Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Kings 13:21

"And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet." — 2 Kings 13:21 (ASV)

They cast the man - Rather, “they thrust the man.” The graves of the Jews were not pits dug in the ground, like ours, but caves or cells excavated in the side of a rock, the mouth of the cave being ordinarily shut by a heavy stone.

Stood up on his feet - Coffins were not used by the Jews. The body was simply wrapped or swathed in grave-clothes (John 11:44).

This miracle of Elisha’s after his death is more surprising than any he performed during his lifetime. The Jews regarded it as his highest glory . It belongs to a class of scriptural miracles—that is, cases where the miracle was not performed through the agency of a living miracle-worker, but by a material object in which, by God’s will, “virtue” temporarily resided .

The primary effect of the miracle was, no doubt, to greatly increase the reverence of the Israelites for the memory of Elisha, to lend force to his teaching, and especially to add weight to his unfulfilled prophecies, such as the one concerning the coming triumphs of Israel over Syria. In the extreme state of depression to which the Israelites were now reduced, a particularly significant miracle may have been needed to encourage and reassure them.