Elisha was a prophet, the successor to Elijah who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. When Elisha was on his deathbed, the king of Israel came for some counsel of what to do against his enemies. Elisha gave him this directive:
Then Elisha told the king to take the other arrows and strike the ground with them. The king struck the ground three times, and then stopped. This made Elisha angry, and he said to the king, “You should have struck five or six times, and then you would have won complete victory over the Syrians; but now you will defeat them only three times.” Elisha died and was buried (2 Kings 13:18-20).
Perhaps God was angry with the king who wasn't aggressive enough when he shot his arrows, but could there be another angle to this story? I maintain that Elisha had an anger problem throughout his life and when he was old, it had not diminished but continued to create a dangerous edge to his prophetic ministry. Let me explain. When we first meet Elisha, this is what we see:
As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys (2 Kings 2:23-24).
Then when his servant Gehazi coveted some of Naaman's goods and lied about it, we read
But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow (2 Kings 5:26-27).
And then we have the instance of Elisha's anger in his last days at the king who didn't strike the ground with enough fervor. Were the young boys and Gehazi guilty in their encounter with the prophet? Should the king have been more forceful? Yes, but It also seems it was rather dangerous to be around Elisha, especially if someone didn't do what he thought they should do.
Elisha didn't mellow with age; he carried his anger with him to his grave. At no point do we see that the Lord directed him to do these things we read about in Elisha's life. It's possible that his anger unleashed a destructive power that caused great damage and to assume it was God's will for all this to happen may be correct—but it may not be as well. The Bible never says God directed Elisha to do or say the things he did, but it never says God didn't. It's left for us to decide.
In this series 'Never Too Old for Purpose,' we have examined how to finish well in your purpose. I maintain Elisha did not finish well because of his anger. All of us have known angry old people who have a lot more life experiences over which to be upset and angry. I pray you and I won't be identified as such.
There's an old saying that if you don't deal with your anger, your anger will deal with you. I urge you to not allow anger to dominate your latter years, and that starts with confronting your anger when you're young. Then allow the fruit of the Spirit—patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control—to be the characteristics of your old-age purpose years so that you aren't unpleasant or toxic to be around as Elisha appears to have been. Have a blessed week.
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