Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” (2 Kings 13:13-19)

This is a unique section of scripture because it is an account of one of the last prophetic declarations of the great prophet Elisha. Elisha was an intern of Elijah and at the departure of Elijah into heaven, Elisha received twice the anointing or spirit that his teacher had walked in. Elisha was a powerful prophet but was not destined to be taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:1) as his predecessor was, but would simply die of an undisclosed illness. Jehoash, the king of Israel mentioned in this section, was not a particularly godly king but came to Elisha anyway after hearing of his illness. From the context, we can infer that Jehoash had a concern about going to war against Aram (Syria) and had probably come to inquire of the Lord before going to battle.  Even in the grip of his illness, Elisha heard from the Lord and apparently had a heart for Israel even though the nation had been in rebellion against God during most of Elisha’s tenure.

At the coming of the king, Elisha instructed him to take a bow and some arrows and shoot an arrow out the east window. Elisha placed his hands on the king’s hands to symbolize the promise that God would strengthen Jehoash’s hands in battle. This was a prophetic act symbolizing a military victory over Aram. In a sense it was like Moses raising his staff over the Red Sea symbolizing authority over the waters – God’s authority working through his representative.

After Jehoash fired the arrow, Elisha declared that Jehoash would completely destroy the Arameans in an upcoming battle. He then gave the king a handful of arrows and instructed him to strike the ground with the arrows. The better translation is that he was instructed to shoot the arrows into the ground as he had shot the first arrow through the window. Jehoash shot three arrows into the ground and stopped. Elisha was angry saying that he should have shot more arrows because he established his own destiny with the number of shots. More arrows would have brought more victories for him and for Israel.

At first glance, I’m puzzled by Elisha’s anger. He didn’t tell the king how many arrows to shoot into the ground or clearly why he was doing so. However, the king knew the first arrow was a sign of one victory and could have deduced that more arrows meant more victories. My guess is that he still had arrows in his hand when he stopped shooting. Either his faith or his passion for victory or both fell short.

I wonder how often we stop short of God’s promises either because our faith won’t imagine more or because we are content with a little rather than battling for all that God is willing to give us. I have learned through the years that most prophecies and promises are conditional on our response. If God tells us he will do great things through us, the condition is that we prepare ourselves for great things and risk doing more than we thought we could. If he promises to move mountains do we settle for an anthill because our faith can’t imagine the mountain or because our part in moving that mountain seems too hard or too long?

Jude challenges us to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude3). I once thought of that as a call to defend pure doctrine. I’m sure that contending may include teaching the truth in the face of opposition but I have also come to believe that it includes contending for the promises imbedded in our faith. Jacob had to wrestle with an angel for an entire night to get the blessing he was seeking. We need to endure in faith, prayer and action refusing to settle for less than the promise implies – for healing, for a nation, for salvations, or for a marriage. God wants us to shoot until all the arrows are gone.

Sometimes I wonder if God is bored because his children ask and settle for ordinary things rather than the extraordinary. Paul tells us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Eph.3:20) and so I’m confident that he wants to do that. A strong man who can bench press 360 pounds wants to be challenged to do that and even more. To ask him to bench only 100 pounds is boring and even insulting. We need to ask for more. We need to ask for the impossible rather than the probable. We need to hear the promise or own true prophecy and then shoot every arrow, launch every prayer, and believe the word until we hold the promise in our hands. Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t settle. Contend.