guarantee of the Oracle formula (“Thus says YHWH”), their words, when followed achieve the same goal. 3.4. Referral to the Clairvoyant Prophet (2 Kings 6:12) One of the more curious and often neglected Agents of Prophetic Referral is the servant of the king of Aram appearing in 2 Kings 6:12. While many commentators understand that the king is 248 249 250 251 Both Hildebrandt and Johnson note the unusual spiritual perception of Saul's servants, Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul,” 186; Johnson, “David Then and Now,” 204. Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul,” 187. Alter, The David Story, 98. For a full analysis of these two levels in this passage, see Johnson, “David Then and Now.” 74 meeting with his military advisors and generals,252 the Hebrew word used here is ‫עבדים‬ "servants,”253 thematically linking these “servants” with the other Referral Agents in the Elisha story-cycle. Again, a servant speaks up to disabuse his master of arrant misapprehension, referring him to the prophet Elisha. The king learns that instead of a mole, his military operations have been compromised by their adversary. As elsewhere, the king takes action based on his servant's revealed knowledge, immediately halting his internal investigation to marshal a great army of horses and chariots (v. 13), focusing all his effort on defeating the external foe. The phrase ‫הנביא אשר בישראל‬ “the prophet who is in Israel,” (v. 12) in the mouth of the servant recalls 2 Kings 5, and the reader may notice a number of similarities along with some key differences.254 As in the Naaman story, here Syrians, both master and servants, launch a search for the prophet Elisha to meet a pressing need. First, the Israelite maid-servant had recommended that Naaman present himself to ‫הנביא אשר‬ ‫“ בשומרון‬the prophet who is in Samaria” (5:3). Then after arriving in Samaria, Elisha instructs the king to send Naaman to him so that he (Naaman) may know that ‫" יש נביא בישראל‬there is a prophet in Israel” (5:8). Additionally, Naaman's conclusion that ‫אין אלהים בכל הארץ כי אם בישראל‬ "there is no god in all the earth except in Israel” (5:16) demonstrates the theological outcome of Naaman's journey from Syria to Israel. In 2 Kgs 5, the Syrians had sought the prophet's help for Naaman, whereas, in the present story, their intention is hostile. While other Agents of Prophetic Referral suggest that their masters approach the prophet for help and to simply carry out his instructions, these servants simply inform the king of the prophet's powers to infiltrate their military plans. Their solution is surprising: ambush the prophet! Since the servant understands that Elisha's clairvoyance compromises the success of any military invasion, would he not also realize that a mission to capture the prophet is similarly doomed to fail? While the temptation exists to view this 252 253 254 Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, 343; Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 268; Long, 2 Kings, 85; Nelson, First and Second Kings, 186. Moore , Moore, God Saves, 86. Semet points out six sets of verbal parallels linking 2 Kings 5 with 6:8-23, Samet, Pirkei Elisha, 431. Shemesh notes that Elisha's fame is spreading, not only among Israelites but also outside Israel's borders, Shemesh, “Stories of Elisha,” 200. 75 scene as comical,255 the reader must note the particularities of what the servant reveals to his king. He doesn't remind the king of a wonder-worker in Israel who can cure leprous field commanders: this story cannot be read as chronological sequel to that of Naaman.256 Nor does he simply repeat the information divulged in the narrative exposition, that Elisha had been warning the king of Israel of his troop movements at every turn (2 Kgs 6:8-10). Rather, he claims that Elisha relays the words he speaks in his own bedroom to the king of Israel: prophetic penetration of such intimate knowledge in the affairs of a foreign king is not noted about any other person in the Bible. Therefore, the servant's comment displays a level of insight beyond human capacity, while demonstrating gross underestimation of Elisha's ability to foil their capture plans. That the servant mentions both the name “Elisha” and his title “the prophet who is in Israel,” indicates familiarity with the prophet and his reputation, linking this story thematically with 2 Kings 5. The servant's insight about Elisha is in complete service to the plot and need not be explained chronologically.257 (As I mentioned in the introduction (1.2), the arrangement of the stories in 2 Kgs 3-8 is not necessarily chronological, rather thematic.) Syrians crossing into Israel's borders for their own objectives, will once again accomplish divine objectives. While the king of Syria has been working to solve the mundane problem of an infiltrated intelligence operation, the God of Israel is orchestrating events from above: calling his people Israel to repent of their apostasy and injustice, 255 256 257 Cohn emphasizes the comedic aspects of this passage and supposes that the servants are withholding and revealing information at will, making a mockery of the king, whose ignorance is sharply contrasted by their precise knowledge of Elisha's peculiar abilities. Cohn, 2 Kings, 45. See also Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 268. However, as with the majority of these Prophetic Referral stories, the master is portrayed as ignorant, helpless, and in many cases, on the verge of taking action that would threaten the course of divine providence. The King of Aram here “huffs and puffs” no more than king Jehoram, nor Naaman in his rage, nor the king of Israel in the following story, as we shall shortly see. Shemesh discusses the difficulties in determining the chronology of this Elisha story with any precision and proposes to date it to the time of King Joash (contemporaneous with 2 Kings 13), Shemesh, “Stories of Elisha,” 187, 188. One difficulty with my argument here is that the end of this story closes a cycle of Syrian raiding bands (‫)גדודי ארם‬ being sent into Israel (6:23) which began at the beginning of the Naaman story (5:2), Samet, Pirkei Elisha, 431. While seemingly forms a chronological sequence of events, it can also be understood thematically. If Elisha has indeed “become a household name within Syrian circles” (Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 268.) why does the king not know about him? The servant's familiarity with the prophet is not a matter of common knowledge, but it is a wisdom, endowed with divine insight and power to influence their superiors, particular to servant characters in the Elisha story-cycle. As the whole-scale invasion of the Syrian army in the following story reminds us (6:24-7:20; one of the few stories to be explicitly connected chronologically to the story that proceeds it with ‫)ויהי אחרי כן‬, the Elisha story-cycle probably occurred over several cycles of war and peace. 76 delivering his people from the oppression of foreign nations, while revealing his character to those same nations. The king of Israel will learn just and merciful treatment of enemy prisoners (v. 22), Elisha's assistant will witness a heavenly army defending his city from enemy siege (v. 17), and the army of Syria will experience undeserved feast and unconditional release (v. 23). Everyone, great and small, foreigner and Israelite will witness that “Elisha's God overpowers and overshadows the acts of aggression and retaliation of both Aram's ruler and Israel's king.”258 That the king takes action on the advice of his servant ultimately solves the presenting issue as well, but in a way that he did not anticipate. Elisha will no longer infiltrate his military excursions because Syria will no longer send out raiding bands. Thus, the unnamed servant divulges a peculiar insight about Elisha, keeping his king and his nation in line with a divinely appointed destiny that none of them could have anticipated. Like the nameless Israelite maidservant, the king's servant speaks up to his superior about Elisha's power, aligning the outcome of the plot with divine providence.259 3.5. Referral to the Prophet's Oracle (2 Kgs 7:13) The final Agent of Prophetic Referral is an Israelite servant of the king in Samaria. His function is similar to the other Agents we have analyzed; however, unlike the rest, who influence their superiors to seek out Elisha or to fulfill Elisha's instructions, this servant encourages the king to take action that aligns with a prophetic word uttered by Elisha, either knowingly or unknowingly. As such, this servant displays pure good sense and conventional wisdom rather than divine insight. Yet, the results are the same: when the king draws on his servants wisdom and acts in accordance with his recommendation, the king and all Israel will benefit, witnessing God's deliverance on their behalf. This difference in the servant's role perhaps reflects Elisha's different role in the story. In 2 Kings 6:8-23, Elisha's prayer and action take center stage: he foils enemy ambushes, strikes with blindness, reveals unseen heavenly forces, and commands the king to magnanimously feed and 258 259 Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 270. Bodner draws the comparison between these two nameless minor secondary characters, Bodner, The Double Agent, 108. 77 release prisoners of war. In the following story (6:24-7:20), Elisha does nothing of the like; rather, he delivers a single prophetic oracle that charts the course for divine providence in the entire story.260 Elisha reveals to the unbelieving king and his adjutant that besieged and starving Israel will enjoy a dramatic reversal of fortune within a day without revealing the means (2 Kgs 7:1).261 A cast of minor characters star in the drama that enfolds, while Elisha rests, letting the word of YHWH stand. While the surprising good news of Samaria's deliverance spreads like wildfire from the lepers to the city watchmen to the palace guards (vv. 10-11), the king quenches the excitement and threatens to keep Samaria under siege. The king not only doubts the report but also claims to know the tactical plans of the Syrian army. In response to the eye-witness report which is “told” (‫נגד‬, three times in vv. 9-11)262 to the king, the king expresses from his utter ignorance: “I will tell you (‫ )אגידה–נא לכם‬what the Syrians have done to us!” as he proceeds to relate his imagined ruse of the Syrians to take Samaria should they venture out (v. 12). Again, a leader's reluctance to take action threatens not only his own well-being, but also that of his people. Again, a servant perceives that his master is on the verge of making making a poor decision and delivers timely and wise advice, which when heeded, realigns the king and people of Israel with divine providence. The servant's words penetrate to the nature of the threat that the king's inaction poses to the survivors in Samaria, displaying not only wisdom but also artful rhetoric. “Let them take five of the remaining horses, that remain in [the city], seeing that the fate of all of Israel who remain in [the city] will soon match the fate of all those of Israel who have perished,...” (2 Kgs 7:13). The servant emphasizes what remains in Israel of horses and of people (using the root ‫ שאר‬three times in his one-verse speech), respectfully reminding the king of the toll the prolonged siege has already taken on Samaria's military resources and citizenry, before recommending an alternate course of action to preserve them: “...let's send them out and see!” The advice penetrates the king's entrenched doubt 260 261 262 Long points out the difference in Elisha's role between these two stories, noting that here “he is a minor character after all,” Long, 2 Kings, 95. He also delivers a separate but related oracle proclaiming judgment on the king's adjutant (7:2), but this oracle does not concern our present analysis. Brueggemann, 1 & 2 Kings, 360. 