The great prophet Elisha reached the end of his life shortly after 800 BC. King Jehoash of Israel (who ruled from about 798-782), visited him and lamented the fact that he would no longer be there to deliver Israel from its enemies. "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" (2 Kings 13:14) Elisha had made the same declaration years before when Elijah was taken away from him (2 Kings 2:12)
Jehoash was not a wholehearted follower of the God of Israel; he was a syncretist like previous rulers of the northern kingdom (2 Kings 13:10-13). But he knew that any victories Israel had been winning over the Syrians had been due to Elisha.
Even as he reached the end of his life, Elisha was ready to help Israel one more time. He promised Jehoash that he would defeat the Syrians three times, and Jehoash went on to do so (vv 15-19, 22-25). Jehoash could have won even more victories if he had followed Elisha's instructions with more enthusiasm (vv 18-19). Elisha's correction of Jehoash on this point seems arbitrary, but perhaps this correction was intended to urge him to more wholehearted devotion to God.
After Elisha died he was responsible for yet another miracle. A dead man was brought back to life when his body touched Elisha's bones (vv 20-21). This incident is the basis for an archaeological thriller, Don Hoesel's Elisha's Bones, where an archaeologist is hired to find these life-giving bones.
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