A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves." 2 So Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil." 3 Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors-empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 "And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones." 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest." 2 Kings 4:1-7
The story of this bible passage talk about God’s divine provision for a prophet’s widows and her family. In the miracle, one observed the following biblical lessons”
1. The dead prophet had the reputation of Godly man. (v. 1b)
2. Though a righteous man, he was not immune from stroke of death.
3. Though he was one of that feared the Lord, he died in debt and insolvent.
4. His two sons who were to be the support of their mother’s widowed state were to serve as slave of the creditor in agreement with the old testament practices ("And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do (Exodus 21:7. cff. Lev. 25:39; Nehemiah. 5:5)
5. To relief the poor widow’s distress, prophet Elisha did not only work for a way of paying the woman’s debt. He also put her in a way of maintaining herself and her family (V.7). in other words, the best kindness one can show to the poor is not to give him some small mater for the present provision, but to set him up in a way of having his own industry and ingenuity.
6. The oil was to be multiply as a result of the widow’s pure obedience to the man of God. She could have viewed the directive as designed to make fool of herself. But she obeyed accordingly. (vv. 4&5)
7. The oil was to be poured by herself, not by the prophet or by the delegate of the prophet. This is to intimate us that it is with our own careful and deligent endeavor’s in addition to God’s command that we may expect the blessing of God enrich us.
8. As long as she had any empty pots to receive it, the oil continue flowing. When there was not a pot left, then the oil stopped (v.6). this shows that God’s provision is as large as our faith and willingness to obey. The amount of oil gotten was limited only by the number of pots that the widow provided.
9. In verse 2, when prophet Elisha asked the woman “…. What do you have in your house?” she answered “Nothing … Except a little oil.” What a very weak instrument to accomplish a great result ! similar experiences are recorded in Exodus 4:2 “So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." cff Judges 15:15; 1 Samuel 17:40; 1 King 17:12 etc. where God is using weak instruments to accomplish great results for his children. The lesson here is that the little knowledge, education, skill, opportunity and grace you have can be multiplied by God and result to abundant blessing as it was the experience of the widow.
Brothers and sister do not fold your hands and say you are searching for job. Begin with the little privilege you have. With your obedience and trust in God, there will be breakthrough. Remember, everybody started from somewhere. God bless you.
1. The dead prophet had the reputation of Godly man. (v. 1b)
2. Though a righteous man, he was not immune from stroke of death.
3. Though he was one of that feared the Lord, he died in debt and insolvent.
4. His two sons who were to be the support of their mother’s widowed state were to serve as slave of the creditor in agreement with the old testament practices ("And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do (Exodus 21:7. cff. Lev. 25:39; Nehemiah. 5:5)
5. To relief the poor widow’s distress, prophet Elisha did not only work for a way of paying the woman’s debt. He also put her in a way of maintaining herself and her family (V.7). in other words, the best kindness one can show to the poor is not to give him some small mater for the present provision, but to set him up in a way of having his own industry and ingenuity.
6. The oil was to be multiply as a result of the widow’s pure obedience to the man of God. She could have viewed the directive as designed to make fool of herself. But she obeyed accordingly. (vv. 4&5)
7. The oil was to be poured by herself, not by the prophet or by the delegate of the prophet. This is to intimate us that it is with our own careful and deligent endeavor’s in addition to God’s command that we may expect the blessing of God enrich us.
8. As long as she had any empty pots to receive it, the oil continue flowing. When there was not a pot left, then the oil stopped (v.6). this shows that God’s provision is as large as our faith and willingness to obey. The amount of oil gotten was limited only by the number of pots that the widow provided.
9. In verse 2, when prophet Elisha asked the woman “…. What do you have in your house?” she answered “Nothing … Except a little oil.” What a very weak instrument to accomplish a great result ! similar experiences are recorded in Exodus 4:2 “So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod." cff Judges 15:15; 1 Samuel 17:40; 1 King 17:12 etc. where God is using weak instruments to accomplish great results for his children. The lesson here is that the little knowledge, education, skill, opportunity and grace you have can be multiplied by God and result to abundant blessing as it was the experience of the widow.
Brothers and sister do not fold your hands and say you are searching for job. Begin with the little privilege you have. With your obedience and trust in God, there will be breakthrough. Remember, everybody started from somewhere. God bless you.
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