78 and motivates him to take immediate action: mustering two teams of horsemen, the king sends them out, commanding them, “Go and see!” (v. 14). The scouts return with a second eye-witness report, confirming and adding to the testimony of the lepers, and tell (‫ )נגד‬the king. The servant's advice and the king's execution emphasizes an important theme in the Elisha story-cycle: frequently kings and other leaders vacillate or choose an unwise course of action based on ignorance, while ordinary folk, played by minor secondary characters act based on wisdom, insight, and knowledge of the facts, while skillfully and respectfully encouraging their leaders to do the same. The leaders are portrayed as highly dependent upon their subordinates, who look out for the best interest of their superiors, and who also stand to benefit or suffer from the decision. In this story, the lepers, watchmen, and guards all speak from knowledge based on eye-witness report, but the king speaks from ignorance. The servants gently but compellingly encourage the king to check the facts and make his decision based on knowledge that can be verified. On the mundane level, their advice comprises good sense, not necessarily bearing divine insight itself, but it points the king to seek out insight before making a decision that stands to further threaten the city with starvation and death. Additionally, on the divine level, the servant's advice directs king and people on the path to fulfillment of Elisha's prophetic word. The scouts report to the king immediately releases a mob (v. 16) that will complete the fulfillment of every word of Elisha's oracle. Like the servants of Saul, his advice operates on both the mundane and providential levels. Thus, the servant's intervention ensures the timeliness of events: the people will not suffer under siege conditions any longer than necessary, but Elisha's prophecy will be fulfilled within 24 hours as predicted (v. 1, 18). 3.6. Conclusion The servants we have analyzed in the Elisha story-cycle are exceptional. “Attendants in the Bible are usually obedient servants who perform their masters' wishes without question or 79 argument.”263 Usually, they slip by unnoticed, like the two servants that accompany Abraham and Isaac to Mount Moriah (Gen 22:3, 4, 19), silently carrying out the charge of their master or mistress, like the eunuch Hathach (Esther 4:5-10). When they do momentarily spring to life, they often function as pure character foils for the majors, such as David's whispering palace servants, whose apprehensiveness and curiosity reveal a rare glimpse into the king's private life (2 Sam 12:18-23).264 Like other agents in the Bible, the narrative function of these minor secondary characters mirrors their function in real life: they exist solely to serve the plot or other characters.265 However, the Saul narrative introduces an alternative role for servants, who humbly but steadfastly aid a flailing Saul by introducing him to key figures in salvation history. These wise servants have the courage to speak up, and though their lines are brief, their impact is profound, reaching far beyond the pericope in which they appear.266 Curiously, no minor characters in Elijah's time refer their superiors to him. Obadiah, for instance, does not openly challenge Jezebel's policy of eradicating the prophets of YHWH, a stand that would have benefited all of Samaria; instead he undermines his queen by providing for them in secret (1 Kgs 18:3-4), and while he does inform Ahab of Elijah's presence, he does so at Elijah's command and only after a lengthy protest (vv. 716). Even within the Elisha story-cycle itself, Elisha's relationship to his own servants contrasts with our Agents of Prophetic Referral. Elisha instructs his servants who dutifully carry out his orders (2 Kings 4:29, 38, 43; 9:1-3), sometimes encouraging them (6:16-17), sometimes chastising them (5:25-27). Elisha's servants seem dependent on him, not he on them; they look to him for permission, guidance, and direction (2:15-18; 6:1-3; 6:15). By contrast, kings and military generals in these same stories consistently exhibit their ignorance or impotence in the face of problems, often plunging rashly into a deleterious course of action. They prove to be dependent upon their servants, effective only when they duly carry out their advice to consult with Elisha or to comply with his 263 264 265 266 Jacobs, “Secondary Characters in I Sam 9-10,” 496. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 129. Also, see below, section 4.3. See Bar-Efrat, Narrative Art in the Bible, 86–87; Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 1983, 32. This is not only true of Saul's servants in 1 Sam 9 and 16, but also of Abigail's servant in 1 Sam 25. 80 prophetic oracles. Each Agent of Prophetic Referral in the Elisha story-cycle speaks a single line of advice that features not only good common sense but also a glimpse of divine insight, whether that servant is aware of it or not. Their advice is not offered with the assurance of a prophetic “Thus says the Lord”; nevertheless, their master immediately takes action based on the words of his267 servant without protest or question. Although all the minor secondary characters are called “servants,” the term masks their diversity. They represent male and female, young and old, Israelite and foreigner, household servant, and military advisor. They share in common that they are all ‫“ לפני‬in the service of” their masters. They all express their submission not through passivity and resignation, but by sharing timely insights and by respectfully offering advice that staves off immediate disaster and results in healing, deliverance, and prosperity, outcomes that align with God's providential calling for Israel and her neighbors. Although, these characters appear so briefly (usually only one verse), the brevity of their appearance, the certainty of their insight into the problem, and their knowledge about Elisha constitutes a critique of the ruling class, exposing their indiscretion and dependency on their servants, not only to solve their personal problems but also to govern and lead effectively. The critique is not aimed at overturning the established power structures but at transforming those structures. Thus, the critique is subtle but not subversive, aimed at exposing the oppressive policies and idolatrous practices that resulted in northern Israel's economic and spiritual crisis, and reminding their leaders that everyone serves a higher power. The source of power for the king of any leader is not found in the military-agrarian complex, nor in the accumulation of land, resources, and servants, but in submission to the God of Israel (2 Kings 5:16, 26).268 Masters who heed their wise servants' advice benefit from the faith of their subordinates, but masters who not only heed their servants' words but seek to emulate their style of servanthood, receive their own servant heart 267 268 In my examples, all of the masters are males: Naaman and kings of Israel and Syria. For a social analysis of Northern Israel under the Omride dynasty, and the social problems that accompanied Israel's transition to an “advanced agrarian model” including increased poverty and powerlessness among the peasant class, see Todd, “The Pre-Deuteronomistic Elijah Cycle,” 1–10. 81 and discover the true source of authority.269 If even a foreign, enemy field commander can humble himself and commit to the exclusive worship of the God of Israel, while remaining in the service of his king, so can the king of Israel and other state leaders. Finally, the minor secondary characters we have analyzed do not merely function as character foils for the majors. They also serve as positive models for the reader, examples of how ordinary folk can greatly impact the course of events, when they give voice to their insight, derived from their humble submission before God. Through offering timely advice, forcefully yet respectfully, they become powerful agents of divine providence. 269 David began his illustrious career humbly, as one of Saul's servants (1 Sam 17:32-36), Hildebrandt, “The Servants of Saul,” 189. Hildebrandt notes that Nehemiah, a powerful political leader in his time, acknowledges himself as humble servant of King Artaxerxes (Neh 2:5). 82 4. Surprise Agents: Invaluable Ordinary People “There are two kinds of taste in the appreciation of imaginative literature: the taste for emotions of surprise and the taste for emotions of recognition.” –Henry James 4.1. Introduction: Character Surprise in Biblical Narrative So far we have seen how the Elisha story-cycle is distinctive in biblical narrative for its manifold representation of ordinary people. While the majority of the stories from Genesis to II Kings revolve around patriarchs, kings, military officials, and prophets, many of the Elisha stories feature townspeople, outcasts, landed gentry, peasants and the prophetic circle of disciples. Additionally, the thematic functions of minor secondary characters portraying common folk is diverse: their apt advice represents a constructive yet subtle critique of faithless kings, their submission provides an example of the true power is granted to those who submit to YHWH, their simple obedience provides a positive example of faithfulness, and their empowerment and encouragement confers value on all people, as the divine purposes can be fulfilled through the actions of humble and ordinary people. This positive portrayal of ordinary folk is even more remarkable considering the social context of ordinary Israelites, which I reviewed in section 1.1.1. As I showed earlier, the religious, economic, and military policies of the Omride kings had resulted in the introduction of state-sponsored worship of Phoenician deities, a shift toward agricultural specialization and mass production of cash crops for international trade and away from the tribal system of subsistence farming on family-owned plots, and militarization to support territorial 83 expansion required to support these new policies.270 Thus, their multiple thematic contributions to the story cycle are even more remarkable considering this social context. These minor characters that manifest such thematic diversity also play diverse literary functions, which enable them to convey their thematic message artfully through the generation of reader sympathy. In The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, Meir Sternberg discusses two narrative devices of temporal discontinuity that create reader interest.271 The first, suspense, is the generation of reader uncertainty about the details of an event yet to occur; the second, surprise, is the generation of uncertainty about a past event or a state of being. Whereas suspense leads the reader to anticipate the relief of resolving narrative tension and closing information gaps, surprise drives the reader to re-read and re-evaluate their first impression about an element in the story. Whereas the purpose of suspense is to generate reader empathy for one or more of the characters to universalize the human predicament portrayed in the narrative, surprise also makes use of reader empathy to edify the reader through that character's response.272 After building empathy for a character, the author springs the surprise on the reader, shedding new light on their past actions, either revealing a deficiency in that character or conveying a moral lesson. Of the minor secondary characters we have analyzed so far, most of them contribute to the building up or the resolution of suspense in the story. Taking 2 Kgs 5 as an example, the Israelite servant girl generates suspense by suggesting a solution to Naaman's leprosy: her speech structures the plot by implicitly forecasting the outcome. An information gap is opened that requires closure: will Naaman indeed be healed by Elisha and how? Naaman's servants, on the other hand, function to resolve this suspense by pointing out the reasonableness of the solution: their speech ensure that forecasted outcome is fulfilled despite the difficulties encountered during the course of the plot. Together these minor characters 270 271 272 Chaney, “Systematic Study of the Israelite Monarchy,” 71–74; Todd, “The Pre-Deuteronomistic Elijah Cycle,” 3–9; Rentería, “The Elijah/Elisha Stories,” 76–77. Meir Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading, Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 1985), 264–320. A third (curiosity) will not be discussed here. I agree with Sternberg that promoting reader empathy with the characters serves to “drive home a point of the greatest thematic importance: the continuity between the human condition inside and outside the world of the text” 84 contribute to a linear reading of the story. The characters we will analyze in this chapter will reveal previously undisclosed information gaps, contributing to a nonlinear reading of the story. From the perspective of the reader, surprise is generated when details of the plot unfold suddenly and contrary to