2 Kings — Chapter 13

Eliseus was sick of the illness of which he died. And Joas the king of Israel went down to him, and wept before his face, and said: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the driver thereof. Lapide: King Joash called Elisha \"the chariot of Israel,\" acknowledging that the prophet's intercession with God had done more for Israel than all its armies. The saints and prophets are the true defenders of kingdoms, not generals; their prayers are more powerful than chariots.

He said: Open the window to the east. And when he had opened it, Eliseus said: Shoot an arrow. And he shot. And he said: The arrow of the salvation of the Lord, and the arrow of salvation against Syria. Lapide: Elisha imposed his hands on the hands of the king when he drew the bow, signifying that even from his deathbed and even from beyond the grave his virtue and intercession would assist the king. \"After death, therefore, the virtue and power of Elisha was alive; and the wonders he used to perform while living, he also worked when dead.\" From this Lapide refutes heretics who deny the intercession of the saints in heaven.

Eliseus died, and they buried him. And the rovers from Moab came into the land the same year. Lapide: Elisha died in old age at last, after sixty years of prophetic ministry — under six successive kings of Israel, from Ahab to Joash. His ministry was the longest of any prophet recorded in Kings, and filled with the greatest miracles. Lapide lists some forty miracles attributed to Elisha, noting that they exceed in number and variety even those of Elijah, just as the double spirit he asked for exceeded the single portion of his master.

When they were burying a man, they saw the rovers, and cast the body into the sepulchre of Eliseus; and when it had touched the bones of Eliseus, the man came to life. Lapide: A dead man brought back to life by touching the bones of Elisha is a clear proof of the efficacy of the relics of the saints. Lapide cites this text explicitly against Protestant heretics who deny honour to relics: God worked this miracle to show that His power remains operative through the bones of His saints even after their death. This is one of the strongest Old Testament proofs for the Catholic doctrine of relics.