In this chapter, Elisha demonstrates the power of God by supplying a woman in debt with more than enough to pay her bills, raising a child from the dead, and feeding a large group during a famine. Here’s the chapter in its entirety: “One day the widow of one of Elisha’s fellow prophets came to Elisha and cried out to him, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting the jars aside as they are filled.”
So she did as she was told. Her sons brought many jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. (Wow! The olive oil only stopped flowing because she ran out of jars! God is ready to bless us until our “cup runneth over!” (Psalm 23))
When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and there will be enough money left over to support you and your sons.”
Elisha and the Woman from Shunem
One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she invited him to eat some food. From then on, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there to eat.
She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. Let’s make a little room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”
One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to his room to rest. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman I want to speak to her.” When she arrived, Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her that we appreciate the kind concern she has shown us. Now ask her what we can do for her. Does she want me to put in a good word for her to the king or to the commander of the army?”
“No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”
Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What do you think we can do for her?” He suggested, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.” “Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, “Next year at about this time you will be holding a son in your arms!”
“No, my lord!” she protested. “Please don’t lie to me like that, O man of God.” But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.
One day when her child was older, he went out to visit his father, who was working with the harvesters. Suddenly he complained, “My head hurts! My head hurts!”
His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.” So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died. She carried him up to the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there. She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”
“Why today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.” But she said, “It’s all right.” So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down on my account unless I tell you to.”
As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming. Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, with your husband, and with your child?’”
“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.” But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. Something is troubling her deeply, and the Lord has not told me what it is.”
Then she said, “It was you, my lord, who said I would have a son. And didn't I tell you not to raise my hopes?”
Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.” But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.
Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, "The child is still dead.”
When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed. He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child's mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And the child’s body began to grow warm again! Elisha got up and walked back and forth in the room a few times. Then he stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes! (To God be the glory!!! We serve an awesome God!)
Then Elisha summoned Gehazi, “Call the child’s mother!” he said, And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!” She fell at his feet, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she picked up her son and carried him downstairs.
Miracles during a Famine
Elisha now returned to Gilgal, but there was a famine in the land. One day as the group of prophets was seated before him,. He said to his servant, “Put on a large kettle and make some stew for these men.”
One of the young men went out into the field to gather vegetables and came back with a pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them and put them into the kettle without realizing they were poisonous. But after the men had eaten a bite or two they cried out, “Man of God, there’s poison in this stew!” So they would not eat it.
Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then he threw it into the kettle and said, “Now it’s all right; go ahead and eat.” And then it did not harm them!
One day a man from Baal-shalishah brought the man of God a sack of fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the group of prophets so they can eat.” “What?” his servant exclaimed. “Feed one hundred people with only this?”
But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the group of prophets so they can eat, for the Lord says there will be plenty for all. There will even be some left over!” (“Cup runneth over” again!) And sure enough, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the Lord had promised.” (2 Kings 4)
Lord, thank you for your Word today! And thank you for demonstrating your amazing power and blessings through Elisha! Help us recognize how our “cups runneth over” with blessings every day! We love you!
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
….AND MAY WE ALL PRACTICE THIS WITH ONE ANOTHER.
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