expectations. Expectations are either directly stated or implied in the story, usually by one of the characters. To be surprising, the revelation of new information must come in light of what previously seemed settled.273 The biblical author generally avoids blatant misdirection, but rather, inconspicuously draws the reader into a false or incomplete understanding of the plot or a character to spring the surprise.274 In his chapter on temporal discontinuity, Sternberg raises several examples of narrative surprise in the Bible.275 In two cases, the surprise is sprung at the end of the story, and causes the reader to re-evaluate their impressions of a major character. In Genesis 20, the reader sympathizes with Abimelech, since Abraham repeats his mistake of introducing Sarah as his sister from his fear of a new community. The story emphasizes Abimelech's innocence, which is even noted by God (vv. 4-6), and it stresses his apparent generosity when he lavishes Abraham and Sarah with gifts (vv. 14-16). Only the last verse, a brilliantly-withheld narrative exposition, reveals that God has shut the wombs of all the women in Gerar, encouraging the reader to take a second look at Abimelech's generosity and re-evaluate it as the self-serving proffering of plunder from a Philistine Pharaoh whose land God has struck with plagues. In Jonah, a statement from the character's own mouth toward the end of the story (Jonah 4:2) betrays his lack of compassion, revealing that Jonah's initial flight was not due to apprehension about his task but his variance with God's all-embracing mercy. In both of these stories, the reader only is taken in by the surprise. Surprise that is revealed by narrative exposition or direct speech is effected when critical information artfully withheld is sprung upon the reader at an advanced point of the plot. Narrator and characters conspire together, as it were, to surprise the reader. I call such a device “plot 273 274 275 Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, 309. Sternberg uses the example of Gideon's springing upon Zebah and Zalmunah (as well as on the reader) his hidden personal motive for waging war against the Midianite kings, causing the reader to reassess Gideon's character. Ibid., 311. Genesis 20 and the book of Jonah. Ibid., 315–320. 85 surprise” since the surprise is a function of the plot At other times, the narrator surprises both character and reader simultaneously. I call this “character surprise” since the surprise is a function of the character's prior state of ignorance rather than the narrator's choice to withhold information. In character surprise, the reader experiences the moment of surprise together with one of the characters, vicariously through the perspective of that character. The mechanism of surprise consist of three elements: the establishment of reader empathy with the character, an statement of expectations, and the springing of the surprise revealed by the character as an overturning of those expectations. A fresh re-reading of the story from the beginning in light of the new information revealed by the surprise is assumed as the reader searches the story read-so-far for hints that would give away the surprise.276 One example of character surprise is when Jacob realizes that Esau holds no grudge against his brother when he embraces him after a prolonged absence (Gen 33:4). Another is when the reader realizes with Samuel that Eliab, Jesse's physically impressive first-born, has been rejected by YHWH as king (1 Sam 16:7). In each of these scenes, a shortcoming of a major character is revealed, Jacob's suspicion of his brother and Samuel's judgment based on appearance. The previously undisclosed moral deficit in a major character, leads to a fresh re-reading of the story in light of this shortcoming.277 Similarly character surprise by one of the major secondary characters in the Elisha story cycle, will reveal a flaw in that character, as I will show. However, character surprise by a minor secondary character is a literary device with different aims. Since minor characters are not afforded the same level of characterization, there is not sufficient time to build a rapport with the reader, thus reader empathy is somewhat diminished. Notwithstanding, the use of common people allows the reader to identify with them easily. In each case, these minor characters are introduced to the story to spring a surprise on the reader, revealing a key insight gained by the minor character, throwing the moral of the story 276 277 This is a modification of Sternberg's analysis of surprise revealed by exposition. First, the reader without noticing crosses an information gap, then when the reader recognizes the gap, the surprise is sprung, leading the reader to read the story anew in light of the information revealed in the surprise. Ibid., 314. Sternberg's examples of narrative surprise, in which the surprise is sprung by narrative exposition, as in Gen 20, or by a character's speech as in Jonah 4:2 and Judges 8:18-19, also function to offer a re-evaluation of a character in light of a previously undisclosed moral deficiency. Ibid., 311–320. 86 into bold relief. The research questions I intend to examine are as follows. What differences exist between the literary device of “character surprise” when a minor or major secondary character is used to reveal that surprise? What is the author's purpose in using minor secondary characters to reveal a surprise to the reader? How does this differ from character surprise of a minor character in other biblical narratives? This study will analyze the authors' use of character as literary device that bears the surprise to the reader. I will examine several stories from the Elisha story-cycle, which feature both major and minor secondary characters as bearers of surprise to the reader. Uniquely in the Elisha stories, minor secondary characters, whom I shall call “surprise agents,” are used to bear a surprise. They not only act as foils for the major characters providing indirect characterization, but they also draw attention to key motifs and central theological themes of the Elisha stories, God's sovereignty over Israel and her neighbors and the indispensability of human involvement in the unfolding of divine providence. 4.2. The Edifying Surprise of Naaman the Syrian, a Major Secondary Character One of the clearest examples of character surprise is found in 2 Kings 5: the surprise that punctuates the story is experienced by a major character Naaman the Aramean and the reader together. First, the buildup to the surprise generates empathy with a character who, later in the story, reveals a surprise. Second, the surprise itself causes the reader to re-evaluate the integrity of the character and re-read the story from the beginning with new eyes. Third, after revealing the surprise, the character will clearly state his prior expectations as antithesis to what occurred, accounting for his sudden outburst of emotion. (1.) Naaman is an admirable character with whom the reader builds empathy. The narrator attributes the highest mark possible to the commander of an enemy army of Israel: “through him, the LORD had given victory (‫ )תשועה‬to Aram” (5:1). He displays a potential for humility by his willingness to entertain the suggestion of a lowly servant girl. He visits the land of his enemy, seeking healing and offering gifts, even fulfilling diplomatic 87 propriety by first visiting the king Israel, whom Naaman and the king of Syria suppose to be the authority over the prophet. As a great general suffering from leprosy, he is a realistic and endearing character. Naaman's “greatness” is predicated on his subordination to the King of Aram and the reason for his success in battle, though of unknown origin to him, is revealed to the reader to indicate that his true source of authority is yet to be discovered.278 The reader will not encounter his “intransigently arrogant and misguided attitudes toward Elisha, Yahweh, and the land of Israel”279 until verses 11-12, the timing of which is a constituent of the design of the surprise, and encourages a re-evaluation of Naaman. For the time being, Naaman is an admirable, albeit foreign, character. (2.) Elisha's refusal to meet him surprises both reader and character alike. Elisha's dispatch of a servant bearing his instructions is taken as a personal affront by a “great man” who has undertaken such a journey. From the outset, the little Israelite servant girl provided the initial impetus of expectation: “if only my lord were in the presence of (‫ )לפני‬the prophet in Samaria” (2 Kgs 5:3).280 The entrance of Elisha to the story is first delayed when Naaman first seeks an audience with the King of Israel, increasing anticipation for his meeting with Naaman. When Naaman finally arrives at Elisha's door and a servant is sent to deliver a message, the reader is surprised along with Naaman that the prophet does not grace the general with his presence. The contrast is even more stark considering Elisha's consistent availability to those who are in need. While the answer is partly based on socio-economic class (Elisha helps townspeople, widows, and bands of prophets, but also kings in 2 Kgs 2-4), it is more likely based on the humble state of the suppliant. “Naaman, the proud” will not win an audience with the prophet, but “Naaman, the humbled” will. Elisha's entrance into the story is delayed several times: first, the story begins in Aram, where he is introduced by the Israelite handmaid; second, when Naaman arrives to Elisha's location in Samaria, 278 279 280 For an in depth discussion of Naaman's character traits as described in the initial exposition, verse 1, see Zackovitch, Every High Official, 18–24. Long, 2 Kings, 71. Rick Moore has noted that the use of the preposition ‫ לפני‬is thematic in the present story. Moore, God Saves, 73. Yair Zackovitch notes that this key word appears seven times in the story. Zackovitch, Every High Official, 21. For more on its significance, see Chapter 3, section 3.3.1. 88 he first seeks an audience with the King of Israel; finally, Elisha dismisses Naaman with a word by sending a servant. The effect of his repeated “non-appearance” keeps the wonder-working “man of God” in the background of the story.281 (3.) Naaman reveals his surprise by verbalizing his welldefined, prior expectations (vv. 12-13), which were antithetical to what occurred. In enumerating his stipulations, he unloads a vitriolic tirade, exposing his arrogance and chauvinism. The surprise draws immediate attention to this newly revealed moral deficiency, and gives the reader pause to reread the story from the beginning, examining Naaman's character in light of the newly revealed complexity. Instead of a noble officer who humbly entertains the suggestions of the lowliest of servants and bravely ventures into enemy territory, a desperate materialist who is willing to pull rank and wealth to resolve his problem is disclosed. The surprise helps achieve the design of the narrative to edify the reader. By generating empathy with Naaman, the audience more easily enters into his world. The surprise then comprises an invitation for the reader to reconsider their initial evaluation of Naaman, allowing for depth and complexity that reflects the reality of the human psyche. Besides revealing a character flaw in Naaman, the surprise highlights two intertwined theological themes of the story, God's sovereignty over Israel and the nations and the nature of human involvement in divine providence. The story teaches that human submission to human authorities and most importantly to YHWH is necessary for human participation in the unfolding of God's design. Naaman's outburst revealed not only his offense by Elisha's cold reception but his failure to recognize the true source of authority. His preference for the rivers of Syria over that of Israel reveal that despite his willingness to follow the Israelite handmaid's suggestion, he had yet to acknowledge the God of Israel as guarantor of his success in battle (v. 1). He had expected that the mediation of healing would be through the king of Israel, which could be acquired for a large monetary sum. This Syrian initiative betrays the common 281 In the majority of Elisha stories, Elisha appears in the first or second verse. The exceptions are the story of Mesha (2 Kgs 3:11) and the story of the siege of Samaria (2 Kgs 6:31) (where in each case, Elisha enters the story, after being introduced by another character), and the sequel to the story of the Lady of Shunem (2 Kgs 8:1-6) (where he doesn't enter at all). 