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;' Verse 5.). It might almost be said that there is a multiplying power in the Divine blessing, apart from miracle (Psalms 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 (Psalms 37:25)? If we can trust in God for temporal supplies, much more may we for our spiritual supplies (Philippians 4:19).—J.O.
2 Kings 4:8-17
The lady of Shunem: 1. A son given.
The scene of this exquisite story is the town of Shunem, on the slope of Little Hermon, one of the eminences looking down on the rich and extensive plain of Jezreel.
I. RECEIVING A PROPHET IN THE NAME OF A PROPHET. In this town dwelt a wealthy lady, wife of a man who had large possessions in land—the Boaz of that district. The first part of the story is a beautiful instance of the consecrated use of wealth.
1. Elisha observed. Shunem lay in Elisha's route in passing to and fro, probably on Iris visits to the schools of the prophets. The lady of Shunem did not at first know him, but his appearance, as he passed and repassed, attracted her attention. She saw, from the gravity, benevolence, and distinction of his aspect, that he was "a holy man of God." She felt an interest in him, first as a wayfarer, then as a man of piety. It is well when even our outward deportment is such that others are compelled to take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
2. Elisha welcomed. The immediate impulse of the pious lady was to show hospitality to the traveler.
3. Elisa a customary guest. When once Elisha had found his way to this good lady's house, it would be alike a pleasure to him and a satisfaction to his hostess "to turn in thither" every time he passed through Shunem. The more the Shunammite saw of the prophet, the more she reverenced and desired to serve him. With the inventiveness of a mind that "deviseth liberal things" (Isaiah 32:8), it soon occurred to her to make permanent arrangements for his comfortable reception. Her husband, to whom she proposed her plans, entered heartily into them. Unlike the churlish Nabal (1 Samuel 25:1-44.), he was willing to give of his wealth for a prophet's entertainment. A chamber, accordingly, was fitted up on the wall for Elisha's private use, and there he abode, and could feel at home, whenever he passed that way. How beautiful the large and unstinted generosity, the wise forethought, the warm consideration for another's comfort, displayed in this incident! This wise and unselfish use of wealth is the true secret of obtaining enjoyment out of it.
II. A PROPHET'S REWARD. We are called to notice:
1. The prophet's gratitude. It was not with hope of reward that the Shunammite had done her acts of kindness, but Elisha was none the less anxious to show his sense of her generosity by doing her some service in return. He bade Gehazi his servant call her, and say to her, "Thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee?" A grateful spirit well becomes a servant of God (2 Timothy 1:16-18). There is none whose gratitude we should so much desire to have as that of "righteous men." They may not, like Elisha, have interest with kings and courts, but they have interest with Heaven. God rewards for their sake. Their prayers and intercessions are worth more than silver and gold.
2. The Shunammite's humility.
3. The prophet's reward. What, then, was to be done for the Shunammite?
2 Kings 4:18-37
The lady of Shunem: 2. The son taken and restored.
A lapse of several years occurs in the story, during which time the child had grown, till he was able to go out to his father to the harvest-field.
I. THE UNEXPECTED STROKE.
1. A boyhood of promise. Everything combined to invest this Shunammite's son with interest, and to make him the idol of his parents' heart. He was an only son, the son of his father's old age, a child of promise—almost of miracle. He would be the joy and delight of his home, a constant wonder, an unceasing study. He was his father's, not less than his mother's, favorite, as seen by the way in which the child runs out to him in the field. Great hopes would be built on him, and it might be thought that these could hardly fail to be realized. From the manner in which he had been given, God might seem pledged to preserve him from the ordinary dangers of childhood. He lived—so it might be fancied—a charmed life, and could not fall a victim to disease and trouble as other children did. Alas! the contrary was soon to be shown.
