Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”
Parallel Translations
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Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”
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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.
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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 children to be bondmen.'
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to 2 Kings 4:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 18:25 But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
- 2 Kings 2:3 The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?” He said, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”
- Nehemiah 5:2-5 For there were some who said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” There were also some who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.” There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
- Psalms 147:11 Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.
- Leviticus 25:39-41 “ ‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.
- 1 Samuel 22:2 Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them. There were with him about four hundred men.
- 2 Kings 4:38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
- Psalms 103:11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
- Psalms 103:17 But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children,
- Psalms 112:1-2 Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in his commandments. His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed.
- Ecclesiastes 8:12 Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
- Matthew 18:30 He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.
- Matthew 18:35 So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”
- Acts 13:26 Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
- James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Genesis 22:12 He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
- Leviticus 25:48 after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;
- 1 Kings 18:3 Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly;
- 2 Kings 2:5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?” He answered, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”
- Nehemiah 7:2 I put my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
- Nehemiah 10:31 and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
- Jeremiah 34:14 At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you; but your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear.
- Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared Yahweh spoke one with another; and Yahweh listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared Yahweh, and who honored his name.
- Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
- Revelation 15:4 Who wouldn’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- Revelation 19:5 A voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!”
- 1 Kings 20:35 A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by Yahweh’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him.
- Psalms 115:13 He will bless those who fear Yahweh, both small and great.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Read 2 Kings 2:3.
Read 2 Kings 2:3.
And therefore fell not into debt by unthriftiness or prodigality, but by the hand of the Lord.
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Because I am poor and not able to pay.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ki 4:1 Now there cried a certain woman of…
2Ki 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.
Ver. 1. Now there cried a certain woman.] Here we have miraculorum congeriem. In this fourth chapter four signal miracles are set forth done by Elisha, worthily called Thaumaturgus, or, the wonder worker.
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Unto Elisha.] Who had so lately relieved the three kings in their necessity, and therefore she believed that he both could and would help her, a distressed prophet’s widow.
Thy servant my husband is dead.] And died in debt; which he needed not to have done, if he would have complied with Jezebel, and fed on her trough, as others did; but he chose rather to keep faith and a good conscience, as Luther did, who refused a cardinalship when it was offered him; and when he lay a-dying, made his will for his wife and children on this manner, Domine Deus, gratias ago tibi quid volueris me esse pauperem super terrain et mendicum, &c. Lord God, I thank thee for my present poverty, and now, I pray thee, take care of my poor wife and children, to whom I cannot bequeath house, lands, possessions, moneys. But I humbly beseech thee to feed them, breed them, teach them, keep them, as thou hitherto hast done me, O Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widows.
Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord.] The Rabbis and some others have thought that this was good Obadiah’s widow, and that he, by feeding the Lord’s prophets in those perilous times, had spent his estate, and died indebted to the king, to whose father he had been steward. But this is not very likely.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The sons of the prophets, though they were wholly…
The sons of the prophets, though they were wholly devoted to sacred employment, were not excluded from marriage, no more than the priests and Levites. Thy servant did fear the Lord; his poverty therefore was not procured by his idleness, or prodigality, or rather, wickedness; but by his piety, because he would not comply with the king’s way of worship, and therefore lost all worldly advantages. To be bond-men; either to use them as his slaves, or to sell them to others, according to the law; of which see Exo 21:2; Lev 25:39; Isa 1:1; Mat 18:25.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Elisha's miracles were for use, not for show; this…
Elisha's miracles were for use, not for show; this recorded here was an act of real charity. Such also were the miracles of Christ, not only great wonders, but great favours to those for whom they were wrought. God magnifies his goodness with his power.
I. Elisha readily receives a poor widow's complaint. She was a prophet's widow; to whom therefore should she apply, but to him that was a father to the sons of the prophets, and concerned himself in the welfare of their families? It seems, the prophets had wives as well as the priests, though prophecy went not by entail, as the priesthood did. Marriage is honourable in all, and not inconsistent with the most sacred professions. Now, by the complaint of this poor woman (Kg2 4:1), we are given to understand, 1. That her husband, being one of the sons of the prophets, was well know to Elisha. Ministers of eminent gifts and stations should make themselves familiar with those that are every way their inferiors, and know their character and state. 2. That he had the reputation of a godly man. Elisha knew him to be one that feared the Lord, else he would have been unworthy of the honour and unfit for the work of a prophet. He was one that kept his integrity in a time of general apostasy, one of the 7000 that had not bowed the knee to Baal. 3. That he was dead, though a good man, a good minister. The prophets - do they live for ever? Those that were clothed with the Spirit of prophecy were not thereby armed against the stroke of death. 4. That he died poor, and in debt more than he was worth. He did not contract his debts by prodigality, and luxury, and riotous living, for he was one that feared the Lord, and therefore durst not allow himself in such courses: nay, religion obliges men not to live above what they have, nor to spend more than what God gives them, no, not in expenses otherwise lawful; for thereby, of necessity, they must disable themselves, at last, to give every one his own, and so prove guilty of a continued act of injustice all along. Yet it may be the lot of those that fear God to be in debt, and insolvent, through afflictive providences, losses by sea, or bad debts, or their own imprudence, for the children of light are not always wise for this world. Perhaps this prophet was impoverished by persecution: when Jezebel ruled, prophets had much ado to live, and especially if they had families. 5. That the creditors were very severe with her Two sons she had to be the support of her widowed state, and their labour is reckoned assets in her hand; that must go therefore, and they must be bondmen for seven years (Exo 21:2) to work out this debt. Those that leave their families under a load of debt disproportionable to their estates know not what trouble they entail. In this distress the poor widow goes to Elisha, in dependence upon the promise that the seed of the righteous shall not be forsaken. The generation of the upright may expect help from God's providence and countenance from his prophets.
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II. He effectually relieves this poor widow's distress, and puts her in a way both to pay her debt and to maintain herself and her family. He did not say, Be warmed, be filled, but gave her real help. He did not give her some small matter for her present provision, but set her up in the world to sell oil, and put a stock into her hand to begin with. This was done by miracle, but it is an indication to us what is the best method of charity, and the greatest kindness one can do to poor people, which is, if possible, to help them into a way of improving what little they have by their own industry and ingenuity.
1. He directed her what to do, considered her case: What shall I do for thee? The sons of the prophets were poor, and it would signify little to make a collection for her among them: but the God of the holy prophets is able to supply all her need; and, if she has a little committed to her management, her need must be supplied by his blessing and increasing that little. Elisha therefore enquired what she had to make money of, and found she had nothing to sell but one pot of oil, Kg2 4:2. If she had had any plate or furniture, he would have bidden her part with it, to enable her to be just to her creditors. We cannot reckon any thing really, nor comfortably, our own, but what is so when all our debts are paid. If she had not had this pot of oil, the divine power could have supplied her; but, having this, it will work upon this, and so teach us to make the best of what we have. The prophet, knowing her to have credit among her neighbours, bids her borrow of them empty vessels (Kg2 4:3), for, it seems, she had sold her own, towards the satisfying of her creditors. He directs her to shut the door upon herself and her sons, while she filled all those vessels out of that one. She must shut the door, to prevent interruptions from the creditors, and others while it was in the doing, that they might not seem proudly to boast of this miraculous supply, and that they might have opportunity for prayer and praise to God upon this extraordinary occasion. Observe, (1.) The oil was to be multiplied in the pouring, as the other widow's meal in the spending. 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. (2.) It must be poured out by herself, not by Elisha nor by any of the sons of the prophets, to intimate that it is in connexion with our own careful and diligent endeavours that we may expect the blessing of God to enrich us both for this world and the other. What we have will increase best in our own hand.
2. She did it accordingly. She did not tell the prophet he designed to make a fool of her; but firmly believing the divine power and goodness, and in pure obedience to the prophet, she borrowed vessels large and many of her neighbours, and poured out her oil into them. One of her sons was employed to bring her empty vessels, and the other carefully to set aside those that were full, while they were all amazed to find their pot, like a fountain of living water, always flowing, and yet always full. They saw not the spring that supplied it, but believed it to be in him in whom all our springs are. Job's metaphor was now verified in the letter (Job 29:6), The rock poured me out rivers of oil. Perhaps this was in the tribe of Asher, part of whose blessing it was that he should dip his foot in oil, Deu 33:24.
3. The oil continued flowing as long as she had any empty vessels to receive it; when every vessel was full the oil stayed (Kg2 4:6), for it was not fit that this precious liquor should run over, and be as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Note, 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 them - enough for all, enough for each. Was not this pot of oil exhausted as long as there were any vessels to be filled from it? And shall we fear lest the golden oil which flows from the very root and fatness of the good olive should fail, as long as there are any lamps to be supplied from it? Zac 4:12.
4. The prophet directed her what to do with the oil she had, Kg2 4:7. She must not keep it for her own use, to make her face to shine. Those whom Providence has made poor must be content with poor accommodations for themselves (this is knowing how to want), and must not think, when they get a little of that which is better than ordinary, to feed their own luxury: no, (1.) She must sell the oil to those that were rich, and could afford to bestow it on themselves. We may suppose, being produced by miracle, it was the best of its kind, like the wine (Joh 2:10), so that she might have both a good price and a good market for it. Probably the merchants bought it to export, for oil was one of the commodities that Israel traded in, Eze 27:17. (2.) She must pay her debt with the money she received for her oil. 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. Those that possess an honest mind cannot with pleasure eat their daily bread, unless it be their own bread. (3.) The rest must not be laid up, but she and her children must live upon it, not upon the oil, but upon the money received from it, with which they must put themselves into a capacity of getting an honest livelihood. No doubt she did as the man of God directed; and hence, [1.] Let those that are poor and in distress be encouraged to trust God for supply in the way of duty. Verily thou shalt be fed, though not feasted. It is true we cannot now expect miracles, yet we may expect mercies, if we wait on God and seek to him. Let widows particularly, and prophets' widows in a special manner, depend upon him to preserve them and their fatherless children alive, for to them he will be a husband, a father. [2.] Let those whom God has blessed with plenty use it for the glory of God and under the direction of his word: let them do justly with it, as this widow did, and serve God cheerfully in the use of it, and as Elisha, be ready to do good to those that need them, be eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now there cried a certain woman of the wives…
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha,.... This, according to the Targum, was the wife of Obadiah, who had hid the prophets by fifty in a cave in the times of Ahab; and so Josephus (q), and it is the commonly received notion of the Jewish writers; though it does not appear that he was a prophet, or the son of a prophet, but the governor or steward of Ahab's house; she was more likely to be the wife of a meaner person; and from hence it is clear that the prophets and their disciples married:
saying, thy servant my husband is dead; which is the lot of prophets, as well as others, Zac 1:5.
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and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord; her husband was well known to the prophet, and known to be a good man, one of the 7000 who bowed not the knee to Baal, for the truth of which she appeals to Elisha; and this character she gives of her husband, lest it should be thought that his poverty, and leaving her in debt, were owing to any ill practices of his:
and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen; which it seems were allowed of when men became poor and insolvent, and died so, to which the allusion is in Isa 1:1; see Gill on Mat 18:25. Josephus (r) suggests, that the insolvency of this man was owing to his borrowing money to feed the prophets hid in the cave; and it is a common notion of the Jews that this creditor was Jehoram the son of Ahab; and in later times it was a law with the Athenians (s), that if a father had not paid what he was fined in court, the son was obliged to pay it, and in the mean while to lie in bonds, as was the case of Cimon (t), and others.
(q) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 2. (r) Ibid. (s) Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 10. (t) Cornel. Nep. in Vita Cimon. l. 5. c. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Elisha multiplies the widow's oil, ver. 1-7. Obtains a…
Elisha multiplies the widow's oil, ver. 1-7. Obtains a son for the Shunamite, ver. 8-17. Raises him again to life, ver. 18-37. Heals the deadly pottage, ver. 38-41. Feeds an hundred men with twenty small loaves, ver. 42-44.
Prophets - Who, though they were wholly devoted to sacred employment, were not excluded from marriage, any more than the priests and Levites. Fear the Lord - His poverty therefore was not procured by his idleness, or prodigality; but by his piety, because he would not comply with the king's way of worship, and therefore lost all worldly advantages. Bondmen - Either, to use them as his slaves, or to sell them to others, according to the law.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain A widow of one of the prophets, oppressed by…
CHAPTER IV
A widow of one of the prophets, oppressed by a merciless
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creditor, applies to Elisha, who multiplies her oil; by a part
of which she pays her debt, abut subsists on the rest, 1-7.
His entertainment at the house of a respectable woman in
Shunem, 8-10.
He foretells to his hostess the birth of a son, 11-17.
After some years the child dies, and the mother goes to Elisha
at Carmel; he comes to Shunem, and raises the child to life,
18-37.
He comes to Gilgal, and prevents the sons of the prophets from
being poisoned by wild gourds, 38-41.
He multiplies a scanty provision, so as to make it sufficient
to feed one hundred men, 42-44.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV
Verse 1. Now there cried a certain woman] This woman, according to the Chaldee, Jarchi, and the rabbins, was the wife of Obadiah.
Sons of the prophets] תלמידי נבייא talmidey nebiyaiya, "disciples of the prophets:" so the Targum here, and in all other places where the words occur, and properly too.
The creditor is come] This, says Jarchi, was Jehoram son of Ahab, who lent money on usury to Obadiah, because he had in the days of Ahab fed the Lord's prophets. The Targum says he borrowed money to feed these prophets, because he would not support them out of the property of Ahab.
To take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.] Children, according to the laws of the Hebrews, were considered the property of their parents, who had a right to dispose of them for the payment of their debts. And in cases of poverty, the law permitted them, expressly, to sell both themselves and their children; Ex 21:7, and Le 25:39. It was by an extension of this law, and by virtue of another, which authorized them to sell the thief who could not make restitution, Ex 22:3, that creditors were permitted to take the children of their debtors in payment. Although the law has not determined any thing precisely on this point, we see by this passage, and by several others, that this custom was common among the Hebrews. Isaiah refers to it very evidently, where he says, Which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves; Isa 50:1. And our Lord alludes to it, Mt 18:25, where he mentions the case of an insolvent debtor, Forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded HIM to be SOLD, and his WIFE and CHILDREN, and all that he had; which shows that the custom continued among the Jews to the very end of their republic. The Romans, Athenians, and Asiatics in general had the same authority over their children as the Hebrews had: they sold them in time of poverty; and their creditors seized them as they would a sheep or an ox, or any household goods. Romulus gave the Romans an absolute power over their children which extended through the whole course of their lives, let them be in whatever situation they might. They could cast them into prison, beat, employ them as slaves in agriculture, sell them for slaves, or even take away their lives!-Dionys. Halicarn. lib. ii., pp. 96, 97.
Numa Pompilius first moderated this law, by enacting, that if a son married with the consent of his father, he should no longer have power to sell him for debt.
The emperors Diocletian and Maximilian forbade freemen to be sold on account of debt:
Ob aes alienum servire liberos creditoribus, jura non patiuntur. - Vid. Lib. ob. aes C. de obligat.
The ancient Athenians had the same right over their children as the Romans; but Solon reformed this barbarous custom. - Vid. Plutarch in Solone.
The people of Asia had the same custom, which Lucullus endeavoured to check, by moderating the laws respecting usury.
The Georgians may alienate their children; and their creditors have a right to sell the wives and children of their debtors, and thus exact the uttermost farthing of their debt. - Tavernier, lib. iii., c. 9. And we have reason to believe that this custom long prevailed among the inhabitants of the British isles. See Calmet here.
In short, it appears to have been the custom of all the inhabitants of the earth. We have some remains of it yet in this country, in the senseless and pernicious custom of throwing a man into prison for debt, though his own industry and labour be absolutely necessary to discharge it, and these cannot be exercised within the loathsome and contagious walls of a prison.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ki 4:1. A certain woman of the wives of…
2Ki 4:1. A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets — Who, though they were wholly devoted to sacred employments, yet were not excluded from marriage, any more than the priests and Levites. My husband — did fear the Lord — His poverty, therefore, was not procured by his idleness or prodigality, but by his piety, because he would not comply with the king’s way of worship, and therefore lost all worldly advantages. The creditor is come to take — my two sons to be bond-men — Either to use them as his slaves, or sell them to others, according to the law among the Hebrews in such a case.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The creditor is come ... - The Law of…
The creditor is come ... - The Law of Moses, like the Athenian and the Roman law, recognized servitude for debt, and allowed that pledging of the debtor’s person, which, in a rude state of society, is regarded as the safest and the most natural security (see the marginal reference). In the present case it would seem that, so long as the debtor lived, the creditor had not enforced his right over his sons, but now on his death he claimed their services, to which he was by law entitled.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Prophets. Josephus ([Antiquities?] ix. 4.) intimates that this man…
Prophets. Josephus ([Antiquities?] ix. 4.) intimates that this man was Abdias; (3 Kings xviii. 13.) and the Rabbins pretend that Joram was the creditor. But these traditions are destitute of proof; and we know not that Abdias was a prophet. (Calmet) --- Serve him, not as slaves, for the Hebrews were not thus to be sold, except they had commited some crime. (Salien, the year before Christ 913.) See Leviticus xxv. 39. --- But the condition of mercenaries was perhaps little different; (Haydock) and we find that people were sold for debt, Exodus xxi. 7., and Isaias l. 1. The same practice seems to have continued till our Saviour’s time, Matthew xviii. 25. Children were regarded as part of a person’s property. (Halicar. ii. p. 96.; Plutarch, in Solon et Luculls.) The custom of selling children continued for a long time in our [British] islands.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Elisha’s Prophetical Acts
FOURTH SECTION
Elisha’s Prophetical Acts
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2Ki_4:1 to 2Ki_8:15
A.—Elisha with the widow who was burdened with debt, with the Shunammite, and with the pupils of the prophets during the famine
2Ki_4:1-44
1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets [prophet-disciples] 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. 2And 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 [omit pot of] oil 3[for anointing].1 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, arid thou shalt set aside that which is full. 5So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.2 6And 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. 7Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou3 and thy children of the rest.
8And 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. 9And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. 10Let 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. 11And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber and lay there. 12And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, 13she stood before him [Gehazi]. 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. 14And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child [son], and her husband is old. 15And he said, Call her. And when he had called her she stood in the door. 16And he said, About this season, according to the time of life [of the next year], thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto [deceive] thine handmaid. 17And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life [in the following year].
18And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. 19And he said unto his father, My head, my head! And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. 20And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. 21And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. 22And 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. 23And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. 24Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant. Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. 25So 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 [coming], that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 26Run 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. 27And 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. 28Then she said, Did I desire a son of my Lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? 29Then 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. 30And 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. 31And 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. 32And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. 33He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. 34And 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. 35Then 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. 36And 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. 37Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son and went out.
38And 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. 39And 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 they4 knew them not. 40So 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. 41But 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.
42And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof [garden-corn in a sack].5 And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43And his servitor said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.6 44So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Ki_4:1. A certain woman of the, &c. It is clear from the passage, 2Ki_4:1-7, that the sons of the prophets were not exclusively young men, but were also often fathers of families, and so did not lead a cloister life. Perhaps there was an arrangement for a temporary life in common, or a person might join himself more or less closely to one of the principal communities of the prophets. According to Josephus and the rabbis, the woman was the widow of Obadiah (1Ki_18:3 sq.), who, they think, had exhausted his fortune in the provision for persecuted prophets, and so had fallen into debt. This singular legend rests upon no foundation other than the fact that the woman says that her husband “feared the Lord.” which is also stated in respect to Obadiah. By these words she does not mean to say that the fear of the Lord had in any way been the cause of his falling into poverty, but that he had not contracted debts through folly. What the creditor demanded in this case, he was justified in demanding according to the Law, cf. Lev_25:39; Mat_18:26 (Michaelis, Mos. Recht, iii. 148). From the forms of the suffix יכי ,כי 2Ki_4:2-3; 2Ki_4:7, and the form אתי for את 2Ki_4:16; 2Ki_4:23, which have been designated as Syriacisms, we cannot infer that a later author here interpolated a fragment of his own composition, as was shown by Keil in his edition of 1845. The ordinary translation of אָסוּךְ שָׁמֶן by “pot of oil” is not established by the necessary proofs; אָסוּךְ means unctio, not ointment-jar (Gesenius), so that the phrase means, word for word, “oil for anointing;” Böttcher: quantum ad unctionem sufficit. Anointing with oil is an essential part of bathing among Orientals, 2Sa_12:20 (cf. Winer, R.-W.-B., ii. s. 357 sq.). She was entirely destitute of the oil which was essential for the preparation of food—she had only oil for anointing. Vulg. nisi parum olei quo ungar. The locking of the door had no other object than to keep aloof every interruption from without. The action in question was not an ordinary, simply external, operation, but an act which was to be performed by the command of the Man of God, and with the heart directed towards God, that is, in faith, so that it was to be completed, not in the noise and distraction of every-day life, but in quietness and solitude.
2Ki_4:6. And the oil stayed, i.e., it did not cease to flow until all the vessels which were on hand were full.
2Ki_4:7. Of the rest. Josephus: περισσότερον ἐκ τῆς τιμῆς τοῦ ἐλαίου. The woman would not make use of that which had come into her hands by the interference of the prophet, without asking directions from him. She does not regard it as her own unconditioned possession, but she leaves it to the prophet to decide in regard to the use to be made of it. He directs her, before all else, to discharge her debt, and then to make use of whatever may remain for their sustenance; he desires no pay or reward for himself.
