2 Kings 4:1-71Now 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 the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 2And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 3Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. 4And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. 5So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. 6And 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. 7Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. (2 Kings 4:1‑7)
There were two boys of Israel who were soon to be taken for slaves by a man to whom their mother owed a debt and could not pay, and their father was dead. Boys are not taken to pay debts in most lands now, but it has been done in past times, and this mother and the boys were in great sorrow: perhaps they knew the man would be a hard master, at least, they would be taken from their home. Then the mother thought of Elisha, the man who taught of the Lord, and she hurried to tell him their great trouble.
Elisha could not give her money, but he asked her what she had of any value in her house; she said. all that she had was a jar of oil. Perhaps it was olive oil which was much used in that land, yet one jar full was not enough to be worth much.
Elisha told her to go to her neighbors and borrow empty dishes, not a few, but many; then, to close the door of the house, so she and her sons were alone, and to pour oil from her jar of oil into the empty dishes.
The woman did just as Elisha told her, pouring from her oil into the empty dishes, until all the dishes were full, and she said for one of the boys to hand her another dish, but he said there was not an empty one left! Then the oil stopped coming out of her jar, yet she still had her jar of oil and all the other jars full also! We do not know how much there was.
The mother told Elisha, and he said to go sell the oil and pay the man the debt, and all the money beside that, she should have for her and her children’s needs.
Was it not good the two boys could see the wonderful way the oil was given to pay the debt, and save them from being slaves? They must have been very happy, and were happy to tell Elisha their joy. Do you suppose they would not believe God’s power after that? We hope they always did. And perhaps the mother learned it was not best to get in debt. There is a verse which says to us,
We do not see such a miracle now, yet is it not very wonderful that God causes food in such variety to grow for all the world? And we still need to thank Him for all we have, and ask His help in our needs.
And there is a debt we all owe, because of our sins. Satan is ready to make us slaves too. It was the Lord Jesus who paid the debt of sins, and He only can make us free. And he will do this for all who believe in Him.
What other man of God made a poor widow’s oil become more? (1 Kings 17:8-168And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 9Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. 10So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. 13And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. 15And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:8‑16)).
May we ask ourselves the question, what have we in our homes that the Lord can use for blessing to ourselves, and others?
ML 05/14/1939