2 Kings Chapter 4
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
One of the prophets dies and leaves a wife and two sons. But there is a problem: his creditor is prepared to take the two sons as slaves. This is permitted by Mosaic Law until the Year of Jubilee.
Elisha asks what the widow has in her house. She says she only has a jar of olive oil. Elisha tells her to go to her neighbors and ask for empty jars.
This again is a faith-in-action story. The widow could say “no” to Elisha, but instead of doubting the word of God she moves forward in faith. She gathers many jars and brings them back to her house where Elisha instructs her to pour her olive oil into the empty jars. Of course, the olive oil does not run out and fills all of the jars, so much so that it is enough to pay her debts, keep her sons and live on what is left over.
The widow had an opportunity. She could have brought more jars and they would have been filled. The miracle was dependent on what the widow put into it. Because the wide trusted to obey God, God was faithful to take care f her immediate and future needs.
The Shunammite’s Son Restored to Life
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
There is a well-off woman who knows Elisha is a man of God and, out of the kindness of her heart, she wants to provide a room for him to stay in when he comes through. For this unselfish move, Elisha asks if there is something he can do for her. It is learned that she has never had a boy, and this miracles granted to her.
The boy grows and suddenly dies. The woman brings the boy upstairs, to Elisha’s room, and instead of preparing for his death, she prepares for his resurrection. She saddles a donkey and goes out to find Elisha.
Elisha does not know why the woman is in distress but sends his assistant, Gehazi, out to the boy. He tells Gehazi to lay his staff on the boys head, but Gehazi reports back that the boy did not awake. Elisha then goes to the boy and revives him, as did Elijah with the widow’s dead son. He laid on the boy and God also answered his prayers and brought the boy back to life. Even when the facts are indisputable, God can change the facts.
Death in the Pot
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
The company of prophets need some food. One of them gathers gourds from wild vines for the pot and it is discovered that they are poisoned. But Elisha puts some flour in the pot and it is now edible. This is an example of Elisha’s faith inaction. The flour is not the healing component to the stew but God’s power is. The prophets must act in faith that the food is now edible. The flour was a tangible symbol God’s miraculous provision.
Feeding of a Hundred
42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
43 “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
A man from Baal Shalishah comes to Elisha with his first fruit offering. He is from a worshipping city of Baal, and therefore is a man who is honoring God with his gifts instead of Baal. Elisha tells him to give the food to the people, but there is not enough. He insists there will be enough and the man, in faith, begins to give it out. Of course there is enough, predating Christ’s own feeding of 5000.
God shows power and compassion. If God blesses something even when the facts are indisputable (not enough food), God can change the facts. Because the man gave his best of the harvest (first fruits), in faith and gratitude to the man of God, God used that faith to perform a miracle. When Jesus asked a blessing on the loaves and fish feed 5000, God once again defied logic because of an act of faith and obedience.
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
One of the prophets dies and leaves a wife and two sons. But there is a problem: his creditor is prepared to take the two sons as slaves. This is permitted by Mosaic Law until the Year of Jubilee.
Elisha asks what the widow has in her house. She says she only has a jar of olive oil. Elisha tells her to go to her neighbors and ask for empty jars.
This again is a faith-in-action story. The widow could say “no” to Elisha, but instead of doubting the word of God she moves forward in faith. She gathers many jars and brings them back to her house where Elisha instructs her to pour her olive oil into the empty jars. Of course, the olive oil does not run out and fills all of the jars, so much so that it is enough to pay her debts, keep her sons and live on what is left over.
The widow had an opportunity. She could have brought more jars and they would have been filled. The miracle was dependent on what the widow put into it. Because the wide trusted to obey God, God was faithful to take care f her immediate and future needs.
The Shunammite’s Son Restored to Life
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
11 One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. 12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. 13 Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own people.”
14 “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. 16 “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.”
“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
17 But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!”
His father told a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and went out.
22 She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.”
23 “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”
“That’s all right,” she said.
24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on; don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When he saw her in the distance, the man of God said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! There’s the Shunammite! 26 Run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’”
“Everything is all right,” she said.
27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why.”
28 “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t raise my hopes’?”
29 Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand and run. Don’t greet anyone you meet, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the boy’s face.”
30 But the child’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33 He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35 Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36 Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” 37 She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
There is a well-off woman who knows Elisha is a man of God and, out of the kindness of her heart, she wants to provide a room for him to stay in when he comes through. For this unselfish move, Elisha asks if there is something he can do for her. It is learned that she has never had a boy, and this miracles granted to her.
The boy grows and suddenly dies. The woman brings the boy upstairs, to Elisha’s room, and instead of preparing for his death, she prepares for his resurrection. She saddles a donkey and goes out to find Elisha.
Elisha does not know why the woman is in distress but sends his assistant, Gehazi, out to the boy. He tells Gehazi to lay his staff on the boys head, but Gehazi reports back that the boy did not awake. Elisha then goes to the boy and revives him, as did Elijah with the widow’s dead son. He laid on the boy and God also answered his prayers and brought the boy back to life. Even when the facts are indisputable, God can change the facts.
Death in the Pot
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
The company of prophets need some food. One of them gathers gourds from wild vines for the pot and it is discovered that they are poisoned. But Elisha puts some flour in the pot and it is now edible. This is an example of Elisha’s faith inaction. The flour is not the healing component to the stew but God’s power is. The prophets must act in faith that the food is now edible. The flour was a tangible symbol God’s miraculous provision.
Feeding of a Hundred
42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
43 “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
A man from Baal Shalishah comes to Elisha with his first fruit offering. He is from a worshipping city of Baal, and therefore is a man who is honoring God with his gifts instead of Baal. Elisha tells him to give the food to the people, but there is not enough. He insists there will be enough and the man, in faith, begins to give it out. Of course there is enough, predating Christ’s own feeding of 5000.
God shows power and compassion. If God blesses something even when the facts are indisputable (not enough food), God can change the facts. Because the man gave his best of the harvest (first fruits), in faith and gratitude to the man of God, God used that faith to perform a miracle. When Jesus asked a blessing on the loaves and fish feed 5000, God once again defied logic because of an act of faith and obedience.