2Ki_4:8. And it fell on a day, &c. The word הַיּוֹם causes the presumption that the narrative in its first division (2Ki_4:8-17), follows the preceding chronologically, and it is not placed after it simply because it treats of a rich woman, in contrast with a poor one. From the 23d ver. compared with the 9th, we see that Elisha often betook himself from Samaria (2Ki_2:25), to Carmel. As Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho, where the schools of the prophets were (chap. 2), were south of Samaria, we may suppose that Carmel, which lay in the middle of the northern part of the kingdom, was the place where the faithful worshippers of Jehovah, and the attached followers of Elijah and Elisha, who lived in the north, came together from time to time, and were strengthened in their faith, and instructed by the prophet, as is presupposed in 2Ki_4:23. The city of Shunem [see Robinson, ii. 325] was situated in the tribe of Issachar, on the slope of the so-called Little Hermon, so that it was not much farther from Samaria than Carmel, not, however, upon the road from Gilgal thitherward (Winer), for Shunem lay to the northeast of Samaria, and Gilgal to the southwest. Elisha had to go across the plain of Jezreel in order to come to Shunem, and then go on from there to Carmel.
2Ki_4:9. And she said unto her husband, &c. Many a one may have been called or called himself “Man of God,” and “Prophet,” at that time, who was not such in reality By the epithet “holy,” the woman designates Elisha as a real and not a merely so-called Man of God. We have to understand by עֲלִיַּת־קִיר “a chamber built upon the flat roof of the house, with walls which would be a protection against every attack of the weather—not a lean-to or addition on the side of the house” (Thenius). In such a room Elisha would be protected from every interruption, such as it was hardly possible to avoid entirely in the house, and there he might pass his time in quietness (cf. 1Ki_17:19).
2Ki_4:12. He said to Gehazi, &c. With regard to the origin and native place of Gehazi, who is here mentioned for the first time, we have no information whatever, neither do we know when or why Elisha chose him for his servant.—She stood before him, i.e., before Gehazi, not before Elisha, as Thenius, among others, thinks, and he then assumes that, although she stood before him, Elisha spoke the words, 2Ki_4:13, to her through Gehazi, because he “would not communicate directly with her, lest he should compromise his dignity.” However, he does this immediately afterwards (2Ki_4:16). Moreover, there is no instance at all of a prophet speaking to a person who stood before him through a third person. 2Ki_4:13 is to be taken as a kind of parenthesis, in which the omission of that which Elisha said to Gehazi, when he told him to call the Shunammite, is filled up: וַיֹּאמֶר at the beginning of the verse is pluperfect. Elisha wished to make some return to his hostess, who had received him with Gehazi and entertained him so often, but he did not know what would be acceptable to her, a wealthy woman. In order to learn this, he does not address himself directly to her, but directs his servant to ask the necessary questions, that she may express herself with less embarrassment and less reserve. The question: Wouldst thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the host? presupposes that Elisha at that time stood in favor and respect at court, yet we cannot conclude from this with certainty that by “king” in this place is meant Jehu, whom Elisha caused to be anointed (Ewald). The commander of the army is named in connection with the king as the most powerful and most influential man, and not “because he might make demands in the way of oppressive requisitions” (Thenius). In the answer of the woman, the words: Among mine own people, are put first for the sake of the contrast: At the court, among the high and great of the land, I have nothing to ask for or to desire. In: I dwell, there lies, at the same time, a notion of a sure, undisturbed and contented life (1Ki_4:25; Psa_15:1; Psa_61:4 [Hebrews 5]; Pro_2:21). Perhaps she wished to show, at the same time, that she had not entertained the prophet for the sake of the return, but for his own sake, and for the sake of God. When now Gehazi communicates this answer to his master, the latter feels all the more bound to do something for her, and he says to Gehazi (2Ki_4:14): Hast thou then not observed in the interview, what other thing would be welcome to her? Dost thou not thyself know of anything? Gehazi answers: I could indeed conjecture something which would be her soul’s desire, but neither we nor any other mortals could do that for her: She hath no child [son]. To be barren was regarded as a disgrace (1Sa_1:11; Luk_1:25). Elisha now summons her to himself (2Ki_4:15); she comes, but does not go into the room. Out of modesty and respect she only goes to the door. To the announcement of the prophet (2Ki_4:16), which reminds one of Gen_18:10; Gen_18:14, the woman replies, surprised and humble, with the words: Do not lie unto [deceive] thine handmaid! i.e., do not excite deceitful and vain hopes in me. [If it were not for the “Call her” in the 15th verse, one would think of the course of the details somewhat thus: She is called—Elisha gives to Gehazi the directions in 2Ki_4:13, which he carries out in an interview with her, upon which she replies, 2Ki_4:13 at the end. While she is standing by, perhaps before the door, the conference in 2Ki_4:14 takes place, when the prophet addresses her himself. The second direction to summon her, however, breaks up the consistency of this theory. The reason suggested above by Bähr, why Elisha commissions Gehazi to speak to her, is a good one; and the hypothesis which is simplest and most satisfactory is to suppose that he carried out this commission, and that he received the reply at the end of 2Ki_4:13. This he reports to Elisha, and they hold the conference in 2Ki_4:14. The only reason Elisha has for communicating with her through, Gehazi is now removed, and he summons her to himself and addresses her directly.—W. G. S.]
2Ki_4:18. And when the child was grown, &c. The illness of which the boy complained, 2Ki_4:19, was probably a sun-stroke, which befell him as he was in the open field, at the hottest season of the year, among the reapers (cf. Jdt_8:2-3; Psa_121:6). The mother carried the body into the upper chamber and shut the door upon it, hardly with the sole object that “nothing should happen to the corpse in the meantime” (Thenius), for she might have provided against that in other ways; on the contrary, she meant to keep the death of the child secret for a while. For this reason she did not make it known to her husband or to Gehazi (2Ki_4:23; 2Ki_4:26). Evidently she had the secret hope that the man of God, who had promised her a son in the name of Jehovah, and had not deceived her, could help her to recover him. In that she carries the child to the prophet’s chamber and lays him upon his bed, she already entrusts him in some degree to him, whom she prepares to bring to the spot without delay. This last she would not have done, however, if she had been given over to “the belief, which was so widespread in ancient times, that articles which had been touched or used by thaumaturgi, possessed miraculous efficacy in themselves” (Winer). She will not undertake the journey without the knowledge of her husband; the cause of it, however, she does not state to him, but answers to his questions only: שָׁלוֹם. She also limits her reply to Gehazi to the same short word (2Ki_4:26), although in that case it is commonly interpreted somewhat differently. In the 23d verse it is said to mean: pax tibi esto, i.e., vale! or, do not be alarmed! or, let me have my will! In 2Ki_4:26, on the contrary, it is declared to be a simple affirmative reply to the question: Yes, it is well! It is impossible, however, that the same word, in the mouth of the same person, in two instances which follow each other directly, should have two different significations, and, what is more, it would contain an untruth in 2Ki_4:26, if it were thus understood. Clericus remarks correctly that it stands like the Latin recte! (cf. the German: gut!) when one does not wish to give a definite reply to a question, and yet wishes to pacify the inquirer (Keil). It follows from the remark of the man in 2Ki_4:23, that religious assemblies were held on the new moons and sabbaths, although the Law only speaks of a sacrifice on those days (Num_28:9; Num_28:11), and that, for want of legal priests and levites, they collected around men of God, i.e., prophets, to hear the divine word.
2Ki_4:25. So she went and came unto, &c. On מִנֶּגֶד see 2Ki_2:7; 2Ki_2:15. Elisha showed, by sending his servant to meet her and to salute her, how highly he esteemed this woman. To the salutation of Gehazi she returns only the short, indefinite answer: “Well! in order not to be detained by further explanations” (Keil). She hastens to the prophet himself, and when she comes near to him, overcome by the grief which she had repressed until then, she clasps his feet, certainly not in silence, or without speaking a word, but begging for his assistance. In her conduct in clasping his feet, Gehazi sees, not so much something annoying to his master (Köster), as rather an offence against his dignity (Joh_4:27); he, therefore, seeks to prevent it, but Elisha rebukes him. The words, 2Ki_4:27 : Let her alone, for … hath not told me, do not mean, “We must first hear what she has to lament over” (Köster); they rather presuppose that she had declared the cause of her grief and of her prayer for help when she first embraced his feet. The words: The Lord hath hid it from me, contain the explanation and excuse for his not having come to Shunem to prevent the death of the child. [It is a better explanation, that the mother, in excess of grief, says nothing at first, and that Elisha commands Gehazi to allow her to collect herself and tell the trouble, which he as yet is ignorant of. The idea that the prophet ordinarily would know of an impending calamity and hasten to prevent it, is objectionable on many accounts. We must rather compare places like 2Sa_7:3 sq., which show the fallibility of the prophetic knowledge and judgment. See notes on 2Ki_4:29.—W. G. S.] The stricken mother then repeats to the prophet his own promise (2Ki_4:16), meaning to say thereby, at the same time: I did not complain of my childlessness and did not demand a son; now, however, I am more unhappy than before, for it is better never to have a child than to have one and lose it.
2Ki_4:29. Then he said to Gehazi, &c. The grief and the lamentation of the woman moved the compassionate heart of the prophet so much, that he desired to bring her relief as soon as possible. He therefore commanded his servant to make himself ready for a journey (Luk_12:35; Act_12:8; Jer_1:17), and said: Take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. The staff of the prophet is not, of course, his travelling staff, but, like the staff (sceptre) of a king, the badge of the prophetical gift which he had received from God, i.e., of might and strength. Moses, the prototype of all prophets, was instituted into his office as leader of the people of Jehovah with these words: “And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs” (Exo_4:17). Moses himself therefore calls it: “The rod of God in mine hand” (Exo_17:5; Exo_17:9), or: “The rod from before the Lord” (Num_20:8-9), cf. notes on 2Ki_2:8. Elisha, in that he gives his prophet’s staff into the hand of Gehazi, commissions him to execute a prophetical act in his stead; by means of the divine power, of which the staff was the symbol, he is to awaken the child out of the death-sleep. He is to lay it upon the face of the child, because death had fallen upon him through the head (2Ki_4:19), and because life shows itself first of all in the face. The question why Elisha gave such a commission to his servant at all, is answered by the intervening clause in 2Ki_4:29 : If thou meet any man salute him not, &c. These words are often understood to mean that Gehazi is to guard himself from all distraction, fix his thoughts only upon God and the commission which had been entrusted to him, and sink his soul in prayer. This sense, however, cannot by any means be established; and why should the prophet, if he wished to say this, not have expressed it distinctly, and not in a roundabout way? To refrain from saluting is by no means the same thing as to lose one’s self in prayer. It is well known that salutations are far more ceremonious in the Orient than with us, and that, e.g., inferiors always remain standing until persons of higher rank pass by (cf. Luk_10:4, and Lightfoot on the passage; Winer, R.-W.-B., i. s. 501), whereby delay was often occasioned. Elisha commands his servant, in the first place, to start without delay, and then not to tarry at all by the way. This command to hasten can scarcely have had any other ground than that he hoped, in spite of the declaration of the woman, that life had not yet entirely left the child, and that utter decease might yet be prevented by swift interference. Because he did not believe that he himself with the Shunammite could accomplish the whole journey (six hours) so quickly as appeared necessary, he despatched his servant, or at least sent him on before, and gave him his prophet’s staff, not in the belief that the staff, as such, had any magical miraculous power, but on the assumption that, in such an urgent case, he might commit the prophetical gift, of which the staff was the insigne and symbol, to his servant, and so make him his representative. In this, however, he was mistaken, however good his intention was. Peter Martyr remarks: Videtur Elisœus non recte fecisse, qui facultatem edendi miracula alteri delegare voluit, quod ipsi non est datum. A similar case, where a prophet falls into error, is found 2Sa_7:3 sq. The importunity of the woman, that Elisha himself should come (2Ki_4:30), proceeded from the conviction that the boy was already completely dead, and that now not Gehazi, but only the prophet himself, who had promised her the son, could help. To this deep confidence he responds. Every other acceptation of the passage is entangled in great difficulties. Almost all the expositors proceed from the assumption that Elisha knew very well that Gehazi could not accomplish any miracle, although he had his staff in his hand. They state variously the reason why he, nevertheless, gave him this commission. According to Köster, Elisha wished to show himself as the only miracle-worker, and magnify his own importance. According to Keil, he did it in order “to show to the Shunammite and her connections, and to Gehazi himself, that the power to perform miracles did not appertain, in any magical way, to himself or to his staff, but rather that miracles, as works of divine omnipotence, could only be executed by faith and prayer.” According to Krummacher, Elisha acted thus in “a pedagogical intention,” in order to prepare shame and confusion for the “vain and pert youth,” who would gladly have thrown about himself “the grandeur and glory of his master.” In every one of these interpretations, however, the prophet appears in a very ambiguous light, for he would have given, according to any one of them, a formal commission, in regard to which he knew beforehand that it could not be executed. The sending of Gehazi, and the entrusting to him of the prophet’s staff, took place, in that case, only for appearances; nay, he would have deceived not only his servant, but also the mother who was so burdened by sorrow, and who already felt herself deceived (2Ki_4:28); and this time he would have done it knowingly and intentionally, an hypothesis which is not consistent, under any circumstances, with a sincere and ingenuous character, and especially is unworthy of a “holy Man of God” (2Ki_4:9). Such a deception would be the less to be forgiven, because the command of the greatest possible haste is added. In fact, this last command is not consistent with any one of the proposed interpretations; it would be, at the very least, utterly superfluous and objectless. As for Keil’s view in particular, we cannot see why the prophet should have intended to give a general instruction in regard to the performance of miracles, just on this special occasion, where haste was of such great importance.
2Ki_4:31. And Gehazi passed on before them, &c. In order to explain why Gehazi could not awake the boy, the rabbis assert that he was disobedient to the command not to salute any one by the way, bat to make all the haste possible. This is contradicted decidedly by the fact that, before Elisha arrived with the mother of the boy at Shunem, Gehazi had already discharged his commission, although in vain, and was on the way back again when he met the prophet. He must, therefore, have made great haste. Theodoret supposes another reason, viz., that Elisha knew that Gehazi was φιλότιμος καὶ κενόδοξος, so that he would boast of his commission to those whom he met by the way: ἡ δὲκενοδοξία τὴν θαυματουργίαν κωλύει. This acceptation has been the general one. Krummacher stated it in the strongest terms. He knows exactly how Gehazi conducted himself in his vanity: “What a ceremonious mien the silly youth puts on, with what pompous gravity he strides into the house of death,” &c. Others think that he could not accomplish the work because the mother of the child had not given him her confidence (Seb. Smith), or because the faith which is necessary to such a work was wanting in him (Grotius). All these attempts, however, which find the cause of Gehazi’s want of success in any blamable conduct of his, are contradicted by the utter silence of the text. Even though Gehazi, at a later time, showed himself fond of money (2Ki_5:20 sq.), yet it does not follow that he was fond of honor. In the other case he was severely punished; here, however, where the life of an only son is at stake, the grave transgression which is attributed to him is not rebuked with a single word of reproof or warning, wherefore we must conclude that he did not deserve any correction, but had executed everything which was entrusted to him, as the text distinctly narrates. That he was not able, in spite of this, to awake the boy, was not his fault, inasmuch as Elisha, although he had given him, it is true, the external symbol of his prophetical might and power (the רוּחַ, spirit of Jehovah), yet had not considered that this might and power was a special gift of God, which he might not freely delegate according to his own will—which he therefore could not communicate or transfer to his servant without further consideration. Starke justly remarks that Elisha “gave this command (2Ki_4:29) from some overhaste, without having a divine incentive to it.”
2Ki_4:32. And when Elisha was come into the house, &c. The want of success of Gehazi’s commission spurred on the prophet all the more to do what he could in order to restore the boy to life. In the main he proceeds, as his father and master Elijah had once done (see 1 Kings 17, Exeg. on 2Ki_4:20 sq. and Hist. § 6). He calls upon Jehovah and stretches himself upon the body of the boy. This latter gesture is described more in detail here (2Ki_4:34) than in the other passage: on the contrary, the words of the prayer are given there, which are wanting here. Whereas Elijah there stretched himself three times upon the boy (2Ki_4:21), Elisha does so only twice, but walks up and down in the house in the meantime. The conclusion has often been drawn, as it has been last of all by Keil, that the difference in the events consisted in this, that in the case of Elijah, the child, at his prayer, “straightway” came to life again, while in the case of Elisha, on the other hand, “the resuscitation took place by degrees,” from which we may perceive “that Elisha did not possess a double measure of the spirit of Elijah.” This notion does not, however, seem to us to be completely justified by the text. Why should Elisha, upon whom the spirit of Elijah rested (2Ki_2:15), and of whom more miracles are narrated to us than of Elijah, have been able to perform only gradually and by stages what Elijah accomplished at once? That Elisha, after the first attempt at resuscitation, walked up and down in the house (2Ki_4:35), did not take place certainly, quia illa corporis incubatione nimium laboravit (Peter Martyr), or: ut ambulando excitaret majorem calorem, quem puero communicaret (Cornel. a Lapide, Seb. Smith); it was probably an involuntary result of the great emotion with which he looked and waited for the fulfilment of his prayer. After he had stretched himself once more, with prayer, upon the child, the latter gave signs, by repeated sneezing, of a restored respiration, and then opened his eyes. “Headache was the beginning of his illness, and this is wont to be relieved by sneezing, as Pliny writes (Hist. Nat. xviii. 6), Sternutamenta capitis gravedinem emendant” (Dereser).
2Ki_4:38. And Elisha came again to Gilgal, &c. Not directly after the act at Shunem, but once, at some other time. The two following narratives are not chronologically connected with the preceding.—In regard to Gilgal, see notes on chap. 2.—ישְׁבִים לְפָנָssיו does not mean they lived before him (Luther, Vulgata), but they sat before him, as pupils before a teacher (cf. the passage from the Talmud in Schöttgen on Act_22:3). Similarly 2Ki_6:1. We have not, therefore, to understand a residence together under Elisha’s superintendence, but a coming together and sitting down before him, in order to hear his word (cf. Eze_8:1; Eze_14:1; Eze_33:31; Zec_3:8).—אֹרֹת, 2Ki_4:39, has the general signification which the Chaldee gives: יְרוֹקָנִין i.e., green herbs, which may be cooked and eaten; What we call “greens.” The particular kind which the seeker found follows with the expression גֶּפֶן שָׂדֶה, according to the Vulgata, quasi vitis sylvestris, wild vines like grapevines, not wild grapevines. The פַּקֻּעֹת שָׂדֶה are wild cucumbers or gourds (cucumeres agrestes, or, asinini), also called bursting-cucumbers. They have the form of an egg, and a bitter taste. When they are ripe they burst in pieces if pressed on the stem, whence their name (פקע fidit, rupit). When eaten they cause colic and violent purging. The young man took these wild gourds for ordinary ones, which were very much prized as food (Num_11:5). The Sept. and Vulg. translate by colocynth. Keil also prefers this, because this fruit does not burst when touched, and so could be easily carried home in the garment and cut up; but the root פקע is too distinctly in favor of the bursting-gourd, which did not burst in this instance simply because the specimens collected were not entirely ripe (cf. Winer, R.-W.-B., i. s. 441 sq.). However, the cucumis colocynthi L., or the poisonous colocynth, also has a remarkably bitter taste—a vine which creeps upon the earth, and has light green leaves (cf. I. c., s. 427).
2Ki_4:40. There is death in the pot, i.e., there is something in the pot which causes death. As well on account of the bitter taste (the Persians call wild gourds the gall of the earth) as on account of the effect, which followed swiftly upon the eating, they considered the food poisonous and fatal. Bitterness and death were cognate ideas among the Hebrews (Ecc_7:26; Sir_41:1). In 2Ki_4:41 the וּ before קְחוּ is not superfluous, but is in the use which denotes the connection of thought (Ewald, Lehrbuch, § 348, a). The meal which Elisha cast into the pot, has just the same significance as the salt which he threw into the unhealthy fountain at Jericho (2Ki_2:20). “The meal, as the natural and healthy means of nourishment, was the symbol of which he made use in order to give to the sons of the prophets the assurance that the injurious property had been taken from the food by him” (Keil, 1845).
42. And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, i.e., some place in the district of Shalisha (1Sa_9:4), no doubt the same one which Jerome and Eusebius call Beth-shalisha, fifteen miles north of Diospolis (Lydda), quite near to Gilgal (2Ki_2:1), where we have to think of the prophet as being at this time. According to the Law, all first-fruits of grain were to be offered to Jehovah, who relinquished them to his servants, priests and levites (Num_18:13; Deu_18:4). Since now there were no more legitimate priests and levites in the kingdom of Israel (1Ki_12:31), this man, who was a faithful worshipper of Jehovah, brought his first-fruits to the “Man of God,” the head of the prophets. בַּרְמֶל (Lev_23:14), or, in the fuller form, גֶּרֶשׁ בַּרְמֶל (Lev_2:14), is spica recens tenera, quœ tosta super ignem comedi solent (Münster), fresh wheat or barley grits (Keil). According to Hess, a hundred sons of the prophets visited Elisha in a company, and he had nothing more to set before them than what the man had brought him from Shalisha; but this can hardly be correct.
2Ki_4:43. Give the people that they may eat. As the servant, upon the first command (2Ki_4:42), expressed some misgivings, Elisha repeated the order with a statement of the reason: For thus saith the Lord, i.e., He has revealed it to me, and He will have it so, therefore, abandon thy misgivings and do as I bid thee. From the words: They shall eat and shall leave thereof, we must not infer a miraculous increase of the food. That the bread was not exhausted under Gehazi’s hands—that each one received as much as he desired, and that, when no one desired any more, then there lay still “abundance of bread upon the table,” to the astonishment of Gehazi (Krummacher); of all that, there is not a syllable in the text. The miraculous part of it consists rather in the fact that, by means of the divine blessing, the hundred men were satisfied with the little which each received at the distribution, and even had some to spare.
