Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons, 1-7

4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the LORD. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.” 4:2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.” 4:3 He said, “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. Get as many as you can. 4:4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers; set aside each one when you have filled it.” 4:5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. 4:6 When the containers were full, she said to one of her sons, “Bring me another container.” But he answered her, “There are no more.” Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 4:7 She went and told the prophet. He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”

This chapter is something of a surprise: the previous chapter has recorded Elisha’s service rendered to three kings, and we might have expected to learn next of his elevation to a place of national respect and dignity. But no: either Elisha was not offered a high rank, or having been offered it he declined it. He preferred to be occupied in the company of the prophets rather than to be great in the courts of the kings. God honoured him, by enabling him to work no less than five miracles of power and compassion. Note, Elisha had a particular ministry to the poor and needy, and a number of such miracles are recorded. These miracles were of practical use, and not just for show. They were works of kindness as well as of power. So also with the miracles of Jesus.

Instone-Brewer (Science and the Bible) notes that the narrative raises questions, such as:

‘Why did Elisha need to ask the widow what assets she had? Presumably, it was because he didn’t know supernaturally. Why did she have to go and borrow jars? Presumably, it was to save doing an extra miracle to create new ones. And why didn’t Elisha just give the widow miraculous money instead of having her sell the miraculous oil? Perhaps it was because creating oil helped the whole community, whereas generating more money would simply devalue all the existing money (something governments should know by now). Or maybe it was because God is in the business of making natural things such as food rather than manufactured things such as coins.’

But, writes Instone-Brewer, such limitations are rather typical of biblical miracles.  They utilise what is already there, by way of physical resources or natural processes.

Instone-Brewer continues:

‘A similar limitation happened when Elijah fed the widow at Zarephath: the food stopped being replenished when the drought ended (1 Kgs 17:9–16). Similarly, the manna and quail that God provided the Israelites was temporary (Exod 16). And I assume that when Jesus fed the thousands with bread and fish, the food stopped multiplying at some point; otherwise no one would ever have baked bread or gone fishing again. This suggests that God restricts miracles to fulfill a need.’

The threat of the husband’s creditor coming “to take my two boys as his slaves” is not only deeply distressing, but also lacking in mercy and in contradiction to the express command of the Lord, Lev 25:39-46. For references to slavery used as a threat over debtors, see Job 24:9; Amos 2:6.

Good News for the Poor, 2 Kings 4:1-7

What must it be like when disaster strikes a family? Every member is affected if mum and dad split up, if the main wage-earner is made redundant, if a parent becomes seriously ill, or if, as in this story, if he or she dies.

Imagine what it must have felt like to have been one of those two boys. Your dad has died owing a lot of money. The person to whom the money is owed is very unkind, and says that he will sell you and your brother into slavery. Your mum is beside herself with worry. In desperation, you go to see the man of God, Elisha.

Through Elisha, God tells this woman to use what little she had left in her house – a little olive oil. He tells her to get her two sons to ask for some help from her neighbours. He expects her to trust God to meet her needs.

We may not think we have very much to offer, but God can use us to help the poor in the same kind of way. We can make available whatever we do have. We can share with each other. And we can trust God to take something small and turn it into something wonderful. A 10p piece doesn’t go very far. But if 100 people saved 10p a day for a year, it would add up to 3,600[1].

And, as Christians, we have something still more precious to share – new life in Jesus.

“A little oil” – Had she anything else in her house, no doubt she would have been expected to use it to pay the debt: miracles are not provided to deter us from taking full responsibility for our health and affairs. God takes the little we have and multiplies it so that our need is fully supplied, Phil 4:19.

