2 Kings 4:38-4438And 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 seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39And 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. 40So 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 thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41But 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. 42And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord. (2 Kings 4:38‑44)
Once, when Elisha was at a place called Gilgal, young men, who believed in God, were with him to learn of God’s words. It was a dry time when food was scarce, hut Elisha wished them to have a meal with him and told his helper to set the big kettle on the fire and cook the food; perhaps this was some kind of meat.
One went out to the field to look for herbs to season the food, and found gourds or fruit, growing on a wild vine; such often grow rapidly in hot weather, and perhaps looked nice, but the helper did not know they were not good to eat, but were poison. He picked the wild fruit, or gourds; took them to the house; and broke them up. into the kettle of food.
When the food was ready, Elisha and the others sat down to eat. Suddenly someone who knew that the gourds were poison, cried out to Elisha that there was death in the dish, meaning they would die if they ate it.
Elisha knew what to do; he said to bring some meal; he put the meal into the kettle of food and said to serve to all. They ate and not one was ill because of the wild gourds.
Another time a kind man brought a present to Elisha of twenty loaves of barley bread, made from the first harvest of his fields, and also some of the grain. People used to eat the fresh grain, roasted or boiled, or dry it for later use.
Elisha wanted to share the food with those with him, and said to his helper to serve them, but the man knew there was not nearly enough for all and did not like to try to serve them; perhaps the loaves were small, what we would call rolls. But Elisha again said to serve to all, that the Lord had said there should even he food left. Then the food was served, and there was food left, as the Lord said. So the Lord helped them to have enough even in the dry time. And we remember His words;
How many were fed by the kind man’s present? (vs. 43).
How many did the Lord Jesus once feed with five loaves of bread? (Mark 6:37-4437He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? 38He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. 39And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. 40And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. 41And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. 42And they did all eat, and were filled. 43And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. 44And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. (Mark 6:37‑44))
ML 06/04/1939