2 Kings 4:38

IV. THE MIRACLE OF HEALING THE DEATH IN THE POT

"And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage; for they knew them not. So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof, But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot."

"There was a dearth in the land" (2 Kings 4:38). "This may well be the same drought mentioned in 2 Kings 8:1."[23]

Stigers identified these wild gourds as, "Wild cucumbers, egg-shaped gourds having a bitter taste, and producing violent diarrhea when eaten, or even death."[24]

The spiritual lesson to be derived from this has an application to the anti-Biblical teaching that is offered in some seminaries of our day. The brew that is being fed to some young theological students today is most certainly "Death in the Pot." It is God's Word, as revealed in the Bible, that yields all of the rich benefits desired for the children of Adam, and not the unbelieving speculative denials and theories of evil men who strive continually to discredit and destroy faith in the Bible!

These wonderful miracles were given for the purpose of certifying Elisha as a true prophet of God, an urgent need sorely felt in Israel at that time.