‘The way to increase what we have is to use it; to him that so hath shall be given. It is not hoarding the talents, but trading with them, that doubles them.’ (M. Henry)

‘We are never straitened in God, in his power and bounty, and the riches of his grace; all our straitness is in ourselves. It is our faith that fails, not his promise. He gives above what we ask: were there more vessels, there is enough in God to fill themenough for all, enough for each.’ (M. Henry)

‘Though her creditors were too rigorous with her, yet they must not therefore lose their debt. Her first care, now that she has wherewithal to do so, must be to discharge that, even before she makes any provision for her children. It is one of the fundamental laws of our religion that we render to all their due, pay every just debt, give every one his own, though we leave ever so little for ourselves; and this, not of constraint but willingly and without grudging; not only for wrath, to avoid being sued, but also for conscience’ sake.’ (M. Henry)

Elisha Gives Life to a Boy, 8-37

4:8 One day Elisha traveled to Shunem, where a prominent woman lived. She insisted that he stop for a meal. So whenever he was passing through, he would stop in there for a meal. 4:9 She said to her husband, “Look, I’m sure that the man who regularly passes through here is a very special prophet. 4:10 Let’s make a small private upper room and furnish it with a bed, table, chair, and lamp. When he visits us, he can stay there.”

4:11 One day Elisha came for a visit; he went into the upper room and rested. 4:12 He told his servant Gehazi, “Ask the Shunammite woman to come here.” So he did so and she came to him. 4:13 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘Look, you have treated us with such great respect. What can I do for you? Can I put in a good word for you with the king or the commander of the army?’ ” She replied, “I’m quite secure.” 4:14 So he asked Gehazi, “What can I do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” 4:15 Elisha told him, “Ask her to come here.” So he did so and she came and stood in the doorway. 4:16 He said, “About this time next year you will be holding a son.” She said, “No, my master! O prophet, do not lie to your servant!” 4:17 The woman did conceive, and at the specified time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

4:18 The boy grew and one day he went out to see his father who was with the harvest workers. 4:19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 4:20 So he picked him up and took him to his mother. He sat on her lap until noon and then died. 4:21 She went up and laid him down on the prophet’s bed. She shut the door behind her and left. 4:22 She called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can go see the prophet quickly and then return.” 4:23 He said, “Why do you want to go see him today? It is not the new moon or the Sabbath.” She said, “Everything’s fine.” 4:24 She saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Lead on. Do not stop unless I say so.”

4:25 So she went to visit the prophet at Mount Carmel. When he saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, it’s the Shunammite woman. 4:26 Now, run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you well? Are your husband and the boy well?’ ” She told Gehazi, “Everything’s fine.” 4:27 But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, “Leave her alone, for she is very upset. The LORD has kept the matter hidden from me; he didn’t tell me about it.” 4:28 She said, “Did I ask my master for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t mislead me?’ ” 4:29 Elisha told Gehazi, “Tuck your robes into your belt, take my staff, and go! Don’t stop to exchange greetings with anyone! Place my staff on the child’s face.” 4:30 The mother of the child said, “As certainly as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So Elisha got up and followed her back.

4:31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha he told him, “The child did not wake up.” 4:32 When Elisha arrived at the house, there was the child lying dead on his bed. 4:33 He went in by himself and closed the door. Then he prayed to the LORD. 4:34 He got up on the bed and spread his body out over the boy; he put his mouth on the boy’s mouth, his eyes over the boy’s eyes, and the palms of his hands against the boy’s palms. He bent down over him, and the boy’s skin grew warm. 4:35 Elisha went back and walked around in the house. Then he got up on the bed again and bent down over him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 4:36 Elisha called to Gehazi and said, “Get the Shunammite woman.” So he did so and she came to him. He said to her, “Take your son.” 4:37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down. Then she picked up her son and left.

Elisha Makes a Meal Edible, 38-41

4:38 Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. Some of the prophets were visiting him and he told his servant, “Put the big pot on the fire and boil some stew for the prophets.” 4:39 Someone went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine. He picked some of its fruit, enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He came back, cut it up, and threw the slices into the stew pot, not knowing they were harmful. 4:40 The stew was poured out for the men to eat. When they ate some of the stew, they cried out, “Death is in the pot, O prophet!” They could not eat it. 4:41 He said, “Get some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now pour some out for the men so they may eat.” There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

Elisha Miraculously Feeds a Hundred People, 42-44

4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet—twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. Elisha said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.” 4:43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?” He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the LORD says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’ ” 4:44 So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, just as the LORD predicted.