2Kings, chapter 4, comments

 

2Kings 4:1 ¶  Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 2  And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 3  Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4  And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. 5  So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 6  And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 7  Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

In spite of what Elisha prophesied for those kings in the previous chapter there is no mention of him receiving some great honor from them or declared a national hero.

He does something remarkable for this widow of one of the sons of the prophets. He received the poor woman’s complaint, perhaps because he oversaw the prophets in his capacity and felt responsible to help or perhaps he was directed by God. She reminds Elisha of her late husband’s service for the LORD. But now, without her husband, she and her sons are financially in dire straits, and her sons may be taken as slaves to pay her debts as she has only a small amount of oil to live on and none to sell.

So, Elisha tells her to do what she must do to receive the bounty that God is about to bestow upon her. We, too, would be better off preparing to receive God’s miraculous blessings than spending our time telling God how He ought to help us. She is to collect as many vessels as she can. I can imagine the hopeful anticipation she must have felt after Elisha spoke. The pot of oil seemed endless and filled all of the vessels she had borrowed. When all is said and done she has enough oil to sell to pay off her debt and save her family and support her family.

Think of the five loaves and two fishes that Jesus made to feed a multitude of people. The supply did not end until the need was met with much left over.

Matthew 14:17  And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18  He said, Bring them hither to me. 19  And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20  And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

2Kings 4:8 ¶  And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. 9  And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. 10  Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. 11  And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. 12  And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. 13  And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. 14  And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old. 15  And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. 16  And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. 17  And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

According Gill and early Jewish authorities this woman of Shunem was great in wealth and in reputation as being a Godly person. At her invitation Elisha stops and refreshes himself at her place often. She and her husband made him a room to occupy on his visits. Elisha ponders what he can do for her in appreciation. She is without children and her husband is old. Elisha promises her that she will have a child, a blessing in most cultures at most times of history until recently in the western world. She seems doubtful but there is no conflict here mentioned about a lack of faith so it must have been a saying like we use, “don’t be pulling my leg.” She is blessed with a son.

2Kings 4:18 ¶  And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 19  And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. 20  And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. 21  And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. 22  And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. 23  And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. 24  Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. 25  So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 26  Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. 27  And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. 28  Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? 29  Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. 30  And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. 31  And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. 32  And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. 33  He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD. 34  And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. 35  Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36  And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. 37  Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

The promised child here dies, perhaps, of heat stroke or some brain seizure. Here is an example of great faith. The woman of Shunem believes that Elisha can and will revive her dead son. Here is another example of a son returning from the dead. This was done in type with Abraham and Isaac and will be done in real time with Christ’s resurrection.

Not even telling her husband she knows that God, through Elisha, will raise her child from the dead. The ritual that Elisha performed might seem bizarre but we know from whom the miracle of resurrection proceeded.

2Kings 4:38 ¶  And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39  And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 40  So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41  But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. 42  And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43  And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44  So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.

Gilgal was near where Elijah ascended in the chariot. See 2Kings 2:1. A dearth, according to John Gill, is a famine caused by a drought. Elisha commands that his servant, presumably Gehazi, to prepare some soup or stew for his disciples or maybe we might call them student prophets. In desperation and hunger they are gathering plants to put in the pot they know little about as to whether or not they are edible. The vine must have been very bitter and raised their alarm at what it might cause, that it might be poisonous.

Elisha’s command that they mix meal into the pot shouldn’t be mistaken for a cooking remedy to change the danger but as we have seen before, a requirement of faith and confidence in the prophet and, ultimately, God to heal the situation. Perhaps the meal neutralized the bitterness of the soup caused by the vine. In any event, it was safe to eat now.

Then, we have a miracle along the lines of Christ’s feeding of multitudes. Precious food is donated to the prophet and he dispenses it to his disciples but it seems as if it is hardly enough to feed them all. Still Elisha promises that there will be enough and leftovers as well and there is. This is the doings of God Himself and a forerunner of Christ’s miracles.