89 assumption that real and ultimate power resides with the king.282 Ironically, the king of Israel, in an outburst of his own, declares the story's thematic truth that power resides ultimately with the God of Israel, in this case the power over life and death. The king's limited horizons prevent him from acknowledging the second truth, the obligation of human submission to divine sovereignty. In the process of being healed Naaman recognizes both the sovereignty of YHWH through mediation of the prophet who is submitted to God's authority.283 Naaman, who had sought human-mediated divine healing, now pledges allegiance to YHWH, who had granted him success from the beginning. While Naaman serves as the bearer of the surprise in the story that features him as a main character, in the Elisha story-cycle surprise is more frequently conveyed through the eyes of minor characters who in their cameo appearance effectuate the element of surprise, and to this topic I now turn. 4.3. Agents of Surprise in the Elisha Stories: The Surprise of Minor Secondary Characters In the introductory chapter (section 1.1), we mentioned the prominence of minor characters, and the affirmative portrayal of ordinary folk in the Elisha story-cycle. Several of these minor secondary characters function to convey a sense of surprise in the narrative. I call such characters “surprise agents,” based on Adele Berlin's characterization scheme in the biblical narrative. According to Berlin, an “agent,” the lowest of three degrees of characterization, is merely “a function of the plot,” about whom no information is known outside what is necessary for the plot.284 The story requires a certain role, and an agent is employed to fill that role. Such a character is often little more than a human prop.285 That the biblical story does not develop the personality of such 282 283 284 285 Walter Brueggemann and Davis Hankins, “The Affirmation of Prophetic Power and Deconstruction of Royal Authority in the Elisha Narratives,” CBQ 76, no. 1 (January 2014): 64; Jacques Ellul, The Politics of God and the Politics of Man, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 28–29. In Elisha's words, ‫“ יי אשר עמדתי לפניו‬YHWH before whom I stand.” For more on the particle ‫ לפני‬indicating submission to authority, see chapter 3, sections 3.3.1. and 3.3.2. Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1983), 32. One of Berlin's examples of an “agent” is Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 12. The plot requires that David commit adultery with a beautiful woman, and she fills the role. Nothing is known about her feelings for David, her complicity in the act, or her attitude toward her husband Uriah. In the course of the chapter, she delivers only one dispassionate line to inform David of her pregnancy. Ibid., 25–27. Other examples abound: Abel (Gen 4), Noah's sons (until chapter 9), 90 characters is a hallmark of the economy of biblical narrative. Often their literary function is to provide indirect characterization of the major characters. In 2 Sam 12:18-24, David's servants reveal a rare glimpse into his private life.286 The servants are introduced in realistic portrayal, as fearful to inform their master of the death of his newborn child. They state their expectations that were David to find out he might “do harm” ‫( ועשה רעה‬v. 18). Suspense builds as David discerns from their timorous whispering the information they were attempting to withhold (v. 19). However, the suspense bubble is burst: as opposed to “doing harm,” upon finding out that the child has died, David recovers from his state of mourning and engages in a flurry of activity that leaves his servants baffled (v. 20). They express their surprise by stating how David's actions ran counter to their expectations (v. 21). David takes the opportunity to explain his cryptic behavior, yielding insight into David's personal beliefs and feelings about the situation. David's explanatory speech provides a sort of rereading of the story as he takes his servants and the reader through his grieving and recovery in light of his thought process (vv. 22-23). The surprise as a narrative device revealed through minor secondary characters focuses the reader's attention on David's internal motives, revealing the hidden meaning behind his actions. The author is apparently suggesting the kind of question the expected reader should be asking of the narrative. Though their role is brief, they are afforded a high degree of characterization, portrayed with highly charged emotions—first, fearful and apprehensive, then surprised and brusquely questioning the king's actions and motivations. Despite this, the mechanism of surprise does not focus the reader on a character flaw of the servants, who are inconsequential to the rest of the storyline; rather, it functions to characterize David indirectly, adding color and complexity to the narrative's main character. Like David's whispering servants, surprise agents in the Elisha story-cycle receive a shade of characterization between that of Berlin's “agent,” and that of her middle category, a “type,” a stereotypical character, whose personality and traits are more detailed but unequivocal in their representation.287 In his 286 287 Benjamin (Gen 37-50), the Cushite whom Ahimaaz outruns (2 Sam 18), etc. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 119. Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 1983, 30–32. 91 article outlining characterization in the book of Kings, Robert L. Cohn describes five levels of characterization. The minor characters I will analyze come under his second level of characterization “figures that make cameo appearances.”288 At the same time, their role is very brief but charged with emotion, causing the reader to pause and reflect on their role in the recounted events and their significance. As in the story of Naaman, the recognition of the sovereignty of YHWH and the nature of human involvement in the outworking of divine providence will continue to be prominent theological themes. 4.3.1. Divine Insight for a Servant (2 Kgs 6:15-17) The first surprise agent we will examine is Elisha's unnamed servant in 2 Kings 6:8-23. The servant makes a brief but impactful appearance at a turning point in the plot (vv. 15-17) in which, the author affords him a high degree of characterization for a “cameo appearance.” Unlike an agent in Berlin's scheme, the servant is not a mere human prop. By introducing the servant, the author intentionally delays the power encounter between prophet and besieging force, and draws the reader into the servant's panic, setting up the surprise he is to deliver to the reader in three stages. First, the author generates rapport between the reader and the servant through his expression of an intense but natural emotion. He is introduced to the narrative at the moment he espies the Aramean siege (vs. 15).289 The reader sees through his eyes, entering into the world of the servant, as indicated by the particle ‫הנה‬.290 His speech is brief but rife with the terror and helplessness: “Alas, my master! What 288 289 290 Between his first and third categories, “stereo-typed descriptions of kings” and “characters who play supporting roles,” Cohn, “Characterization in Kings,” 92. Besides giving a number of examples, of which only the jeering boys of 2 Kgs 2:23-24 falls within the Elisha story-cycle, Cohn does not define this category further than to say: “figures who make cameo appearances in enacted scenes through speech, actions, or both,” Ibid., 93. Alternate readings seek to amend ‫ משרת‬to ‫ממחרת‬, suggesting Elisha “on the next day”, not the servant first observes the Aramean siege, for example, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:72. However, such readings are without any basis in any ancient manuscript, Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, Kings II, Volume 11, 1st edition (Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Bible, 1988), 73. The parallel use of ‫ הנה‬in vss. 15 and 17 support that the reader is viewing the scene through the servant's eyes. “In biblical narrative, the particle ‫ הנה‬often serves to introduce a fact perceived by the characters in the story. The clearest cases are those where the ‫ הנה‬clause is prepared by the verb ‫ראה‬...” as is the case in 6:17 when the servant sees the heavenly armies and in 6:20, when the Aramean army sees they are in Samaria. Joosten, The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew, 104. See also Long, 2 Kings, 86; Cohn, 2 Kings, 46. 92 shall we do?” (vs. 15). Thus, with a few pen strokes, the author has introduced a realistic character with whom the reader can sympathize. Second, the author is set to spring the surprise from his perspective. Elisha attempts to assuage the panic of his servant by informing him of an invisible reality that contradicts what he sees naturally (v. 16). The prophet expresses the servant's expectations (that they are outnumbered and will be destroyed) by stating their antithesis. From the perspective of the servant, who sees only the vast besieging army, the prophet's words of reassurance are inconceivable. The prophet then intercedes for him to perceive that invisible reality (v. 17). Once YHWH opens his eyes, he surveys the battlefield anew, revealing the surprising presence of a heavenly army to the reader. While the reader was able to anticipate the Aramean siege that shocked the servant (vs. 14), the presence of the heavenly army is completely unexpected to both: it is without precedent in biblical narrative and without intimation in the story. Third, that the reader has become aware of its existence only through the servant's eyes accentuates his role in the story and suggests a re-reading. The servant's centrality in this scene begs the question of why the author included him in the narrative at this point. What value does the character of Elisha's servant add to the story line? The author could have simply revealed the presence of the heavenly army in a narrative exposition, omitting the superfluous character. Moreover, the horses and chariots of fire, which do not factor into the ensuing confrontation between the prophet and the Aramean army, appear to serve no purpose other than setting Elisha's nameless servant at ease.291 It may seem that Elisha's concern for his servant represents a consistent portrayal of a prophet, who though he is engaged in a battle for national survival, takes time to allay the fears of an ordinary person.292 However, while the servant's fears are reflected in his only line of direct speech (v. 15) and Elisha's command to not fear (v. 16), the author makes no mention that his fears are allayed. 291 292 That the horses and chariots of fire fulfill no specific military role has baffled commentators. Many see vss. 15-17 and secondary, but few are in agreement. See Long, 2 Kings, 83., for a summary of the arguments. I agree with Long, that analyzing the full text as it stands is wiser, minimizing arbitrary judgments. Others have pointed out that there is parallel phrase of ‫ חיל וסוס ורכב‬appearing in vv. 14 and 15. Since the ‫ סוסים ורכב אש‬lack a ‫חיל‬, several have suggested that Elisha himself is the ‫חיל‬, LaBarbera, “Social Satire,” 641; Long, 2 Kings, 86. Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 269. 