3949 - Power in What? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 24, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 50.

3949 — Power in What?

By Editor

Please explain 2 Kings 13:21. What power was there in the bones of the prophet? C. H.

The passage reads: “And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.” There was no power in the bones of Elisha, any more than in the bones of any one else. God used this way to recall once more to ancient, apostate Israel the living messages which Elisha had borne them. Elisha was dead, but his message was still a living message for Israel; and the fact that God thus honored the very remains of His prophet, was not to teach Israel that there was sanctity, or power, in the bones, but power in the God whose prophet Elisha was, and that the message which God gave through that prophet was to be heeded. It will be seen that this is in perfect harmony with Eccl. 9:5.