2 Kings 4:1-7:20 ESV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Kings 4:1

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. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 2 Kings 4:1

2 Kings 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 ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 2 Kings 4:1-44

Miracles of care for the remnant (4:1-44)The widow of one of the prophets was in desperate trouble. She had hardly any food left and was about to lose her only means of income; for her sons were to be taken from her in payment for a debt. Elisha’s miraculous provision of oil enabled her to pay the debt and so preserve a few of God’s faithful in days of extreme hardship (4:1-7).Another of Israel’s faithful was the wife of a wealthy landowner. She recognized Elisha as God’s representative and... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 2 Kings 4:1

husband = man. Hebrew ' ish . App-14 . bondmen. Compare Leviticus 25:39 and Nehemiah 5:5 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 2 Kings 4:1

FIVE OF ELISHA'S MIRACLES OF MERCY"All of the miracles of this chapter are miracles of mercy. The first and the last consist of multiplying food, thus belonging to the same class as our Lord's feeding of the four and the five thousands and Elijah's increasing the meal and the oil of the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings 17:10-16)."[1] Nobody knows how these miracles were performed. The sacred author has not informed us, and the speculative guesses of scholars are of no value whatever. "Rationalistic... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 2 Kings 4:1

2 Kings 4:1. The creditor is come to take unto him my two sons— The Jewish law looked upon children as the proper goods of their parents, who had power to sell them for seven years, as their creditors had to compel them to do it, in order to pay their debts. From the Jews this custom was adopted by the Athenians, and from them by the Romans: the Romans, indeed, had the most absolute controul over their children. By the decree of Romulus they could imprison, beat, kill, or sell them for slaves:... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 2 Kings 4:1

1. there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets—They were allowed to marry as well as the priests and Levites. Her husband, not enjoying the lucrative profits of business, had nothing but a professional income, which, in that irreligious age, would be precarious and very scanty, so that he was not in a condition to provide for his family. the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen—By the enactment of the law, a creditor was entitled to claim the... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 2 Kings 4:1-7

God’s care of the faithful in need 4:1-7It was common in the ancient Near East for creditors to enslave the children of debtors who could not pay. The Mosaic Law also permitted this practice (Exodus 21:2-4, Leviticus 25:39). However, servitude in Israel was to end on the Year of Jubilee. God provided miraculously for the dire needs of this widow who had put God first, in contrast to the majority who did not do so in Israel (cf. Matthew 6:33). God’s miraculous multiplication of oil symbolized... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 4:1-44

Various Miracles of ElishaThe 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 (2 Kings 4:1-7; 1 Kings 17:8-16); both restored a dead child to life (2 Kings 4:8-27; 1 Kings 17:17-24); both came into conflict with their king on the occasion of a famine (2 Kings 6:24-33; 1 Kings 18); and both brought a violent death upon certain individuals who offended them (2 Kings... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 2 Kings 4:1

IV.IV.—VIII. THE WONDROUS WORKS OF ELISHA THE PROPHET.(1-7) He multiplies the widow’s oil. (Comp. 1 Kings 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 1 Kings 20:35.)Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord.—She makes this the ground of her claim... read more