93 Instead, the narrative focuses on what the servant sees, both physical and divinely granted sight. The text emphasizes the servant's sight with the words of Elisha's prayer: “O YHWH, open his eyes, so that he may see!” The answer to his prayer is recorded nearly word-for-word: “YHWH opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw” (v. 17). Once again is the particle ‫ הנה‬introduces the description of an imposing military force, this time a hillside full of ‫“ סוסים ורכב אש‬horses and chariots of fire” surrounding Elisha, assuring his servant that despite the Aramean siege, YHWH is in control. As soon as their presence is revealed, their literary function completed, and the heavenly army disappears from the story.293 Though the servant also disappears, the significance of his character is realized in parallels to other characters via the motif of sight. The surprise appearance of the heavenly army sets the motif of sight, whether natural or divinely granted, into sharp relief. The verb ‫“ ראה‬to see” and words associated with sight are prominent in the story.294 The horses and chariots of fire, perhaps the source of the prophet's confidence, are only mentioned elsewhere in 2 Kgs 2:11. Elijah had promised Elisha that his request for a double portion of his spirit would be granted on the condition that he see (‫ )ראה‬Elijah being taken (2 Kgs 2:10). The reader sees the “horses and chariots of fire” (here: ‫ )רכב–אש וסוסי–אש‬from Elisha's perspective, as indicated by the particle ‫הנה‬. The fiery escort appears unexpectedly and without precedent in the narrative.295 A narrative exposition emphasizes that Elisha saw it ‫ואלישע‬ ‫ראה‬, and then he saw it no more ‫( ולא ראהו עוד‬v. 12). Elisha's worthiness to succeed Elijah is confirmed not by a feat of his natural ability, but by a divinely granted vision, which he alone saw for only a moment.296 Like Elisha, his servant witnesses a heavenly vision through no merit of his 293 294 295 296 LaBarbera further suggests that the ambiguous phrase ‫“ וירדו אליו‬and they went down to him” (v. 18) refers to the fiery horses and chariots, implying they intervene in the subsequent encounter, but there is no support for this in the text, LaBarbera, “Social Satire,” 642. The root ‫ ראה‬occurs six times in the story, ‫ הנה‬four times, and ‫ עין‬four times. The narrative exposition mentions only that Elijah would ascend to heaven in a storm ‫( בסערה‬v. 1), and he tells Elisha only that he would “be taken from him,” ‫( לקח מאתך‬v. 10). The sons of the prophets seem to understand the Elijah was miraculously transported but not that he ascended permanently (2 Kgs 2:15-18). What they did witness was Elisha's crossing of the Jordan (v. 15; ‫)ויראוהו‬ 94 own but only by virtue of his proximity to the man of God. Just as Elisha has helped every person who has approached him with a need, irrespective of merit, so too does Elisha help his panicstricken servant, conferring value and worth to an ordinary Israelite in the divine economy. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of the motifs of physical sight and heavenly vision demonstrate that physical sight can be illusory, and that reality is shaped and perceived by divine providence. The Aramean army, concealed from physical sight was seen through prophetic clairvoyance by Elisha, who rendered their ambushes futile. Upon learning of Elisha's penetration of their strategy (2 Kgs 6:12), the Aramean king directs his staff to ‫“ לכו וראו‬go and see” where Elisha is located. While they succeed in finding and besieging him at Dothan, “Aram's upper hand is shown to be an illusion.”297 While their natural sight leads them to their military goal, Elisha intervenes to alter the Aramean's perception of reality, shaping the outcome of the battle to align with divine providence: Elisha prays, and God strikes them with a blinding light,298 rendering them unable to recognize the one they were sent to capture. Elisha assumes (or knows by clairvoyance?) that they have come to Dothan to apprehend him: this assumption is misdirection: ‫" לא זה הדרך ולא זה העיר‬this is not the way, and this is not the city,” (v. 19).299 His explanation contradicts intelligence the Arameans had gathered on Elisha through their physical sense of sight: “'Go and see'...'Behold! (‫ )הנה‬At Dothan'”. Once Elisha leads them in Samaria, he prays a final time. The wording of Elisha's prayer and the description of its fulfillment is nearly identical to the prayer offered for his servant.300 As with his servant, their role in the story become that of a spectator; no longer actors, they are merely acted upon. Their physical sight now reveals the truth of their whereabouts. When their sight is restored, a surprise of their own awaits them: “Behold! (‫ )הנה‬Inside Samaria! (vs. 20).” Unlike with the 297 298 299 300 Moore, God Saves, 89. The “blinding light” ‫ סנורים‬is not natural blindness (‫ עורון‬or ‫)עורת‬, but probably refers to a dazzling light. It is found elsewhere only in Gen 19:11, where its onset is caused by angelic beings. On prophetic deception, see Yael Shemesh, “Lies by Prophets and Other Lies in the Hebrew Bible,” JANES 29 (2002): 81–95. Comparing ‫( יהוה פקח נא את עיניו ויראה ויפקח יהוה את עיני הנער וירא‬v. 17) with ‫יהוה פקח את עיני אלה ויראו‬ ‫( ויפקח יהוה את עיניהם ויראו‬v. 20) shows that besides small grammatical differences, the two are identical. 95 servant, the author does not describe their reaction or feelings, which can be inferred by the reaction of the king of Israel. “When he sees” ‫ כראתו‬them, he perceives an opportunity to avenge himself and rid himself of the troubling Syrian army. He approaches the prophet with a proposed solution, to strike down the captured enemy army (v. 21). Elisha explains that the king's interpretation of the opportunity is irreconcilable with the divine plan: after commanding the king not to strike (!), offering an explanation before again commanding him to feed them (v. 22). Like the servant and the Aramean soldiers, Elisha's explanation contradicts how the king perceives reality, viewing the Syrians as guests instead of prisoners of war. Elisha offers each minor character a description of reality that contradicts their perception, but aligns with reality as shaped by divine providence. Unlike the servant or the Aramean army, Elisha does not intervene to alter the physical sight of the king miraculously: he ensures he fulfills his role as Israel's king to extend a blessing and peace to the nations (Ps 72:17; Isa 9:7; Zech 9:10). Elisha, once again, fulfills his role as provider for ordinary people in need, even his enemies.301 The prominence of the motifs of sight show that true perception of reality must accord with divine providence. Physical sight can be deceiving and proximity to the man of God indicates that unseen forces may be at work, shaping perceived reality to align with divine providence. In this story, several of the minor secondary characters are acted upon rather than actors, recipients of God's grace. The extension of hospitality to the Aramean soldiers sends a message to the kings of Israel and Syria that YHWH and his prophet confirm the worth of ordinary citizens conscripted to serve in the military, providing a subtle critique of Syrian and Israelite royal policies of militant expansionism. While human involvement in divine providence is most evident in the work of Elisha, this work not only delivers Israel from their enemies but also confers value on an ordinary servant and enemy soldiers through no merit of their own. At times the role of ordinary folk is just to participate in the miraculous; other times it is simply to stand in awe of the God of Israel. 301 Cohn, 2 Kings, 47. 96 4.3.2. Four Fortunate Lepers (2 Kgs 7:3-12) While the previous story showcases Elisha as the wonder-working man of God, in the following story, though no less awe-inspiring, Elisha's role recedes into the background, affording an unlikely group of common outcasts play prominent role or the fulfillment of divine providence. The second surprise agent is the group of four lepers,302 a collective minor character with a key role in the following story (2 Kings 6:24-7:20). Like Elisha's servant the lepers are ordinary folk who are portrayed realistically as valuable, though unappreciated, members of Israelite society. The reader encounters them debating their future prospects at the gate of Samaria. The tight focus of the text upon these hapless four huddled against the city gate enables the reader to experience the scene from their perspective.303 The dire circumstances of the enemy siege compounded by their social ostracism helps the reader to empathize with these twice victims. Instead of wallowing in their misery, these resourceful four work together for their mutual benefit,304 weighing every bleak course of action, before settling on the least inauspicious one. Giving themselves up for dead yet unwilling to meet their fate passively, these commendable lepers opt to set out from their dubious refuge to cast themselves at the mercy of the besieging Aramean army. When they reach the edge of the camp, they stumble on a windfall—a vacant enemy camp, ripe for plundering. Several features of the text indicate the role of the lepers as surprise agent. Their deliberations at the city gate ended with the grim possibility that they were going to their deaths (2 Kgs 7:4). Their stated expectation, that they would meet their fate at the hands of the enemy, is antithetical to what actually occurred. The best they had hoped for was that the enemy would take pity on them; never did they entertain the thoughts of amassing personal treasure hoards or bearing the good news of deliverance to the city of Samaria. Moreover, the reader, viewing the scene through the eyes of the lepers, realizes the Aramean camp is empty the moment they do. As in the 302 303 304 Although there are four lepers, the story treats them as a collective personality. The four think and act as one, whether they are debating among themselves or acting in concert. No single one of them distinguishes himself from the group. Moore, God Saves, 99. Ibid., 98. 97 previous story, the particle ‫ הנה‬indicates that the reader is being introduced to a new fact from the perspective of the characters in the story (v. 5). Furthermore, the author discloses the reason the Aramean camp is abandoned in a narrative exposition (vv. 6-7), only after narrating the lepers' discovery (v. 5). By supplying the explanation after the reader has become cognizant of the empty Syrian camp, the author allows the reader to experience the surprise with the minor characters. To avoid keeping the reader in the dark for long, the author interrupts the flow of events to provide pertinent plot details in an anterior-directed retrospective exposition.305 This timing of the exposition also increases the sense of divine sovereignty over narrated events.306 Whether through Elisha's wonders or the lepers' blunders, events continue to unfold according to divine design and purpose. For the characters themselves, however, the empty Syrian camp will remain a mystery until the king investigates the lepers' claim (v. 15). Finally, the time of day, mentioned four times in the story, magnifies the effect of the surprise. Two groups of characters set out at twilight (‫)בנשף‬: the lepers leave the city gate for the Aramean camp and the Aramean soldiers flee their camp (vv. 5, 7).307 The simultaneity of their embarkation is emphasized by the alliteration: the Aramean retreats for fear of advancing Egyptians (‫)מצרים‬, but the only “invaders” are a group of lepers (‫)מצרעים‬.308 The lepers then had all night to plunder the camp under the cover of darkness, and “until the morning light” (‫ )עד אור הבקר‬to consider a more virtuous course of action (v. 9). However, they do not allow the sun's light to reveal their secret, but act on their sudden insight to share the good news. Because they decide to report the matter to the city sentry immediately, the king is woken “at night” (‫)בלילה‬ to hear the news and given chance to confirm their report (v. 12). The repeated expressions denoting 305 306 307 308 In his discussion on suspense, Prof. Sternberg discusses the use of proleptic expositions to open information gaps and create anticipation on the part of the reader. He calls the technique “future-directed retrospect,” Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative, 280. While narrative exposition, is by nature, retrospective, quite often it also foreshadows plot events, to create suspense. Surprise, on the other hand, causes the reader to look earlier in the text to detect the opening of information gaps filled by the surprise event, thus the exposition, retrospective by nature is also anterior-directed. Cohn, 2 Kings, 52. Hobbs notes that the simultaneity of these events is comedic, Hobbs, 2 Kings, 13:91. Considering the number of “coincidences” in this story, this juxtaposition of characters need not elicit humor, rather, awe at the outworking of divine providence under such unusual circumstances. LaBarbera notes this pun, noting its humorous effect, LaBarbera, “Social Satire,” 649. 