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. That which is narrated of Elisha in the preceding and in the next following chapters, as far as 2Ki_8:15, is not a consecutive and connected description of his life, but a simple collection of the principal acts, by which he vindicated his position as Man of God and prophet, in different relations, as well private as public, throughout his long career. According to Keil, all these acts “belong to the reign of Jehoram, King of Israel;” but Jehoram reigned only twelve years (2Ki_3:1), and Elisha did not die until some time during the reign of Joash (2Ki_13:14), so that he lived after Jehoram’s death at least forty-five years, viz., twenty-eight under Jehu (2Ki_10:36), and seventeen under Jehoahaz (2Ki_13:1). Moreover, the name of Jehoram does not occur in any of the narratives from chap. 4 to 2Ki_8:15. The “King of Israel” is mentioned indefinitely, without his name (2Ki_4:13; 2Ki_5:5-8; 2Ki_6:9; 2Ki_6:11-12; 2Ki_6:21; 2Ki_6:26 sq.; 2Ki_7:6; 2Ki_7:9 sq.; 2Ki_8:3). Why Elisha should have performed all his miraculous works under Jehoram, and not have performed any others during the succeeding forty-five years, we cannot see; on the contrary, it is quite incredible. If all the prophetical acts are collected on the same principle mentioned above [namely, to collect loosely those acts which served as the credentials of his prophetical calling], the chronological order has, of course, to be given up, and acts have to be inserted here which occurred at a much later time. It is also acknowledged that the separate acts are narrated in a connection, which, as Keil admits, follows “the relation of their subject-matter to the preceding or following, and not the sequence of time at which they took place.” It is a striking face that the acts which affect private persons, especially the sons of the prophets, come first, and then that those which affect the political fortunes of the people follow. Whether all the incidents which presuppose that Elisha stands in high favor with the king, are to be assigned to the time of Jehu, as Ewald thinks, is a question which cannot be definitely answered in the affirmative; certainly what is narrated 2Ki_3:17-25, did not remain without influence upon Jehoram, and upon Elisha’s relation to him; and it is generally true that the relation of the kings to the prophets was not so hostile after the death of Ahab. Ewald further adopts the opinion that the collection of incidents is arrayed according to the round and significant number twelve; he reaches this number, however, only by adding to the acts recorded in chap. 4 and following chapters, the two in 2Ki_2:19-25, although they are separated by the third chapter, while, on the other hand, he leaves out the first of all, 2Ki_2:14, and the very important one, 2Ki_3:16 sq., which stands between those which are counted, because these, he thinks, come from a different source. The theory that these narratives “were recorded in a special work, before they were incorporated into our present Book of Kings,” is more probable. The collection into an unbroken line has, no doubt, contributed much to the assertion which has been made by many parties that, in the life of Elisha, “the sacred documents (2 Kings 2-13) present us with a far greater multiplication of miracles, than in the life of his predecessor, Elijah” (Kurz in Herzog’s Real-Encyc. iii. s. 766; cf. Winer, R.-W.-B. i. s. 321). If we consider, however, that the collected prophetical acts belong not to the brief reign of Jehoram alone, but are spread over the entire time of Elisha’s public career under four kings, that is to say, over a period of fifty-five or fifty-seven years, then the appearance of “multiplication of miracles” falls away; all the more as the time of Elijah’s activity was much shorter. The number of miracles recorded as having been performed by Elijah, when accurately estimated, was not much less, and relatively was even greater. (On the “multiplication of the miraculous” see 1 Kings 17 Prelim. Rem. § a.) Finally, we must remember that the acts of Elisha, which are collected in this passage, were accomplished through the רוּהַ or Spirit of Jehovah, and are prophetical; that they are, therefore, not merely pieces of display of a great thaumaturge, but “signs,” which serve to make known and to glorify the one living God, the God of Israel, and on this account have a more or less ideal significance. They are doctrines, presented in and by acts, i.e., symbolical representations of religious truths. To show this in detail is our task in what follows.
2. The first narrative in this chapter (2Ki_4:1-7) is meant to show how Elisha helps a widow and her children out of debt and distress. The miraculous increase of the oil, in itself, is not the core and object of the prophet’s act (as the common acceptation is), but only the means to an end; relief from distress is the main point, and thereby the act becomes a prophetical one. This first narrative, now, together with the one immediately following (2Ki_4:8-37), is ordinarily designated particularly as having “an extraordinary resemblance” to the one, 1Ki_17:7-16 (Winer, l. c.; Knobel, Der Prophet. ii. s. 96), and as one whose similarity causes it to appear as a merely slightly modified copy of the other (Kurz, l. c.). On a more careful comparison, however, the resemblance is seen to be limited to the one general point, that here, as there, help is given to a widow and her children by the prophet, in their need and distress; all the rest is utterly different. In the former case it is a foreigner, a woman who lives in heathen territory (Luk_4:26), to whom the prophet is directed, and who is to nourish him; in the latter, it is the wife of one of the sons of the prophets who seeks the prophet, and calls upon him for aid. There it was a question of subsistence in time of scarcity, here, of the deliverance of two children from the slavery which threatened them. There the two indispensable means of sustenance, meal and oil, never fail, although they are consumed; here, once for all, the oil “sufficient for anointing” is increased and then sold to pay the debt. The fact that Elijah and Elisha both help and relieve a widow and her children has its ground in the character and calling of the two men as “Men of God,” as they are designated both here and there (2Ki_4:7, and 1Ki_17:18). It is a well-known feature of the Old Testament Law, one which is distinctly prominent, that it often and urgently commands to succor the widows and the fatherless and to care for them (Exo_22:22-24; Deu_14:29; Deu_24:17; Deu_24:19; Deu_26:12; Deu_27:19). They are mentioned as representatives of the forsaken, the oppressed, and the necessitous as a class (Isa_10:2; Jer_7:6; Jer_22:3; Zec_7:10; Mal_3:5; Bar_6:37). It is especially emphasized and praised in Jehovah that he is the father and judge (i.e., protector of the rights) of the widows and the fatherless (Deu_10:18; Psa_68:5; Psa_146:9; Isa_9:17; Sir_35:17 sq.). Neglect and contempt of them are counted among the heaviest offences (Psa_94:6; Job_22:9; Eze_22:7;) just as on the other hand compassion and care for them is a sign of the true fear of God and of true piety (Job_29:12; Job_31:16; Tob_1:7; Jam_1:27). So, then, if anything is essential to the idea of a Man of God, this is, that he shall be a counsellor and helper of the widows and orphans, and shall show himself such by his actions. Elijah and Elisha were, in the fullest sense of the word, Men of God, whom Jehovah had armed with His Spirit for extraordinary and marvellous works. It would be remarkable, therefore, if, among the acts of the two genuine prophets of action (cf. above, Prelim. Rem. after 1 Kings 17 § a), there were none by which they showed themselves to be counsellors and helpers of widows and orphans, and none by which they testified that the living God, the God of Israel, before whom they stood (1Ki_17:1; 2Ki_3:14), was a father and judge of the widows and fatherless. Without this, an essential point in the prophetical calling of each would be wanting. The prophet, in the case of both widows, takes up and uses naturally and significantly the last and most necessary thing which there was in the house, and thereby directs attention all the more distinctly to Him who out of little can make much, and out of small can make great. “The naturalistic interpreters of miracles suppose that an advantageous retail transaction in oil took place here, or that there was an increase of the oil by the intermixture of other substances, for instance, of potash!” (Winer, R.-W.-B. i. s. 322. Cf. Knobel, Der Prophet. ii. s. 96.) These insipid absurdities do not deserve refutation.
3. The second narrative (2Ki_4:8-37), which, as has been said already, many modern expositors have considered startlingly like to the one in 1Ki_17:17-24, likewise appears, upon closer examination, to be utterly different from it. The entire situation is different. In the first place, we must observe that the narrative is divided into two parts, the first of which (2Ki_4:8-17) forms a complete whole in itself. It narrates the reception which the prophet met with at the house of the Shunammite woman on his journey to Carmel, what he promised her, and how this promise was fulfilled. The narrative might cease there. The second part narrates what occurred afterwards, after a number of years, namely, that the promised son fell victim to an illness and was restored to life by the prophet. The fact of the resuscitation, therefore, has the fact of the promise for its premise, and rests upon it. The Shunammite appeals (2Ki_4:28) to the promise of the prophet, 2Ki_4:16, and founds her prayer upon it. He then also does all in his power to preserve the son of promise to his mother, in order that the promise may remain truth and not become deceit. The second fact, therefore, stands in an inseparable connection with the first. In the case of the son of the widow of Zarephath, this is all wanting. He was no son of promise, and there is no question there of anything but a restoration to life. Then, as for the act itself, it takes place there directly through Elijah himself, whereas Elisha here commits it in the first place to his servant. For the entire interlude, 2Ki_4:29-31, which is narrated so circumstantially, and is so worthy of attention, the parallel is entirely wanting. The similarity, then, which is asserted to exist, is limited to the method of resuscitation referred to in 2Ki_4:34 (cf. 1Ki_17:21), and even this is not altogether the same. That Elisha followed a similar method was a consequence, in the first place, of the nature of the case—he breathed life once more into him from whom life had departed (see above, 1 Kings 17 Hist. § 6)—and furthermore, it was almost a matter of course for him that he should imitate the example of his great master in a similar case. It is impossible, therefore, to conclude from this circumstance alone that the entire narrative is simply imitated. Ewald, who adopts the opinion that “the passages about Elijah, 1Ki_17:19; 2Ki_2:1-18 were written later than those about Elisha” (in which case the contrary would rather be true, that 1Ki_17:17 sq. was imitated from this narrative), asserts, on the other hand: “The description, 2Ki_4:14-17, is clearly borrowed from Gen_18:9-14;” but in the latter place, also, the connection and the entire situation are utterly different, and that which they have in common amounts only to this, that there, as here, the birth of a son is foretold. This takes place, however, also in Jdg_13:3; 1Sa_1:17; Isa_7:14; Mat_1:23; Luk_1:13; Luk_1:31. What would become of history, especially of Biblical history, if every incident which resembles another more or less should be considered an imitation of it, and therefore unhistorical? If any story is free from the appearance of being manufactured, and has unmistakable signs of historical truth, then this one is such, with its numerous details and peculiar characteristic features.
4. The religious point of the narrative, and there is scarcely a story in the Old Testament which has a more beautiful one, is utterly lost when we seek it in the resuscitation of the boy by the prophet. We have before us here the total of a continuous, complete, and finished story, which is narrated with unusual care and explicitness down to the details, and not simply the record of a single prophetical act, as in the first and third narratives. The course and conclusion of the whole are indeed conditioned upon the miraculous act of the prophet, yet in fact it is rather a history of the Shunammite than an event in the life of Elisha. The object and significance of the story are not, therefore, to be sought in any single feature of the narrative, as if all the rest were merely incidental; it is rather the whole which here comes into account. Three principal points in it come out into especial prominence: A son is given to a pious, God-fearing woman, who had received the prophet at her house, and thereby a blessing and fortune falls to her lot, which she had no longer dared to hope for; soon, however, a great trial intervenes; she is to lose her only son, she holds firmly to the word of promise, however, and sustains the trial; the son is given back to her again by the prophet, and now for the first time she experiences aright that the word of the Lord is true, and that He crowns at last with grace and compassion those who hope and hold fast their faith in Him. This development of the history presents the course by which, as a general rule, God is wont to lead his children. Thus it was with Abraham, the father and prototype of all the faithful in Israel (Genesis 17, 22; Heb_11:17 sq.), thus also with Job (Job_1:2-22), and thus also with many other pious men of the old covenant down to Him who was the beginning and end of faith (Heb_5:5-9; Heb_12:2). This story, therefore, is a practical enunciation of the truth which extends throughout the entire Scriptures, and is a fundamental law of the divine economy of salvation: the Lord “hath set apart him that is godly for himself” (Psa_4:3). It is He who killeth and maketh alive, that bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up (1Sa_2:6). They who please God are preserved through the fire of adversity (Sir_2:5). “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psa_25:10). The glory of God is the end and aim of the entire story, and the work of the prophet serves, here as ever, only to reach this end.
5. The resuscitation of the boy must remain under all circumstances, however we may conceive of it, extraordinary, marvellous, produced by the Spirit (רוּחַ) of Jehovah. Starke, following Clericus, says: “The spirit of natural life was not warmed into life by the warmth of the prophet, but by an extraordinary power and energy of God; and the touch of the prophet, in itself, was as little able to bring back warmth and life as the touch of the staff.” No one will adopt now-a-days the marvellous explanations which Knobel (Der Prophet. ii. s. 96) proposes: “The prophet gave a powder to the boy and thus removed the headache; or, the child had perhaps eaten of some poisonous plant, and the prophet relieved him of the poison by an emetic.” The opinion also, which is advanced here, on account of 2Ki_4:34, still more confidently, even, than on 1Ki_17:20, that the boy was restored to life by the application of animal magnetism, and that Gehazi was not able to accomplish this on account of the antipathy between him and the mother (Ennemoser and Passavant), must be decidedly contradicted. The prophets of the Old Testament were no mesmerizers, but servants of Jehovan, who “stood before Him,” and whose business it was to bear witness of Him in word and deed. All the great and marvellous works which they performed were a result of earnest prayer, and followed upon their most hearty petitions (see above, 1 Kings 17 Hist. § 6). We are not willing, therefore, to adopt, with Von Gerlach, the opinion that “a genuine life-energy was imparted to the boy from the body of Elisha, which was filled with the Spirit of God,” for the Spirit of God wrought through the prophets; but that it filled their bodies is an idea foreign to the Scriptures. The question whether the boy was utterly dead, and every sign of life had departed from him, is a very different one. He is certainly referred to as dead, 2Ki_4:20; 2Ki_4:32. We cannot, however, overlook the fact that, if he had been dead, decomposition must have set in long before Elisha’s arrival at Shunem. If he died at noon (2Ki_4:20), and his mother set out at once, she must have spent six hours in the journey. If we suppose besides that Gehazi went all the way from Carmel to Shunem on foot, and that he returned from there again and met the prophet and the mother on the way, so that these two did not arrive until still later, then certainly more than twelve hours had passed since the decease of the child. In the Orient, however, decomposition commences much sooner than among us, especially in the warm harvest-season (2Ki_4:18). With reference to the law, Num_19:11, according to which the touching a corpse makes unclean, the Talmudists, as Philippson observes, raised the question: “Did the son of the Shunammite render unclean? and the answer is: מת מטמא ואינו מטמא חי (a corpse makes unclean, but not a living body).” So much at least is clear from this, that they did not consider the boy a real corpse, although they did not deny the miracle. That the act of Elisha cannot in any wise be compared with the restoration to life of the son of the widow of Nain, or of Lazarus, hardly needs to be mentioned.
6. Gehazi’s mission to Shunem, since it was unsuccessful and had no effect whatever upon the development of the story, might have been left unmentioned. That it is narrated, however, in detail, is all the more a proof of the historical truth of the entire story, inasmuch as it cannot serve the glory of the prophet on account of its entire want of success. It is, in fact, not omitted, because it teaches practically that the gift of the Spirit with which God arms His servants, the prophets, for extraordinary deeds, cannot be transferred by these to others, and that it pertains still less to the external symbol of the prophetical calling, so that not every one in whose hand the symbol may be is thereby put in a position to execute such acts. It was not so much the mother of the boy who was to learn this, for she did not desire that Gehazi should be sent, nor Gehazi, for he did not offer to go, but was called upon by the prophet to do so, as it was Elisha himself. The gift of the רוּחַ or Spirit is not an habitual, permanent one, but one which is given specially for each occasion, and which the prophet cannot dispose of according to his own good-will and pleasure. As it had not been made known to Elisha by Jehovah that the boy was dead or would die, so the command had not been given to him by God that he should give Gehazi a commission for the deed, and intrust his staff to him. Out of anxiety, lest the prophet’s credit might suffer if the cause of the failure of this mission was sought in him, it was very early thought necessary to have recourse to an allegorical interpretation. The dead boy was said to signify the human race, which had fallen under death on account of sin; the staff with which Gehazi thought that he could awake the dead boy, represented the Law of Moses, which could not save from sin and death; Elisha, finally, who afterwards brought the dead to life, was a type of the Son of God, who, by his incarnation, put himself in connection with our flesh (2Ki_4:34), and imparted new life to humanity. This interpretation is found from the time of Origen on, in all centuries, and even in the most modern times it has been adopted by Cassel (Elisa, s. 42 sq.). However imaginative and edifying it may be, it has no foundation in the text.
7. The third and fourth narratives (2Ki_4:38-44) belong together, because both concern the circle of sons of the prophets. Whereas in the first two narratives it is individual faithful servants of Jehovah, who experience, through the prophet, His marvellous, protecting, helping, and saving might, here it is the entire community of sons of the prophets, that is to say, of those who, in the time of apostasy, form the core of the covenant-people, and represent the true Israel. The two narratives are not, therefore, inserted here accidentally and without connection, but they join on very fitly to the two preceding. They have not the object, however, any more than those have, to present Elisha to us as a thaumaturge and to glorify him: on the contrary they are intended to strengthen faith in Him whose instrument and servant the prophet is. They teach and attest practically the truth of the Psalmist’s words (Psa_33:18-19), which we might even place over them as a title, “Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him; upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death (2Ki_4:38-41), and to keep them alive in famine” (2Ki_4:42-44). At the same time both narratives afford us an insight into the schools of the prophets. In the same place where the sons of the prophets “sat before him,” i.e., received instruction, there they also ate together, i.e., they led a life of close fellowship and communion (cf. Luk_15:2; 1Co_5:11 sq.). It follows that this life in common was anything but luxurious, on the contrary that it was a life of sacrifice. How straitened the circumstances were in which they lived we may see from the fact that Elisha had to send one of their number into the field to collect wild herbs before the mid-day meal could be prepared, and also that, later, the little which one man brought had to suffice for a hundred men. From this it follows either that the pupils of the prophets were poor by birth, or that they had decided to live a life of sacrifice and self-denial. Nevertheless, their number was large, and the fact that even bitter want could not separate them from one another and break up the community, is a beautiful sign of the purity of their motives and of their faithful zeal.
8. Both prophetical acts of Elisha in the circle of the pupils of the prophets have been referred to quite ordinary incidents. In the first it has been said that Elisha showed himself a “remarkable student of nature for the time in which he lived” (Knobel, l. c., s. 95), just as in 2Ki_2:20 sq. and 2Ki_3:16 sq. If he had been such, however, he would certainly have known that no one can make a pot full of bitter and poisonous herbs uninjurious by simply adding a handful of meal. Hence the Exeget. Handbuch des Alt. Test believes that the prophet may have added something else, does not tell, however, what this something else was, nor whence he got it. Theodoret observes that it was not ἡ τοῦ ἀλεύρου φύσις, but ἡ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος δύναμις, which weakened or destroyed the action of the poison. The meal was here only a natural and appropriate sign of healthful nourishment. The truth underlying the second story is thought to be “that the sons of the prophets were protected by Elisha’s wise precaution during that time of famine” (Knobel, s. 97). In that case Elisha must have sent orders to the man of Beth-Shalisha beforehand, and his precaution, since the man only brought twenty barley-loaves, which were not enough for so many, would have been insufficient and not by any means wise. Neither does the narrative contain “the moral, that the believer can-satisfy his earthly needs even with scanty means” (Köster, Die Prophet. s. 88), for the prophet does not mean to give an example of the way in which we ought to behave, but he states what Jehovah will do. It is not he who brings about the satisfaction of their hunger, but Jehovah; he only foretells it and announces it. Jehovah ordered it so that a strange man, uncalled and unexpected, should bring to the prophet in a time of famine the first-fruits, which belong to Jehovah according to the Law (Num_15:19-20; Deu_26:2 sq.), and He blessed this gift so that it sufficed to satisfy the entire community of the prophets. Hence it follows that this feeding cannot be regarded as a type of the miraculous feedings in the New Testament, and that we cannot say: “Jesus taught on a grand scale what Elijah taught on a small scale” (Dereser); still less can the New Testament incidents be regarded as imitations and mythical developments of this. The Lord Himself, at the feeding of the five thousand, makes reference, not to this narrative, but to the feeding of the people with manna in the wilderness (Exo_16:15 sq.), and He gives to His miracle an express object and significance (Joh_6:32 sq.), such as we cannot at all think of in this case. Besides that, however, the historical connection, the occasion, the persons, all are utterly different, and the asserted similarity is reduced finally simply to this, that through the divine influence a little suffices for many: an altogether ordinary truth which pierces through many other incidents in the history of redemption, which are entirely different from this one.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
2Ki_4:1-7. Krummacher: The Story of the poor Widow, (a) Her distress; (b) she seeks refuge in the prophet, and (c) finds it.—Help in Need, (a) The woman who receives assistance. (Widow of a God-fearing man, burdened by debt, and without resources; mother of two children, who are to be taken from her; her faith and trust; her gratitude. Such are always helped.) (b) The prophet who assists her. (As a genuine prophet of God he does not stop his ears to the cry of the poor, like the creditor, Pro_21:13. He knows that he who has compassion on the widows and fatherless thereby serves God, Jam_1:27. Gold and silver he has not, but he employs the gift which he has received, and does not stop with words. Go and do likewise, 1Pe_4:10; Jam_2:14-17.)—Würt. Summ.: Our Lord and God allows it to come to pass that widows and orphans are often distressed and harshly treated in order to try their faith and patience; if they show themselves upright, trust in God, have patience and pray diligently, then God helps them marvellously, blesses a little to them, that they may have all necessary maintenance, and may find it sufficient, and He saves them, at the proper time, from the hands of their oppressors. With this reflection all widows and orphans, when they are poor, abandoned, and oppressed, must console themselves, if their nourishment is scanty, and they are besides unkindly regarded by the world.
