The miracles which Jesus performed closely track the miracles performed by Old Testament prophets. Perhaps Jesus’s best-known miracle is his walking on the surface of the Sea of Galilee (Matt 14:25-34; Mark 6:48-53; John 6:19-21). While no other prophet traversed a water obstacle in this precise manner, four prophets reached the other side by moving the water. Moses parted the Red Sea to walk on the seabed (Exodus 14:21-22); Joshua parted the Jordan to cross on the riverbed (Joshua 3:13-17), as did Elijah (2 Kings 3:8), as did Elisha (2 Kings 3:14).
So much anointing rested upon these men that it even flowed from them involuntarily. Moses could not stop his face from radiating glory (Exodus 34:29-35). Elisha’s dead body is said to have resurrected another corpse (2 Kings 13:21). Jesus’s cloak cured the chronically-defiled woman’s menorrhagia (Matt 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 8:43-48), to say nothing of the countless others healed by Jesus’s garment fringe (Matt 14:36; Mark 6:56).
Jesus is known for raising the dead: Lazarus (John 11:1-44), Jairus’s daughter (Matt 9:18-25; Mark 5:22-42; Luke 8:41-56), and the widow’s only son (Luke 7:12-15). Not counting his posthumous miracle, Elisha raised a woman’s only son (2 Kings 4:8-37) and so did Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24).
Elisha’s disciple Gehazi was not able to raise the boy even following Elisha’s precise instructions (2 Kings 4:8-37). Jesus had the same frustration with his disciples (Matt 17:14-23; Mark 9:17-24; Luke 9:40-42). This did not mean the miracle could not perform—after all, Jesus did heal the boy and Elisha did raise the boy—but it does mean that Jesus and Elisha walked in a greater anointing because they were volitionally more invested in their calling, appointment, and destiny.
In terms of healing sickness and disease, Elisha healed Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5:8-19) long before Jesus did it (Matt 8:3; Mark 1:42; Luke 5:12-13, 17:11-19). Shemaiah restored King Jeroboam’s frozen hand (1 Kings 13:4-6) before Jesus restored a withered hand on the Sabbath (Matt 12:10-13; Mark 3:1-5; Luke 6:6-10). Jesus gave sight to the man born blind by anointing the afflicted sockets with a mud salve (Mark 8:23-25; John 9:1-11); Isaiah prescribed a fig poultice and healed King Hezekiah’s fatal infection (2 Kings 20:1-2; Isaiah 38:21).
Jesus and Old Testament prophets exercised power over nature. Jesus spoke and put immediate end to the storm (Matt 8:23-27; Mark 9:37-41; Luke 8:22-25). Elijah spoke and put immediate stop to all rain for three years (1 Kings 17:1-7, 18:1-2, 18:36-46; see also James 5:17). In a deviation of physics, Elisha caused an iron ax head to rise to the surface the Jordan for retrieval (2 Kings 6:6). In a comparable deviation of biology, Jesus caused hundreds of fish to swarm one spot for the fisherman to draw them out of the sea (Luke 5:4-11; John 21:1-11).
Jesus is well remembered for turning water to wine (John 2:1-11), but this miracle is not altogether dissimilar to Moses’s curing the water of Marah (Exodus 15:25) nor to Elisha’s curing the water of Jericho (2 Kings 2:21). As miracles of chemistry, all three are improvements of water. Moses and Elisha improved bad water to good by neutralizing contaminants; Jesus improved plain water to great water by infusing adulterants (and wine is still mostly water).
Moses performed a variant miracle of hydraulics by causing water to flow from the rock at Meribah (Exodus 17:10; Numbers 20:11). When the kings of Israel and Judah found no water on their military campaign against Moab, Elisha commanded the dry riverbed to flow with water during a rainless night (2 Kings 3:16-20).
As it happened, the Moabite army had mobilized and arrived at the opposite side of the valley. They saw the water as blood and (illogically) supposed it to be evidence that the men of Israel and Judah had slaughtered the other. The Moabites ran to collect spoils and in their careless haste, they ignored their own vulnerability. The Israelite forces thoroughly routed the Moabites who fled.
When the self-assured pharisees flung the adulteress at Jesus’s feet demanding her death, Jesus stooped to doodle in the dirt. It is not recorded what (or even if) Jesus actually wrote anything with his finger, but whatever he scratched out was certainly not a dissertation on the lives of each of her accusers. Yet each man saw something that made him turn away (John 8:6-9). In other words, each pharisee perceived something unique beneath the same common symbols. In this way, Jesus and Elisha performed miracles of perception or optical illusion.
