The Strand Study Bible

II KINGS 3:21

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II KINGS 4:14

20 And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. Moab is defeated 21 And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. 22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: 23 And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil. 24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country. 25 And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in 1 Kir-haraseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it. 26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. 27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land. II Kings 4 Elisha’s fifth miracle 1 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 2 to be bondmen. 2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the (Increase of the widow’s oil) Date - c. 890 BC/AM 3110

house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a 3 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 fromhim, 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. Elisha’s sixth miracle (A barren woman conceives) 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.

1. Isa 16:7,11 & Jere 48:31,36 2. or, “to be slaves for seven years” - Exo 21:2 & Lev 25:39-42 3. Note - Neither Elisha nor any other prophet could help poor widows financially, for they too were poor. Queen Jezebel made sure of that (I Ki 18:4). However, the greatest kindness anyone can do for poor people is to teach them spiritual principles whereby God can become their help, instead of men and governments. The pot of oil within this poor widow woman’s house represented the power of the eternal SPIRIT (Heb 9:14) within our own house (Isa 61:1, Zech 4:1-6, Heb 1:9 and Psa 133:2 ). Thus, within every believer is a pot of “eternal” OIL (I Cor 3:16-17 & 6:19-20), and God’s great desire is for us to learn to pour that OIL into the lives of other people (vessels - Mt 25:1-12, II Tim 2:20-21 and I Thess 4:1-4). As long as we continue to find other vessels (people) in which to invest spiritual principles, we will never run dry, and the supply we need will always be met (Phil 4:10,14-19, II Cor 9:6-12, Jn 15:1-7 and Lk 6:38). THE ADAGE IS TRUE: Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day; teach him to fish and he can eat for a lifetime (Mt 4:4,19)

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. 4:6 God’s supply ( And the oil stayed ) is always as large as our willingness to invest spiritual principles into the “vessels” of others. THE ADAGE IS TRUE: It’s not God’s promises that fail, only our faith in what He says he will do (Mal 3:8-10) 4:7 Whenever you’re down to nothing (vs 1-2), God is probably up to something (vs 3-7).