II Kings 13 gives us an example of a device that prophets sometimes employ in scripture: a physical enactment of a spiritual reality. Just as a parable is "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning," an enactment by a prophet can be understood as a physical action conveying a spiritual point.
For instance, when Paul is on his way to Jerusalem in Acts 21:11, the prophet Agabus binds his own hands and feet with Paul's belt and proclaims, "This is the way that the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles." In so doing, he demonstrates his point through a physical act.
We saw a similar enactment earlier in the book of I Kings, chapter 20, when a prophet of the Lord tells another to strike him so that he may appear before King Ahab with an injury. The wounded prophet was able to use the injury in his message to the king. And if you like enactments as prophecy, just wait until we get to Isaiah's call to walk around naked for three years (Isaiah 20:2) or Hosea's charge to marry a prostitute! (Hosea 1:2)
In II Kings 13, the prophet Elisha is dying, but he has one more physical enactment to relate from the Lord. The King of Israel, Joash, comes to visit Elisha on his deathbed. Elisha commands him to shoot an arrow out of the eastern window. When the king does so, Elisha reveals that it is a sign of Israel's victory over the nation of Aram. Elisha then tells the king to strike the ground with arrows. The king does so - three times. Elisha is upset and tells the king that, because he struck the ground only three times, he will only defeat the Arameans three times instead of making a complete end to them.
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