Why did Jesus forbid his disciples to say goodbye to their families? Luk 9:59-62 NKJV >**59** Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." **60** Jesus said to him, "*Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.*" **61** And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go [and] bid them farewell who are at my house." **62** But Jesus said to him, "*No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."* Yet Elijah permitted Elisha to go back to his own family to say his farewells? 1Ki 19:19-20 NLT >**19** So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. **20** Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, "First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!" Elijah replied, "**Go on back**, but think about what I have done to you."

> **[2 Kings 2:23-24 (KJV)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A23-24&version=KJV)**
> 23 And he [Elisha] went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going > up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and > mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald > head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in > the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the > wood, and tare forty and two children of them. What do these verses mean? What was the purpose of this? The only reason I can think of is to teach the severity of mocking God's anointed.

I have often wondered if God deliberately intended for the miracles of Elisha to be a preview of the miracles our Savior would perform, as a way of verification of Jesus Deity. 1. - Elisha brought the dead son of the Shunammite back to life in 2 Kings 4:33 thru 35. - Jesus brought the daughter of a certain ruler back to life in Matthew 9:24 and 25, and also Lazarus in John 11:43. Both were preceded by a prayer. 2. - Elisha turned a small amount of oil into an abundance in 2 Kings 4:1-7. - Jesus turned water into wine in John 2:1-10. 3. - Elisha turned poison stew into good stew to feed a hungry group in 2 Kings 4:38-41, and fed a hundred men with twenty barley loaves and a few ears of corn in 2 Kings 4:42 and 43. - Jesus fed 4,000 with a few fishes and loaves in Matthew 14:15-20, and 5,000 in Luke 16 and 17. 4. - Elisha cured Naaman of Leprosy in 2 Kings 5:1-14. - Jesus cured 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19. 5. - Elisha made an iron axe head float in 2 Kings 6:5-7. - Jesus made himself and Peter to walk on water in John 6:19 and 20, and in Matthew 14:25-29. It seems to me that these miracles are too uncommonly alike to be merely coincidental. Have any prominent theologians or teachers made the same connection?

Jesus said (Luke 4:27): > "There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." Several possible interpretations occur to me: 1. Others were cured too; Jesus is simply wrong or misquoted. 2. Others were not cured. (Why?) 3. Even Naaman was not cured, because miracles are fantasy. What does the evidence say? Is there any extra-biblical source confirming Naaman's curing? Is there any explanation why the other lepers are not cured? I am mainly looking for extra biblical evidence that would convince the agnosis. After all, if Jesus says so and it were true is not an assumption we all share. Moreover, Jesus often says vague things, (like the time is near) and easily misinterpreted things, like mustard seed is the smallest.

>[2 Kings 5:18–19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5:18-19&version=NIV) (NIV) > >18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” > >19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. Naaman's actions go seriously against the laws given by God. Within the Ten Commandments, for example, idolatry is the most serious sin to commit. And yet, surprisingly, Elisha does not seem concerned, and he tells Naaman to go in peace! It is the act of idolatry, not the thought of idolatry, that the Bible explicitly condemns. Based on my studies of law, I feel we must not bow down to an idol and then say we did not mean to do so. The mere act of bowing down is sinful. How, then, are Naaman's actions justified in this case?