98 points of time give a sense that narrated time has slowed with respect to narration time,309 and the importance that these events occur within a short period. Additionally, these time expressions remind the reader that the recounted events occur in darkness, a time of day usually associated with evil deeds, portraying the virtue of the lepers' actions in an even greater light. They also recall another time expression mentioned in Elisha's prophecy: “by this time tomorrow” (‫ )כעת מחר‬fixed the time for the accomplishment of the dramatic reversal of economic conditions, according to the word of YHWH (v. 1). The surprise sends the reader back to the beginning of the story, searching for clues as to whether the Aramean retreat could have been anticipated. While Elisha did prophesy a sudden turn of fortune for the besieged Israelites, he did not mention the means by which God would bring about that reversal (2 Kings 7:1). This point is emphasized by another minor character, the king's adjutant, who states that even if the heavens should suddenly bring a downpour, no such turnaround would be possible (vs. 2). While his subsequent chastisement by the prophet suggests that the economic reversal would be achieved by some other means, that means remains an open information gap. In re-reading from that point, a contrast of minor characters is invited. Whereas minor characters inside Samaria in their desperation consume one another and reject Elisha's prophecy, the minor characters outside the city gate cooperate together in their desperation, and unwittingly participate in the timely fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy. Whereas the cannibal mothers and doubting adjutant act rashly in disobedience to God's word, the four lepers choose each course of action only after considering the consequences (vv. 4 and 9) to fulfill God's word. Whereas the king blames YHWH and is indecisive when confronted with a gruesome dilemma, when faced with theirs, the lepers reason together acting boldly and decisively. The contrast between minor characters, highlighted by the mechanism of the surprise in the story, encourages the reader to emulate the thoughtful and cooperative lepers. Though they are unaware of Elisha's prophecy, their critical thinking, cooperation, and commendable actions usher them into the role of beautiful 309 For a discussion on the shaping of narrative time, see Bar-Efrat, Narrative Art in the Bible, 143 ff. 99 bearers of glad tidings to their city (Isa 52:7). Moreover, these minor secondary characters become instruments of divine providence: the timely accomplishment of the divine word depends not on a prophet's miracle nor on the king's wisdom, but on the wisdom and cooperation of four pleasantly surprised outcasts. Rick Moore aptly summarizes the accomplishments of minor characters in this story: “[God] accomplishes his high aims through low means—through an entrapped prophet, through outcast lepers, and through a nameless servant who corrects the king's inadequate logic.”310 4.3.3. Company of the Surprised Prophets (2 Kings 2:15-18) The last surprise agent we will examine are the first characters who interact with Elisha after he inherits Elijah's prophetic mantle and a double portion of his spirit (2 Kgs 2:15-18). I examine this example last since the mechanism of the surprise is not as straightforward. This passage is frequently disregarded in commentaries, and when it does receive attention, more questions arise than are answered.311 This confusion arises because of a lack of recognition of the mechanism of surprise in the narrative. Both reader and minor characters experience surprise in this short pericope, but not by the same event, not by the same uncovering of the same information gap. The ‫“ בני הנביאים‬sons of the prophets” from Jericho who greet Elisha upon his return are surprised that learn that Elijah has completely vanished, while the reader is surprised that these prophets insist on searching for him. First, the reader's surprise is more understandable. The narrative exposition at the outset of the chapter creates reader expectation that Elijah will be taken into heaven by YHWH (2 Kgs 2:1). When the sons of the prophets at Jericho approach Elisha and ask him, “Do you know that today YHWH is about to take your master off of your head?” (‫הידעת כי היום יי לקח את אדניך מעל‬ 310 311 Moore, God Saves, 100. For example, Long mentions that the sons of the prophets “need to assure themselves that he [Elisha] is truly alone, that Elijah will not reappear somewhere to demand again his habitual due. Or they may wish to look for the corpse...” Long, 2 Kings, 28. None of these hypotheses have any textual basis and raise unanswerable questions: why was it so important that they find him? did Elijah exact payment from the sons of the prophets? Hens-Piazza states, “That they seek Elisha's permission to go look for Elijah is evidence of their early recognition of Elisha's new authority.” Two sentences later, “He uses the occasion to confront them with their need to acknowledge his new authority.” Hens-Piazza, 1 - 2 Kings, 236. Do the sons of the prophets here respect Elisha's authority or do they not? In greeting him, Long mentions that they pay him “homage as to a king or divine being,” Long, 2 Kings, 28. 100 ‫ ;ראשך‬v. 5, cf. v. 3), the reader assumes that they know what the narrator knows. Apparently, Elijah and Elisha also know because they have a conversation about what Elisha would like to inherit from him before he is taken from him (‫ ;בטרם אלקח מעמך‬v. 9). Therefore, no knowledge gap about the sons of the prophets is opened until they greet Elisha upon his return from the Jordan river, requesting to search for Elijah (v. 15). From the reader's standpoint, this request is surprising. Why would the sons of prophets suggest searching for Elijah if YHWH had taken him? Here, a second surprise must be discerned, namely the genuine surprise of the sons of the prophets that Elijah is not to be found. What is surprising to the character is not surprising to the reader because the reader has witnessed Elijah's ascension into heaven in a fiery chariot along with Elisha. However, the reader can sympathize with the sons of the prophets who have not witnessed the event. Elijah had a reputation for disappearing, sometimes for years at a time (18:1), and he was able to evade royal search and arrest (18:10). He was inclined to being transported by the “Spirit of YHWH” to unknown or unpredictable locations (18:12). He could also run at superhuman speeds with the “hand of YHWH” upon him (18:46) and over great distances nourished by supernatural food (19:8). He often showed up unpredictably (1 Kgs 21:20; 2 Kgs 1:6). Additionally, consistent with the mechanism of character surprise, the sons of the prophets state their specific expectations, contrary to what actually occurred: “the spirit of YHWH has caught him up at cast him on one of the mountains or one of the valleys” (2 Kgs 2:16). Elijah's ministry was characterized by movement over great distances and showing up at unpredictable times and locations. This unpredictability and unreliability is to be contrasted with the itinerancy of Elisha who is a constant presence in the stories between 2 Kings 2-8.312 Though Elijah's travels and his location were a mystery, his return or sudden appearance somewhere could be expected. Additionally, the use of the phrase “take your 312 The only time Elisha is noticeably absent is in the pericope when he is not needed; though Elisha's “great deeds” dominate the conversation, the characters are able to resolve the Shunammite widow's claim for justice without the help of Elisha (8:1-6). 101 master from over your head” (‫ ;לקח את אדניך מעל ראשך‬vv. 3, 5) is ambiguous and need not mean “transport into heaven by fiery chariot heaven never to return.”313 Rather, the phrase could mean “to take and transfer elsewhere,” as when Moses took (‫ )לקח‬the offerings from (‫ )מעל‬the hands of the priests to burn them on the altar (Lev 8:28), or when David took (‫ )לקח‬the crown from the head (‫ )מעל ראשו‬of the king of Rabbah and placed it on his own head (2 Sam 12:30). This second example is a closer verbal parallel and could indicate that the sons of the prophets envision a transfer of authority: “to take from off his head” would mean simply that Elisha will no longer be Elijah's apprentice. Therefore, the insistence of the sons of the prophets that they search for Elijah is more understandable since they assume his absence is a temporary and unpredictable translocation (v. 16). This disjointed surprise is a literary device that highlights the continuities and discontinuities between the assignment, personality, and methodology of Elijah and Elisha. While 2 Kgs 2 tends to emphasize the continuity between the two as exemplified by Elisha's refusal to leave Elijah (vv. 4, 6), their “fellowship” (walking and talking together; v. 12), and the admiration Elisha shows Elijah in his request for a double portion of his spirit (v. 9), his “eulogy” (v. 12) and the mimicking of his prophetic acts (vv. 13-14), the sons of the prophets intimate a discontinuity. Although they are portrayed as walking everywhere side-by-side, that Elijah does not interact with the sons of the prophets at all is remarkable. They only address Elisha and converse with him “about” Elijah. Additionally, after retracing his steps from Jericho to Bethel, Elisha interacts with two more groups of minor characters, both blessing the thirsty citizens of Jericho and cursing the jeering boys of Bethel, exemplifying continuity and discontinuity with Elijah, before returning to Samaria, where he established a home. Thus, the surprise of the sons of the prophets causes the reader to reconsider their expectations of a man of God, and in so doing highlight the distinctiveness of Elisha ben Shaphat from the beginning of the story-cycle. Though no less itinerant or zealous for YHWH, 313 Although, Cogan and Tadmor note that the verb ‫ לקח‬is also used in describing the disappearance of Enoch (Gen 5:24), Cogan and Tadmor, Kings II, Volume 11, 35, n. 9. 102 Elisha's ministry will be characterized by the consistency of his presence and willingness to interact with ordinary folk, especially to help those who are the marginalized of society, although he will not shy away from criticism of the king or declaring judgment on those who obstruct God's purposes. 4.4. A Surprising Minor Character in the Elijah Narratives (1 Kgs 18:7-16) Minor characters are not employed as surprise agents in the Elijah story-cycle. The example that closely parallels those above is the encounter between Obadiah and Elijah (1 Kgs 18:7-16). Although the marker of perspective ‫ הנה‬is not used, nor does a surprising or unprecedented element appear, many of the same elements of the mechanism of surprise are present. A narrative exposition engenders reader empathy by introducing Obadiah as a devout, though secret, follower of YHWH (1 Kgs 18:3-5). Obadiah, in his cameo appearance, is portrayed with a great deal of complexity and depth as a fearful yet devoted follower of YHWH, attempting to negotiate a thorny political path. When the uncompromising Elijah confronts Obadiah, the reader can easily identify with his delicate position in service of Ahab. Obadiah gives Elijah a lengthy history detailing how he has managed to support the prophets of YHWH, while serving in the court of Ahab, overstating his expectation put him to death should he announce Elijah's presence to the king (three times he stating “he will kill me” in vv. 9, 12, and 14). Elijah dismisses him with a curt reply, reflecting his unwavering determination to confront Ahab and rid the land of Baal worship. The possibility of serving YHWH from within the idolatrous regime of Ahab is introduced momentarily through the character of Obadiah, only to be set aside by the uncompromising Elijah. This theme is hinted at but not explored in the rest of the story. Though not unprecedented for Elijah, one can sense the shock and terror of Obadiah. Indeed his purpose is, as a foil to Elijah, to reveal to “the reader how terrifying and threatening is the prophet's image in the eyes of his people.”314 314 Simon, “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative,” 15. 