#494 So It Is

Now 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.

2 And 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.

3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

4 And 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.

5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.

6 And 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.

7 Then 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.

8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

22 And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:

26 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well:

27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?

29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

30 And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.

31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.

32 And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.

34 And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

35 Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

36 And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

37 Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

38 And 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.

39 And 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.

40 So 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.

41 But 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.

42 And there came a man from Baalshalisha, 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.

43 And 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.

44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 4 KJV

One of those whom he teaches, who has been as a disciple to him has left behind a widow. He has also left in passing, a debt, to which those he owes will now make his sons bond to, for the borrower is servant to the lender. It is always better to live well below our means where possible, for many times we say need when we should really mean want, but these are apparently hard times and even the best of us may fall victim to our own lack. Surely it is not our intent to leave our children in a negative fashion, monetarily, shelter, food wise, or even worse, spiritually. Christ irritated those that took their advantage to mean their superiority, their blessing to be their entitlement. He defined true religion for them as visiting the fatherless and widows in the time of their affliction. What is it with material blessing that makes us see ourselves unlike the blind beggars that we are? How is it that we come to look down on others and assume so much about them? Elisha knows her, and that her husband was faithful to God, and he ask her, what shall I do for you, what do you have? It is the parable of the talents, and what we have must be poured out, like the meal, it must be spent in order to be had, to be useful. The widow gave to Elijah first a cake, now he who has died has given first unto the Lord, and now that his life is with Him, the lives of his sons shall be redeemed by God. Her neighbors lend not just to her want but also to her freedom, to her talent, her increase and  industry. He does not magically reach and pull quarters from behind her sons' ears, but like the fish and the loaves he takes that which is given by faith and multiplies it. It is all she has, and without faith it is small, but she now receives what help her neighbors can afford with vessels, she fills the vessels and then sells the vessels to pay her debt. It is amazing that the miracles here bear so much in common, for this is the language of the gospel. In Adam all die, we are born dead in our trespasses and sins. We see that part of life, the flesh, as living, never understanding that are spirits are still born. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. We owe a debt that we would like to blame upon our fathers, but we live not so much differently and often worse. There is one that comes to make us slaves unto our sin, to embrace that which killed our spirits, to call it good as if there is no hope. But there is one who causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust, who allows a widow who is without anything, yet she has this one pot of oil, this one little mustard seed.


There is a woman of great means in another place and she is led to treat God's servant with kindness. To whom much is given much is required, and as I heard someone say recently, we should hold our earthly blessings with an open hand. It is not for us to be poor stewards, but to be consistent in our prayers and tender to the mercies that God would like to work through us. This woman perceives an opportunity to bless someone who blesses her, someone who brings the conversation of God into her house, she will promote such means by making a place for his study and rest. Elisha is anything but entitled and looks for a way to show his appreciation. He mentions that he can give a word to the king or the commander, a promotion to the courts perhaps, but she says no to these things, she is content to live among her people. What a wise woman. She does not need more wealth, does not regard worldly power as a thing to be desired, and she has truly enjoyed the riches of Elisha's company. Elisha is still desirous to return the favor, to show gratitude and what a beautiful thought, that who I am does not place me in a position to be ungrateful. It is not enough for him that she is content, he finds that she has no heir and that is what he wants for her. She is not saying, like Rachel, give me a son or else I die, but rather, don't tease me, and can it be? Children are truly a blessing, and it is sad that we have taught ourselves to believe otherwise. Now when that which is such an unexpected and truly glorious maternal blessing, dies upon her lap, she does not burry him, but takes him and places him in the prophet's bed. This is truly a woman of faith, she must know of the son of the widow who Elijah raised. She goes to confront the prophet for she did not ask for a son, and Elisha's servant she meets first and when he asks her if all is well, she says, it is well. Between her and the servant it is, and we can waste our breath on the messenger, but like the woman with the issue of blood she would pass by the servants to touch the hem, and like the woman who prepared Christ for His burial she would grab hold of his feet. Gehazi  would remove her, but there is nothing inappropriate here, this is a broken heart, not presumption but rather pain and humility. He sends his servant ahead of him with his staff, but though this bears the prophet's seal it is to no effect. The woman stays with Elisha, she does not follow his servant. This is a powerful message, for we speak to the dead often, we tell them the Word's of life, and we may bear that seal upon our heads, but dead ears cannot hear and blind eyes, well, I think that's obvious. This is a bigger problem than Elisha thought, and God does not bring water forth from this rock like he did for Moses, when Moses disobeyed. Elisha comes into the room and shuts the door behind him, it is just him, the dead boy and his prayers to the only One Who can save. He puts his mouth to the boys mouth, the breath of life, his eyes to the boys eyes, so that he may be the eyes to the blind, the strength of his hands, the warmth of his own life. Seeing they could no see and hearing they could not hear, it is not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit says the Lord. Without the spirit it is a dead work, just a staff. He sneezes 7 times, now take up your son. Salvation is of the Lord.


Though it is meager pottage, it is food enough and none the less, but one makes the mistake of not knowing what he gathers. They say that death is in the pot, but no one dies and Elisha covers the mistake with meal and makes it safe to eat. It is the reflection of the words of Christ about those who would follow him, the apostolic era, those who would eat poison and pick up venomous snakes. This prophecy was fulfilled in Acts by Paul, when he accidentally picked up a viper. There are those today that think they are still in that dispensation, and they would try to reenact on purpose that which happened by accident. God says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. For some that isn't quite enough, and they are easily bored at the thought of rightly dividing the word of truth. But for others it is enough, and they eat and are full, so that there is some left over still.

 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Mark 9: 41