FOR a time Elisha tarried at the now rebuilt Jericho, and here he performed his second miracle. “Of the two perennial springs which, rising at the base of the steep hills behind the town, send their streams across the plain towards the Jordan, scattering, even at the hottest season, the richest and most grateful vegetation over what would otherwise be a bare tract of sandy soil[381],” one at least was at this time noxious and unfit for use. At the urgent request of the inhabitants Elisha put salt into a new cruse, and poured it into the spring at its source, and the waters were healed (2 K. ii. 19–22). Thence he repaired to Bethel, which, though the seat of the school of the prophets, was, it will be remembered, one of the centres of the Calf-worship. As the prophet ascended the defile leading into the town, the youths of the place came forth, and began to revile the gentle successor of the terrible Elijah. _Go up, bald head!_ was their cry, alluding, probably, “to the contrast between his closely-trimmed hair and the shaggy locks of Elijah.” Turning round, the prophet looked upon them, and cursed them in the name of Jehovah, and from a forest hard by the road, and haunted by wild beasts, came forth two she-bears, which tare forty-two of them. Elisha meanwhile passed on to Carmel, the resort of his late master, and thence returned, and eventually took up his abode at Samaria (2 K. ii. 25). Jehoram, who now reigned in that capital, persisted in his idolatrous courses, but, possibly owing to the late activity of Elijah, had removed the image of Baal, and recurred to the old Calf-worship. He now resolved to take that vengeance on the rebellious Moabites, which the death of his brother Ahaziah had postponed. Accordingly, having obtained the promise of the assistance of Jehoshaphat, he numbered his forces, and set out on the campaign. Instead of crossing the Jordan above the Dead Sea, and invading Moab from the North, it was resolved to pass round the southern end of that sea, and thence push forwards through the northern portion of the territory of Edom, whose king also promised his aid in the expedition. Accordingly a long and tedious circuit of 7 days was made, during which the armies suffered the greatest extremities from the want of water. In this crisis Jehoshaphat proposed that the advice of some prophet of Jehovah should be sought, and, enquiry being made, it was found that Elisha was present with, or in the near neighbourhood of, the armies. The three kings, therefore, went down to consult him. The prophet evinced no willingness to befriend the ruler of Israel, but in consideration of the presence of the pious king of Judah, he relented, and summoned a minstrel before him. The minstrel played, and in the usual prophetic ecstasy Elisha directed that dykes should be dug in the valley, which he foretold would speedily be filled with water sufficient for the host, and he moreover assured the kings of a speedy victory over their enemies.