103 4.5. Conclusion In this chapter, I have outlined a consistent literary mechanism of character surprise using the Elisha narratives. Whether major or minor character, the author deliberately engenders reader empathy with the character before revealing the surprise. The surprise itself is disclosed through the eyes of the character so that the reader experiences the moment of surprise vicariously. A clear statement of the character's expectations, contrary to what occurs, clearly indicate the surprise of the character to the reader. In analyzing these few examples, one difference between major and minor characters as surprise agents became apparent. When major characters function as surprise agents, their own hidden moral deficiency or weakness is revealed by the surprise. Naaman, offended by Elisha's refusal to afford him an audience, divulges his fury and arrogance. On the other hand, analysis of a “surprise agent” in parallel with other minor secondary characters in the story, reveals a central theme or moral the author wishes to convey to the reader. In addition to this, the unique portrayal of minor secondary characters representing ordinary folk in the Elisha story-cycle in biblical narrative is substantiated. Whereas minor secondary characters in the Elijah stories and elsewhere in the Bible frequently appear as foils for major characters and may suggest interesting theological side-discussions,315 accentuating their complexity of character, the minor characters in the Elisha story-cycle are more versatile. They certainly do highlight Elisha's character, showing him to be a strong supporter of ordinary Israelites and even ordinary Arameans. Beyond this, through parallels with other minor characters in the same story, they also draw the reader's attention to the main theological thrust of the story. The surprises emphasize the key role minor characters play in the stories, and invite the reader to empathize and identify with fearful servants, desperate lepers, and incredulous prophets, who, though lacking intrinsic prophetic vision or wonder-working abilities, are accorded value, worth, and an important role to play in the unfolding of divine providence. The narrative suggests that even under an Israelite king who has abandoned YHWH for idol worship, YHWH has not abandoned his people. In the struggle between the prophet Elijah and 315 What might have happened if Elijah chose to work with Obadiah? 104 the house of Omri, drought and famine compounded the suffering of ordinary citizens subject to royal land confiscation and military conscription. Divine providence continues to unfold in the person and work of Elisha the man of God, whose work encourages, edifies, and empowers ordinary people, who find their livelihood at risk from the monarchy's detrimental policies of foreign idol worship, latifundialization and militarization and the resultant divine judgment these policies incurred. 105 5. Conclusion In concluding his article about minor characters, Uriel Simon remarked, “For the basic intention of biblical storytelling is not to glorify exalted persons and institutions, nor even to intensify adherence to lofty beliefs and concepts, but to present us with flesh-and-blood persons serving as models and warnings in their rises and falls.”316 This statement is no truer than with the diverse cast of characters one encounters in the Elisha story-cycle. The thematic functions of minor secondary characters portraying common folk is diverse: their wise advice represents a constructive yet subtle critique of faithless kings, their submission provides an example of the true power is granted to those who submit to YHWH, their simple obedience provides a positive example of faithfulness, and their empowerment and encouragement confers value on all people, demonstrating how divine purposes can be fulfilled through the actions of humble and ordinary people. Whereas Elisha delivers the divine word and works miracles, secondary characters use their natural abilities to correctly assess the state of affairs and take appropriate action in alignment with God's purposes. The Elisha story-cycle thus serves to edify its ancient readership, not only by comforting the people that God is faithful to save through wonder-working prophets, but also through providing examples of how ordinary people serve God and play a key role in divine providence. A reader or listener would have appreciated the heroic portrayal of peasants, servants, and other ordinary folk, especially in the life and activity of so powerful a prophet as Elisha ben Shaphat. From the findings of this thesis, one can rule out the latest trend in scholarship to view the Elisha narratives as a critical of him. While his actions may be ambiguous, his support is overwhelming among the people themselves. Clearly, they only viewed him as a boon, and if it can be shown that the providence of these stories is the peasantry, then we should take this as 316 Simon, “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative,” 18. 106 conclusive. We must also examine carefully the trend in genre analysis to demonstrate and declare the “ultimate genre” for a work (generic realism), and instead prefer the more utilitarian and flexible approach of generic conceptualism, ruling out unhelpful categories of course, but understanding where a story could be categorized by several genre categories, depending on how one reads the story and what analytical tools one employs. Future trends for research would extend focused literary critical analysis to other minor and major secondary characters in the Elisha cycle. One category of minor secondary characters that I did not treat in this thesis are characters that draw the judgment of Elisha and are punished. Quite the opposite of the Direct Appeal Agents and Surprise Agents, these characters exemplify faithlessness. They fail to acknowledge the honor of the prophet or oppose the providence of God. Such characters include the forty-two youths that jeer Elisha (2 Kgs 2:23-24), the king of Israel's adjutant (2 Kgs 7:1-2; 16-20), and possibly the cannibal mother of Samaria (2 Kgs 6:24-31). I hypothesize that these characters represent negative behavioral examples. Their presence in the narratives along with their faithful counterparts represents a realistic portrayal of humanity. Thus, the Elisha stories are much more sophisticated than a reflection of a simple class struggle or political struggle. Whoever composed these tales saw both the good and evil in humanity, whether high-born or low, man or woman, peasant or merchant. The major secondary characters in the Elisha story-cycle reflect the same diversity of the minor characters, but they are portrayed with more depth. I would propose to treat the woman of Shunem, Gehazi, Naaman, and the king of Israel. As I showed in a Table in Chapter 2, their stories represent unique variants to the Direct Appeal Miracle Story. It is even more difficult to classify these characters as faithful or unfaithful since they are more complicated, although I intend to show that each has a tendency within the shape of the story-cycle. The great diversity of characters in these stories emphasizes that everyone (even foreigners!) must find their place in divine providence as a servant, submitted their master, but most importantly, submitted to the God of Israel. 107 Bibliography Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. New York: Basic Books, 1981. ———. The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel. Later Printing edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. Amit, Yairah. Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press, 2001. 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Brueggemann, Walter, and Davis Hankins. “The Affirmation of Prophetic Power and Deconstruction of Royal Authority in the Elisha Narratives.” CBQ 76, no. 1 (January 2014): 58–76. Campbell, S. J., Antony F. 1 Samuel. FOTL 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003. Chaney, Marvin A. “Systematic Study of the Israelite Monarchy.” Semeia 37 (1986): 53–76. Chisholm, Robert B. “Israel’s Retreat and the Failure of Prophecy in 2 Kings 3.” Biblica 92 (2011): 70–80. Cogan, Mordechai, and Hayim Tadmor. Kings II, Volume 11. 1st edition. Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Bible, 1988. Cohn, Robert L. 2 Kings. Liturgical Press, 2000. Cohn, Robert L. “Characterization in Kings.” In The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception, 89–105. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Cohn, Robert L. “Form and Perspective in 2 Kings V.” VT 33, no. 2 (1983): 171–84. Culley, R. Studies in the Structure of Hebrew Narrative. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976. De Vries, Simon J. “The Three Comparisons in 1 Kings XXII 4B and Its Parallel and 2 Kings III 7B.” VT 39, no. 3 (1989): 283–306. Elliott, John H. What Is Social-Scientific Criticism? Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1993. Ellul, Jacques. The Politics of God and the Politics of Man. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972. Fretheim, Terence E. Deuteronomic History. IBT. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1982. ———. First and Second Kings. WeBC. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999. Gardner, A Edward. “Reading between the Texts: Minor Characters Who Prepare the Way for Jesus.” Encounter 66, no. 1 (2005): 45–66. Garsiel, Moshe. From Earth to Heaven: A Literary Study of Elijah Stories in the Book of Kings. Bethesda, MD: Capital Decisions, Ltd., 2014. Gottwald, Norman K. The Hebrew Bible in Its Social World and in Ours. Semeia Studies. Atlanta, 108 GA: Scholars Press, 1993. Gray, John. I and II Kings: A Commentary. Revised Edition. Vol. 9. OTL. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 1971. Grossman, Jonathan. “The Vanishing Character in Biblical Narrative: The Role of Hathach in Esther 4.” VT 62, no. 4 (October 2012): 561–71. Gunkel, Hermann. The Folktale in the Old Testament. Translated by Michael D. Rutter. Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987. Hens-Piazza, Gina. 1 - 2 Kings. AOTC. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006. Hildebrandt, Samuel. “The Servants of Saul: ‘Minor’ Characters and Royal Commentary in 1 Samuel 9–31*.” JSOT 40, no. 2 (December 2015): 179–200. Hobbs, T. R. 2 Kings. Vol. 13. WBC. Thomas Nelson, 1986. Hoffmeier, James Karl. Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism. Oxford University Press, 2015. Jacobs, Jonathan. “The Role of the Secondary Characters in the Story of the Anointing of Saul (I Samuel 9-10).” VT 58, no. 4–5 (2008): 495–509. Johnson, Benjamin J M. “David Then and Now: Double-Voiced Discourse in 1 Samuel 16.14-23.” JSOT 38, no. 2 (December 2013): 201–15. Joosten, Jan. The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis Elaborated on the Basis of Classical Prose. Simor Publishing, 2012. Joüon, Paul, and T. Muraoka. A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Rome: PIB, 2006. Kissling, Paul J. Reliable Characters in the Primary History: Profiles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. JSOTSup 224. A&C Black, 1996. LaBarbera, Robert. “The Man of War and the Man of God: Social Satire in 2 Kings 6:8-7:20.” CBQ 46, no. 4 (October 1984): 637–51. Levine, Nachman. “Twice as Much of Your Spirit: Pattern, Parallel, and Paronomasia in the Miracles of Elijah and Elisha.” JSOT 85 (1999): 25–46. Long, Burke O. 2 Kings. FOTL 10. Eerdmans, 1991. ———. “2 Kings III and Genres of Prophetic Narrative.” VT 23 (1973): 337–48. ———. “Social Setting for Prophetic Miracle Stories.” Semeia 3 (1975): 46–63. Long Jr., Jesse C. “Unfulfilled Prophecy or Divine Deception? A Literary Reading of 2 Kings 3.” Stone-Campbell Journal 7 (Spring 2004): 101–17. Lumby, J. Rawson. The Second Book of the Kings. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. London: Cambridge University Press, 1889. Malbon, Elizabeth Struthers. “Disciples/Crowds/Whoever: Markan Characters and Readers.” NT 28, no. 2 (April 1986): 104–30. ———. In the Company of Jesus: Characters in Mark’s Gospel. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. ———. “Text And Contexts: Interpreting The Disciples In Mark.” Semeia 62 (1993): 81–102. ———. “The Major Importance of the Minor Characters in Mark.” In The New Literary Criticism and the New Testament, edited by Elizabeth Struthers Malbon and Edgar V. McKnight, 58– 86. A&C Black, 1994. McNutt, Paula M. Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999. Mead, James K. “‘Elisha Will Kill?’ The Deuteronomistic Rhetoric of Life and Death in the Theology of the Elisha Narratives.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1999. Menn, Esther M. “A Little Child Shall Lead Them: The Role of the Little Israelite Servant Girl (2 Kings 5.1-19).” Currents in Theology and Mission 35, no. 5 (October 2008): 340–48. Montgomery, James A. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary of The Books of Kings. Edited by Henry Snyder Gehman. The International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1951. 109 Moore, Rick Dale. God Saves: Lessons From the Elisha Stories. JSOTSup 95. