So that's just an example of a character study. How would you do it with a class? For what age? What would you focus on?
Depending on the age of your class, what can you do for activities when you do character studies? Art? Craft? Service? Science? Maps? History? Ancient culture? Drama? Can you make it Hands-On?
How much research will you do? Will you do it or will you let the kids do it? What did you, as teacher, take away from this learning experience? What did you discover about this character? What was his/her most memorable trait? or most memorable moment? What did you learn about God? What will you do to remember God and what He did?
How about your kids? How directive will you be? How much structure will you give them and how much room will you give them to make discoveries and let the Holy Spirit guide them, to open their eyes and let them see?
Monday, November 02, 2009
Who was this man Elisha? Part 8
Elisha shows up again in chapter 13. Jehu, apparently, is gone. Hazael is still going strong. Elisha is sick and dying. Jehoash, now king of Israel in Samaria, is doing evil in the eyes of the LORD but he comes to Elisha. Weeping over Elisha, Jehoash cries, ""My father! My father! . . .The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" [Upset because Elisha is sick and dying or upset about the impending battle?]
Kings 13 (NIV)
15 Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. 16 "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.
But that's not the end of Elisha's story. Continuing at verse 20..."Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet." [Interesting?]
"24 Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad his son succeeded him as king. 25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered the Israelite towns." So I say, "Yay! They won!" but then I remember that Elisha got mad because Jehoash would ONLY win 3 times. Next time, he would lose.
Luke 4:27-28 (NIV) is the next place we hear about Elisha: Scripture says: "27And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian. 28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this." Because of who Elisha was? or was it just God's choice? or both?
Kings 13 (NIV)
15 Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. 16 "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands.
17 "Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek."[Remember, this isn't a king who seems to be walking with God but Elisha is still helping him.]
18 Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. [Notice, Elisha doesn't coach this guy the way he did the widow he sent out for the jars.] 19 The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times." [Has Elisha gotten angry before? Even when he cursed the boys, does it say he was angry?]
But that's not the end of Elisha's story. Continuing at verse 20..."Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet." [Interesting?]
"24 Hazael king of Aram died, and Ben-Hadad his son succeeded him as king. 25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-Hadad son of Hazael the towns he had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and so he recovered the Israelite towns." So I say, "Yay! They won!" but then I remember that Elisha got mad because Jehoash would ONLY win 3 times. Next time, he would lose.
Luke 4:27-28 (NIV) is the next place we hear about Elisha: Scripture says: "27And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian. 28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this." Because of who Elisha was? or was it just God's choice? or both?
Which takes us back to Naaman and the little servant girl who just seemed to be in the right place at the right time and not by her own choice and God used her to start something that people would hear about (literally) for ages . . .
. . . Right. We were talking about Elisha. He was one of the prophets that Jesus specifically mentions.
So that's an example of an amateur character study - yet another way to look at scripture and learn about God. I have to say that I'm left with a new understanding and respect for the prophet Elisha - one of the men God used to write His story. And if you want, go back through Elisha's story or the story of any of God's characters. Look at God as the significant character in the story, the role he played and how He responded to Elisha and the other people around him.
Who was this man Elisha? Part 7
2 Kings 8
Look at this long term relationship Elisha has with this family! More info about the man.
Elisha warns this family that a famine is coming. He tells them it will last 7 years. He tells them to go and stay wherever they can. Hm...the common people seem to listen to Elisha and do what he says. It's the prophets who don't seem to listen to each other, lol! The woman listened to him and took her family to the land of the Philistines. She returns. She wants her house and land back and it just so happens that Gehazi (there's his name again) is responding to the king who asked him to recount all the great things Elisha has done and here comes this woman whose boy Elisha raised from the dead. The king gives her back lost home, land, and income. Nice friend to have!
The king of Aram gets sick and sends Hazael to inquire of Elisha. The king sends Hazael with gifts (lots of gifts!). He wants to know if God will make him better.
Elisha says, yes, the king will get better but he'll die. Then Elisha stares down Hazael. Hazael feels ashamed. Elisha starts to weep. Hazael asks Elisha why he's weeping. God has shown Elisha the horrible things that Hazael will do. Wait. Wasn't this the king who just laid seige to Samaria? And Elisha is weeping over what is about to happen to him?
Look at this long term relationship Elisha has with this family! More info about the man.
