Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

What should we learn from this chapter?

• A chart of the Kings and Prophets of Israel and Judah is located at the bottom of this page (scroll down). Elisha served the Northern Kingdom during the times of these kings: “Jehoram, Jehu, and Jehu’s son Jehoahaz.
• When you ask for something, make sure it is something of eternal value.
• A time of a severe famine that will last seven years (I Kings 17), like the Seven-Year famine during Joseph’s time (Genesis 41:54), and like the Seven-Year famine (of God’s Word) during the Seven-Year tribulation (Amos 8:11).
• There’s always a story behind the story.

II Kings 4

Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

• This following miracle was also performed by Elijah in I Kings chapter 17 when there was no rain.

II Kings 4:¹ 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 (Yᵊhōvâ). And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

• The number 2 means “there is another”, often a mysterious “other”.
  • There is God… and there is the prophetic Son of God.
  • There are the Jews…and there is the mystery of the age of grace, the Gentiles.

II Kings 4:² 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.”

• Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. The oil lights the lamps, symbolic of the Word of God which lights the world. Elisha, as a prophet, represents the Word of God, and the woman, who is the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, provides the eternal oil. Together, they can endure the famine and continue the work of God.

II Kings 4:³ Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few.

II Kings 4:⁴ 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.”

II Kings 4:⁵ 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.

II Kings 4:⁶ 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.

• More oil is available, but there isn’t another vessel. It is like the Holy Spirit who is always available unless there isn’t a vessel.

II Kings 4:⁷ Then she came and told the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm). And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

II Kings 4:⁸ Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable (Lit. great) woman, and she persuaded him (Lit. laid hold on him) to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food.

II Kings 4:⁹ And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God (‘ĕlōhîm), who passes by us regularly.

II Kings 4:¹⁰ Please, let us make a small upper room (Or a small walled upper chamber) on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”

II Kings 4:¹¹ And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there.

II Kings 4:¹² Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him.

II Kings 4:¹³ And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ”

She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”

II Kings 4:¹⁴ So he said, “What then is to be done for her?”

And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

II Kings 4:¹⁵ So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.

II Kings 4:¹⁶ Then he said, “About this time next year (Lit. About this season, as the time of life) you shall embrace a son.”

• The Shunammite woman had a son miraculously who was raised from the dead miraculously, in this way she is a type of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God (‘ĕlōhîm), do not lie to your maidservant!”

II Kings 4:¹⁷ But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.

II Kings 4:¹⁸ And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers.

II Kings 4:¹⁹ And he said to his father, “My head, my head!”

So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”

II Kings 4:²⁰ When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

II Kings 4:²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm), shut the door upon him, and went out.

II Kings 4:²² Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm) and come back.”

II Kings 4:²³ So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.”

And she said, “It is well.” (Or It will be well)

II Kings 4:²⁴ Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.”

II Kings 4:²⁵ And so she departed, and went to the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm) at Mount Carmel.

So it was, when the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm) saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman!

II Kings 4:²⁶ Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ”

And she answered, “It is well.” (Or It will be well)

II Kings 4:²⁷ Now when she came to the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm) at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm) said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

II Kings 4:²⁸ So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”

II Kings 4:²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.”

• “Get yourself ready” (Lit. Gird up your loins. The skirt of the robe was wrapped around the legs and tucked in the belt to gain freedom of movement. Modern Euphemism would be “Man Up”: Get prepared for trouble, remove your fear.)

II Kings 4:³⁰ And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.

II Kings 4:³¹ Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.”

II Kings 4:³² When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed.

II Kings 4:³³ He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ).

II Kings 4:³⁴ And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm.

II Kings 4:³⁵ He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

II Kings 4:³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”

II Kings 4:³⁷ So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

Elisha Purifies the Pot of Stew

II Kings 4:³⁸ And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

• A plethora of images appear concerning the following three words: The pot, the stew and the boiling.
  Throughout scripture water is symbolic of a “sea of people” or “the movement of people”.
  People stew (stew literally means “pride”), fret, storm, worry, and then …
  When things get hot the “waters” boil.
  Satan, described as a Sea Monster/Leviathan, lives in the waters of the pot and causes the pot to boil with turmoil and trouble.
  (Revelation 13:1, Genesis 25:34, Job 41, Jeremiah 1:13, Ezekiel 24:3 & 11, Daniel 7:2-3, Luke 8:23-25)

II Kings 4:³⁹ So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were.

II Kings 4:⁴⁰ Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, “Man of God (‘ĕlōhîm), there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

II Kings 4:⁴¹ So he said, “Then bring some flour (meal).” And he put it into the pot, and said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

• What is this wild vine that produces wild gourds?
• “Recent critics have mostly come to the conclusion that the vegetable intended is the Cucumis agrestis or Ecbalium elaterium, the “squirting cucumber” of English naturalists. This is a kind of gourd, the fruit of which is egg-shaped, has a bitter taste, and bursts when ripe at a slight touch, squirting out sap and seeds. The main ground for this conclusion is etymologieal, פַקֻּעֹת being derived from פקע, “to crack” or “split.” Another theory, and one which has the ancient versions in its favor, identifies the “gourd” in question with the fruit of the colocynth, which is a gourd-like plant that creeps along the ground, and has a round yellow fruit of the size of a large orange. This fruit is exceedingly bitter, produces colic, and affects the nerves.” ~Pulpit Commentary
  

Elisha Feeds One Hundred Men

II Kings 4:⁴² Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God (‘ĕlōhîm) bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.”

• The first fruits were to be tithed for the priests.

II Kings 4:⁴³ But his servant said, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?”

He said again, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ): ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’ ”

 II Kings 4:⁴⁴ So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ).

• Ref verse: Matt. 15:35-38 Jesus feeds the multitude with plenty left over.

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