Lived: Approximately 892-800 BC
Elisha grew up farming in the Jordan Valley, near what is now the border between Israel and Jordan, about 50 miles northeast of modern-day Tel Aviv. While he was plowing fields with twelve teams of oxen—a sign his family had significant wealth—a stranger threw a cloak over his shoulders and changed his life forever.
During Elisha’s lifetime, the Assyrian Empire was expanding its reach across the ancient Near East, and the Olympic Games had recently begun in Greece (776 BC). Rome was still just a small settlement, centuries away from becoming an empire.
For sixty years, Elisha advised kings, trained leaders, and performed remarkable acts—from multiplying food to healing foreign generals. He asked his mentor for a “double portion” and received it, accomplishing twice as much as his predecessor. Even after death, his legacy continued in the most literal way: his bones brought a dead man back to life. His story suggests that true influence isn’t measured by what happens while we’re present, but by what keeps happening after we’re gone.