that his life is in peril, but is ready,
nevertheless, to obey his master's call. He is not designated as the
power to effect the great revolution which should root out idolatry and
destroy the house of Omri; but Jehu, an unscrupulous yet jealous
warrior, was to found a new dynasty, and the king of Syria was to punish
and afflict the ten tribes, and Elisha was to be the mouth-piece of the
Almighty in the court of kings. It would appear that Elijah did not
himself anoint either the general of Benhadad or of Ahab as future
kings,--instruments of punishment on idolatrous Israel,--but on Elisha
did his mantle fall.

Elisha was the son of a farmer, and, according to Ewald, when Elijah
selected him for his companion and servant, had just been ploughing his
twelve yoke of land (not of oxen), and was at work on the twelfth and
last. Passing by the place, Elijah, without stopping, took off his
shaggy mantle of skins, and cast it upon Elisha. The young man, who
doubtless was familiar with the appearance of the great prophet,
recognized and accepted this significant call, and without remonstrance,
even as others in later days devoted themselves to a greater Prophet,
"left all and followed" the one who had chosen him. He became Elijah's
constant companion and pupil and ministrant, until the great man's
departure. He belonged to "the sons of the prophets," among whom Elijah
sojourned in his latter days,--a community of young men, for the most
part poor, and compelled to combine manual labor with theological
studies. Very few of these prophets seem to have been favored with
especial gifts or messages from God, in the sense that Samuel and Elijah
were. They were teachers and preachers rather than prophets, performing
duties not dissimilar to those of Franciscan friars in the Middle Ages.
They were ascetics like the monks, abstaining from wine and luxuries, as
Samson and the Nazarites and Rechabites did. Religious asceticism goes
back to a period that we cannot trace.

After Elijah had gone from the scenes of his earthly labors, Elisha
became a man of the city, and had a house in Samaria. His dress was that
of ordinary life, and he was bland in manners. His nature, unlike that
of Elijah, was gentle and affectionate. He became a man of great
influence, and was the friend of three kings. Jehoshaphat consulted him
in war; Joram sought his advice, and Benhadad in sickness sent to him to
be healed, for he exercised miraculous powers. He c