In 2 Kings 4.1-44 we have an account of some of Elisha’s miracles. In 2 Kings 4.1-7 we have the story of a poor widow, and this is very eschatological. Remember, eschatology is defined as a study of the Messiah and the Redemption.
A certain woman ( like Israel) of the wives of the sons of the prophets (they could marry) cried out to Elisha (a type of the Messiah) that her husband was dead and Elisha knew him. A creditor has come (like Israel, “widowed” because of sin) to take her two sons to be servants/slaves to pay off the debt (sins of the fathers come down to the sons). The creditor is like spiritual death. So Elisha asked her what she could do and wanted to know what she had in the house.
She had a debt she could not pay and the Torah did not allow her to declare bankruptcy. Her sons were given to pay off the debts of the father and the creditor was within his rights. The Torah allowed him to take the sons to pay off the debt until the Yovel (every fifty years on Yom Kippur). This is like us. We can’t declare spiritual bankruptcy to pay off our debt to the Lord because of sin (which is death), we must pay it off in full.
Under divine inspiration, Elisha told her to go borrow as many vessels as she could (v 3). Then he told her to go into her house and shut the door, and pour oil into the vessels she borrowed and to set aside the ones that were full. To get the blessing, she had to do this herself. So she poured out the oil she had into the borrowed vessels by emunah (faith/action/confidence). And it came about that when one vessel was full, she got another until that was full, and got another until there were no more vessels, and the oil stopped.
Spiritually, salvation, grace and redemption will flow as long as there is a vessel to contain it (Matt 25.1-3; 1 John 2.20). Then she came and told Elisha and he told her to go sell the oil and pay her debt, and she and her sons could live off the rest. The oil (grace of God) paid her debt, and it is the same with us. The grace of God pays all our debts, too. The amount of work put in (like the trenches) determines the amount of blessing and provision received.
In 2 Kings 4.8-17 we have the story about a son for a barren woman. Elisha went to Shunem (“double rest”) which was a territory in Issachar (Josh 19.17-18). It was not far from Mount Carmel and on the way to Samaria, Bethel and Jericho as he visited the School of the Prophets in those areas. A wealthy woman persuaded Elisha to eat food and she was very hospitable, and she said to her husband that they should provide a room for Elisha to stay in when he passes by, so they made him a “new room” (v 10).
Now, in the NASB in v 9 it says that the woman perceived that Elisha was a “holy man of God.” In Hebrew this is understood as “a man of a holy God.” One day he came there and said that his servant Gehazi (“valley of vision”) should call the Shunemite woman, and she came. He asked her how he could help her, and she said, “I live among my own people” meaning that she was content with her life and associations. So Elisha inquired further and found out through Gehazi that she had no children, and her husband was older (like Abraham and Sarah). So Elisha called for the woman again and told her that at this season (moed) next year she would embrace a son. Now, she did not want him to lie to her and make something up. This was a child of promise like Isaac and Yeshua. And it came to pass that she conceived exactly as Elisha had said.
In 2 Kings 4.18-37 we have another eschatological picture. In this story, the child will be a picture of Yeshua. When he was grown he was sent out by the father (Yehovah) to the reapers (Israel-Matt 21.33-40). As he worked, he told his father “my head, my head” and this alludes to Yeshua at the “place of a skull” (Matt 27.33). He was carried to his mother and died in her presence (like Yeshua in Matt 27.50-56). She got up and laid him in the “new room” that was made for Elisha and they “shut the door.” Yeshua died and was placed in a “new tomb” and the door to the tomb was shut by a stone (Matt 27.60).
She then sent for a servant and a donkey and went to see Elisha herself. She came to Mount Carmel and Elisha saw her coming from a distance, and was surprised to see her coming. He told Gehazi to run and meet her, and ask her if everything was well (Hebrew “shalom”). She answered, “It is well (“ha shalom”).” When she came to Elisha she took hold of his feet in respect, but Gehazi came near and pushed her away. Elisha told him to leave her alone because she was troubled about something. Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say do not deceive me?”
Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand and go your way; If you meet any man, do not salute him and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.” Then she said, “As Yehovah lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you” because she wanted him to go. She knew something wasn’t right with Gehazi, and this will prove to be true in 2 Kings 5.20-27. So Elisha arose and she followed. Gehazi goes on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no response. Then Elisha came to the house and saw that the boy was dead. So he went in and shut the door, and prayed like Elijah did in 1 Kings 17.21-23.
He laid on the child and put his mouth on his mouth, eyes on his eyes and hands on his hands. This is the second attempt and the boy’s body became warm (life). He then came down where the family was and walked back and forth praying. Then he went back for a third time and stretched out on the boy, and he sneezed seven times, and he opened his eyes. This is a type of Yeshua’s resurrection after three days. Gehazi called for his mother and she took him off the bed safe and sound.
We have another miracle in 2 Kings 4.38-41 and this one is connected to food. Elisha returned to Gilgal where a school of prophets were and there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting before Elisha as he was teaching them, he told his servant to put on a large pot of stew and boil it for everyone to eat. One went out to gather herbs and gourds and put them into the pot. When they went to eat it, they said there was “death in the pot” and they couldn’t eat it because it was bitter, so something was wrong. Feeling somewhat responsible, Elisha told them to “bring meal” and they put it into the pot. Now there was nothing powerful in the meal itself, but it was part of the miracle. When that was done, they could eat the stew. The “meal” is a type of the Torah and the Word of God that destroys the “poison” of false doctrine.
We have another miracle in 2 Kings 4.42-44. Elisha had come to Baal-Shalishah (“Lord of three” and alludes to the Trinity-1 Sam 9.4) and bread from the first fruits of the barley was brought (Lev 23.20). Normally, these were reserved for the priests (Num 18.13; Deut 18.4-5). There was twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain. Now, they were in the north and the religion there was apostate, and they were forbidden to go to Jerusalem, so the owner brought them to those who were true Torah observant believers in the area.
There didn’t seem to be enough for one hundred men but Elisha told them to give it to the people so they could eat, and the Lord told him that there would be some left over. So they served it and they ate, and they had some left over. This miracle alludes to the feeding of the five thousand in Matt 14.17-20 and Mark 6.37-44 by Yeshua.
We will pick up in 2 Kings 5.1-27 in Part 4.
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