first resurrection in Bible 2 Kings 13:21?

This is an awsome event in the Hebrew Old Testament and am wondering if this could be considered the first resurrection of someone in the Bible?

2Kings 13:
20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.
21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold! they spied a band of men;
and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha:
and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.




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Whoa! I never read that before. Intriguing. This is an entire Bible study in itself.

brinny said:

Whoa! I never read that before. Intriguing. This is an entire Bible study in itself.

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If you blink, you would miss it ehehe...

I am searching for some commentaries on it and possibly some translations of that verse.

2 Kings 13:21 Commentaries: As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.


And when the man was let down, and touched the bones.—Rather, and they departed. And the man touched the bones. The order of words in the original, as well as the sense, supports old Houbiganťs conjecture. If the meaning were, “and the man went and touched,” the subject in the Hebrew would have followed the first verb, not the second. Moreover, the verb would hardly have been hālak.
He revived.—Literally, and he lived. Thenius thinks that the sacred writer regarded this miracle as a pledge of the fulfilment of Elisha’s promise to Joash Bähr says: “Elisha died and was buried, like all other men, but even in death and in the grave he is avouched to be the prophet and servant of God.”

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behold they spied a band of men] The R.V. omits the italics. The band was a band of the marauding Moabites, at whose approach the Israelites were terrified, and so made all haste to dispose of the corpse they were carrying.

unto the sepulchre of Elisha] This must have been nearer at hand than the grave which they intended to use. The distance from which the Moabites were visible allowed the bearers to open the first grave they came to, and there to lay down their burden, but gave time for nothing more. Josephus says that it was the robbers who had killed a man and that they cast him into Elisha’s grave (Ant. IX. 8. 6).

and when the man was let down and touched] R.V. and as soon as the man touched. It will be seen from the margin of R.V. that the Hebrew means ‘and when the man went and touched’; a very unusual kind of expression, but which does not warrant the idea conveyed by the A.V. that the body was lowered into the tomb.

the bones of Elisha] We need not press the literal sense of ‘bones’, as though a long time had elapsed since Elisha died. The lying prophet of Bethel (1 Kings 13:31), speaking of his own death and burial, says ‘Lay my bones beside his bones’.

he revived and stood up on his feet] The record of this miracle seems intended to set forth that it was nothing in the prophet himself which had given him the great powers he manifested in his lifetime. Through his dead body God could work a miracle also. ‘Israel shall well see that He lives, by whose virtue Elisha was, both in life and death, miraculous.

While the prophet was alive, the impetration might seem to be his, though the power were God’s; now that he is dead, the bones can challenge nothing, but send the wandering Israelites to that Almighty agent to whom it is all one to work by the quick or dead.’ (Bp. Hall.)



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Intriguing. Makes ya' wanna dig in, so to speak cuz i'm like seein' layers and layers here...and what also comes to mind is the resurrection of Lazarus....

well now that i think about it....Lazarus wouldn't have been a "first" resurrection....hmmmmmm

then there's the dry bones in Ezekiel that came to life....

Another resurrection story is attributed to Elisha's work as the 'man of God' prior to this:

17 But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Eli′sha had said to her.

18 When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. 19 And he said to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 And when he had lifted him, and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. 21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. 22 Then she called to her husband, and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the asses, that I may quickly go to the man of God, and come back again.” 23 And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” She said, “It will be well.” 24 Then she saddled the ass, and she said to her servant, “Urge the beast on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out, and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Geha′zi his servant, “Look, yonder is the Shu′nammite; 26 run at once to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?” And she answered, “It is well.” 27 And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Geha′zi came to thrust her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.” 28 Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?” 29 He said to Geha′zi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet any one, do not salute him; and if any one salutes you, do not reply; and lay my staff upon the face of the child.” 30 Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. 31 Geha′zi went on ahead and laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awaked.”

32 When Eli′sha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. 33 So he went in and shut the door upon the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he went up and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. 35 Then he got up again, and walked once to and fro in the house, and went up, and stretched himself upon him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36 Then he summoned Geha′zi and said, “Call this Shu′nammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Take up your son.” 37 She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took up her son and went out.
(2 Kings 4:17-37)

That is precious. I have GOT to delve more, BIG TIME, into the Old Testament. I was not even aware Eli'sha had done this....

and yes, that is a resurrection, isn't it? Praise God.

There's also a lesson in there somewhere of the faith of this woman, and utter persistence. Reminds me of the woman who, suffering for 12 years touched the hem of Jesus garment.

This "persistence" is akin almost to a "wrestling" with God, it seems.....and it seems that such "wrestling" pleases God, because perhaps it IS a declaration of faith in just the persistence of it.

By Faith Alone said:

Hey. Dat ain't nuttin'. He raised an axe head too!!

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yes he did!

That was a resurrection of sorts...i heard a profound sermon on this event once and it was emphasized how dire the situation was for the one who accidentally lost the axe head...there could have been serious consequences if he would've told the owner of it that it was gone....Eli'sha was compassionate to make that axe head float so it could be seen, and then retrieved...i wonder what impact all of this had on this guy who Eli'sha helped?

brinny said:

yes he did!

That was a resurrection of sorts...i heard a profound sermon on this event once and it was emphasized how dire the situation was for the one who accidentally lost the axe head...there could have been serious consequences if he would've told the owner of it that it was gone....Eli'sha was compassionate to make that axe head float so it could be seen, and then retrieved...i wonder what impact all of this had on this guy who Eli'sha helped?

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Will not derail thread. You are correct. According to the law if an axe came off and killed someone the user could flee to a sanctuary city. Even though it was an accident there would be those that wanted to avenge the death:

Deut 19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

It seems there were a lot of deaths due to this.


The nay sayer would declare Elisha was no prophet for asking the student where the axe head entered the water. But I declare Elisha was finding out if the student was focused on the task at hand and sought his level of awareness.

Another nay sayer would submit that they should not have borrowed the axe. But I point the finger at the bum that loaned a defective axe in the first place!!

THAT'S exactly what was emphasized in the sermon......

thank you for sharing that...