32 Psalm       Elisha  [896 BC Elijah ascends]
     Elisha evidently got his wish for a double portion of Elijah's Spirit.    City officials from Jericho complained to him that their water supply was polluted.  Elisha tossed a bowl of salt into the well and the water became pure.   A poor widower appealed to Elisha  that she owed great debts and that 1 jar of olive oil was the only food left in her pantry.  Elisha instructed her to borrow as many containers as she could find.  Then behind closed doors she and her sons poured, and poured, and continued to pour from that 1 little jar of oil until all the borrowed vessels were overflowing.  The money she made from selling this miracle oil not only paid off her debts, but enough was left over for the widow and her sons to live on.  Elisha brought a child back from death, multiplied loaves of barely bread, and healed a man of leprosy.  He even made a lost  axehead float to the top of the water so his disciples could easily find it.
    Meanwhile Assyria (Syria) was building an empire by invading nearby countries and Israel was its newest victim.  Elisha had been receiving messages from God that allowed him to predict Syria's war plans. 
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The King of Syria found out what was happening and sent his army to capture Elisha.    That next morning Elijah's servant arose to see that they were surrounded by Syrian forces.  2 Kings 6: 15-18  ..... And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
   And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
   And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
    And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.      Elisha then played a trick by telling the blinded warriors that he would take them to the prophet they were sent to capture, but instead he led them to his King.   The King sent the captured Assyrian soldiers home and there was a brief period of peace.
     But it was not long before the Syrians resumed their attacks.  When Elisha was nearing death King Joash came to him for a blessing.  Elisha instructed the King to pick up a bow and some arrows and Elisha would then pray for victory over Syria.  He told the King to strike the arrows against the floor which the King did three times.  Elisha with his last breath explained to Josiah that he would then have 3 victories in battle over Syria, but had he struck the arrows 6 times against the floor he would have destroyed his enemy completely.
     After death Elisha had one more miracle to perform.   Some men were in a hurry to bury their dead friend so instead of digging a new grave they threw the corpse into Elisha's tomb.  The instant the dead body touched Elisha's dry bones, life returned and he jumped to his feet.  Imagine his friends' shock!
    The narrative about Elisha's servant and the chariots of fire is one of my favorite Bible passages.  I can imagine the fear the servant felt when he saw Syrian warriors completely surrounding himself and Elisha.  But Elisha had no fear, for He saw with spiritual eyes God's army prepared to defeat the enemy.  

           Jonah    [825 BC mission to Nineveh]
Some years later while Assyria continued to attack Israel,  the Lord sent a message to the Prophet Jonah to go and preach in Assyria's capital city Nineveh.   Jonah did not want to go there so he boarded a ship going the opposite direction thinking he could hide from the Lord.  The ship ran into a great storm and Jonah realized that his disobedience to God was to blame.  He had the crew throw him overboard and the seas became calm again.
     Jonah was swallowed by a huge fish.  After three days and nights the fish spits Jonah onto a beach.  The Lord again instructed Jonah to go to Nineveh.  This time Jonah obeyed.   He preached and warned the Syrians that God would destroy their city in 40 days.  Much to Jonah's surprise they repented and God held back his anger.  This upset Jonah very much because he hated Assyria and wanted to see its capital in ruins.    Jonah was so angry he sat down at the edge of the city and sulked.  Jonah chapter 4:6-11. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
    But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
    And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
    Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:   And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
    Jonah and the Whale reads more like an Uncle Remus fable than a true Bible narrative, but what better authority than Jesus can we trust.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:40,  "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."  That settles the matter for me.  I wouldn't want to argue with the Creator of the Universe.
   There are some very important lessons to learn from Jonah. When God tells you to do something, you ought to do it.  Running and hiding from God is impossible.   Disobedience will only make matters worse.  Once you have obeyed,  what happens next is up to God.   Don't complain about the results.  You would look silly sitting under a withered gourd vine.

      
       While Jonah was warning Nineveh to repent the Prophets Hosea and Amos were were giving similar messages to Israel and Judah.
     Hosea compares Israel's idol worship to his unfaithful wife, and he warns the people of God's punishment and future forgiveness.
          Amos [808 BC prophesies], a lowly shepherd of Judah, goes to Israel and warns of God's judgment against them for neglecting the needs of the weak and poor.
     The prophet Micah makes the opposite journey, from Israel to Judah, and gives similar warnings. Many in Israel act as though serving God only means making ceremonial sacrifices.  Micah's message to the people is that God demands more than mere formality.    Michah 6:8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
     Micah's prophesizes the coming destruction of Israel, then Judah.  He also foretells God's forgiveness and Jerusalem's restoration.  Micah has visions of a future Messiah, including specific details of Jesus' birthplace.  Micah 5:2. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.''