2Ki_4:1. Starke: A good reputation after death. He feared God! See to it that thou, also, after thy departure, mayest with justice have this name, for all, all must depart, but he who doeth the will of God abideth forever (1Jn_2:17).—He who fears God will not make debts thoughtlessly; but for him who falls into debt innocently God will find means of payment in time.—Summum jus, summa injuria. We may be entirely in the right and act perfectly according to the law, in the eyes of men, while we are in the wrong and are sinning against the highest law before God. See Jam_2:13.
2Ki_4:2. Starke: As God readily hears the cry of the poor and suffering (Psa_145:18-19), so do also His servants and children.
2Ki_4:3-5. Cramer: In temporal affairs experience must precede and faith follow; in spiritual affairs faith must precede, and then experience follows, for we do not find out the truth unless belief in God’s Word has preceded (Joh_7:17).
2Ki_4:5. Whatever a man does in the obedience of faith, whether it appears foolish or vain in the eyes of the world, is nevertheless blessed by God, and redounds to his soul’s health.
2Ki_4:6. Hall: The goodness of God gives grace according to the measure of those who receive it; if He ceases to pour it into our hearts, it is because there is no more room there to receive it. If we could receive more He would give more.
2Ki_4:7. If means are given thee to satisfy thy creditor, let it be thy first duty to pay him before thou carest for thyself! He who can pay his debts, but will not, takes what does not belong to him and sins against the eighth commandment.—Von Gerlach: When the Lord gives there is always something left over and above; He never merely takes away distress, He gives a blessing besides. He desires, however, that the obligation to our neighbor should first be satisfied before we begin to enjoy His blessing.
2Ki_4:8-37. God’s Ways with His Children. See Historical, § 3.—Bender: Elisha in Shunem. (a) The kind reception which he there met with; (b) the great deeds by which he there glorified the name of his God.—Krummacher: The Story of the Shunammite. (a) The shelter at Shunem; (b) the grateful guest; (c) the dying boy; (d) Gehazi with Elisha’s staff; (e) the resuscitation of the dead.—The Shunammite, a woman after God’s own heart. Würt. Summ.: She loved God’s word and His servant, the prophet Elisha, and she did him much good out of her fortune; she led a quiet, modest life, so that she had no affairs at the royal court or at law; she held her husband in honor, and did not wish to undertake any journey without his permission; she was able to strike a middle course, and she knew how to conduct herself so that she did not anger God, nor give offence to her neighbors.
Vers 8–17. The house at Shunem, a tabernacle of God amongst men, for there dwelt faith and love (2Ki_4:8-11), and therefore, also, peace and blessing (2Ki_4:12-17).
2Ki_4:8. There are always, among those whose lot it is to have wealth, some who do not attach their hearts to it (Psa_62:10), and do not trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God (1Ti_6:17-18); who have not become satiated and indifferent in their hearts, but hunger and thirst after righteousness, and have an earnest desire for the bread of life. The servants of the Word ought not to withdraw themselves from these, but advance to meet them in every way.—Berleb. Bibel: God always gives to His children pious hearts, so that they open their houses and shelter strangers. Though the Gadarenes beg Him to depart (Luk_8:37), though there are Samaritans who will not receive Christ (Luk_9:52 sq.), yet there is always a good soul which is glad to take the Lord Jesus and receive Him to itself.—Bender: He who, like the Shunammite, honors and loves the Lord, and is anxious to lead a life in God, honors and loves also the servants of the Lord, and seeks their society. He does not seek them, however, as pleasant companions, or merely in order to claim their help in bodily need, but he seeks them as shepherds, as soul-physicians, as guardians of God’s mysteries, and as messengers in Christ’s stead.
2Ki_4:8-11. The Shunammite urges the holy man of God to stay at her house and to be her guest; she prepares him a dwelling in her house. He who is more than a prophet desires to take up his residence with us. He stands before the door and knocks, and if any man, &c., Rev_3:20. Let us prepare the dwelling for Him, and pray every day: Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest! and: Remain with us, for the evening is drawing on. O! selig Haus wo man Dich aufgenommen, &c. (hymn of Spitta), Mat_25:35; Mat_25:40.—Be hospitable! for the sake of the Lord, and with joy, without murmuring (Rom_12:13; Heb_13:2; 1Pe_4:9).
2Ki_4:9-10. How beautiful it is when one spouse incites the other to holy works of love, and both are in accord therein; when husband and wife understand each other well, and go on uninterruptedly in a bond of pure fidelity (Gerhardt’s hymn: Wie schön ist’s doch, &c.).—Starke: Husbands should not restrain their wives from kind actions toward the children and servants of God.
2Ki_4:10. J. Lange: God gives, in this earthly life, not only what is absolutely necessary, but also what belongs to easiness of circumstances: a fact which we ought also to recognize with thanksgiving.
2Ki_4:11. Hall: Solitude is most advantageous for teachers and students (Mat_14:23).
2Ki_4:12-17. What the Lord says, Mat_10:40-42, is fulfilled already here, under the old covenant; how much more will it be fulfilled under the new covenant.—The Conversation of Elisha with the Shunammite. (a) The question of Elisha. (A question inspired by gratitude, although the woman had far more reason to thank him than he her, for cf. 1Co_9:11.—Starke: A noble heart does not like to receive a favor and make no return, but recognizes its obligation to return it. It is, however, also a test-question, to see if the Shunammite had received him in the name of a prophet and not for the sake of a reward, or for any temporal gain. The question as to thy wishes is a question as to the disposition of thy heart.) (b) The answer of the Shunammite. (“I dwell,” &c. She asks no recompense for the good she has done, she wishes to have nothing to do with the court of the king, and the great ones of this world, she has no desire “for high things, but,” &c. Rom_12:16—a sign of great humility and modesty. Although she lacked that which was essential to the honor and happiness of an Israelitish wife, viz., a son, yet she was contented, and no word of complaint passed her lips—a sign of great contentment. He who is godly is also contented, 1Ti_6:6, and says: Howsoever he may conduct my affairs, I am contented and silent.)—He who is at peace with God in his heart, lives in, and pursues, peace with men (Rom_12:18; Heb_12:14).
2Ki_4:14-17. The Lord, according to His grace and truth, remembers even the wishes which we cherish in silence and do not express before men, and He often gives to those who yield to His holy will without murmurs or complaints just that which they no longer dared to hope for.—It makes a great difference whether we doubt of the divine promises from unbelief, or from humility or want of confidence in ourselves because we consider the promises too great and glorious, and ourselves unworthy of them (Gen_18:13 sq.; Joh_11:23 sq.).
2Ki_4:18-21. Happiness and unhappiness, joy and sorrow, stand, here upon earth, ever side by side. There is no unalloyed happiness. We are not in the world simply in order to have happy days; God sets the day of adversity over-against the day of prosperity (Ecc_7:14).—Man, in his life, is like the grass (Psa_103:15-16). The death of loved children comes often suddenly, like the lightning from a clear sky, and destroys our joy and our hopes. Therefore we should possess these gifts also, as not possessing them, and learn to believe that God’s ways, &c. (Isa_55:8-9). The Lord will not abandon, in days of adversity, him who trusts in Him in days of prosperity. He who in the latter has learned sobriety, and maintained his faith, will not be without wisdom and consolation in the former, but will be composed in all adversity.
2Ki_4:22. Starke: A pious woman does nothing without her husband’s knowledge, and does not willingly call his attention to anything by which he may be saddened.
2Ki_4:23. Husbands ought not to put any hindrance in the way of their wives when they wish to go there where they hope to find food for their souls, and counsel and consolation from God. Sundays and feast days are not instituted merely that we may rest from labor, but that we may hear the Word of God, and be edified thereby. This word is not, indeed, bound to any definite time, it is a well of living water, from which we may and ought to take at any time, and satisfy our thirst for knowledge, consolation, and peace. How many there are, however, of those who do not do this even on Sundays and feast-days!
2Ki_4:25-28. The arrival of the Shunammite at Carmel. (a) She receives a kind welcome (Osiander: Pious people have hearty love for each other, and each shares in the other’s joy and sorrow, Rom_12:15), but she conceals from Gehazi that which troubles her heart. (Do not make known at once to every one you meet that which distresses you, but keep it to yourself until you find one who understands you, and whose heart you have tested, Sir_21:28.) (b) She is thrust away by Gehazi (Beware lest thou treat harshly sad souls, who are overcome by grief, and who seek help and consolation, and lest thou thrust them away or judge them hastily. Sir_4:3 : Do not cause still more grief to a bruised heart.—Berleb. Bibel: There are many servants who wish to hinder others from familiarity because it appears to them too bold… Magdalens are thrust away from the feet of Jesus Christ, and the Pharisees are scandalized at them, Luk_7:38. Elisha receives this woman in a friendly manner and listens with sympathy. Sir. 7:38: “Leave not those who mourn without consolation, but sorrow with the sorrowing.” Come, in thy sorrow, to Him who calls the sorrowful and the heavy-laden to himself, and who has said: “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out,” Joh_6:37.)
2Ki_4:29-31. Gehazi’s Mission to Shunem. (a) Elisha’s intention in sending him; (b) the failure of his mission (see above, the Exeget. and Critical and the Historical notes). The especial gift which God has given, out of free grace, to one man, cannot be transferred by him to another. Let every one serve the other with that gift which he has received (1Pe_4:10), for we are not masters of the gifts of God, but only stewards. The staff of the prophet is of no use if the spirit and power of the prophet are wanting. Do not mistake the sign for the thing signified. It is God alone who can help, and His help is not dependent on external instruments and signs.—o! that we might all say, as this woman did to Elisha, to Him who is more than a prophet, with firm faith and confidence, from the bottom of the heart: “I will not leave thee!” (Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht, &c.) Then would He also go with us in all need and trial.
2Ki_4:32-37. The Resuscitation of the Boy. (a) The preparation therefor (2Ki_4:33; cf. Act_9:40; Mat_6:6). Elisha first humbles himself before the Lord, for he knows that it is He alone who can kill and make alive. (b) The means of which he makes use (2Ki_4:34-35). He does not weary, but continues and struggles in prayer. The Lord does not allow great deeds to be accomplished without battles and struggles, labor and perseverance. (c) The successful accomplishment (2Ki_4:35-36). Elisha’s prayer and conflict are crowned with success. He may say: There, take thy son! and the mother falls on her knees, and may cry: “Oh! death, where is thy sting? Oh! grave, where is thy victory?”—What Elisha did after long struggle and prayer, He, who is himself the resurrection and the life, did with a single word (Luk_7:14; Joh_11:43), that we may believe that “The hour is coming,” &c. (Joh_5:25; Joh_11:26).
2Ki_4:37. Genuine gratitude and thanksgiving, when God has done great things for us, consists in this, that we bow ourselves humbly, and fall down upon our knees and say: “Lord, I am not worthy,” &c. (Gen_32:10).
2Ki_4:38-44. The high Significance of both the Acts which Elisha performed among the Pupils of the Prophets. (a) He makes the poisonous food healthful (2Ki_4:38-41); (b) he feeds many with a little (2Ki_4:42-44); (see Historical).—The sons of the prophets in time of scarcity. They had to struggle with want and distress, but no want could hinder them from entering the community, or could induce them to separate. Life in common, in faith, in prayer, in the praise of God, was dearer to them than pleasant days, and enjoying the pleasures of sin in this world (Heb_11:25). Hence they experienced also the truth of the words: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Heb_13:5; cf. Psa_33:18-19).
2Ki_4:38. Where unity of spirit and true love call people together to a common meal, there is no need of great preparations and expensive dishes; they are readily satisfied with the simplest food (Pro_15:17; Pro_17:1).
2Ki_4:39. Calwer Bibel: The poor are here, as they so often are, in great distress; the most necessary means of subsistence often fail them.
2Ki_4:40. Death in the pot! Pear of death; means of rescue from it.—It is often with spiritual food as it is with bodily food; it looks as if it were healthful and nourishing, i.e., the words are beautiful and attractive, and yet there is soul-poison in it, which is destructive, if we are not on our guard against receiving it.
2Ki_4:42-44. Krummacher: The man with the loaves, Elisha’s command, Gehazi’s confusion.
2Ki_4:42. By accident a strange man comes and brings what is needed. How many times that has occurred! The Lord sent him and opened his heart, for, when God has found us faithful, and perceived no hypocrisy in us, He comes before we know it, and causes great good fortune to befall us.
2Ki_4:43. “Give the people, that they may eat.” The Lord gives in order that we may give, and it is more blessed to give than to receive (Heb_13:16; Act_20:35).
2Ki_4:44. What the Lord said: “They shall eat, and shall leave thereof,” holds true still, to day; all depends upon His blessing. Psa_127:1.—Kyburz: God can bless a little and increase it, so that we shall find ourselves as well provided for, nay, even have as much to spare, as many who have much and yet are not satisfied, because there is no blessing upon it (Mat_4:4).
Footnotes:
[1]2Ki_4:2.—I.e., only so much as suffices for an anointing.—Bähr. [The chetib לֵכִי is a late Aramaic form for the keri לָךְ, Ew. § 247, e. The same is true of the other fem. forms, ending in י in this chapter, all of which the keri changes.—W. G. S.]
[2]2Ki_4:5.—The keri מוצקת cannot be preferred to the chetib מְיַצֶּקֶת (piel).—Bähr.
[3]2Ki_4:7.—All the versions agree with the keri ובניך; if we desired to retain the chetib, it would be necessary to change וְאַתְּ into וְאֶת; “And live with thy sons on the remainder,” in which case, however, the contrast, which is expressed in אַתְּ, would be lost.—Bähr. [תִּחְיִי is sing, to agree with the principal subject. “If the text is here correct, it shows that even the ו may be omitted in such cases.” Ew. § 839, c.—W. G. S.]
[4]2Ki_4:39.—Neither he nor the other sons of the prophets.—Bähr.
[5]2Ki_4:42.—[כַּרְמֶל], “Corn got from good, garden-like plantations, which is better than field-grain, and which is either eaten roasted, or pounded to groats” (Fürst). צקלון occurs only this once. The authorities agree that it means a “bag.”
[6]2Ki_4:43.—[אכול והותר, Ew. § 328, a. The infin. as the simplest, most direct, and most comprehensive form.—W. G. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE WIDOW’S OIL MULTIPLIED, 2Ki_4:1-7.
THE WIDOW’S OIL MULTIPLIED, 2Ki_4:1-7.
1. A certain woman — According to a Rabbinical conjecture she was the wife of Obadiah, who fed the persecuted prophets in the days of Jezebel. 1Ki_18:5.
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Wives of the sons of the prophets — So these prophetical schools were unlike the monasteries in which celibacy was enjoined. Unto Elisha — The head of the institution was applied to as a father and lord who had power to help her in her distress.
My two sons to be bondmen — The law of Moses provided (Lev_25:39-41) that, in case of poverty and inability to pay his debts, a man and his children might be sold, and remain in bondage until the next year of jubilee.
Mat_18:25, shows that this law was still in force in our Lord’s time. This fact, thus incidentally introduced in the history of Elisha, shows that in his day the law of Moses was the basis of judicial and civil proceedings in the kingdom of Israel.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. 2Ki_4:1-7. The miracles of Elisha. The increase of…
Ch. 2Ki_4:1-7. The miracles of Elisha. The increase of the widow’s oil (Not in Chronicles)
1. a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets] It appears from this that the members of the colleges of prophets did not withdraw themselves from common domestic life altogether. It may be that from time to time, during seasons of devotion, they joined the companies at Bethel, Gilgal or elsewhere, and then returned to their home duties. The man here spoken of had engaged in some transaction for which money had been borrowed, and had died before it could be paid off.
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unto Elisha] This appeal shews us that Elisha was regarded as the head of the whole prophetic band. Josephus (Ant. IX. 4, 2) says this woman was the widow of Obadiah, Ahab’s steward, and that the borrowed money mentioned in the text had been expended on the support of the hundred prophets whom he hid and supported. There is nothing to connect the two narratives together except that Obadiah said of himself, ‘I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth’, and the widow, in this story, gives an almost identical character to her husband.
and the creditor is come] It was allowed by the Mosaic law (Lev_25:39-41) that a debtor and his children (and so, if he were dead, as here, his children only) might be taken as bondservants by a creditor, and the debt cancelled by their labour. (Cf. Mat_18:25.) It was however provided that they should go free in the year of jubilee.
sons] R.V. children. That they were sons we see from the course of the narrative, but the Hebrew word is not the same here as in verse 4. So R.V. has marked the difference.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1-7) He multiplies the widow’s oil. (Comp. 1Ki_17:12 seq.)
IV.
IV.—VIII. THE WONDROUS WORKS OF ELISHA THE PROPHET.
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(1-7) He multiplies the widow’s oil. (Comp. 1Ki_17:12 seq.)
(1) Of the wives of the sons of the prophets.—This shows that “the sons of the prophets” were not young unmarried men leading a kind of monastic life under the control of their prophetic chief. Those who were heads of families must have had their own separate homes. (See Note on 1Ki_20:35.)
Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord.—She makes this the ground of her claim on the prophet’s assistance. In 1Ki_18:3; 1Ki_18:12 it is said of Obadiah, Ahab’s steward, that he “feared the Lord,” and on account of this slight resemblance, the Targum, Josephus, and Ephrem Syrus identify the dead man of this verse with Obadiah, who is supposed to have spent all his property in maintaining the prophets (1Ki_18:4) (!) Possibly the widow meant to say that her husband’s debts were not due to profligate living (Thenius).
The creditor is come to take unto him my two sons.—According to the law (Lev_25:39). They would have to continue in servitude until the year of jubilee. The ancient Roman law was more severe, for it contained no provision for the future release of the unhappy debtor. (Comp. also Mat_18:26, and Notes.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-44. TYPICAL MIRACLES WROUGHT BY ELISHA. General introduction.…
Vers. 1-44. TYPICAL MIRACLES WROUGHT BY ELISHA. General introduction. The miracles of this chapter are all of them miracles of mercy. The first and last consist in the multiplying of food, and thus belong to the same class as our Lord"s feeding the four and the five thousands, and Elijah"s increasing the meal and oil of the widow of Zarephath. (1Ki_17:10-16) It serves no useful purpose to ask how miracles of this class were wrought. The inspired writers have not told us; and our own thoughts upon the subject can at the best be mere unfounded conjectures. The rationalistic attempts which have been made to solve the mystery exhibit a weakness and feebleness that are absolutely puerile (see Bahr, "Commentary on Kings," vol. 2. p. 46, Eng. trans.). The second miracle is the resuscitation of a dead person, and he-longs, consequently, to the very narrow class of such recoveries of which in the Old Testament there are three only. (see 1Ki_17:17, 1Ki_17:23; here; and 2Ki_13:21) The third miracle consists in rendering fit for man"s use that which was previously unfit, not by human skill or science, but by miracle; and is analogous to the act of Moses whereby the waters of Marah ceased to be hitter, (Exo_15:25) and to that other act of Elisha himself, whereby the waters of Jericho were healed. (2Ki_2:19-22) It is evidently the object of the writer or compiler of 2 Kings to collect in this place the principal, or at any rate the most noted, of the miraculous acts of the great prophet who succeeded Elijah, and so to preserve them from oblivion. This object, which he began to set before himself in 2Ki_2:13, continues to be pursued, and forms a link uniting the various narratives together, up to 2Ki_8:6.
Vers. 1-7. 1. The multiplication of the widow"s oil.
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Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying. We learn from this that the "sons of the prophets" were not merely, all of them, college students, but included fathers of families, who cannot have lived a cloistered life, but must have had separate homes for themselves and their families. Such persons may still have taught in the prophetical schools, as do the married tutors and professors of modern universities. Thy servant my husband is dead. Elisha had, it seems, known her husband, who had been his "servant," not literally and in deed, but in will and heart, i.e. always ready to serve him. She recalls this fact to his memory, to predispose him in her favor. And thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. Here was a second ground for Elisha"s interference the woman"s husband had been a God-fearing man, one who not only acknowledged Jehovah, but worshipped him in spirit and in truth. There is a Jewish tradition, or legend, that the woman"s husband was the Obadiah of 1Ki_18:3-16, but no dependence can be placed on it. Obadiah, the "governor of Ahab"s house," can scarcely have been one of the "sons of the prophets." And the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to he bondmen. In primitive communities, men borrowed upon their personal credit, and the primary security for debt was regarded as being their own persons, the value of their labor, and that of those dependent on them. In Greece and Rome, originally, as in the Hebrew community, borrowers ordinarily raised money by pledging their persons, and, if they could not pay when the debt became due, went into servitude with their children. The Mosaic Law presupposes this state of things, and permits its continuance, but in two respects interferes to modify it:
(1) by requiring that the service exacted shall not be severe, (Lev_25:43, Lev_25:46) but such as was commonly rendered by hired servants; (Lev_25:39, Lev_25:40) and
(2) by limiting the period of service to the date of the next jubilee year. (Lev_25:40, Lev_25:41) In the instance brought here under our notice, it would seem that the creditor had not proceeded to claim his rights until the debtor died, when he on-forced them against the man"s children. (comp. Neh_5:1-8)
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 1-7.
The seed of the righteous never forsaken by God.
