The meaning of the name Elisha is " God the Savior;" and, in conformity with his name, he was used, above all prophets in Old Testament days, to set forth the sovereign grace and mercy of God to a guilty people. In his day the Rulers, and institutions of the land in the hands of the Priesthood, had entirely failed to maintain the people in relationship with God. The warnings of Elijah had failed to recall the people to God. Thus, the utter ruin of God's people being manifested, God falls back upon His own sovereignty and raises up a man who, independent of the sacred and divinely appointed temple, and the official and divinely appointed Priesthood, goes through the Land of the apostate ten tribes performing miracles of mercy, and dispensing the grace of God to all who have faith to avail themselves of it.
Thus, in the history of Elisha, we see an illustration of the important principle that though God appoints institutions for His people to observe, He is not bound by them, nor limited to them, if man fails in his responsibility. In all these ways of sovereign grace Elisha has the high honor of foreshadowing the coming of Christ, the Anointed of God, who, in His day, went about doing good, apart from the authority of Priests and Rulers, asserting the sovereign right of God to rise above the institutions of the law, such as the Sabbath, in order to show grace to sinners.