De godsman, de vrouw en de generaal: Twee verhalen over Elisa naast elkaar gelezen

Among the miracle stories of Elisha, two stand out because of their length and their complicated structure: the story of the Shunamite woman (2 Kgs 4:8-37) and the story of Naaman (2 Kgs 5:1-27). Reading both stories together can shed more light on the image of Elisha. Besides Elisha the main actors in both stories, the woman and the general, are in many respects each other’s opposites: woman versus man, unknown versus famous, Israelite versus foreign and pagan. Moreover, their roles in the storie, are quite different. In the second story Elisha seems to be the hero: he saves the Syrian general Naaman from a skin disease rendering him unclean, an act that turns Naaman into a zealous adherent of the God of Israel. In the first story, however, the woman is clearly the protagonist, fighting for the life of her son and in the process pushing Elisha to act according to his office as a man of God. Details of the first story, like the detached way Elisha deals with the people around him, clarify his behaviour in the second story, and vice versa. In this way, the image of Elisha in both stories is nuanced. Although he has his peculiar-ities and sometimes falls short of what might be expected from someone commissioned by YHWH, he is still able to administer the tremendous life-bringing powers he possessed.