The whole ground of appeal on which the poor widow relies, and which proves so entirely adequate, is the fidelity to God of her deceased husband. "Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord" (ver. 1). She assumes that Elisha is on this account almost, bound to interfere on behalf of the man"s two sons, who are in danger of being carried into slavery. And Elisha allows the validity of her claim, and straightway comes to their relief. The example may well recall the emphatic words of the psalmist, which the minister and director cannot too strongly impress on anxious and doubting mothers, "I have been young, and now am old; and yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread". (Psa_37:25) A blessing rests upon the seed of the righteous
I BY DIVINE PROMISE. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments"; (Exo_20:5, Exo_20:6) "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto childrens children"; (Psa_103:17) "The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. (Psa_102:28)
II BY THE SYMPATHY INVOLVED IN GOD"S FATHERHOOD. After God all fatherhood (pasa patria) in heaven and earth is named. (Eph_3:15) As a Father, he sympathizes with all fathers, knows their hearts, understands their longings, is tender towards their tenderness. Them that love him he will love, and will reward them where they would most wish to be rewarded, in their children. The seed of the righteous may often, does often, wander into devious ways, depart from righteousness, provoke God, draw down upon himself God"s chastisements; but in the end how seldom does he wholly fall away, completely forget the lessons of his youth, the example of godly parents, the precepts so carefully instilled into his mind in early life, day by day and year by year! how seldom does he become a blasphemer, or an unbeliever, or an utterly hardened reprobate! How often, on the other hand, does he recover from grievous falls, retrains to God, repeat, amend, and "do the first works"! God"s tender care not only saves the children of the righteous from begging their bread, or falling into utter destitution, but watches over their spiritual welfare, and in a thousand ways checks their wanderings, weans them from their evil courses, and at last brings them to himself.
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN.
Vers. 1-7.
The widow"s oil increased.
This simple and touching story is one of those many narratives which make the Bible a book for every one, and a book for everyday life. The individual is never lost in the nation or the race. It is so in actual fact. Our own personal needs and struggles and anxieties are of more importance and interest to us than the struggles of a nation or the general well-being of the human race. It is the same in the Bible. The Bible is partly a history of nations, and particularly of the Jewish nation. But it is much more a history of individuals. It is this that makes it such a book of universal comfort and instruction. We can all find something in it that suits ourselves. As we read of the men and women whose lives are recorded in it, we learn more from their faith and their failings, from their temptations and their victories, than we could from any abstract discourses about the benefit of virtue and the evil of vice. We learn that they were men and women of like passions with ourselves. We learn that the temptations they conquered we can conquer by the help of the same Spirit; that the trials they endured we can endure; and that the faith and holiness to which they attained are within our reach also. And then how homely and how practical the Bible is! Its heroes and heroines do net live in a Utopia. It shows them to us under very much the same conditions as we live under still. It shows them to us in their homes and at their business, in their loves and in their married life, at the plough and in the fishing-boat, at the marriage-feast and at the funeral. Perhaps we think it hard to be religious in our business, in society, or amid the petty cares and worries of our daily life. The Bible shows us men and women living under the same conditions, and yet living so much in the fear of God and the presence of eternity that they triumphed over their distractions, and, whilst in the world, were not of it. Such a glimpse of everyday life we obtain in the narrative before us. We learned some valuable lessons from the palace of King Ahaziah; we may learn quite as important ones from the humble home of a prophet"s widow.
I INNOCENT SUFFERING. There is a good deal of suffering in the world. Many suffer innocently. But not all those who think they suffer innocently are really innocent. Here, however, there appears to be a case of really innocent suffering. It is a poor widow who comes to tell Elisha her tale of want and woe. Her husband had been one of "the sons of the prophets a word that was used in a general sense to signify those who were pupils of the prophets, trained by the prophets. He had unfortunately got into debt. How he was led into it we are not told. He was a God-fearing man. It was not, therefore, through dissipation or sin. But it may have been through his own imprudence or improvidence. Or it may have been through some unexpected loss, or through failure on the part of others to meet their liabilities to him. At any rate, he died in debt, and his poor widow is the sufferer.
1. This incident, and there are many like it happening every day, shows us the folly and danger of getting into debt. One of the worst features of it is that so often the innocent the wife or children who perhaps know nothing at all of the debt have to suffer for the folly or the dishonesty of others. We need to have a more awakened conscience on this subject of using money which really is not our own. As a matter of worldly policy and prudence, it is a great mistake. As a matter of morality, it is very doubtful indeed. How many of the tremendous crashes, which have taken place in the commercial world are the result of men living beyond their means! They made too large demands upon the future. They incurred liabilities which they had no means of meeting. And in many cases debt proves to be a temptation to dishonesty. I have yet to learn the difference between the dishonesty of the man who gets a month"s imprisonment for a petty theft, and the dishonesty of many who are legally protected in their crime by the strange device of the bankruptcy court. Not that every bankrupt is dishonest. But many who are thus protected are. We want a clearer and a cleaner public conscience on this question of debt.
2. There is a word here also for creditors. The creditor in this story was a regular Shylock. He wanted his pound of flesh. He would be satisfied with nothing less. Mark the utter heartlessness and cruelty of the man. He knew the poor widow was unable to pay. There were no goods and chattels that he could seize, or none worth seizing, so he actually came to make her two sons his slaves. Even the slightest touch of humanity might have led him to content himself with one of the sons. He might have left the other to be the solace and support of his widowed mother. But no. There is no mercy, no pity, in his hard and selfish heart. He must have the two sons to satisfy his claim. Now, the Scripture, while it countenances lending to these who are in want, and while it commands the payment of debts, recommends the exercise of mercy and humanity in exacting this payment. For instance, in Exodus it is said, "Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless". (Exo_22:22-24) And in Deu_24:17 we have a similar command. We learn here in all the relationships of life to mingle mercy with justice. Too often in the keen competition of life, and in the race for wealth, the finer feelings become blunted, if you are a Christian, it is your duty to imitate the spirit and precepts of Jesus. Whether you are a Christian or not, you are responsible to God for the way you act towards your fellow-men. Always consider the circumstances of the case. Where it is possible, be specially careful of the widow and the fatherless and the orphan. God has a special care for them, and he will avenge their cause on the persecutor and the oppressor.
II ACTIVE FAITH. The poor widow had nothing in her house save a pot of oil. She was not as well off as the widow of Zarephath, to whom Elijah came; she had not even a handful of meal in the barrel. The olive oil was used as butter with the flour or meal. Dr. Kitto says it is indeed a remarkable fact that poor people in Israel, who are reduced to the last extremity, have generally a little oil left. Yet in this extremity, with this jar of oil as her sole possession, what does the prophet tell her to do? To go and borrow empty vessels of all her neighbors, and to borrow just as many as she could get. Was it not a strange command? Empty vessels! Why not borrow vessels with something in them. No; for that would have been to get deeper into debt. Empty vessels. The fact of bringing empty vessels into her house implied that she had something to fill them with. This just shows the greatness of the woman"s faith. She trusted God"s prophet. She knew that he would not deceive her or bid her do anything for which there was not a good reason She trusted God"s power. She knew that God was able, in his own way and in his own time, to supply all her need. We need to learn a similar faith, tire need it for our temporal affairs. We need to trust God that he can and will and does supply the daily wants of his people. What though the purse is empty? God can send the means to fill it.
It may not be my time; It may not be thy time; But yet in his own time the Lord will provide.
We need to learn similar faith a faith that shows itself not in idleness but in actionin regard to spiritual things. We may see but empty vessels before us. God is able to fill them. He does it very often by making us laborers together with him, as he did in this case of the widow and her sons. A respected Sunday-school teacher tells that when he first went to teach in a mission Sunday school in one of our large cities, he said to the superintendent, "Where is my class?" He could see no class for him to teach. The superintendent"s answer was, "You"ll have to out and gather class." He did so, and soon had a large and attentive class of lads gathered in by his own exertions from the streets. Don"t you know of any empty vessels that would be better if they were filled with the love of Christ and the grace of God? Are there no empty vessels in your own homes? Are there no empty vessels round about you where you live hearts that are without God and without hope, lives that are utterly destitute of any aims or usefulness? If you know of such, will you not try to bring them under the influence of the gospel? This woman showed a strong faith, for she had doubtless to face the ridicule and difficulties and questionings of her neighbors. They probably laughed at a woman borrowing vessels when she had nothing to fill them with. We must learn not to mind what people will say of us when we are doing God"s work. There are some people who object to everything. There are some people who are always raising difficulties. Those who raise the difficulties and make the objections are generally those who do the least and give the least. Never mind them. Make sure that your work is God"s work. Consider it prayerfully and carefully before you undertake it. And then, having made sure that it is God"s work, so far as you can get light upon your path, turn not aside to the right hand or to the left. Trust in God to carry you and your work safely through, and to crown your labors with success. "The fear of man bringeth a snare; but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
III ABUNDANT BLESSING. The woman was well rewarded for her unquestioning faith. So long as she continued pouring from her little jar of oil, so long the oil continued to flow until all the vessels were full. She could have filled more vessels if she had had them. But when there were no more vessels to be filled, the oil ceased to flow. At any rate she had enough to sell for the payment of her debt, and to provide herself and her sons with a temporary support. We learn here that our blessings may be limited by our capacity to receive. There is no limit to God"s love. There is no limit to his power to bless. He gives in overflowing measure, far beyond our expectations, far beyond our deservings. But then we may stint the blessing for ourselves by not being in a fit state to receive it. We see constantly in Scripture and in the history of the Christian Church that there are certain conditions under which larger spiritual blessings may be expected, and certain conditions which may hinder these blessings.
1. We may hinder our blessings by want of faith and expectation. Had Abraham persevered in prayer, he might have won the salvation of Sodom even on account of righteous Lot alone. On a later occasion Elisha was displeased with King Joash for his want of faith in shooting the arrows. The king only smote thrice upon the ground, and Elisha said, "Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice." How often we hinder our blessings because we do not persevere in prayer!
2. We may hinder our blessings by not making a right use of those we have got. "To him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have." There is no waste in God"s kingdom. He will not give further blessings to those who are neglecting or misusing the privileges they have got. Let us see to it that we are in a fit state to receive God"s blessing. "If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us." Let us empty ourselves of worldliness and selfishness and sin, if we are to expect God to fill us with his Spirit. A word to Christians. Search your heart, examine your own life, and see if there is anything that hinders the Divine blessing. Give up that besetting sin; give up that godless society; put away that pride, or hatred, or love of the world, or evil temper, out of your heart, and then you may expect God to bless you and make you a blessing. Then you will be a vessel meet for the Masters use. A word to the unrepenting. Why go away once more without Christ? Why go away empty from the house of God? All fullness dwells in Christ fullness of pardon, fullness of grace and strength. Thirsty, unsatisfied soul, draw near to the feet of Jesus. Repent, and ask of him, and he will give you the living water. C.H.I.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Vers. 1-7.
A prophet"s widow and it prophet"s kindness.
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha," etc. There are two subjects of thought in these verses.
I A PROPHET"S WIDOW IN DISTRESS. "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." This poor woman had not only lost her husband, and was left with a bleeding heart-left lonely and desolate in a cold world, but was left in great poverty. Her husband was not only a good man, one "who did fear the Lord," but a "prophet," a religious teacher, one engaged in disseminating Divine ideas amongst men. It seems that he not only died poor, but died in debt. Even now a large number of ministers are unable to make provision for their wives and children in case of their death. Some of the most enlightened, thoughtful, and really useful ministers are amongst the poorest. Observe:
1. That poverty is not necessarily a disgrace. It is sometimes the result of inflexible honesty and moral nobility.
2. That the best lives here are subject to trials. It is reasonable to infer that this widow was a good woman one who, like her departed husband, "did fear the Lord;" and yet see her distress! The afflictions of the good are not penal, but disciplinary.
3. That avarice feeds cruelty. "The creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondsmen." The debt she owed, which, we may imagine, could not have been very large, her heartless creditor insisted on being discharged at once, and demanded her two sons to become slaves to him in order to work out the debt. The avaricious world is heartless; even in London hundreds are dying on every side of starvation.
4. That provision should be made for the widows of ministers. The incomes of very many ministers in England today are not sufficient to enable them to make provision for their wives and children in case of their death. Churches which have committees for sending out missionaries, for distributing Bibles (which are cheap enough now), and for distributing tracts, which are often calumnies on Christianity, ought certainly to see that provision is made for the future of their ministers" families.
II A PROPHET AT WORK TO BELIEVE A BROTHERS WIDOW. In her distress instinct tells her where to go, and she goes to Elisha, not only a man who knew her husband, but one of kindred experiences and sympathies. To him she "cried." Her appeal was really an unintentional compliment to Elisha. The greatest compliment a man can offer is an opportunity for contributing to a truly deserving object. When a man"s compeers rank him amongst those whose meanness has become patent, Charity ignores him. In her benign mission she marches by him in stately silence, as one whom society has placed in the branded category of sordid souls. See how Elisha helps this widow.
1. Promptly. "And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house?" He did not want arguments or testimonials, etc., but with a beaming generosity he virtually said, "Tell me your condition, and I will do my utmost to serve you." He set to work at once. Having told him she had nothing in her house but one "pot of oil," he says to her, "Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few." She obeys his behest, goes amongst her neighbors, and Borrows all the vessels, and then, according to his directions, she closes the door upon herself, and upon her sons, and begins to pour out into each vessel a part of the little pot of oil which she had, and as she poured every vessel she had collected became full to the brim. The more she poured the more came, until she lacked vessels to hold it. A symbol this of all benevolent virtues the more they are used the more they grow. So, indeed, with all the faculties of the soul under the influence of true generosity; right giving is the way to the most precious getting. All this, of course, indicates on Elisha"s part supernatural assistance.
2. Effectively. "Then she came and told the man of God Elisha. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest." Oil was one of the commodities Judaea traded in. (Eze_27:17) She would, therefore, have little difficulty in disposing of this oil, which no doubt was of the best description. The proceeds were to go first to the satisfaction of her heartless creditor, and then to the permanent relief of herself and family.
CONCLUSION. Matthew Henry"s remarks are good: "Let those who are poor and in distress be encouraged to trust God for supply in the way of duty. "Verily thou shalt be fed," but not feasted. It is true we cannot now expect miracles, yet we may expect mercies if we wait on God and seek him. Let widows particularly, and prophets" widows in a special manner, depend upon him to preserve them and their fatherless children alive; for to them he will be a Husband and a Father. Let those whom God hath blessed with plenty use it for the glory of God, and under the direction of his Word; let them do justly with it, as this widow did, and serve God cheerfully in the use of it; and, as Elisha, be ready to do good to those that need them be eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1-7.
The miracles of Elisha: the pot of oil.
The next few chapters relate a number of the miracles of Elisha all of them works of mercy.
I THE WIDOW"S TROUBLE. The story told in these verses is one of sore distress. It is a story:
1. Of bereavement. A poor woman, widow of one of "the sons of the prophets," cried to Elisha, "Thy servant my husband is dead." We learn from this that the prophetic communities were not monastic. Marriage was permitted, and members of the fraternity had houses and families of their own. But this poor woman"s husband had recently died. She had to face the difficulties and fight the battles of life alone. We are in presence of one of the minor tragedies of life little thought of, because not uncommon.
2. Of debt. Her husband had been pious knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord but his affairs had been left in confusion at his death, or, having no means of subsistence, the family had sunk into dependence on a creditor since his decease. A man may be good, and yet imprudent. On the other hand, misfortunes may overtake the best-intentioned, and reduce them from affluence to poverty. It is, however, a sad thing when the head of a household dies, and leaves to his struggling family an inheritance of debt. This is a contingency to be by every legitimate means guarded against. The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, commenting on the text, "Take no thought for the morrow," etc., (Mat_6:34) began by announcing, "I insured my own life last week, and have thus been able to carry out the injunction of the text, and not to be over-anxious for the morrow, for much undue care and anxiety that I had is now laid aside, secure in the knowledge that my forethought has provided for my loved ones.
3. Of bondage. The creditor to whom the debt was due showed himself merciless, and, as the law permitted, was about to take as slaves the two sons of the woman. (Lev_25:39) It mattered little to the hardhearted creditor that his debtor had "feared the Lord," that the two sons were the only remaining comforts of the widow, and that, with "patience," they might have "paid him all". (Mat_18:29) He must have his own. It was forbidden to a creditor, to whom a fellow-Israelite was sold, to "compel him to serve as a bondservant," and to "rule over him with rigor". (Lev_25:39, Lev_25:43) But an unscrupulous man would pay little heed to these injunctions. Altogether, the picture is a sad one. Happily, the poor woman knew where to come with her tale of grief. She remembered the "Father of the fatherless" and the "Judge of the widow", (Psa_68:5) and, when every earthly avenue of help was closed, poured her sorrows into the ear of God"s prophet.
II THE DIRECTIONS OF ELISHA. As the representative of One who had specially declared himself the Friend of "the fatherless and widow", (Deu_10:18) Elisha could not turn a deaf ear to the widow"s plaint. A sympathetic interest in the bereaved and distressed is at all times a duty of God"s ministers.
1. He inquired as to her possessions. "Tell me, what hast thou in the house?" God"s help takes its starting-point from what we already have. The widow had but "one pot of oil oil for anointing; but this was made the basis of what was to be done. So Elijah founded his miracle on the widow of Zarephath"s "handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse", (1Ki_17:12) and Christ his on the lad"s "five barley loaves, and two small fishes". (Joh_6:9) The lesson is that what means of help we have are to be made use of to the utmost before supernatural aid is invoked.
2. He bade her prepare for a liberal experience of Gods goodness. "Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few." She was to expect large things of the Lord. Her task in collecting the vessels was, like the digging of the trenches in the last chapter, emphatically a work of faith. (2Ki_3:16, 2Ki_3:17) God does not stint us in answer to our prayers. His word rather is, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. (Psa_81:10) If our faith will but trust him, he will astonish us with his liberality.
3. He enjoined secrecy. "When thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out," etc. This was too sacred a work to be made a vulgar wonder. To receive the full benefit of the blessing, the inmates of the house were to be alone, in privacy, their thoughts and spirits undisturbed. Jesus enjoins the cultivation of secrecy in religion. (Mat_6:1-18) He often forbade the blazoning abroad of his miracles. (Mat_8:4, etc.) The parading of religious experiences takes the bloom off them.
III THE MULTIPYING OF THE OIL.
1. The oil multiplied. The widow and her sons did as directed, and, as they poured the oil into the borrowed vessels, it still increased till the vessels were full. The element of miracle here is very notable, but we are not entitled to expect such miracles at the present day. But the pledge of Divine help in distress implied in such a miracle remains to us, and God will honor every draft on his promises made by faith, basing itself on such deeds as this. A singular incident in proof is recorded by Krummacher in his remarks on this miracle ("Elisha;" Ver. 5.). It might almost be said that there is a multiplying power in the Divine blessing, apart from miracle. (Psa_37:16)
2. The oil stayed. When the vessels were full, the widow said to her son, "Bring me yet a vessel." There was not, however, a vessel more. Then the oil stayed. Had there been more vessels, it would have flowed on. The sole limit of the supply was the limit of their capacity to receive. We are not straitened in God; we are straitened only in ourselves.
3. The oil sold. The news being brought to Elisha, he ordered the grateful woman poor no more to sell the oil, and pay her debt, and live, she and her children, of the rest. The debt was not repudiated; it was paid. God would put the stamp of his approval on honesty. The whole incident teaches us the lesson of trusting God in every time of need. When have the righteous been forsaken, or their seed seen begging bread? (Psa_37:25) If we can trust in God for temporal supplies, much more may we for our spiritual supplies. (Php_4:19) J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Now there cried a certain woman of the wives…
2Ki_4:1-8
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets.
