2 Kings 4:1-12
Today in the Bible
Portion of scripture
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. 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. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, [even] empty vessels; borrow not a few. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this [is] an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. 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. And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. - 2 Kings 4:1-12 KJV
Thoughts
Like the widow, we are often blessed according to the measure of our faith. Unfortunately, there are times where would could have been blessed even more if we had had stepped out in faith more. If the Lord is leading you and you only follow a little bit, then do not expect to be rewarded as if you had. Instead be encouraged to fully trust in the Lord. When he calls, be like the widow and gather every last jar possible.
The great woman did not tell her husband their son had died. She shut the door, and when he asked why she was leaving she replied “everything will be fine.” She had seen her dead son, and had faith that God would heal her son.
Observations
This widow had children, yet her late husband was a prophet. This indicates that some prophets had children, and not all were celebate.
The widow had great faith, and God responded to the level of her faith. Had she not truely obeyed Elisha to bring many jars and only brought a few, there would have been less jars filled. Meaning less money to earn and live off of. God responded to her level of faith.
The widow sold the oil and paid off her debts, and then lived off of the rest. This must have been a significant amount of oil.
The oil was likely her husbands oil, left over from his prophet priestly duties. Anointing oil like this would have been worth even more than your standard cooking oil.
The great woman’s greatness was her wealth. I read this thinking initially it was her age because her husband was old, but when you look at the story you get details of the woman indicating she was a business woman. Her location of business, and the fact she was able to build a spare room for Elisha indicates her wealth.