Isaac Redux

The Shunammite woman sets Elisha up with a small sanctuary in an upper room, complete with menorah, table, throne-chair, and bed (= altar). When the woman’s son dies, Elisha lays him on the bed/altar, and he revives. He is another Isaac, Elisha a new Abraham. Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac was followed by a promise of an abundant seed and then by the negotiations for a plot of land (Gen 22-23). Elisha raises the boy, and then goes to feed a hundred men and to restore the land to fruitfulness.