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The widows pot of oil
If we are to believe the voice of tradition as expressed by Josephus, the subject of this touching story was one who had seen far better days, being the widow of Obadiah, the Lord High Chamberlain of Ahab. While her husband lived she breathed the atmosphere of a court, and was nourished in the lap of luxury. But when he died she seems to have been reduced to the utmost poverty. That world which had smiled upon her in the days of her prosperity, now, with characteristic fickleness, turned its back upon her. Her friends forsook her, and refused to help her. She was plunged into debt, contracted in order to obtain the barest necessaries of life. Having nothing of any value in the house, the hard-hearted creditor, in lieu of payment, threatened to take and sell her two only sons as slaves; which, by virtue of one Jewish law and the extension of another, he had the power to do. It is true that the period during which slaves could be held in Israel was mercifully limited by the year of jubilee, and that year, which would break every fetter, might be near at hand; but nevertheless, in her position, the enforcement of the law even for the Shortest period could not but be felt as a grievous calamity. On account of these trying circumstances, her case was one that peculiarly warranted the interposition of Heaven. But she had another claim still, beside that of her wretchedness, upon the sympathy and help of Elisha. Her husband feared the Lord while he lived. He was the son of a prophet, and cherished the deepest regard for the person and the work of those who filled that sacred office. Elishas first question to her evinced a wonderful knowledge of the human heart, and of the best mode of dealing with poverty and suffering. Instead of volunteering to give her aid at once, as most persons would have done, carried away by an overpowering impulse of compassion at the recital of the tale of sorrow; like a wise and judicious friend, he inquires how far she herself has the power to avert the threatened calamity--What hast thou in the house? His assistance must be based upon her own assistance. He will help her to help herself. And this is the only true way to benefit the poor. By reckless and indiscriminate almsgiving, we run the risk of pauperising the objects of our charity. Our assistance should therefore be of such a nature as to call forth the resources which they themselves possess, and to make the most of them. However small these resources may be, they should be used as a fulcrum, by means of which our help may raise them to a better condition. The first question which we too should ask the widow or the destitute is--What hast thou in the house? No help from without can benefit, unless there be a willingness of self-help within. The widow of Obadiah had nothing in the house save a pot of oil. Was this oil grown by Obadiah during his lifetime--the last of the produce of his olive-yard? In all likelihood it was all that remained of the once extensive property of Ahabs steward. Out of this last pot of Oil--the sign of her uttermost poverty--Elisha furnished the source of her comfort and happiness. In the fables of all nations we are told that a magician, by a mere wave of his wand, or by pronouncing a certain charm, produces at once wealth and luxuries that had no existence before. Aladdin rubs a ring, and immediately a genius appears, and at his command provides a rich feast for him out of nothing. He rubs an old lamp, and at once a gorgeous palace rises up before him in substantial reality, created out of the formless ether around. By putting on Fortunetuss wishing-cap the lucky possessors of it can get anything they want, and create things unknown before. But there is nothing like this in the miracles of the Bible. The Gospel miracle which most nearly resembles the multiplication of the widows oil by Elisha, is the miracle of the loaves and fishes. In both cases the properties of the articles remained the same, and their substance only was extended. In both cases the point of departure and the completed result of the miracle were articles in familiar use among the people. Elisha simply multiplied the common olive oil of the widow into the common olive oil of the country, neither better nor worse. Jesus simply multiplied the common barley loaves and fishes of the fisher-lad into the common barley loaves and fishes which formed the ordinary fare of the disciples. In both cases the miracle was based upon the ultimate result of mans labour. The oil in the widows pot was the juice expressed, out of berries gathered, from trees planted, grafted, and tended by mans toil and skill. The bread in the fishermans possession was baked by mans hands, out of barley sown, reaped, gathered, threshed, and ground in the mill by mans skill and labour; the fishes were equally the produce of human industry and special knowledge. These examples show to us that even in miracles man must be a fellowworker with God in subduing the earth, and in removing the limitations and disabilities of the curse. In these actions men prepared themselves by the miracle wrought within them--the triumph over natural unbelief and the objections of reason--to believe in and to benefit by the miracle about to be wrought without. The widow of Obadiah might well be astonished at the command of Elisha. If she had stopped to reason about the procedure required of her, she might well hesitate to undertake it. Taking a common-sense view of the matter, of what use would it be to borrow as many vessels as possible from her neighbours? What answer could she give them if they asked her what she meant to do with these vessels? Would they not laugh at her if she told the prophets message, and ridicule the utter folly of the whole story? And yet, in spite of all these apparent absurdities and impossibilities--in spite of all the objections of reason and common sense, the widow hastened to obey the prophets command. She stumbled not because of unbelief. Her faith triumphed over all difficulties. It is a significant circumstance that the prophet should have commanded the widow to shut the door upon herself and her sons, when she poured out the oil into the vessels. There is a reason for, and a meaning in, every detail of the Bible miracles; and doubtless the design of this apparently trivial injunction was to secure to the widow the privacy and calmness of mind necessary for the performance of the miracle, and for its producing the full and proper impression upon her own soul. If she had left the door open, the neighbours doubtless, moved by curiosity to see what she would do with the vessels she had borrowed, would flock around her, and sadly discompose her mind by their laughter, their sneers, and their unsuitable remarks. Reverence, stillness, and solitude are needed for the miracle. But, besides being necessary in order to prepare the widow of Obadiah for receiving the benefits of the miracle, the solitude and secrecy which Elisha enjoined were significant of the mysterious character of the miracle itself. It was withdrawn from sight. It was silent and unimaginable. The process by which the oil wag multiplied we labour in vain to conceive. We cannot explain the phenomenon by the observation of any known laws; and yet in truth the miracle is not more strange, save in the rapidity with which it is effected, than that which is every day going forward in nature in those regions where the olive tree grows. You sow the seed of an olive tree; that seed contains a very small quantity of oil. It grows and becomes a tree and produces an immense quantity of fruit; so that from the little drop of oil in the small vessel of the seed, you have thousands of vessels in the shape of the berries, each filled with oil. He who makes the olive seed in the course of a few years, or the olive tree every season, to prepare and extract oil from the scanty soil on the arid rocks, and the dry burning air in which the tree delights to grow, concentrated, in the miracle in the widows chamber, the slower processes of nature spread over months and years, into the act of a single moment. Of course the natural process does not explain the miracle, but it is a help to our faith. The one sheds light upon the other. The miracle teaches us that the natural process is not the result of an impersonal law or of a dead course of things, but the working of our Father in heaven; while the natural process in its turn shows to us that God in the miracle is working in the line of the ordinary events and dispensations of His providence. The miracle blends with common life. How strikingly does this wonderful incident show to us that we must be fellow-workers with God throughout, from first to last, in our own deliverance and blessing. How wonderfully it illustrates the whole Divine economy of grace, under which we are enjoined to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, seeing that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure! We are all in the condition of the poor widow; we are destitute of everything, and are ready to perish. But God is far more tender and considerate to us than Elisha was to the widow. If we have but the feeling of want, but the desire for Gods help, that very want or desire will be to us what the pot of oil was to the widow--the source of an abundant supply of all that we need. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
A prophets widow and a prophet s kindness
I. A prophets widow in distress. To-day some of the most enlightened, thoughtful, and really useful ministers are amongst the poorest.
1. That poverty is not necessarily a disgrace. It is sometimes the result of inflexible honesty and moral nobility.
2. That the best lives here are subject to trials.
3. That avarice feeds cruelty.
II. A prophet at work to relieve a brothers widow. In her distress instinct tells her where to go, and she goes to Elisha, a man not only who knew her husband, but of kindred experiences and sympathies. See how Elisha helps this widow.
1. Promptly. He did not want arguments or testimonials. He helped her.
2. Effectively. (Homilist.)
The humble not forgotten
One thing which is prominent in the Word of God is vividly illustrated in this incident. God remembers His poor people. The Bible is the poor mans book. The wealth, honour, pride, power, and glory of this world are of small account in the sight of Heaven. The widow with her two mites, the jailer at Philippi, Lydia the purple-seller, Elisha the ploughman, Amos the herdsman, Peter and John the fishermen, were individuals of no social importance. The secular historian would have deemed them unworthy of notice. But they were chosen to play wonderful parts on the field of moral action. In the age when this poor Shunammite widow was living in obscurity, stupendous struggles were going on among the carnal empires, of which Herodotus, Xenophon, and Thucydides give most elaborate records. But of these the Bible takes no notice. In the New Testament Philippi comes before us in connection with a humble man and an insignificant woman; while the terrific battle which there turned the worlds history is ignored; nor are King Philip, the great founder, and Alexander the Great--brought up at Philippi--so much as alluded to. If we would be great in the sight of the Lord, we must be found in line with His purposes. It might have been imagined that Elijah and Elisha would concern themselves only with the important affairs of great people. But, as a matter of fact, while they had much to do with kings and nobles and generals and statesmen, yet they had still more to do with peasants, labourers, poor students, and lone widows. They belonged to the people. The Gospel is not for any one section of humanity; but its blessings come flint to the needy, the sad, the afflicted, and the guilty. (Christian Commonwealth.)
Elisha multiplies the widows oil
I. The person for whom this miracle was wrought. A certain woman.
1. She was the subject of accumulated sorrow.
(1) Her condition was desolate. She was a widow. Few if any of the trying conditions of life are more pitiable than the widowed one.
(2) Her condition was oppressed. Her husband had died insolvent, She was in debt. Her sorrow was increased with the thought of the possibility of losing her sons. Trouble seldom comes alone.
2. She was a woman of devout spirit. It is difficult to over-estimate the value of having a pious partner, a godly child, or a faithful companion; but how important it is that we ourselves axe holy, We may gather from this incident the following thoughts concerning this woman.
(1) She was devout in the manner of her address. She spake to Elisha in a reverent spirit.
(2) She spoke kindly of her deceased husband. Thy servant my husband is dead.
(3) She was anxious about her living sons. Her motherly heart was filled with sorrow at the thought of her sons being sold. True piety is devout, it deals gently with the dead, it cares for the living. Such is a brief description of this womans sorrow and character. Notice--
II. The manner in which this miracle was performed. God was this widows Helper. This is in harmony with His nature. He is loving, tender, faithful, and full of compassion. A Father of the fatherless (Psa_68:5).
1. God took advantage of her extremity. Often mans extremity is Gods opportunity. God interposed just when this womans sorrow was the heaviest, and when her outlook was the darkest. How often He deals with His children in like manner now.
2. Her faith was tested by the means employed. This womans deliverance was effected in a short time and in a strange way.
III. The attributes of the Divine character which this miracle exhibits. This miracle exhibits--
1. The Divine law of righteousness. Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt. The Divine law is, Owe no man anything but love. We are to be just in our material, social, and commercial relationships.
2. The rich resources of Divine wisdom. The promises which God has made concerning the deliverance of His children in seasons of trial are abundant, simple, precious: Call upon Me (Psa_50:15). When thou (Isa_43:2). In behalf of His children, God has brought water from a rock, made a path through the sea, etc.
3. The greatness of Divine mercy. Live thou and thy children of the rest. Enough to satisfy the creditor, and some to spare. How great is Gods mercy. It is higher than the heavens. Conclusion. Let us be faithful, submissive, and heroic when duty leads us into trial Many a cloudy morning has turned into a fine day. We all have trials; but what are our heaviest trials compared to those this woman endured? We may have the same Friend and Helper. If we trust in Him, our sorrow shall be turned into joy. (John Wileman.)
Christ anticipated
The way in which Elisha addresses himself to the circumstances of the case is very significant of the method of Jesus Christ. Elisha asked the woman, What shall I do for thee? Jesus often asked the same question of those who came to Him for healing or relief--What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? Thus the petitioner is made a party to the case in no merely nominal sense, but in the sense of acquiring distinct responsibility of suggestion or advice. No doubt the prophet knew what the widow wanted, yet a good purpose was to be gained in causing her to state her case in her own words. This is how God Himself proceeds in the matter of our own prayers. Our heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him; yet it has pleased Him to make it part of our education to allow us to state our own necessities and argue our own pleas, leaving Him to be sole judge when the case is laid before Him. Elisha asked another question which Jesus Christ also put on some occasions. Elisha said, Tell me, what hast thou in the house? Jesus Christ asked the disciples what bread they had before He proceeded to satisfy the hunger of the multitude. It is Gods plan to start with what we have. So we have certain preliminary duties to attend to; as, for example, finding out the whole of our resources, placing these at the disposal of the Master, beginning with a little as if it were a great amount, and gradually proceeding until we ourselves are surprised by the largeness and completeness of the miracle. Now Elisha proceeds to his work:--Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels. This would have committed him to some degree of miraculous interposition, but this was not all he said; he added to his instructions, Borrow not a few (verse 3). In Psa_81:10, we read, Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. It is Gods joy, if we may so put it, to give large answers to the requests of men. Said Christ, Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. Not a partial joy, and not the beginning of a joy, but a complete, overflowing, redundant joy. It was the vessels that were exhausted, not the hand of God that was emptied. A notable lesson this, that it is never God who fails but always man who comes to the end of his capacity. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The widows pot of oil and the empty vessels
There are three or four significant utterances here which I wish to speak of.
1. The womans great need. Every sinner is in debt. We have broken the law of God and our debt is greater than we can ever pay. There is no one to pay the debt for us among our fellow-men. We must have a redeemer, and Jesus Christ is the only name given under heaven or among men who has the spiritual wealth and the infinite love to redeem us, and He comes and asks us, as Elisha asked this poor widow, What shall I do for thee? What are you going to say to Jesus who is asking you that question? Will you say to Him, Oh, I think you can do nothing for me now. I will go on awhile in my sins; I will think about it awhile longer; I will wear the handcuffs of evil habit and drag the ball-and-chain of sinful appetites a while longer; perhaps some time I will let you do something for me? Can you imagine the poor widow answering Elisha like that? Can you dream of her saying to Elisha, Oh, I think I will not have you do anything now; I will let the boys be slaves awhile; I will go on in my misery and my poverty. Perhaps after they have slaved it for a time, and I have starved awhile, I will let you do something for me? Would you not say that that was infinite folly? And it is the part of wisdom for you to say, when Jesus asks what He can do for you, Lord Jesus, redeem me from my sins. Save my soul. Do whatever you can do to lift me out of my sinful condition into goodness and peace.
2. Elisha says to this widow, Tell me, what hast thou in the house? That is in harmony with the way God always brings blessings to His children. So God deals with us. He will not waste anything that we already have. He will take into account whatever there is of good in us. While we have absolutely nothing in us which, taken by itself, can save us, yet every fraction of good teaching that we have received from our parents, every point of good discipline that has come to us in the stress of life, everything that is good in us, if it be so small as only to be compared to a widows pot of oil, or a little lads lunch of five loaves and two fishes, God will not throw away, or fail to take into account, but He will make all these a blessing to our souls if we give our hearts to Him.
3. Another very important message is to be found in the empty vessels. Many fail of salvation because they have no empty vessels. Their vessels are all full of their own self-righteousness, something that is utterly useless to redeem from the bondage of sin, but that shuts out the grace of God from the heart. When the publican and the Pharisee went up into the temple to pray, the Pharisee had no empty vessels with him. We must all come with the same humility of heart, with the same vessels emptied of all self, and throw ourselves on the mercy of God. There is no caste or aristocracy or social rank in sin; every sinner in the world, rich or poor, high or low, must come with supreme self-surrender at the foot of the Cross if he would find salvation. When the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria, was told by his physician that he could not live long, he was anxious about his soul. His physician, who was an old friend, endeavoured to soothe his mind by referring to his high respectability and his distinguished situation, but the Duke stopped him short by saying, No; remember if I am to be saved, it is not as a prince, but as a sinner. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain WE are now in the full tide of Elishas…
ELISHAS MIRACLES
2Ki_4:1-44
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WE are now in the full tide of Elishas miracles, and as regards many of them we can do little more than illustrate the text as it stands. The record of them clearly comes from some account prevalent in the schools of the prophets, which is however only fragmentary, and has been un-chronologically pieced into the annals of the kings of Israel.
The story of Elisha abounds far more in the supernatural than that of Elijah, and is believed by most critics to be of earlier date. Yet the scenes and portents of his life are almost wholly lacking in the element of grandeur which belong to those of the elder seer. His personality, if on the whole softer and more beneficent, inspires less of awe, and the whole tone of the biography which recorded these isolated incidents is lacking in the poetic and impassioned elevation which marks the episodes of Elijahs history. We see in the records of Elisha, as in the biographies so rich in prodigies of fourth-century hermits and mediaeval saints, how little impressive in itself is the exercise of abnormal powers; how it derives its sole grandeur from the accompaniment of great moral lessons and spiritual revelations. John the Baptist "did no miracle," yet our Lord placed him not only far above Elisha, but even above Moses and Samuel and Elijah, when He said of him, "Verily I say unto you, of them that have been born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
It is impossible not to be struck with the singular parallelism between the powers exercised by Elisha and those which are attributed to his predecessor. "How true an heir is Elisha of his master," says Bishop Hall, "not in his graces only, but in his actions! Both of them divided the waters of Jordan, the one as his last act, the other as his first. Elijahs curse was the death of the captains and their troops; Elishas curse was the death of the children. Elijah rebuked Ahab to his face; Elisha, Jehoram. Elijah supplied the drought of Israel by rain from heaven; Elisha supplied the drought of the three kings by waters gushing out of the earth. Elijah increased the oil of the Sareptan, Elisha increased the oil of the prophets widow; Elijah raised from death the Sareptans son, Elisha the Shunammites; both of them had one mantle, one spirit; both of them climbed up one Carmel, one heaven." The resemblance, however, is not at all in character, but only in external and miraculous circumstances. In all other respects Elisha furnishes a contrast to Elijah which startles us quite as much as any superficial resemblances. Elijah was a free, wild Bedawy prophet, hating and shunning as his ordinary residence the abodes of men, making, his home in the rocky wady or in the mountain glades, appearing and disappearing suddenly as the wind. He asserted his power most often in ministries of retribution. Clad in the sheepskin of a Gadite shepherd or mountaineer, he was not one of those who wear soft clothing or are found in kings houses. He usually met monarchs as their enemy and their reprover, but for the most part avoided them. He never intervened for years together even in national events of the utmost importance, whether military or religious, unless he received the direct call of God, or there appeared to him to be a "dignus Vindice nodus." Elisha, on the other hand, makes his home in cities, and chiefly in Samaria. He is familiar with kings and moves about with armies, and has no long retirements into unknown solitudes; and though he could speak roughly to Jehoram, he is often on the friendliest terms with him and with other sovereigns.
The stories of Elisha give us many interesting glimpses into the social life of Israel in his day. As to their literal historic accuracy, those must make positive affirmation who feel that they can do so in accordance alike with adequate authority and with the sacredness of truth. Many will be unable to escape the opinion that they bear some resemblance to other Jewish haggadoth, written for edification, with every innocent intention, in the schools of the Prophets, but no more intended for perfectly literal acceptance in all their details than the Life of St. Paul the Hermit by St. Jerome; or that of St. Anthony, attributed erroneously to St. Athanasius; or that of St. Francis in the Fioretti; or the lives of humble saints of the people called Kisar-el-anbiah, which are so popular among poor Mohammedans. Into that question there is no need to enter further. Abundet quisque in Sensu suo.
I. On one occasion a widow of one of the Sons of the Prophets-for these communities, though coenobitic, were not celibate-came to him in deep distress. Her husband-the Jews, with their usual guesswork, most improbably identified him with Obadiah, the chamberlain of Ahab-had died insolvent. As she had nothing to pay, her creditor under the grim provision of the law was about to exercise his right of selling her two sons into slavery to recoup himself for the debt. {Lev_25:39-41; Mat_18:25} Would Elisha help her?
Prophets were never men of wealth, so that he could not pay her debt. He asked her what she possessed to satisfy the demand. Nothing, she said, "but a pot of the common oil, used for anointing the body after a bath."
Elisha bade her go and borrow from her neighbors all the empty vessels she could, then to return home, shut the door, and pour the oil into the vessels.
She did so. They were all filled, and she asked her son to bring yet another. But there was not another to be had, so she went out and told the Man of God. He bade her sell the miraculously multiplied oil to pay the debt, and live with her sons on the proceeds of what was over.
II. We next find Elisha at Shunem, famous as the abode of the fair maiden-probably Abishag, the nurse of Davids decrepitude-who is the heroine of the Song of Songs. It is a village, now called Solam, on the slopes of Little Hermon (Jebel-el-Duhy), three miles north of Jezreel. At this place there lived a lady of wealth and influence, whose husband owned the surrounding land. There were but few khans in Palestine, and even where they now exist the traveler has in most cases to supply his own food. Elisha, in his journeys to and fro among the schools of the Prophets, had often enjoyed the welcome hospitality eagerly pressed upon him by the lady of Shunem. Struck with his sacred character, she persuaded her husband to take a step unusual even to the boundless hospitality of the East. She begged him to do honor to this holy Man of God by building for him a little chamber (aliyah) on the flat roof of the house, to which he might have easy and private access by the outside staircase. The chamber was built, and furnished, like any other simple Eastern room, with a bed, a divan to sit on, a table, and a lamp; and there the weary prophet on his journeys often found a peaceful, simple, and delightful resting-place.
Grateful for the reverence with which she treated him, and the kind care with which she had supplied his needs, Elisha was anxious to recompense her in whatever way might be possible. The thought of money payment was of course out of the question; merely to hint at it would have been a breach of manners. But perhaps he might be of use to her in some other way. At this time, and for years afterwards during his long ministry of perhaps fifty-six years, he was attended by a servant named Gehazi, who stood to him in the same sort of relation which he had held to Elijah. He told Gehazi to summon the Shunammite lady. In the deep humility of Eastern womanhood she came and stood in his presence. Even then he did not address her. So downtrodden was the position of women in the East that any dignified person, much more a great prophet, could not converse with a woman without compromising his dignity. The more scrupulous Pharisees in the days of Christ always carefully gathered up their garments in the streets, lest they should so much as touch a woman with their skirts in passing by, as the modern Chakams in Jerusalem do to this day. The disciples themselves, sophisticated by familiarity with such teachers, were astonished that Jesus at the well of Shechem should talk with a woman. "So, though the lady stood there, Elisha, instead of speaking to her directly," told Gehazi to thank her for all the devout respect and care, all "the modesty of fearful duty," which she had displayed towards them, and to ask her if he should say a good word for her to the King or the Captain of the Host. This is just the sort of favor which an Eastern would be likely to value most. The Shunammite, however, was well provided for; she had nothing to complain of, and nothing to request. She thanked Elisha for his kindly proposal, but declined it and went away,
"Is there, then, nothing which we can do for her?" asked Elisha of Gehazi.
There was. Gehazi had learnt that the sorrow of her life-a sorrow and a source of reproach to any Eastern household, but most of all to that of a wealthy householder-was her childlessness. "Call her," he said.
She came back, and stood reverently in the doorway.
"When the time comes round," he said to her, "you shall embrace a son."
The promise raised in her heart a thrill of joy. It was too precious to be believed. "Nay," she said, "my lord, thou Man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid."
But the promise was fulfilled, and the lady of Shunem became the happy mother of a son.
III. The charming episode then passes over some years. The child had grown into a little boy, old enough now to go out alone to see his father in the harvest fields and to run about among the reapers. But as he played about in the heat he had a sunstroke, and cried to his father, "O my head, my head!" Not knowing how serious the matter was, his father simply ordered one of his lads to carry the child home to his mother. The fond mother nursed him tenderly upon her knees, but at noon he died.
Then the lady of Shunem showed all the faith and strength and wisdom of her character. "The good Shunammite," says Bishop Hall, "had lost her son; her faith she lost not." Overwhelming as was this calamity-the loss of an only child-she suppressed all her emotions, and, instead of bursting into the wild helpless wail of Eastern mourners, or rushing to her husband with the agonizing news, she took the little boys body in her arms, carried it up to the chamber which had been built for Elisha, and laid it upon his bed. Then, shutting the door, she called to her husband to send to her one of his reapers and one of the asses, for she was going quickly to the Man of God and would return in the cool of the evening. "Why should you go today particularly?" he asked. "It is neither new moon, nor sabbath." "It is all right," she said; and with perfect confidence in the rectitude of all her purposes, he sent her the she-ass, and a servant to drive it and to run beside it for her protection on the journey of sixteen miles.
