[Linux4christians] Wednesday - 2 Kings 4

Tue Feb 15 20:47:09 EST 2011

    Wednesday

      2 Kings 4

Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons

4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, 
saying, "Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant 
was a loyal follower of the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take 
away my two boys to be his servants." 4:2 Elisha said to her, "What can 
I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" She answered, 
"Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil." 
4:3 He said, "Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. Get as 
many as you can. 4:4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons. 
Pour the olive oil into all the containers; set aside each one when you 
have filled it." 4:5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and 
her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring 
the olive oil. 4:6 When the containers were full, she said to one of her 
sons, "Bring me another container." But he answered her, "There are no 
more." Then the olive oil stopped flowing. 4:7 She went and told the 
prophet. He said, "Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then 
you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit."

Elisha Gives Life to a Boy

4:8 One day Elisha traveled to Shunem, where a prominent woman lived. 
She insisted that he stop for a meal. So whenever he was passing 
through, he would stop in there for a meal. 4:9 She said to her husband, 
"Look, I'm sure that the man who regularly passes through here is a very 
special prophet. 4:10 Let's make a small private upper room and furnish 
it with a bed, table, chair, and lamp. When he visits us, he can stay 
there."

4:11 One day Elisha came for a visit; he went into the upper room and 
rested. 4:12 He told his servant Gehazi, "Ask the Shunammite woman to 
come here." So he did so and she came to him. 4:13 Elisha said to 
Gehazi, "Tell her, 'Look, you have treated us with such great respect. 
What can I do for you? Can I put in a good word for you with the king or 
the commander of the army?'" She replied, "I'm quite secure." 4:14 So he 
asked Gehazi, "What can I do for her?" Gehazi replied, "She has no son, 
and her husband is old." 4:15 Elisha told him, "Ask her to come here." 
So he did so and she came and stood in the doorway. 4:16 He said, "About 
this time next year you will be holding a son." She said, "No, my 
master! O prophet, do not lie to your servant!" 4:17 The woman did 
conceive, and at the specified time the next year she gave birth to a 
son, just as Elisha had told her.

4:18 The boy grew and one day he went out to see his father who was with 
the harvest workers. 4:19 He said to his father, "My head! My head!" His 
father told a servant, "Carry him to his mother." 4:20 So he picked him 
up and took him to his mother. He sat on her lap until noon and then 
died. 4:21 She went up and laid him down on the prophet's bed. She shut 
the door behind her and left. 4:22 She called to her husband, "Send me 
one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so I can go see the prophet 
quickly and then return." 4:23 He said, "Why do you want to go see him 
today? It is not the new moon or the Sabbath." She said, "Everything's 
fine." 4:24 She saddled the donkey and told her servant, "Lead on. Do 
not stop unless I say so."

4:25 So she went to visit the prophet at Mount Carmel. When he saw her 
at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, "Look, it's the Shunammite 
woman. 4:26 Now, run to meet her and ask her, 'Are you well? Are your 
husband and the boy well?'" She told Gehazi, "Everything's fine." 4:27 
But when she reached the prophet on the mountain, she grabbed hold of 
his feet. Gehazi came near to push her away, but the prophet said, 
"Leave her alone, for she is very upset. The Lord has kept the matter 
hidden from me; he didn't tell me about it." 4:28 She said, "Did I ask 
my master for a son? Didn't I say, 'Don't mislead me?'" 4:29 Elisha told 
Gehazi, "Tuck your robes into your belt, take my staff, and go! Don't 
stop to exchange greetings with anyone! Place my staff on the child's 
face." 4:30 The mother of the child said, "As certainly as the Lord 
lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So Elisha got up and 
followed her back.

4:31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the 
child's face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to 
Elisha he told him, "The child did not wake up." 4:32 When Elisha 
arrived at the house, there was the child lying dead on his bed. 4:33 He 
went in by himself and closed the door. Then he prayed to the Lord. 4:34 
He got up on the bed and spread his body out over the boy; he put his 
mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes over the boy's eyes, and the palms of 
his hands against the boy's palms. He bent down over him, and the boy's 
skin grew warm. 4:35 Elisha went back and walked around in the house. 
Then he got up on the bed again and bent down over him. The child 
sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 4:36 Elisha called to Gehazi 
and said, "Get the Shunammite woman." So he did so and she came to him. 
He said to her, "Take your son." 4:37 She came in, fell at his feet, and 
bowed down. Then she picked up her son and left.

Elisha Makes a Meal Edible

4:38 Now Elisha went back to Gilgal, while there was famine in the land. 
Some of the prophets were visiting him and he told his servant, "Put the 
big pot on the fire and boil some stew for the prophets." 4:39 Someone 
went out to the field to gather some herbs and found a wild vine. He 
picked some of its fruit, enough to fill up the fold of his robe. He 
came back, cut it up, and threw the slices into the stew pot, not 
knowing they were harmful. 4:40 The stew was poured out for the men to 
eat. When they ate some of the stew, they cried out, "Death is in the 
pot, O prophet!" They could not eat it. 4:41 He said, "Get some flour." 
Then he threw it into the pot and said, "Now pour some out for the men 
so they may eat." There was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

Elisha Miraculously Feeds a Hundred People

4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet -- 
twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, 
as well as fresh ears of grain. Elisha said, "Set it before the people 
so they may eat." 4:43 But his attendant said, "How can I feed a hundred 
men with this?" He replied, "Set it before the people so they may eat, 
for this is what the Lord says, 'They will eat and have some left 
over.'" 4:44 So he set it before them; they ate and had some left over, 
just as the Lord predicted.

      Prayer

Lord, when You speak through Your Word and through Your prophets Your 
power and truth is made known, and there is nothing in the world -- not 
even death -- that escapes Your power. May I never forget the awesome 
God Whom I serve.

      Commentary

The Lord God performed a series of miracles through Elisha:

He caused a widow and her son to receive adequate filled containers to 
sell and cover their debt as well as to live on for a long time.

He prophesied the birth of a son to a childless woman with an elderly 
husband and later raised that child from the dead.

He caused poisonous food to be safe.

He fed two hundred people from twenty loaves of bread.

      Interaction

        Consider

The Lord God provided enough to meet the immediate and future needs of 
the widow and her son but there was no excess or waste.

        Discuss

Is it possible that the Lord God allowed the Shunnamite woman's son to 
die because she had doubted Elisha's prophecy and needed to come to 
trust the God he served without doubt?

        Reflect

In each case it was the faithful trust of Elisha which allowed the 
miracle to be poured-out through him, and in each case that was 
accompanied by the trust of the ones being blessed.

        Share

When have you the Lord God pouring out blessings upon one person through 
another -- and both were required to act in ways that demonstrated 
genuine confidence and trust in Him?

      Faith in Action

        Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a place in your life where you 
trusted and obeyed and as a result you were either a vessel of His 
blessing poured-out into another, or you were the recipient of His blessing.

        Action:

Today I will share my story with a fellow believer and together we will 
share praise and worship of our great and loving God.

        Be Specific ______________________________________________________

    Thursday's text will be:

      2 Kings 5 -- 6:7

-- 

Draw nearer to the Lord and He will bless you,
Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!
David M. Colburn, DMin. MaCo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
Teacher's Verse: John 7:16
Defend free speech or lose your freedom.
I don't google I SEARCH! http://ixquick.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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