2. The child smitten. The manner of the playful child's seizure is simply and naturally told. The boy is sporting among the reapers, when suddenly he exclaims, "My head, my head!" The father is by his side, and orders him to be carried home to his mother. He thinks, apparently, only of some passing illness. The heat has proved too much for him. The mother's instinct more surely divines the fatal character of the stroke. She does not even lay him on his bed, but, taking him on her knees, holds him there in an agony of terror and affection, boding the worst. How great a mother's love! The father is sought in the hour of play; the mother's knee is the place in sickness. At noon the child dies.
3. The child dead.
II. THE JOURNEY TO CARMEL.
1. On the way.
2. Meeting Gehazi. From afar, from his dwelling on Carmel, Elisha saw the hard riding of the lady whom he recognized as the Shunammite. With an instant presentiment that something was wrong—though nothing had been revealed to him (2 Kings 4:27)—he bade Gehazi hasten, and inquire concerning herself, her husband, and her child, if it were "peace." To him, however, she was in no wise minded to open up her heart. She but curtly replied, as she had before done to her husband (2 Kings 4:23), "It is peace." With all her deep affliction, she had not surrendered faith. She felt that God was trying her, but though "faith and form" were sundered in the night of fear, she had courage to believe that it would yet be "well." Her comfort was not in the well-being of her child with God, but in the hope that he would be restored to her. With the new light the gospel has given, Christians can say of their dear lost children, "It is well," though they have no hope of beholding them again on earth.
3. At Elisha's feet.
III. THE CHILD RESTORED.
1. Gehazi's failure. Anxious to lose no time in doing what he was confident it was the will of God should be done, Elisha directed his servant, who could go much more quickly than himself, to speed forward, and lay his staff upon the face of the child. He was neither to allow time to be wasted, nor his thoughts to be distracted, by saluting any one on the way. ("The King's business required haste;" 1 Samuel 21:8; cf. Luke 10:4.) Gehazi did as he was commanded, but "there was neither voice nor hearing." The staff did not work the wonder—was never intended to do so; it was only a symbol of the prophetic authority under sanction of which the deed was to be wrought. There have been many speculations as to the cause of Gehazi's failure, some supposing that Elisha had stepped beyond his province in presuming to delegate this power to another; others, that the failure was a designed rebuke to Gehazi; others, that this was a new trial of the Shunammite's faith. But surely the simplest explanation is also the most probable. Gehazi was sent in good faith, but the deed was not one to be wrought by marc, but by the concurrence of faith and prayer. Elisha's prayers accompanied his messenger, but the defects in Gehazi's own spiritual nature proved too serious for the work he had to do. God would not act through such an instrument. Even when Elisha came upon the scene, it was not without difficulty that he accomplished the miracle. His foresight in this was limited, even as in the matter of the child's death the fact was "hid" from him.
2. Elisha's success. The Shunammite had refused to leave Elisha, and now, as they journeyed onward, Gehazi met them, announcing, "The child is not awaked." Elisha himself now took in hand the task in which Gehazi had failed.
The lessons from this concluding part of the story are:
2 Kings 4:38-41
The deadly pottage.
Two other remarkable, though more briefly related, works of Elisha are narrated in the closing verses of this chapter. Both have to do with "the sons of the prophets" at Gilgal; both relate to a time of famine; and one is an Old Testament anticipation of a signal miracle of Christ. The first is the healing of the deadly pottage.
I. THE PROPHETIC COLLEGE. We are transported to Gilgal, and gain a glimpse into the interior of the prophetic school.
1. Religious instruction. Elisha is there, and "the sons of the prophets" are "sitting before him," receiving his instructions. There is dearth of temporal provision, but none of spiritual. The usual exercises of instruction and devotion go on, as if plenty reigned.
2. Religious fellowship. The famine has not sufficed to break up the little community, but has drawn the members of it—as trial should always do—closer together. They have a common table. They "dwell together in unity" (Psalms 133:1). Elisha, like a good captain, shares the hardships of his army. God's people are sometimes brought into difficulty enough, but the effect should only be to strengthen the bonds of brotherly love.