"Drive on the ass," she said. "Slacken me not the riding unless I tell you." So with all possible speed she made her way-a journey of several hours-from Shunem to Mount Carmel.
Elisha, from his retreat on the hill, marked her coming from a distance, and it rendered him anxious. "Here comes the Shunammite," he said to Gehazi. "Run to meet her, and ask Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?"
"All well," she answered, for her message was not to Gehazi, and she could not trust her voice to speak; but pressing on up-hillwards she flung herself before Elisha and grasped his feet. Displeased at the familiarity which dared thus to clasp the feet of his master, Gehazi ran up to thrust her away by force, but Elisha interfered. "Let her alone," he cried; "she is in deep affliction, and Jehovah has not revealed to me the cause." Then her long pent-up emotion burst forth. "Did I desire a son of my lord?" she cried. "Did I not say do not deceive me?"
It was enough-though she seemed unable to bring out the dreadful words that her boy was dead. Catching her meaning, Elisha said to Gehazi, "Gird up thy loins, take my staff, and without so much as stopping to salute any one, or to return a salutation, lay my staff on the dead childs face." But the broken-hearted mother refused to leave Elisha. She imagined that the servant, the staff, might be severed from Elisha; but she knew that wherever the prophet was, there was power. So Elisha arose and followed her, and on the way Gehazi met them with the news that the child lay still and dead, with the fruitless staff upon his face.
Then Elisha in deep anguish went up to the chamber and shut the door, and saw the boys body lying pale upon his bed. After earnest prayer he outstretched himself over the little corpse, as Elijah had done at Zarephath. Soon it began to grow warm with returning life, and Elisha, after pacing up and down the room, once more stretched himself over him. Then the child opened his eyes and sneezed seven times, and Elisha called to Gehazi to summon the mother.
"Take up thy son," he said. She prostrated herself at his feet in speechless gratitude, and took up her recovered child, and went.
IV. We next find Elisha at Gilgal, in the time of the famine of which we read his prediction in a later chapter. {2Ki_8:1} The sons of the prophets were seated round him, listening to his instructions; the hour came for their simple meal, and he ordered the great pot to be put on the fire for the vegetable soup, on which, with bread, they chiefly lived. One of them went out for herbs, and carelessly brought his outer garment (the abeyah) full of wild poisonous coloquinths, which, by ignorance or inadvertence, were shred into the pottage. But when it was cooked and poured out they perceived the poisonous taste, and cried out, "0 Man of God, death in the pot!"
"Bring meal," he said, for he seems always to have been a man of the fewest words.
They cast in some meal, and were all able to eat of the now harmless pottage. It has been noticed that in this, as in other incidents of the story, there is no invocation of the name of Jehovah.
V. Not far from Gilgal was the little village of Baalshalisha, at which lived a farmer who wished to bring an offering of firstfruits and karmel (bruised grain) in his wallet to Elisha as a Man of God. It was a poor gift enough-only twenty of the coarse barley loaves which were eaten by the common people, and a sack full of fresh ears of corn. {see Lev_2:14; Lev_23:14} Elisha told his servitor-perhaps Gehazi-to set them before the people present. "What?" he asked, "this trifle of food before a hundred men!" But Elisha told him in the Lords name that it should more than suffice; and so it did.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 2Ki_4:1. Two sons to be bondmen—The law entitled a…
THE MIRACLES OF ELISHA
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
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2Ki_4:1. Two sons to be bondmen—The law entitled a creditor to the slavery or service of debtors till the year of Jubilee.
2Ki_4:2. Pot of oil—Gesenius suggests unctio—“oil for anointing,” as the rendering of אָסוךְ—instead of “pot”; no oil left for food, only enough for the anointing.
2Ki_4:3. Borrow not a few—She had none, should borrow many. Elisha had faith!
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_4:1-7
THE MIRACULOUS SUPPLY OF OIL SYMBOLIC OF THE INEXHAUSTIBILITY OF DIVINE GRACE
In this and the four following chapters we have a detailed account of the miracles of Elisha. We catch glimpses of the quiet, unobtrusive life spent in the schools of the prophets; and we cannot but observe the striking difference in the spirit and character of Elisha’s ministry as contrasted with that of his predecessor. Elijah represented the whirlwind, the earthquake, the fire; Elisha, the still small voice—less terrible and imposing, but more extensively influential for good. As Stanley beautifully puts it: “The whole appearance of Elisha revealed the difference. The rough mantle of his master appears no more after its first display. He uses a walking staff like other grave citizens (2Ki_4:29). He was not secluded in mountain fastnesses, but dwelt in his own house in the royal city (chap. 2Ki_5:9; 2Ki_5:24; 2Ki_6:32; 2Ki_13:17), or lingered amidst the sons of the prophets, within the precincts of ancient colleges, embowered amidst the shades of the beautiful woods which overhang the crystal spring that is still associated with his name; or was sought out by admiring disciples in some tower on Carmel, or by the pass of Dothan; or was received in some quiet balcony, overlooking the plain of Esdraclon, where bed and table and seat had been prepared for him by pious hands. His life was not spent, like his predecessor’s, in unavailing struggles, but in widespread successes. He was sought out, not as the enemy, but as the friend and counsellor, of kings. His deeds were not of wild terror, but of gracious, soothing, homely beneficence, bound up with the ordinary tenor of human life.” The miracle related in this paragraph indicates the sympathy of the prophet with the troubles and needs of human life. In treating the miracle as symbolic of the inexhaustibility of Divine Grace, the following thoughts are suggested.
I. That humanity is reduced by sin to a state of moral bankruptcy and ruin. Like the widow in the narrative, we are hopelessly in debt, and have nothing wherewith to discharge our liabilities. The law of Moses provided (Lev_25:39-41) that in case of inability to pay his debts, a man and his children might be sold and remain in bondage until the next year of jubilee. The laws we have outraged have handed us over to a bondage of the worst kind—the bondage of sin. “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” The more sin is yielded to, the greater moral ruin it works, and the more tyrannical the slavery it entails.
II. That every provision has been made by Divine grace to restore humanity to a state of moral solvency. Great as is the havoc wrought by sin, the remedy is greater. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5). All the perfections of the Divine nature are engaged in the restoration of fallen humanity. The redemption by Christ Jesus is universally applicable. Restoration is possible to the most abandoned—the heaviest debt may be cancelled. Heaven itself is too narrow for the full display of the Divine goodness—its streams flow down to bless and replenish the neediest on earth.
III. That individual effort is demanded in order to participate in the ample supplies of Divine grace. The widow in her extremity seeks for help, and readily obeys the directions given. The vessels are collected and the oil is poured out (2Ki_4:1-5). So Divine grace, to be enjoyed, is to be sought, and the Divine commands humbly and believingly obeyed. “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” It is not for man to question the Divine directions, but to obey; not to slight or ignore the Divine provisions, but eagerly and gratefully to accept them. The rarest treasures of earth are discovered by the diligent and persevering seeker. The blessings of heaven are worthy of the most laborious effort. Conscious need sharpens the vision and stimulates exertion.
IV. That the supply of Divine grace is limited only by the capacity of the receiver. Every available vessel was filled with the oil. When there were no more vessels to be obtained, the supply ceased (2Ki_4:6). The grace of God is practically inexhaustible; it is limited, not in itself, but by the capacity of the individual receiver. Copious as may be the rain-fall, a very limited quantity will suffice for the needs of a single flower. To a certain extent it may be true that the grace of God enlarges the vessel which it enriches with its blessings. The enjoyment of spiritual good increases the desire for more.
V. That the reception of Divine grace furnishes the loftiest motives to an upright and useful life. “Go, sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest” (2Ki_4:7). One of the first and simplest principles of true religion is honesty—it teaches a man to pay his debts. He is to do justly Some time ago the clothes of a gentleman were found on the seashore where he was accustomed to bathe, but no trace of his body was discovered. After due delay the amount for which his life was insured was paid. He swam out to a passing ship, assuming to be a political offender of whom the police were in search, and was taken on board. Under a new name, in the United States, he prospered; and, what was more, he became a subject of renewing grace. In a short time after he remitted to the insurance office a sum of money—principal and interest—of which it had been robbed under such false pretences. It brings religion into disgrace to neglect to pay just debts when fully able to do so. “For the grace of God was manifested, bringing salvation to all men, disciplining us, in order that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, justly, and godly in the present world” (Tit_2:11-12).—Alford. Religion supplies the most powerful motives to live the highest life, and teaches us how to act in all our relationships and duties.
LESSONS:—
1. The grace of God is universally needed.
2. Is boundless in generosity.
3. Has wrought marvellous changes in the condition and prospects of humanity.
THE WIDOW’S POT OF OIL
VERY abrupt and striking were the transitions in the life of Elisha. Yesterday he wrought a stupendous miracle which supplied the wants of a whole army, and was the means, more than the sword of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, of subduing the rebellious kingdom of Moab; to-day he works a miracle for the relief of a poor and friendless widow, to save her sons from slavery and herself from starvation. In this respect Elisha is a type of the faithful Christian minister, who has to pass through scenes as chequered and transitions in their own way as sudden and remarkable, who, abstracted from common interests and habits, and lifted by his unworldly character and mission above all human precedences, is debtor alike to the rich and the poor.
I. To this widow Elisha stood as the representative of the compassionate Saviour, before whom all the world’s glory pales, and whose presence alone can, without disturbance to the order of society, equalise all human ranks and level all their conventional distinctions in the dust. She was in circumstances that made her feel with peculiar painfulness the gradations of ranks and the vicissitudes of life. If we are to believe the voice of tradition as expressed by Josephus, she was one who had seen better days, being the widow of Obadiah, the lord high-chamberlain of Ahab. While her husband lived she breathed the atmosphere of a court, and was nourished in the lap of luxury. But when he died, she seems to have been reduced to the utmost poverty. On account of these trying circumstances, her case was one that peculiarly warranted the interposition of heaven. But she had another claim still, beside that of her wretchedness, upon the sympathy and help of Elisha. Her husband feared the Lord while he lived. He was the son of a prophet, and cherished the deepest regard for the person and the work of those who filled that sacred office. If he was indeed Obadiah, the steward of Ahab—and there seems no reason to doubt the Jewish tradition—then the sacred story informs us that during the fierce persecution of the prophets of Israel by Jezebel he took an hundred of these prophets, and, at the peril of his life, hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water during the whole continuance of the famine. He may have spent upon the prophets of the Lord what he meant for his own wife and children. Like Joseph in Pharaoh’s court, like Daniel in Babylon, the upright and pious chamberlain in the palace of Ahab did not take advantage of his opportunities of enriching himself, as the officers of Eastern monarchs have so often done. On the contrary, he spent his fortune in benefiting the needy, and died poor. On this ground his widow might well appeal to Elisha for assistance.
II. Elisha willingly acknowledges the claim. He is filled with pity for the poor broken-hearted widow. Who knows what terrible privations she underwent without complaining while she had the company of her sons to cheer her? But when they were about to be taken from her, she could no more hide her suffering. She must get help, else she will die. Elisha’s first question to her evinced a wonderful knowledge of the human heart, and of the best mode of dealing with poverty and suffering. Instead of volunteering to give her aid at once, as most persons would have done, carried away by an overpowering impulse of compassion at the recital of the tale of sorrow, like a wise and judicious friend he enquires how far she herself has the power to avert the threatened calamity—“What hast thou in the house?” His assistance must be based upon her own assistance. He will help her to help herself. And this is the only true way to benefit the poor. By reckless and indiscriminate almsgiving, by wholesale gifts of money, we run the risk of pauperising the objects of our charity. Our assistance, therefore, should be of such a nature as to call forth the resources which they themselves possess, and to make the most of them. No help from without can benefit, unless there be a willingness of self-help within. Of course such a mode as this of administering charity is more troublesome, and requires a greater expenditure of time and self-denial, than the plan of throwing a dole to a beggar to get rid of his importunity. But putting him in the way of helping himself will be truer charity than any gift of money.
III. The widow of Obadiah had nothing in the house save a pot of oil. Out of this last pot of oil—the sign of her utmost poverty—Elisha furnished the source of her comfort and happiness. Like Elijah, who made the handful of meal and the cruse of oil already existing an unwasting provision for each new day’s want; like a greater than Elijah, whose miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes took its point of departure into the supernatural from the common barley loaves and fishes before Him; so Elisha, in the case of Obadiah’s widow, made the produce of nature and of man’s labour the basis of his wonderful act. In the fables of all nations we are told that a magician, by a mere wave of his wand, or by pronouncing a certain charm, produces at once wealth and luxuries that had no existence before. Aladdin rubs a ring, and immediately a genius appears, and at his command provides a rich feast for him out of nothing. He rubs an old lamp, and at once a gorgeous palace rises up before him in substantial reality created out of the formless ether around. By putting on Fortunatus’s wishing cap, the lucky possessors of it can get anything they want, and create things unknown before. But there is nothing like this in the miracles of the Bible. The prophets and godly men of old were no such magicians as these. Their most wonderful works are in beautiful accordance with the wise laws of labour and economy which pervade the ordinary arrangements of life. Even the miracles of Christ, which approached nearest to creations out of nothing, rested upon a fulcrum of existing materials, by means of which their supernatural leverage was exerted. In miracles, man must be a fellow-worker with God in subduing the earth, and in removing the limitations and disabilities of the curse. In these actions men prepared themselves by the miracle wrought within them—the triumph over natural unbelief and the objections of reason—to believe in and to benefit by the miracle about to be wrought without. They heated the iron, as it were, which the hammer of Omnipotence was about to strike and to mould for His purposes.
IV. The widow of Obadiah might well be astonished at the command of Elisha. But, in spite of all the objections of reason and common sense, she hastened to obey the prophet. Her faith triumphed over all difficulties. It is a significant circumstance that he should have commanded her to shut the door upon herself and her sons. Reverence, stillness, and solitude are needed for the miracle, and therefore the door must be shut, and the unsympathetic world must be excluded. It is not in the crowd that God works His wonders in nature and grace; it is in the lonely place, to the solitary individual. Who is it that sees the grander revelations of nature, but he who turns his back upon the human multitude, and seeks communion with her alone in the sanctuary of her hills and desert places? But, besides being necessary to prepare the widow of Obadiah for receiving the benefits of the miracle, the solitude and secrecy which Elisha enjoined were significant of the mysterious character of the miracle itself. It was veiled in the same obscurity as all creative acts—as all beginnings. The seed germinates—or, in other words, multiplies itself—in darkness; animal life begins in the mysterious secrecy of the womb; formless matter crystallizes in the sunless caves of the earth into more than the glory of living flowers. Who catches the exact moment when the evening star first twinkles in the transparent blue? Who has noticed the unfolding of the full-blown rose from the bud? God’s arm wrought unseen for Israel in the bosom of the dark cloud which rested over the Red Sea all the night; and in the morning the dry path was revealed between the crystal walls of water. The veil of darkness concealed the falling of the manna from heaven; and the dawn only disclosed it as it whitened the tawny sand of the desert around the tents of Israel. Verily God hideth himself—shuts, as it were, the door upon all His origins and commencements, and leaves us baffled outside. Science and religion and all life bring us back to unfathomable mystery—a closed door, whose magic “sesame” no human being can utter.
V. How great must have been the astonishment of the widow when, pouring into the first vessel a quantity of oil from her pot, the vessel filled immediately after the first few drops; and the same thing happened as she passed from vessel to vessel, each filling to the brim as soon as she poured a little from her own store into it; until at the end, pouring the last remaining drops into the last vessel, her own stock of oil and the supply from heaven failed together. The process by which the oil was multiplied we labour in vain to conceive. We cannot explain the phenomenon by the observation of any known laws; and yet, in truth, the miracle is not more strange, save in the rapidity with which it is effected, than that which is every day going forward in nature in those regions where the olive tree grows. You sow the seed of an olive tree; that seed contains a very small quantity of oil. It grows and becomes a tree and produces an immense quantity of fruit; so that from the little drop of oil in the small vessel of the seed, you have thousands of vessels in the shape of the berries, each filled with oil. The miracle teaches us that the natural process is not the result of an impersonal law or of a dead course of things, but the working of our Father in heaven; while the natural process in its turn shows to us that God in the miracle is working in the line of the ordinary events and dispensations of His providence.
VI. Awestruck and filled with amazement, the widow went and told the Man of God what had happened. She asked for counsel in the strange and unexpected emergency. She needed assurance of the reality and permanence of this marvellous good fortune. The oil might vanish as mysteriously as it came. How calmly the prophet receives her! He knew what would happen. And does not this show a wonderful amount of faith and confidence in God on the part of Elisha? He told the widow to sell the miraculous oil and pay her debt with the price of it, and use what she could not sell as food for herself and her children. The miracle goes no further than is absolutely necessary. It blends with common life. It does not permanently enrich the poor; it provides only for the temporary necessity. How strikingly does this incident show that we must be fellow-workers with God throughout, from first to last, in our own deliverance and blessing? Thus, in a most interesting manner, was the bread cast upon the waters found after many days. The widow proved in her experience the truth of the Saviour’s words: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;” or, as the phrase should be translated literally, “Blessed are the olive givers, for olives shall be given to them.” Obadiah had poured the oil of his bounty into the afflicted heart of God’s servants; and God’s servant in return gave his widow the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
VII. We might make many practical uses of the widow’s pot of oil, for it is full of significance, but we prefer turning the incident into a parable, and using it as an encouragement to prayer. We are all in the condition of the poor widow; we are destitute of everything, and are ready to perish. But God is far more tender and considerate to us than Elisha was to the widow. If we have but the feeling of want, but the desire for God’s help, that very want or desire will be to us what the pot of oil was to the widow—the source of an abundant supply of all we need. If we come to God with the longing of our hearts for His salvation, He will come with the fulness of His Godhead, and supply all our needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. If we provide vessels, God will furnish the oil with which to fill them. For our own little oil He will give us overflowing measure; for our feeble desire, He will do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Let us, borrow, then, many vessels; let them be empty, nothing of self in them, and let us lay them before Christ, and He will fill them to the brim with the oil of His grace. Gethsemane, the place where He suffered the last agony, means a press for olive oil. From that oil-press of sorrow He will provide a sufficient supply of the oil of gladness for us.—Condensed from the Sunday Magazine for 1873).
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_4:1-7. The widow’s cruse. I. The widow’s difficulty.
(1). The nature of it. A debt. One that she could not pay. Might not be much, but she was poor.
(2). Had come upon her suddenly. Otherwise her husband would not have left her thus. Some provision would have been made.
(3). Aggravations of the difficulty. Her sons, instead of being her stay and support in her widowhood, must now work for another. Instead of being prophets, they must be bondsmen. It does not necessarily follow that her creditor was hard-hearted. He may have been; he seems only to have wanted his own. He may have been poor. On the other hand, he may have rejoiced at breaking up such a home. II. The widow’s helper. God.
(1). Agreeable to His nature, knows what we have need of. A just God. Would equally defend the right of the creditor, as well as the case of the widow.
(2). In harmony with His Word. Widows and orphans are His special care.
(3). In aiding her He employs the prophet. It may be that her husband’s connection with the prophets had brought her into this strait. If so, there was a fitness in the selection of her instrument of deliverance. Man the helper of man. Man blessed that he may become a blessing.
(4). He aided in answer to prayer. She sought and found. She came first to Elisha. Trial of faith and reward of it. III. The widow’s deliverance.
(1). Speedily effected. Not long years of hard service of her sons and herself. This prompt help shows the prophet’s sympathy and sense of justice too.
(2). Strange method. Vessels borrowed. Great many. All her neighbours’.
(3). The command. Close doors. No prying eyes of people who might misunderstand the whole case. “Pour out.” She does so, and her cruse fills all the vessels. Sells the oil and pays the debt.
(4). The effect. Her character for honesty vindicated. Her sons saved to her and to their high vocation. She is saved from the need of hard and unaccustomed toil. The Divine friend of the helpless and poor is, by this history, commended to all widows. The story is one of many encouraging events that may lead widows, and such as are friendless, to trust in God. Many sad hearts, empty of comfort, have been filled with the oil of joy out of her cruse.
LEARN:—
1. The best people are sometimes exposed to trial.
2. God is a present help in the time of need.
3. We should sympathize with the sad as Elisha with the widow.
4. Our little may go far, with God’s blessing.—The Class and Desk.
2Ki_4:1. The griping tyranny of debt. I. May fasten upon those who do their best to avoid it. II. Is the more keenly felt in proportion to the desire to do everything in the fear of the Lord. III. Brings suffering and slavery upon the family.
—How thick did the miseries of this poor afflicted woman light upon her! Her husband is lost, her estate clogged with debts, her children ready to be taken for slaves. Her husband was a religious and worthy man; he paid his debts to nature, he could not to his creditors. They are cruel, and rake in the scarce closed wound of her sorrow, passing an arrest worse than death upon her sons. Virtue and goodness can pay no debts. The holiest man may be deep in arrearages and break the bank, not through lavishness and riot of expense, but through either iniquity of times, or evil casualties. Ahab and Jezebel were lately on the throne; who can marvel that a prophet was in debt! It was well that any good man might have his breath free, though his estate were not. Wilfully to overlash our ability cannot stand with wisdom and good government; but no providence can guard us from crosses. Holiness is no more defence against debt than against death. Grace can keep us from unthriftiness, not from want.—Bp. Hall.
2Ki_4:3-5. In temporal affairs experience must precede and faith follow; in spiritual affairs faith must precede, and then experience follows, for we do not find out the truth unless belief in God’s Word has preceded (Joh_7:17). Whatever a man does in the obedience of faith, whether it appears foolish or vain in the eyes of the world, is nevertheless blessed by God, and redounds to his soul’s health.—Cramer.
2Ki_4:5. It was time to shut the door, saith a reverend man, when many greater vessels must be supplied from one little one. But why must the door be shut?
