Elisha

In the biblical narrative Elisha is introduced as the chosen successor of the prophet Elijah. Elijah throws his prophetic mantle over Elisha's shoulders as an act of investiture; when Elijah is taken up (accompanied in the sources by a whirlwind and by a chariot and horses of fire), his mantle falls and Elisha picks it up and asks for a "double portion" of Elijah's spirit. This transfer episode establishes Elisha's prophetic authority and situates him within a lineage-based prophetic office.

Elisha is presented as a human male prophet and member of the prophetic guild called the "sons of the prophets." Narrative episodes provide minimal physical description; one story reports that youths mocked him 'for his baldness,' which is the textual basis for an inference that he was bald. He is associated with the mantle — the prophetic garment of Elijah — which functions as a visible mark of prophetic office.

Narrated miracles and prophetic acts attributed to Elisha include recrossing the Jordan using Elijah's mantle, purifying the spring at Jericho, predicting relief from drought and military outcomes, multiplying oil and food to relieve need, turning poisonous pottage into wholesome food, resuscitating a dead child, and pronouncing a curse that is followed by a punitive episode (the bear attack on taunting youths). He functions as an intermediary for Yahweh in these episodes, and his reception of Elijah's mantle and request for a 'double portion' are framed as transmission of prophetic power. He appears in episodic advisory roles to Israelite rulers in the biblical narratives.