Elisha warns this family that a famine is coming. He tells them it will last 7 years. He tells them to go and stay wherever they can. Hm...the common people seem to listen to Elisha and do what he says. It's the prophets who don't seem to listen to each other, lol! The woman listened to him and took her family to the land of the Philistines. She returns. She wants her house and land back and it just so happens that Gehazi (there's his name again) is responding to the king who asked him to recount all the great things Elisha has done and here comes this woman whose boy Elisha raised from the dead. The king gives her back lost home, land, and income. Nice friend to have!
The king of Aram gets sick and sends Hazael to inquire of Elisha. The king sends Hazael with gifts (lots of gifts!). He wants to know if God will make him better.
Elisha says, yes, the king will get better but he'll die. Then Elisha stares down Hazael. Hazael feels ashamed. Elisha starts to weep. Hazael asks Elisha why he's weeping. God has shown Elisha the horrible things that Hazael will do. Wait. Wasn't this the king who just laid seige to Samaria? And Elisha is weeping over what is about to happen to him?
Verse 13 Hazael asks, "How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?"
Elisha tells him, "The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram."
Hazael leaves Elisha, returns to his master, and he tells the king that he will recover but the next day he takes a thick cloth, soaks it in water and spread it over the king's face, kills the king and himself becomes king just as Elisha predicted. Israel & Judah join forces trying to defeat him but Ahab's son gets wounded. Elisha sends one of his company to anoint another king. Which takes us to 2 Kings 9.
Don't lose track of which king is which here. I have. More character studies for you.
Anyway... all this drama is set in motion and we see not just Elisha's words fullfilled but Elijah's as well.
Who was this man Elisha? Part 6
Not long after that, the King of Aram lays seige to Samaria. There's a famine. Elisha delivers the Word of the Lord. He tells the disbelieving officer, "You'll see it but you won't eat it." Then we don't hear about him for a bit.
The famine goes on so long that mothers in Samaria are threatening to eat their children. Sorry. I wasn't expecting that part. One lady even goes to the king. But the king replies, if God isn't helping you, what do you expect me to do? When he hears the woman's story (which I won't repeat) he tears his robes. He wears sackcloth under his robes. He blames Elisha. He's ready to kill Elisha, the man of God, saying "May God deal with me if I DON'T kill Elisha." I'm rushing through this. Go back and read it. It's worth pondering a little longer...The king, his role and responsibilty. His accountability to God. Elisha, the man of God, his role, responsibility and accountability to God and the position the king finds himself in. It seems that the king is at his wit's end trying to do the right thing, trying to be responsible to God, trying not to blame God so let's blame Elisha. Let's kill him. Maybe then God will do something. No. Maybe not . . .
From 2 Kings 6:24-33 (NIV):
In the meantime, Elisha is sitting in his house, and the elders are sitting with him. The king (who's ready to kill Elisha) sends a messenger ahead. Before he even gets there, Elisha says to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? [Remember the other rumor? One king is told what the other king was thinking in his bedroom because Elisha tells them. Again, Elisha knows.]
Elisha continues, "Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?" There's something rather nonchalant and funny about this. People leaning against a door is going to keep the king away if he wants someone dead? But the king doesn't follow the messenger to kill Elisha. He sends a different message not the original message that Elisha "heard".
The famine goes on so long that mothers in Samaria are threatening to eat their children. Sorry. I wasn't expecting that part. One lady even goes to the king. But the king replies, if God isn't helping you, what do you expect me to do? When he hears the woman's story (which I won't repeat) he tears his robes. He wears sackcloth under his robes. He blames Elisha. He's ready to kill Elisha, the man of God, saying "May God deal with me if I DON'T kill Elisha." I'm rushing through this. Go back and read it. It's worth pondering a little longer...The king, his role and responsibilty. His accountability to God. Elisha, the man of God, his role, responsibility and accountability to God and the position the king finds himself in. It seems that the king is at his wit's end trying to do the right thing, trying to be responsible to God, trying not to blame God so let's blame Elisha. Let's kill him. Maybe then God will do something. No. Maybe not . . .
From 2 Kings 6:24-33 (NIV):
In the meantime, Elisha is sitting in his house, and the elders are sitting with him. The king (who's ready to kill Elisha) sends a messenger ahead. Before he even gets there, Elisha says to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? [Remember the other rumor? One king is told what the other king was thinking in his bedroom because Elisha tells them. Again, Elisha knows.]
Elisha continues, "Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?" There's something rather nonchalant and funny about this. People leaning against a door is going to keep the king away if he wants someone dead? But the king doesn't follow the messenger to kill Elisha. He sends a different message not the original message that Elisha "heard".
