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 attempts to explain these wonders exhibit weakness and feebleness that are absolutely puerile."[2]

In addition to the remarkable evidence of the supernatural in these events, we believe there are spiritual implications of tremendous importance; and we shall attempt to point out some of these.

This section of 2Kings (2 Kings 4-8:6) is not arranged in chronological order but is arranged so as to show how Elisha continued the work of Elijah in proving to Israelites the superiority and excellence of the God of Israel as contrasted with all the Canaanite gods such as the nonentity called Baal. "All of the miracles in this section occurred during the reign of Joram."[3] It is very significant that the influence of the True God was extended even into foreign countries through Elisha.

I. SAVING THE SONS OF THE WIDOW FROM SLAVERY

"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 Jehovah: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And thou shalt go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons; they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest."

"My husband is dead ... and the creditor is come to take unto him my two children to be bondmen" (2 Kings 4:1). Celibacy was never God's rule either for prophets or priests, despite the fact that the majority of the sons of the prophets were apparently single men living in ascetic communities. This widow's husband was one of the sons of the prophets.

We find no fault whatever with the Jewish tradition that this widow's deceased husband was none other than the godly Obadiah, despite the knee-jerk response of most modern commentators that, "No dependence can be placed on it."[4] Josephus accepted the tradition and even stated that the debt which the woman's husband had acquired was contracted for the purpose of feeding the faithful prophets of Jehovah whom he had hidden in caves from the murderous wrath of Jezebel.[5]

One of the great imperfections of the Mosaic Law was its toleration of the ancient custom of seizing the family of a debtor and pressing them into slavery as payment of a debt. Of course, there was a limitation in God's law that terminated all such indentures in the Year of Jubilee, but the Jews seldom honored that Law. The passages that detail this practice may be found in Exodus 21:7; Leviticus 25:39; Amos 2:6 and Amos 8:6. Montgomery seemed to think that this practice disappeared after the exile, citing Nehemiah 5 as the basis of his opinion,[6] but we learn from the Saviour's parable in the N.T. that the practice was continued to the very end of the Jewish kingdom (Matthew 18:25).

"Thy handmaid hath not anything ... save a pot of oil" (2 Kings 4:2). "The Hebrew text here rendered `a pot' of oil is unique";[7] and is found "only in this passage" in the whole Bible.[8] "It may refer to a very small jar normally used for unguents."[9] It appears likely that something similar to the precious box of nard that was used in the anointing of Christ is indicated here; and, as some have suggested, "The widow had probably reserved it for her burial." This type of product was very expensive; and the wholesale multiplication of it in this remarkable wonder not only enabled the woman to pay her debt but also to provide a means of her livelihood for a long time afterward. In this quality, the miracle reminds us of the enrichment of the young couple whose marriage was the occasion of Jesus' changing the water into the very best quality of wine (some 400 quarts of it)!

Such a conclusion as this derives from the fact of the very small container of "the oil" and that the sale of it amounted to more than enough money to redeem two young bond-servants. "The word for jar (pot) here suggests a very small container."[10] "No oil at all was left for cooking."[11] Cooking oil does not appear at all in this narrative. Our modern equivalent of what is indicated is a very desirable and expensive type of perfume.

"Go, sell the oil, pay thy debt, and live" (2 Kings 4:7). Matthew Henry commented on God's method of bestowing charity upon a worthy recipient. "God did not provide her with some small gratuity, but gave her real help. He set her up in the world to sell oil, and put a liberal stock into her possession to begin with. The greatest kindness one can do for poor people is, if possible, to help them into a way of providing for themselves by their own industry and ingenuity."[12] The great need of our own nation, currently, is to enable all able-bodied persons to support themselves, instead of merely doling out a monthly check.