Abstract
“At the beginning of the narrative [II Kings 6:8–23], Syria is a great threat. At the end of the narrative, Syria has gone home in peace. The intervention of Elisha which changed everything is unlikely. … His decisive action consisted in a prayer and a feast. It is as though in inscrutable fashion, he has said to both warring kings, ‘I will show you a more excellent way,’ a way which stands outside royal definitions of reality and possibility. … The more excellent way is about human hurt, under threat by Syria. It is about human amazement, that the mountains are filled with horses and chariots of fire. … It is a tale of transformation in which the enemy is transformed into a festival partner who goes peaceably away.”
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