1. That she might be the more free to pray (Mat_6:6).
2. That she might manifest her own faith, and not be hindered by the unbelief of others (Mar_6:5-6).
3. That it might not be thought that the oil was by anybody secretly conveyed into the house to them.
—The secrecy of the Divine workings. I. Strengthens the convictions of their supernatural character. II. Demands a more implicit faith. III. Does not prevent their beneficent results being apparent to all.
2Ki_4:6. Out of one small jar was poured out so much oil as by a miraculous multiplication filled all these empty casks. Scarce had that pot any bottom, at least the bottom that it had was to be measured by the brims of all those vessels: this was so deep as they were high; could they have held more this pot had not been empty. Even so the bounty of our God gives grace and glory according to the capacity of the receiver. When he ceases to infuse, it is for want of room in the heart to take it in. Could we hold more, O God, thou wouldst give more: if there be any defect, it is in our vessels, not in thy beneficence!—Bp. Hall.
—This is a good emblem of the grace of God. While there is an empty, longing heart, there is a continual overflowing fountain of salvation. If we find in any place, or at any time, that the oil ceases to flow, it is because there are no empty vessels there, no souls hungering and thirsting for righteousness.—Clarke.
2Ki_4:7. If means are given thee to satisfy thy creditor, let it be thy first duty to pay him before thou carest for thyself! He who can pay his debts but will not, takes what does not belong to him, and sins against the eighth commandment. When the Lord gives there is always something left over and above. He never merely takes away distress, He gives a blessing besides. He desires, however, that the obligation to our neighbour should first be satisfied before we begin to enjoy His blessing.—Lange.
—Some of the ancient interpreters find in this widow an image of the Gentile church. The husband being dead signifies that she was no longer joined to her ancient idolatries. Her coming to Elisha and obeying his word is explained as a type of the eagerness with which the Gentiles sought salvation at the hands of Christ and His apostles; and the abundant supply of oil represents the bountiful provisions of the Gospel to deliver all nations from the bondage of sin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain 2Ki 4:6
2Ki 4:6
I. We see here how exactly the oil matches the capacity and number of the vessels provided. According to the provision made, so was the miraculous gift. This shows us the law of God’s dealing with men’s souls. He gives grace, but He gives it in measure. He gives grace as much as man is ready to receive; but He requires man to prepare vessels to receive the grace He gives, and to use and not "leave of it."
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II. The oil is Divine grace. Our thoughts, our wishes, our purposes, our conversations, our acts, are all vessels into which the grace of God may be poured from the little cruse of our heart, filled with oil at our baptism. As often as we pour Divine grace into the vessels of our daily acts, so long it flows and fills; but if we stay our hand, the oil is stayed.
III. The oil was given to be used; so is Divine grace. If we use what God gives and value it, he who gathers much shall have nothing over, and he who gathers little shall have no lack.
S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 163.
References: 2Ki 4:6.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1467; Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 69. 2Ki 4:8-25.—A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 91.
2Ki 4:8-38
What Elisha did for the Shunammite’s son, the Church wishes to do for you.
I. The Church is like Elisha because it touches you. It touches you through its one book, the Bible; it touches you through its prayers, and praises, and sermons.
II. The Church is like Elisha because it fits you. As the prophet carefully adapted himself to the child, so the great truths of the Gospel fit your mind and heart. Christ lowers His vast mind to our level, and teaches us truth as we are able to bear it. The Bible truth is likened to bread, to water, and to light. All these are for young and old alike.
III. The Church would also fain warm you into life. It may do as much for your souls as Elisha did for the young Shunammite. Pray that God’s Spirit may touch you, and then you shall be warmed into a new life that shall live for ever in the paradise of God.
IV. You will then be a blessing in the Church and in the world, like the revived boy in the home of the Shunammite. When the young yield themselves to the Saviour, the Church is like that boy’s mother when, overcome with joy, she bowed herself to the ground and folded her living son in her bosom. That was the day of days in her history. The chief crown and joy of any flock is the fresh, warm life of young Christians who have life before them, and who mean, by God’s help, to lay themselves on His holy altar.
J. Wells, Bible Children, p. 107.
Reference: 2Ki 4:8-38.—Parker, Fountain, March 22nd, 1877.
2Ki 4:9
This brief, simple statement, taken in its general form, sets forth so far what we ought to be in our own life.
I. "A man of God"—a very striking title to give to a human being, and a very grand one, even if for the moment we drop the adjective "holy." And yet is not this the title which every man should be able to adopt and proud to bear? We all come from His creating hand. We live on His beneficence. We are subject to His providence. A great many different kinds of life men can live on the earth, lower and higher, but there is only one best life—that which a man may live in God. A man of God should be proud of his title. Other men are proud of theirs—the man of the world, the man of letters, the statesman, the man of honour. The man of God should never be ashamed of his name, if only he has the right to bear it.
II. "An holy man of God." Holiness means wholeness. To be holy is to be without disease and without defect, all the parts of the living personality present, all acting harmoniously. Scriptural holiness means keeping in health, and growing in grace, and rising towards the measure of the ultimate perfection in Jesus Christ—"a man of God; an holy man of God."
III. Contemplate now the man of God at work. "Behold now an holy man of God, which passeth by us." There can be no health of any kind, physical or moral, without movement. If we want to be men of God, we must do the duties of our life as they come. Let every one remember that there is a round of duty for him, along the track of which no feet but his can walk, a daily task which no hand but his can touch, a life-work that will be undone unless he does it.
IV. "Continually." All the great things in life are produced more by constancy and in quietness than in loudness and by force. Step by step will take you to the end of the longest journey. Duty after duty done, although poorly done many a time, will enable you one day to say with the Master Himself, "It is finished."
A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 104.
2Ki 4:10
I. How did this little chamber come to be? It originated in the quick and clear conception of this woman of Shunem. The perceiving, the observing, eye is the gate of knowledge, the quickener of sympathy, the informer to benevolence. It brings before the benevolent heart the material on which it can act. It is at least the hewer of wood and the drawer of water to nobler faculties than itself.
II. Let us see how these nobler things come out in this case. Immediate action is taken. It is good to know men and things somewhat correctly; but the higher pleasure is later born, and is always associated with doing and with duty. "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it." There are duties and privileges which are possible to us only within a certain limit and line of time, and beyond that impossible for ever.
III. Do not think of these duties of helpfulness as involving great exertion, or very considerable expenditure of time or money. It is not so. It is even in some cases very much the reverse, as in this case of the good Shunammite. Her gift, after all, is very simple, and to herself and her husband very inexpensive. The room she gave the prophet was hung round with no pictures; the three inscriptions we may see on the walls are these: (1) considerateness; (2) simplicity; (3) contentment.
A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 115.
I. The little chamber was built by a great woman whose name is not told us. If we live to do good and to make others happy, our names will be where hers is.
II. The prophet Elisha conducted himself in such a way in this woman’s house that she knew he was a man of God. If some of those who do not eat and drink to the glory of God could see themselves as others, and especially as God sees them, they would be ashamed.
III. In the little chamber Elisha raised the Shunammite’s dead son. God pays good rent for all that His servants use.
T. Champness, Little Foxes that Spoil the Vines, p. 46.
References: 2Ki 4:13.—J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 479. 2Ki 4:19.—J. Hamilton, Works, vol. vi., p. 474. 2Ki 4:20.—T. L. Cuyler, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 104. 2Ki 4:23.—E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation, 2nd series, p. 400. 2Ki 4:25-37.—A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 105. 2Ki 4:26.—E. J. Hardy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 284; A. P. Stanley, Good Words, 1878, p. 140; A. K. H. R., From a Quiet Place, p. 117; G. D. Macgregor, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 49; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii., No. 411; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 179; M. Nicholson, Redeeming the Time, p. 286; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 20, and vol. xxii., p. 93. 2Ki 4:30.—Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 24.
2Ki 4:31
Here is a remarkable thing in Bible history, nothing less than that a miracle should miscarry. Here is an attempt to work a miracle which ends in failure. Is it without a parallel? Are there any proposed miracles suddenly broken in failure? We are bound to ask these sharp and serious questions.
I. Who was this Gehazi? An undeveloped hypocrite. Up to this moment he may have secured outwardly his master’s confidence and regard, but we are more than one self. There were three or four different men in that Gehazi figure. The bad man spoils whatever he touches. Virtue perished out of Elisha’s staff; it became in the grip of Gehazi but a common stick. There is nothing sacred to the bad man; what he touches he defiles. Where we are wrong in our relation to God, we are wrong in our relation to everything else.
II. The word of God is our staff, our symbol; and this inspired book should have an inspired perusal. There is a subtle temptation to inquire when we have not succeeded in our ministry whether the staff was good. But when the child is not awaked, we should not blame the staff; when the neighbourhood is unaware of our spiritual presence, we should not blame the neighbourhood or the word. We should ask, "Am I Gehazi? Am I the wrong man with the right staff?"
III. We ask next, "Was not Elisha partly to blame in this matter? Did he send a staff where he ought to have gone himself?" I would instantly encounter the inquiry with an indignant denial if I did not know that some of us are doing the same thing. Does any man here send a guinea when he ought to send a life? Jesus Christ gave Himself, and self-giving is the only true benefaction and donation. You ought to be made to feel that part of yourself has gone with every gift you give.
Parker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 315 (see also- vol. viii., p. 121).
2Ki 4:31
I. The reason why Gehazi failed to awaken the child was that he was not a fit agent for the wonder-working power. God saw in him the selfishness, the covetousness, which soon came to light, and so He refused to acknowledge him. To give life a man must have life, and have it in its purity and abundance.
II. There are some of you, many of you, who have lived long enough to have grown somewhat dull and dead. Boys and girls are "dead"—dead in spirit, dead in the worst kind of death—if they have lost all care for God, for truth, and righteousness, and kindness.
III. Some of you, if you are not dead, are at least "fast asleep." You are dreaming, and pursuing dreams. You have eyes, but they are not open.
IV. If you are diligent, thoughtful, quick to seize occasion as it rises, because it is your duty, because you love God and hold His law to be the true law of life, then you are alive and awake. And if you are alive and awake, your life will be a happy preparation for the better life to come.
S. Cox, The Bird’s Nest, p. 64.
References: 2Ki 4:31.—H. Macmillan, The Olive Leaf, p. 136. 2Ki 4:31-34.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., Appendix, p. 24. 2Ki 4:32-35.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 78. 2Ki 4:34.—D. J. Vaughan, The Days of the Son of Man, p. 400; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1461. 2Ki 4:34, 2Ki 4:35.—H. Macmillan, The Olive Leaf, p. 136. 2Ki 4:36, 2Ki 4:37.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. i., p. 75. 2Ki 4:38-41.—A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 115. 2Ki 4:38-44.—Parker, vol. viii., p. 132. 2Ki 4:40.—J. Thain Davidson, Talks with Young Men, p. 161; T. L. Cuyler, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 104. 2Ki 4:41.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 86. 2Ki 4:42.—H. Macmillan, Sunday Magazine, 1873, pp. 42, 126; J. dimming, Penny Pulpit, No. 072. 2Ki 4:42, 2Ki 4:43.—T. Champness, New Coins from Old Gold, p. 21. 2Ki 4:42-44.—A. Edersheim, Elisha the Prophet, p. 125. 2Ki 4—Parker, vol. viii., p. 113.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Various Miracles of Elisha
Various Miracles of Elisha
The miracles related of Elisha in this and the following chapters resemble many of those previously recounted of Elijah. Thus both prophets multiplied the sustenance of a woman in need (2Ki_4:1-7; 1Ki_17:8-16); both restored a dead child to life (2Ki_4:8-27; 1Ki_17:17-24); both came into conflict with their king on the occasion of a famine (2Ki_6:24-33; 1 Kings 18); and both brought a violent death upon certain individuals who offended them (2Ki_2:23-24; 2 Kings 1). But the habits of Elisha were seemingly more social, and his disposition less stern, than were those of his great predecessor: he was a frequenter of cities, was closely associated with the 'sons of the prophets,' and many of the miracles recorded of him are connected with private individuals and incidents of common life. The contrast in this respect which Elisha offered to the ascetic Elijah resembles that which subsisted between our Lord and St. John the Baptist: cp. Mat_11:18, Mat_11:19.
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The several stories here told of Elisha are somewhat disconnected, the indications of time that occur in them are vague (see 2Ki_4:8, 2Ki_4:11, 2Ki_4:18), and there are a few inconsistencies which are left unexplained by the historian: contrast 2Ki_6:23 with 2Ki_6:24 and 2Ki_5:27 with 2Ki_8:1-6.
1. To be bondmen] For the sale of an insolvent debtor and his family see Lev_25:39, and cp. Neh_5:5.
8. A great woman] i.e. wealthy and influential: cp. 1Sa_25:2; 2Sa_19:32.
10. A.. chamber.. on the wall] probably an upper chamber, above the ordinary roof. A stool] better, a 'chair'or'seat' (the same word being used of a royal throne). Candlestick] better, 'lampstand': cp. Exo_25:31.
13. He said unto him, etc.] in the East women were (and are) lightly esteemed, and direct communications were rarely held with them by persons who had a character for sanctity (cp. Joh_4:27): see 2Ki_4:27 and 2Ki_5:10. What is to be done for thee?] Elisha, who, unlike Elijah, seems to have attended the royal court (2Ki_5:3), offers to use his influence on her behalf.
I dwell.. people] i.e. I live among friends, and therefore do not need special protection against oppression.
16. According to the time of life] RV 'when the time cometh round,' i.e. in the spring of the following year.
19. My head] He had perhaps sustained a sunstroke.
23. Neither new moon, nor sabbath] The Shunammite's husband did not connect his wife's proposed visit to the prophet with the death of his child, but with some religious duty. The new moon (i.e. the first day of the month) and the sabbath were feasts at which the prophets might be asked to preside, as Samuel did at the feast held at the high place of Ramah (1Sa_9:12-13).
24. Slack not thy riding] RV 'slacken me not the riding': the servant probably ran on foot beside his mistress.
26. It is well] The purpose of the answer was obviously not to deceive but to dismiss the questioner.
29. Gird up thy loins] The direction was necessary, for the garments were usually worn loose and flowing. Salute him not] To do so would waste time.
Lay my staff] Elisha seems to have thought that as Elijah's mantle had been powerful in his own hand (2Ki_2:14), so his own staff would be equally potent in the hands of another. But the secret of miracles must be looked for in personalities, not in inanimate things.
35. He returned, etc.] The prophet showed the importunity which should mark all effort to obtain a divine blessing.
38. A dearth] Perhaps the famine related in 2Ki_8:1-6.
39. A wild vine] not a real vine, but a vine-like plant, usually identified with the bitter cucumber or colocynth, bearing a fruit resembling an orange, which is very bitter in taste.
42. Baal-shalisha] Perhaps the same as the 'land of Shalisha' (1Sa_9:4) in the hill-country of Ephraim. The firstfruits] Elisha probably dwelt at a sanctuary (perhaps Gilgal) where firstfruits were required to be presented (Exo_23:19;). In the husk thereof] RV 'in his sack.'
43. What, should.. men?] cp. the like doubt raised by the disciples of our Lord (Joh_6:9), and the similar, but even more impressive, sequel.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
fear
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 3. The Miracles
3. The Miracles
CHAPTER 4
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1. The widow’s oil multiplied (2Ki 4:1-7)
2. The Shunammite and her reward (2Ki 4:8-17)
3. The son of the Shunammite raised from the dead (2Ki 4:18-37)
4. The deadly pottage healed (2Ki 4:38-41)
5. The multitude fed (2Ki 4:42-44)
In the previous chapter Elisha appeared as the saviour of Israel, and now he acts in behalf of the widow of one of the sons of the prophets. His name is not given. Elisha had known him as one who feared the Lord. And now the widow deeply in dept, about to lose her two sons, appealed to the prophet. In answer to Elisha’s question what she had in her house she told him that her whole possession consisted in a pot of oil (in Hebrew, anointing oil). She then was told to borrow empty vessels, not a few. Behind closed doors she was to pour out. All the borrowed vessels were soon filled and when the empty vessels were all filled and no other to be filled, the oil stayed. The oil was to be sold to satisfy the creditor and the rest to be used to sustain the widow and her sons. The Lord is the father of the widows and heareth their cry; this is beautifully illustrated in this miracle. Then there is the lesson for faith. The vessels had to be produced to be filled; if there had been more vessels the oil would have filled them all. The limitation was not in the supply of oil, but in the empty vessels to receive the oil. There is an abundance of grace and in faith we can always come with our empty vessels to receive out of His fulness grace upon grace.
Then the great woman of Shunem is introduced for the first time. She belonged to the godly in Israel and did not know the prophet, but it did not take her long to discover that he was a holy man of God. It is a blessed picture to see this man of God walking through the land, possessing nothing and acting in grace in the midst of Israel’s ruin. In the words of another, “Poor indeed, while making many rich; seeming to possess all things, yet really having nothing. Receiving bounty and care in the ordinary need of life from those in whose behalf he, at the same time, is opening resources which were altogether beyond man. And, besides, he walks alone in the world, and yet all wait on him.
“All this gives us a strong expression of the ways of One who could call Himself Master and Lord, receiving the homage of faith, even while He had not where to lay His head. In all this our prophet is marking out for us, as in a reflection, the path of the Lord Jesus in one of its most striking, remarkable characters” (J. Bellett).
The pious Shunammite prepared for the lonely pilgrim a little chamber with its simple furnishings in her own house. And the man of God appreciated the kindness shown to him, and, learning that she had no son, Elisha told her “about this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son.” Like Sarah she believed and received her son. And when the child died, what faith the Shunammite exhibited! The son of promise was dead, yet in the midst of her great sorrow she could say, “It is well.” Like Abraham, when he put the son of promise upon the altar, the Shunammite counted on resurrection and believed on Him who can raise the dead. She had lost her son for a while, but not her faith.
And how her faith clings to Elisha! Not Gehazi with the staff can help, but Elisha is needed. And her faith is rewarded. Her child is raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit mentions her in the New Testament. “Women received their dead raised to life again” (Heb 11:35).
We see in her a true and faithful Israelitish woman, who, in a time of general apostasy, owned Jehovah alike in her life and her home. Receiving a prophet, because of Him who had sent him, because he was a holy man of God--and with humility and entire self-forgetfulness--she received a prophet’s reward in the gift most precious to a Jewish mother, which she had not dared to hope for, even when announced to her. Then, when severely tried, she still held fast to her trust in the promise--strong even when weakest--once more self-forgetful, and following deepest spiritual impulse. And, in the end, her faith appears victorious--crowned by Divine mercy, and shining out the more brightly from its contrast to the felt weakness of the prophet. As we think of this, it seems as if a fuller light were shed on the history of the trials of an Abraham, an Isaac, or a Jacob; on the inner life of those heroes of faith to whom the Epistle of the Hebrews points us for example and learning (Heb. 11), and on such Scripture sayings as these: “Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up” (1Sa 2:6); “Know that Jehovah hath set apart him that is godly for Himself. Jehovah will hear when I call unto Him” (Psa 4:3); or this: “All the paths of Jehovah are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psa 25:10). (Bible History).
And here we must also think of Him, whom Elisha but faintly foreshadows. He raises the spiritually dead now, all who hear His voice, as He will raise the physically dead in the future.
In Gilgal the eighth miracle of Elisha took place. The humble pottage which was being prepared for the sons of the prophets had been spoiled by the addition of a wild and poisonous gourd. Then Elisha cast meal into the pot and the pottage became eatable--”there was no harm in the pot.” The meal is typical of our Lord, who was cast into the scene of death and through His death hath brought healing.
The miraculous feeding of the multitude was Elisha’s ninth miracle and prefigures the miracles of our Lord (Mat 14:19-21, etc.).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Widow’s Oil Multiplied.
The Widow’s Oil Multiplied.
v. I. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets, the prophet disciples as found in several communities in Canaan, unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant, my husband, is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord; he had been a God-fearing prophet in truth, and not in name only; and the creditor is come to take unto him my two Sons to be bond-men, for this the law permitted to the next year of jubilee, Lev 25:39.
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v. 2. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? He asked her first to suggest some way of helping her. Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil, literally, "anointing oil," such as was used after the bath.
v. 3. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. She was not to be bashful about asking her neighbors.
v. 4. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, to keep out every interruption, noise, and distraction, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
v. 5. So she went from him, and, having borrowed vessels as she had been told, shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out, in a steady stream.
v. 6. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, namely, those she had on hand, 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, it ceased flowing when the available vessels were all filled.
v. 7. Then she came and told the man of God, leaving it to his wisdom to decide how she should dispose of the oil. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, satisfy the creditor and thus get rid of him, and live thou and thy children of the rest, namely, of the money which remained after paying her creditor. God is ever the Father of the widows and the orphans and has, in many a case, provided all that certain ones needed to support their body and life, even in an evidently miraculous manner.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the sons of the prophets
the sons of the prophets
This does not mean that they were the sons of prophets, but rather, that they were a group of prophets. See how you translated this phrase in 2 Kings 2:3. AT: "the prophets" (See: Idiom)
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Your servant my husband
"My husband, who was your servant"
creditor
person who lends other people money
Your servant has nothing
The woman refers to herself as Elisha's servant to show him honor.
nothing in the house, except a pot of oil
This is an exaggeration. The only valuable thing she had was a jar of oil. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
translationWords
son
prophet
Elisha
servant
die
fear
Yahweh
oil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:1 The widow’s husband had been a member of…
4:1 The widow’s husband had been a member of the group of prophets . . . who served Elisha (2:3-18). • take my two sons as slaves: The law of Moses allowed a creditor to place a debtor and his children into slavery to work off a debt (Exod 21:2-4; Lev 25:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.