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990. Muilenburg, James. “Form Criticism and Beyond.” JBL 88, no. 1 (March 1969): 1–18. Nelson, Richard D. First and Second Kings. 1st edition. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987. Ngan, Lai Ling Elizabeth. “2 Kings 5.” Review and Expositor 94 (1997): 589–97. Overholt, Thomas W. “Seeing Is Believing: The Social Setting of Prophetic Acts of Power.” JSOT 23 (July 1982): 3–31. Petersen, David L. The Roles of Israel’s Prophets. JSOTSup 17. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981. Premnath, D.N. “Latifundialization and Isaiah 5.8-10.” JSOT 40 (1988): 49–60. Provan, Iain W. 1 and 2 Kings. NIBC 7. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000. Rentería, Tamis Hoover. “The Elijah/Elijah [sic; Read Elisha] Stories: A Socio-Cultural Analysis of Prophets and People in Ninth-Century B.C.E. Israel.” In Elijah and Elisha in Socioliterary Perspective, edited by Robert B. Coote, 75–126. Atlanta: Scholars, 1992. Rodd, Cyril S. “On Applying a Sociological Theory to Biblical Studies.” JSOT 19 (1981): 95–106. Rofé, Alexander. “Classification of the Prophetical Stories.” JBL 89, no. 4 (December 1970): 427– 40. ———. The Prophetical Stories: The Narratives About the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, Their Literary Types and History. 1st English Edition. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988. Römer, Thomas. “The Form-Critical Problem of the So-Called Deuteronomistic History.” In The Changing Face of Form Criticism for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Marvin A. Sweeney and Ehud Ben Zvi, 240–52. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003. Rosenberg, A. J. The Book of Kings 2. New York: Judaica Press, 1989. Samet, Elchanan. Pirkei Elisha. Edited by Uri Samet and Eyal Fishler. Ma’aleh Adumim: Ma’aliot Shalom Al Yisrael Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, 2007. Satterthwaite, Philip E. “The Elisha Narratives and the Coherence of 2 Kings 2-8.” TB 49 (1998): 1–28. Seow, Choon Leong. “1 & 2 Kings.” In NIB, edited by L. E. Keck and et al., 3:1–295. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999. Shemesh, Yael. “Elisha and the Miraculous Jug of Oil (2 Kgs 4:1-7).” JHS 8 (2008). ———. “Lies by Prophets and Other Lies in the Hebrew Bible.” JANES 29 (2002): 81–95. ———. “The Elisha Stories as Saints’ Legends.” JHS 8 (December 31, 2008). ———. “The Stories of Elisha: A Literary Analysis.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Bar-Ilan University, 1997. Simon, Uriel. “Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative.” JSOT 46 (February 1990): 11–19. Sparks, Kenton L. Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005. ———. “Genre Criticism.” In Methods for Exodus, edited by Thomas B. Dozeman, 55–94. Methods in Biblical Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Sternberg, Meir. The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading. Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 1985. Sweeney, Marvin A. I & II Kings. Vol. 9. OTL. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007. Talstra, Eep. Solomon’s Prayer: Synchrony and Diachrony in the Composition of 1 Kings 8, 14-61. Kampen, the Netherlands: Kok Pharos Publishing House, 1993. Todd, Judith A. “The Pre-Deuteronomistic Elijah Cycle.” In Elijah and Elisha in Socioliterary Perspective, edited by Robert B. Coote, 1–35. Atlanta: Scholars, 1992. Weiss, Meir. The Bible from Within: The Method of Total Interpretation. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984. Wénin, André. “La Cohérence Narrative de 2 Rois 3: Une Réponse à Jesús Asurmendi.” BI 14, no. 5 (2006): 444–55. 110 Williams, Joel F. “Discipleship and Minor Characters in Mark’s Gospel.” BSac 153 (September 1996): 332–43. ———. Other Followers of Jesus: Minor Characters as Major Figures in Mark’s Gospel. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994. Zackovitch, Yair. “Every High Official Has a Higher One Set Over Him”: A Literary Analysis of 2 Kings 5. Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1985. 111 ‫ובעלי התפקידים זקוקים עזרתם של משרתיהם הנבונים‪ .‬השימוש בדמויות אלה מותח ביקורת בדרך מעודנת על‬ ‫המעמד השליט‪ .‬משרתים אלה מדגישים את הנושא הקריטי של הציות במחזור סיפורי אלישע‪ ,‬באמצעות הצעה‬ ‫בכוח של הצעתם תוך הימנעות מאי‪-‬ציות‪ .‬אם כי עצתם מגלה חוכמה עממית‪ ,‬המימוש של העצה הזו מגיע‬ ‫לתוצאות אשר משיגות יעדים אלוהיים עבור עם ישראל והעמים השכנים‪ .‬דמויות אלה מוכיחות כי ההשגחה‬ ‫האלוהית מושגת באמצעות אנשים פשוטים‪ ,‬באותה מידה שבה היא מושגת ע"י נביאים ומלכים‪ .‬בסופו של דבר‪,‬‬ ‫המלכים‪ ,‬הנביאים והמשרתים – כולם משרתים את ה׳‪ ,‬וביצועם הנאמן של תפקידיהם תובע מהם להיות כפופים‬ ‫לסמכות האל‪.‬‬ ‫פרק‪ 4‬מנתח דמויות שמגלות יסוד מפתיע בסיפור‪ .‬אני קורא לדמויות כאלה "סוכני הפתעה" מפני‬ ‫שהקורא מגלה את ההפתעה ביחד עם הדמות ומבעד לזווית הראייה שלה‪ .‬בכל אחד מן המקרים הללו‪ ,‬סוכן‬ ‫ההפתעה מגלה עובדות בלתי צפויות ורלוונטיות שמשנות את מהלך העלילה‪ ,‬ומפנה תשומת לב אל יסודות‬ ‫תמטיים אשר מתלווים לתפנית בעלילה‪ .‬אם כי יתכן שגם הדמויות העיקריות יגלו הפתעה‪ ,‬באופן דומה‪ ,‬הרי‬ ‫שבמקרה כזה‪ ,‬השימוש בתחבולה ספרותית זו נעשה כדי להפנות תשומת לב לפגם בדמות‪ ,‬שקודם לכן לא‬ ‫נחשף‪ .‬אולם דמויות המשנה‪ ,‬מצד שני‪ ,‬מפנות את תשומת הלב לנושא מוסרי מרכזי שהמחבר מבקש להעביר‪,‬‬ ‫כפי שהן עושות במקומות אחרים במחזור סיפורי אלישע‪.‬‬ ‫בין נושאי המפתח התיאולוגיים הללו נכללים הנושאים הבאים‪ :‬על אף מדיניות המיסוי שנאכפה ע"י שושלת‬ ‫עומרי‪ ,‬ה׳ אינו נוטש את עמו אלא פועל באופן אקטיבי‪ ,‬באמצעות הנביא אלישע‪ ,‬כדי לגאול את עמו ולשמור‬ ‫עליו‪ .‬על אף הריבוד של החברה הישראלית‪ ,‬ה׳ אינו דן את בני עמו לסבול כקורבנות‪ ,‬אלא מעניק להם תפקיד‬ ‫אקטיבי בגאולה הלאומית‪ ,‬באמצעות הנסים שמחולל אלישע‪ .‬דמויות המשנה מתארות את העם הפשוט‬ ‫כמועצם וכמעצים‪ .‬אין להן עוצמה נבואית או מלכותית‪ ,‬אולם הן יכולות ליטול חלק בנסים באמצעות הציות‬ ‫האקטיבי שלהן ולתרום לרווחת הממלכה באמצעות מתן תובנות למנהיגים במועד המתאים‪ .‬יחסית להופעתן‬ ‫‪.‬הקצרה בכל אחד מן הסיפורים‪ ,‬ההשפעה שלהן על הסיומים של הסיפורים הללו הנה אדירה‬ ‫ד‬ ‫הסוגתית כפי שהוא הוגדר ע"י קנטון ספארקס )‪ ,(Kenton Sparks‬ואשר מהווה את המסגרת התיאורטית‬ ‫למתודולוגיית הסיווג שאני משתמש בה‪ .‬בכוונתי לסווג את דמויות המשנה לסוגים שונים ולנתח את תפקידן‬ ‫באמצעות השוואה והנגדה לעומת סיפורים מתוך הקורפוס של סיפורי אלישע ומחוצה לו‪ .‬הסיווג של הספרות‪,‬‬ ‫או ניתוח הסוגה‪ ,‬נתפש כמועיל‪ ,‬בכפוף ליעדי המחקר של החוקר‪ ,‬ולא כשיטת מיון אוניברסלית או מוחלטת‪.‬‬ ‫לפיכך‪ ,‬הקטגוריות הספרותיות שאני מגדיר נועדו לניתוח דמויות המשנה במחזור סיפורי אלישע‪ .‬הן "מטופלות"‬ ‫כדי להקל על ההשוואה וההנגדה הבין‪-‬טקסטואליים‪ .‬בניתוח ההיבטים הדומים של דמויות המשנה‪ ,‬עולים‬ ‫מוטיבים משותפים ונושאים רחבי היקף‪ .‬כדי להבהיר את ההבדלים ביניהן‪ ,‬יש כאן התמקדות במסר הייחודי של‬ ‫כל סיפור‪ .‬כל פרק מקבץ יחדיו דמויות משנה בהתאם לפונקציה ספציפית במסגרת הנרטיב ומבקש לקבוע את‬ ‫תפקידן הספרותי ואת הנושא התיאולוגי המתאים‪ .‬בכל אחד מפרקים אלה‪ ,‬ייחקרו היסודות הנרטיביים של‬ ‫האפיון והשיקולים התמטיים‪.‬‬ ‫פרק‪ 2‬בעבודה זו מנתח את הדמויות שפונות ישירות אל אלישע בבקשת פתרון לבעיה ספציפית‪ .‬אני‬ ‫מגדיר את הקטגוריה של "סיפורי הנסים בעקבות פנייה ישירה" כקטגוריה שבה דמות משנית פונה אל הנביא‪,‬‬ ‫אשר פותר את הבעיה ע"י כך שהוא מחולל נס‪ .‬לסיפורים אלה יש מבנה ספרותי דומה‪ ,‬שמתחיל מהצגת הבעיה‬ ‫)ע"י דמות המשנה(‪ ,‬עובר אל הצגת הפתרון )ע"י אלישע( ומסתיים במימוש הפתרון )באמצעות שיתוף פעולה‬ ‫בין אלישע ודמות המשנה(‪ .‬בין היסודות המשותפים של הנס המתחולל בסיפורים אלה נכללים הציות של דמות‬ ‫המשנה‪ ,‬שימוש בחומר פיזי‪ ,‬פעולה נבואית ונוסחה של אורקל ‪ /‬של מימוש בשם ה׳ ‪ .‬לא כל יסוד נמצא בנסים‬ ‫בכל הסיפורים‪ .‬כפי שאוכיח‪ ,‬קיומו או היעדרו של יסוד מסוים מבהיר את המצב הייחודי של הסיפור ויש לו‬ ‫רלוונטיות תמטית‪.‬‬ ‫פרק‪ 3‬מנתח את הדמויות שמופיעות באופן שרירותי וקצר מאוד )בדרך כלל רק בפסוק אחד( כדי לבקש‬ ‫עצה‪ ,‬אשר‪ ,‬כאשר המנהיג המתלבט מציית לה‪ ,‬מובילה לסיום מוצלח של הסיפור‪ .‬בסיפורים אלה‪ ,‬המשרתים‬ ‫הם הגיבורים שאין מדברים בשבחם‪ .‬בספרות המקראית‪ ,‬המשרתים מקבלים תפקיד מכריע שכזה רק לעתים‬ ‫נדירות‪ .‬אני קורא לדמויות אלה "סוכני ההפנָ יה הנבואית"‪ ,‬שכן כל אחד מהם מפנה את אדונו‪ ,‬או את אדוניתה‪,‬‬ ‫אל אישיותו של אלישע או אל פעילותו‪ .‬בניגוד לעם הפשוט ב"סיפורי הנסים בעקבות פנייה ישירה"‪ ,‬המלכים‬ ‫ג‬ ‫הספרותי של הנרטיבים אודות אלישע‪ ,‬כולל ביקורת צורנית ומחקר ספרותי‪-‬אסתטי‪ .‬אני מציג את האופן שבו‬ ‫החוקרים משתי האסכולות ניסו לקבוע כי לסוגה של הסיפורים הללו יש משמעות בסיסית להבנת משמעותם‪.‬‬ ‫המחקרים העדכניים הציעו קטגוריות של סוגות שהיו מאוד שונות זו מזו‪ ,‬כולל הגדרות כלליות וספציפיות של‬ ‫סוגות‪ .‬המחקר שלי מוכיח כי ניתוח הסוגה‪ ,‬על נטיותיו לקבוע את הסוגה ה"נכונה"‪ ,‬מגביל שלא לצורך את‬ ‫הרב‪-‬משמעותיות והרב‪-‬ערכיות של סיפורי אלישע‪.‬‬ ‫לאחר סקירה זו‪ ,‬אני פותח בטיעון באשר לחקר דמויות המשנה בנרטיבים אודות אלישע )‪ .(1.2‬דמותו‬ ‫של אלישע מובנת בראש ובראשונה באמצעות פעולותיו‪ .‬בניגוד לקודמו‪ ,‬אליהו‪ ,‬שנאבק כנגד אחאב ובני‬ ‫ישראל למען הפולחן הבלעדי של ה׳‪ ,‬אלישע אינו מזוהה באמצעות מסרים אלוהיים דומים שניתן להבחין בהם‪.‬‬ ‫הפער הזה הופך את דמותו של אלישע לדמות מעורפלת‪ ,‬רב‪-‬משמעית‪ ,‬על אף הבולטות שלו בספר מלכים‪.‬‬ ‫כתוצאה מכך‪ ,‬ניסו מספר חוקרים למלא את הפער באמצעות פירוש התיאור של דמותו כתיאור שלילי‪ .‬אולם‬ ‫אלישע מתואר בעקביות כאדם זמין ומסייע‪ ,‬והוא מתואר כמעט תמיד בחברת אחרים‪ .‬רבים מן ה"אחרים" הללו‬ ‫כוללים דמויות משנה‪ ,‬המייצגות את בני ישראל הפשוטים‪ ,‬אשר מתייחסים אל אלישע כאל אדם שיכול לפתור‬ ‫בעיות שונות‪ .‬המחקר הספרותי‪-‬אסתטי העדכני מגלה כי במסגרת הגדת‪-‬הסיפור המקראית‪ ,‬דמויות המשנה‬ ‫אינן חשובות בפני עצמן‪ ,‬וכי במקרים רבים הן מתפקדות כאביזר עזר של העלילה‪ .‬כאשר הן חשובות‪ ,‬הפונקציה‬ ‫הספרותית שלהן היא על פי רוב אפיון עקיף של הדמויות הראשיות‪ .‬אולם דמויות המשנה בנרטיבים אודות‬ ‫אלישע הנן ייחודיות במספר דרכים‪ ,‬הראויות לבחינה‪.‬‬ ‫בפרק הבא )‪ (1.3‬אני מבסס את התזה שלי‪ .‬אני דן בקצרה במגמה העדכנית בחקר הברית החדשה‪,‬‬ ‫המכירה בכך שדמויות משנה הנן אמצעי להבעת נושאי מפתח בספרי הבשורה‪ .‬אני טוען כי בדומה לכך‪ ,‬דמויות‬ ‫המשנה נושאות מסרי מפתח גם במחזור סיפורי אלישע‪ .‬הסיפורים מייחסים ערך וחשיבות לעם הפשוט‪ ,‬בניגוד‬ ‫לתרבות ההגמונית‪ ,‬במהלך תקופה בהיסטוריה הישראלית שבה הם הודרו באופן חמור אל השוליים‪ .‬אם כי אין‬ ‫להם סמכות מלכותית או נבואית‪ ,‬הם תורמים באופן משמעותי וחיובי לסיומי הנרטיבים אודות אלישע ולהשגת‬ ‫היעדים האלוהיים‪.‬‬ ‫בפרק שלאחר מכן )‪ ,(1.4‬אני דן במתודולוגיה‪ .‬אני דן בהבדל בין הריאליזם הסוגתי ובין ההמשגה‬ ‫ב‬ ‫תקציר‬ ‫התזה הזו הנה ניתוח ספרותי של דמויות המשנה בנרטיבים העוסקים בנביא אלישע )מלכים ב'‪ ,‬ב'‪-‬ח'(‪ .‬אני‬ ‫מגדיר כדמות משנה דמות המופיעה פעם או פעמיים בקורפוס‪ ,‬והממלאת תפקיד משני או ראשי בסיפור קצר‬ ‫)שבעה פסוקים או פחות מכך(‪ .‬רשימת הדמויות הגדולה והמגוונת בסיפורי אלישע כוללת אנשים פשוטים רבים‬ ‫– בני ישראל וזרים – בנוסף למלכים‪ ,‬לבעלי תפקידים בכירים ולנביא עצמו‪ .‬אני סבור כי הפונקציה הנרטיבית‬ ‫של דמויות המשנה אינה רק ליצור אפיון עקיף של הדמויות הראשיות‪ ,‬אלא גם לבטא נושאים שהנם מרכזיים‬ ‫‪.‬בנרטיבים אודות אלישע‬ ‫הבולטות של דמויות המשנה בנרטיבים אודות אלישע משקפת הן את הקשר ההיסטורי הספציפי של‬ ‫הסיפורים והן את ייעודו הייחודי של אלישע בן שפט‪ .‬בפרק המבוא )‪ ,(1.1‬אני מציג סקירה של המחקרים‬ ‫העדכניים אודות מחזור סיפורי אלישע‪ .‬ראשית‪ ,‬אני מתמצת את ההיסטוריה העדכנית של הניתוחים המדעיים‪-‬‬ ‫חברתיים של הסיפורים הללו‪ ,‬ניתוחים שמטרתם לשחזר את האווירה החברתית‪ ,‬הכלכלית והדתית בממלכת‬ ‫ישראל הצפונית בתקופת שושלת עומרי‪ .‬אני מתבסס על הביקורת החברתית‪-‬מדעית משום שהיא מחילה‬ ‫תיאוריה חברתית מודרנית על ניתוח טקסטואלי‪ ,‬תוך שימוש סלקטיבי בראיות החומריות כדי ליצור הקשר‬ ‫חברתי לטקסט המקראי‪ ,‬תוך אזהרה מפני הנטייה שלה להכללה‪ .‬במהלך התקופה הזו‪ ,‬ממלכת ישראל הצפונית‬ ‫עברה שינויים חסרי תקדים‪ ,‬כאשר היא הפכה מחברה שבטית למונרכיה ממורכזת‪ .‬האיכרים הישראליים‬ ‫התמודדו עם לחצים חברתיים אדירים בשל השינויים הכלכליים‪ ,‬הפוליטיים והדתיים העצומים שיזמה שושלת‬ ‫עומרי בממלכה‪ .‬הנהגתם של הפולחנים הפיניקיים סיכנה את הפולחן המסורתי של ה׳‪ .‬התפתחות החקלאות‬ ‫מחקלאות קיום על שטחי אדמה שבטיים לאחוזות מסחריות כדי לייצר יבולים רווחיים לייצוא איימה על המבנים‬ ‫החברתיים המסורתיים והפכה את החקלאים בעלי האדמות לאריסים‪ .‬המיליטריזציה שנועדה להגן על‬ ‫האינטרסים התוך‪-‬מדינתיים הוסיפה גם היא לתחרות על האדמה ומשאבי הייצור היקרים‪ .‬ההשקפה‬ ‫הבינלאומית והקוסמופוליטית של שושלת עומרי הועילה לבית המלוכה – ולאצולה שהתאימה עצמה אל‬ ‫המדיניות החדשה הזו – אבל הותירה רבים אחרים במצב אנוש‪ .‬לאחר מכן‪ ,‬אני עובר אל תולדות המחקר‬ ‫א‬ ‫עבודה זו נעשתה בהדרכתו של ד׳׳ר יהושוע ברמן‬ ‫מן המחלקה לתנ׳׳ך ע׳׳ש זלמן שמיר אוניברסיטת בר–אילן‬ ‫אוניברסיטת בר אילן‬ ‫עבודה שוות ערך תיזה‬ ‫החשיבות הרבה של דמויות המשנה במחזור סיפורי אלישע‬ ‫דניאל וולטר‬ ‫עבודה זו מוגשת כחלק מהדרישות לשם סיום השלמות לתואר שלישי‬ ‫במחלקה לתנ׳׳ך ע׳׳ש זלמן שמיר של אוניברסיטת בר–אילן‬ ‫רמת גן‬ ‫תשע׳׳ז‬