"33 While he [Elisha] was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?" Apparently as upset and confused as the king was, the king didn't give up on the prophet..
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Who is this man Elisha? Part 5
This was the prophet the little girl sent Naaman to. Had she heard all these stories? Had she been there? The story of Naaman follows in 2 Kings 5 (NIV).
I think last time we read this story we were looking at the child. If you reread Naaman's story see what this story tells you about Elisha.
2 Kings 6:1-7 NIV)
Moving on. Elisha's company of prophets come to him and tell him their meeting place is too small. They say, " 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." I'm not sure what the significance of each man having a pole is but there is probably something cultural/historical and interesting to be found there. Apparently they gained numbers during Elisha's time. When the others suggest they expand, it seems Elisha seems more than open to the suggestion. Elisha says, " Go ahead." Apparently Elisha was not planning on going with them. It almost looks like they beg him to come but I might be reading too much into it. Anyway, Elisha gives in and goes, too. He could've said, "No, this wasn't what I was planning on doing today..."
I think last time we read this story we were looking at the child. If you reread Naaman's story see what this story tells you about Elisha.
2 Kings 6:1-7 NIV)
Moving on. Elisha's company of prophets come to him and tell him their meeting place is too small. They say, " 2 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." I'm not sure what the significance of each man having a pole is but there is probably something cultural/historical and interesting to be found there. Apparently they gained numbers during Elisha's time. When the others suggest they expand, it seems Elisha seems more than open to the suggestion. Elisha says, " Go ahead." Apparently Elisha was not planning on going with them. It almost looks like they beg him to come but I might be reading too much into it. Anyway, Elisha gives in and goes, too. He could've said, "No, this wasn't what I was planning on doing today..."
They go off to the Jordan. They begin to cut down some trees. "5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. 'Oh, my lord,' he cried out, 'it was borrowed!'
6 The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. 7 "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it."
This was a miracle but the way I see it there's some special kindness here. One of the guys borrows someone's ax, the head is loose, falls off and sinks to the bottom of water where by all rights it should have stayed. Luckily no one got hurt. The guy would probably have to replace it and they could've gotten into whether the axhead was loose to begin with and who's to blame yada yada yada. Elisha didn't have to retrieve the axhead. But he did with God's help. He's a man of God in the office of prophet but it seems to me he is using what God gave him to meet needs and extend kindness without the usual "Thus sayeth the Lord" and he does it ALOT!
The king of Aram gets upset thinking there is a spy in their midst. But there isn't. One of his officers tells him, 12 "None of us, my lord the king . . . but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."
13 "'Go, find out where he is,' the king ordered, 'so I can send men and capture him.' The report came back: 'He is in Dothan.' 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city." Elisha is a wanted man and the king of Aram sends a whole army to capture one prophet, lol!
Back to scripture: 15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. [I wonder if this is the same servant. I wonder why sometimes the servant is named and sometimes, not.]
16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." [Elisha sees what no one else sees and, it appears, he's not afraid or worried.]
17 And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. [Another kindness? Why not just expect the servant to take his word for it? "Have faith! Believe!" I'm not mocking, I just think it's interesting that he asked God to open the servant's eyes so he could see what the prophet saw. He was just a servant, after all. Irrelevant but it also makes me wonder if Elisha was once an imaginative child.]
18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, "Strike these people with blindness."
God did it. Again, God did what Elisha asked. To save himself? All the glory is God's in this story so maybe it doesn't really matter. It's just interesting.
19 Elisha told them, "This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for." And he led them to Samaria.
This is sort of funny. Apparently they didn't know who they were looking for or that they'd found him. It's kind of fun when you're reading scripture and you discover that God has a sense of humor. I love it!
20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, "LORD, open the eyes of these men so they can see." Then the LORD opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"
22 "Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." 23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory." [Elisha keeps feeding people!!]
I'm sure you can make many more observations than these. The whole idea of seeing and not seeing, too. But considering what could have happened, this is a pretty amazing story and it tells you lots more about this man and abit of foreshadowing of Christ Jesus. Considering that the army had come to capture Elisha and the king was willing to protect him with another army. . . Considering that Elisha was originally commissioned to kill the ones that were left after the king and the other prophet were done it seems this might have been a God-given opportunity for that but what does Elisha do? He just feeds them! Just give them something to eat and send them on their way. Wait. Who's providing all this food, anyway? The king of Israel is feeding his enemies? Oh! It's a pretty amazing story.
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