Jesus fed the 4,000 and 5,000 with just a few fish and loaves of bread (Matt 14:15-21, 15:32-35; Mark 6:35-44, 8:1-9; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:6-13). Elijah also multiplied food for a woman who had barely enough oil and flour for a last meal. But as long as Elijah resided in her home, there was enough oil and flour until the end of the famine (1 Kings 17:14-16). If three people ate three meals each day for three years, then Elijah multiplied one last meal into more than 9,000 meals. Though not at the same scale, Elisha fed 100 men with just 20 dinner rolls and had leftovers (2 Kings 4:42-44).
Opposite these miracles of abundance were miracles of scarcity. Elijah invoked the three-year drought which produced the famine (James 5:17; 1 Kings 17:1-18:46). Elisha invoked a seven-year famine (2 Kings 8:1-6). Jesus spoke and destroyed the fig tree (Matt 21:18-27; Mark 11:14-26).
Jesus and Elisha both wielded power to convert food to finance. Jesus instructed Peter to cast a hooked line into the sea [of Galilee], catch one fish, retrieve a coin from its mouth, and pay their taxes. (And why would a fish eat a coin and how did a coin fit in the mouth of an ordinary line-catchable fish?). Elisha instructed a widow to gather empty vessels, pour oil from a flask until all were filled, sell the oil to pay her debts, and retire on the balance (2 Kings 4:1-7).
This comparison of miracles shows that Jesus operated within a legacy. Some of the miracles are identical; some are functional equivalents; some are conceptual equivalents. Most, but not all, of Jesus’s miracles exceed the level of his predecessors’ analogues. Jesus did perform miracles not recorded of his forerunners (such as the man born blind, possibly without eyes altogether, in Mark 8:23-25 and John 9:11->3:32). By the same token, though, Old Testament prophets performed miracles not replicated by Jesus (such as Elisha’s curing the poison stew in 2 Kings 4:39-41).
Table of Comparative Miracles
| Jesus walks on water of Sea of Galilee Mt 14:25; Mk 6:48-51; Jn 6:19-21 |
Moses parts Red Sea Ex 14:21-22 Joshua parts Jordan river Elijah parts Jordan river Elisha parts Jordan river |
| Jesus’s clothing heals Mt 9:20-22, 14:36; Mk 5:24-34, 6:56; Lk 8:43-48 |
Elisha’s corpse raises another man 2Kn 13:21 |
| Jesus heals/exorcises boy after disciples fail Mt 17:14-23; Mk 9:17-24; Lk 9:40-42 |
Elisha resurrects boy after disciple fails 2Kn 4:8-37 |
| Jesus raises Lazarus Jn 11:1-44 Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter Jesus raises window’s son |
Elijah raises boy 1Kn 17:17-24 Elisha raises woman’s son |
| Jesus heals leprosy Mt 8:3; Mk 1:42; Lk 5:12-13, 17:11-15 |
Elisha heals leprosy 2Kn 5:8-19 |
| Jesus restores withered hand Mt 12:10-13; Mk 3:1-5; Lk 6:6-19 |
Shemaiah restores frozen hand/arm 1Kn 13:4-6 |
| Jesus restores sight with mud salve Mk 8:23-25; Jn 9:1-11 |
Isaiah heals fatal infection with fig salve 2Kn 20:1-7; Is 38:21 |
| Jesus spoke, stopped rain (calmed storm) Mt 8:23-27; Mk 9:37-41; Lk 8:22-25 |
Elijah spoke, stopped rain (invoked drought) 1Kn 17:1-7, 18:1-2, 18:36-46 |
| Jesus causes fish to warm surface for extraction Lk 5:4-11; Jn 21:1-11 |
Elisha causes ax head to rise to surface for extraction 2Kn 6:6 |
| Jesus turns water to wine Jn 2:1-11 |
Moses turns bad water to good Ex 15:25 Elisha turns bad water to good Moses gets water from rock Elisha fills valley with water |
| Jesus doodles in dirt, dispels lynch mob with optical illusion or perception Jn 8:6-9 |
Elisha fills valley with water, routes Moabite army with optical illusion or perception 2Kn 3:16-22 |
| Jesus multiplies bread/fish to feed 4,000 and 5,000 Mt 14:15-21, 15:32-38; Mk 6:35-44, 8:1-9; Lk 9:12-17; Jn 6:6-13 |
Elijah multiplied oil/flour to supply 9,000+ meals over three years 1Kn 17:14-16 Elisha multiplies 20 rolls to feed 100 men with leftovers |
| Jesus speaks, destroys fig tree Mk 11:14-26 |
Elijah speaks, invokes drought 1Kn 17:1-18:46 Elisha speaks, invokes famine |
| Jesus has Peter retrieve coin from fish to pay taxes Mt 17:24-27 |
Elisha has window sell multiplied oil to pay debts 2Kn 4:1-7 |
| Jesus regenerates eyes Mk 8:23-25; Jn 9:1-11 |
X —Jn 9:32— X |
| X —— X | Elisha cures poison stew 2Kn 4:39-41 |