3. Religious order. There are orderly arrangements. Elisha is not only preceptor, but director of the temporal affairs of the community. All obey him, as all appeal to him when trouble arises. The invisible Head of the community is Jehovah. On him they rely with confidence, when every other source of help fails.
II. DEATH IN THE POT. The great pot is set on to seethe pottage in, and one goes out to gather herbs to eke out the scanty supply.
1. The poisonous gourd. Attracted by some wild creepers, the messenger gathers there from a lapful of gourds, which he mistakes for gourds of a similar appearance that are edible. The plants he had gathered were in reality poisonous. He brought them home, and they were shred into the pottage. We may learn two lessons.
2. The timely discovery. The pottage was no sooner tasted than the peculiar flavor and felt effects discovered to those eating it that there was something, amiss. The cry was raised, "O thou man of God, there is death in the pot!"
III. THE POTTAGE HEALED. Elisha had within himself a monition what to do. He said, "Bring meal." The meal was brought, and cast into the pottage, and the evil was at once cured. There seems no reason for using the meal except that it was customary to accompany these prophetic miracles with an outward symbolical act; and the meal, as a symbol of what was wholesome and nutritious in food, was as appropriate a medium as any to be used. We get this idea—that the unwholesome is to be displaced by the wholesome. If the bane is to be destroyed, we must use as antidote that which is of opposite character. As a work of God's power, the miracle was a pledge to the prophets of God's ability and readiness to help them in every time of need. The simplest means can be made effectual if God blesses it.—J.O.
2 Kings 4:42-44
The twenty barley loaves.
This miracle foreshadows Christ's acts of multiplying the loaves (Matthew 14:15-21; Matthew 15:32-39, etc.).
I. THE GIFT OF LOAVES. In a time of great need in the little society, there came a man from Baal-shalisha, bringing with him twenty barley loaves and a quantity of fresh corn. This welcome gift was:
1. Prompted by a religious motive. It was "bread of the firstfruits." The religious dues were ordinarily paid to priests and Levites, but in the state of religion in Israel, this good man thought that he kept the spirit of the Law best by bringing his loaves and corn to Elisha and his pupils. The act is proof
He did not conceive that "dearth in the land" freed him from the obligation of the firstfruits. Would that every Christian had as high and conscientious a standard in religious giving! We may suppose that the man was further moved in part by a benevolent desire to be of service to Elisha and the prophets. In that case he would be no loser by his kindness.
2. Providentially timed to meet a pressing necessity. Prom the point of view of Elisha and his friends, the visit of the man of Baal-shalisha was a signal interposition of Providence for their relief. Their supplies were exhausted, and they had been praying and hoping for a door of help to be opened to them. Just then this anonymous donor from Baal-shalisha comes in with his bread. It was as direct a case of Divine provision as when the ravens brought bread and flesh to Elijah at the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:6). God's ways of providing for his people are endless in their variety Many instances are on record of help sent m just as wonderful a way to those in need as this passage exhibits.
II. THE MIRACULOUS INCREASE. Precious as these twenty barley loaves were, they formed, after all, but scant provision for a hundred hungry men. The prophet had, however, warrant from God to convert them into the sufficiency required.
1. "Thus saith the Lord." "Give unto the people" said Elisha, "that they may eat," When Gehazi objected that there was not enough for all the company, the prophet repeated his command, adding, "For thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof." A "thus saith the Lord" suffices to overcome all objections. What can it not accomplish? It made the worlds at first; it gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness; it brought water from the rock; it had but a little before multiplied the widow's oil. If we have this warrant for anything we are told to do, we need not hesitate to attempt it.
2. The people fed. Accordingly, when the bread was served out, it was found to be sufficient for all. It is curiously supposed by some that the miracle was not in the multiplication of the bread, but in causing the portions received to satisfy hunger. The analogy of the other miracles by multiplication, not in the Gospels alone, but in these very histories (1 Kings 17:12-16; 2 Kings 4:1-7), is against this. We see in the provision made
2 Kings
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