Elisha was an important figure in the Old Testament. He inherited the mantle (a sheepskin outfit) from Elijah which made him God’s favorite. And Elijah, you remember him don’t you? He’s the one that had dozens of men burned to death to show them that he was a man of God (2 Ki 1:10). He’s the guy that didn’t fool around with dying and being buried, but instead rode a chariot pulled by burning horses straight up into the sky where everyone at the time mistakenly thought that God lived.
Elijah also had the power to lay hands on dead people and bring them back to life. Elisha however did him one better. Elisha’s corpse brought people back to life after Elisha was dead and buried in a grave (2 Kings 13:21).
Elisha, being the man of God he was, also had a way with children.
One day when Elisha was traveling to Bethel some little children came out to greet him:
“Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!”
When Elisha turned around and saw them he cursed them in the name of the LORD, and two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the children. (2 Ki 2:22-24)