MAY 9, 2026 – OIL AND A SON
READ: 2 Kin. 4:1–17: … when the vessels were full … the oil ceased … you have shown great care for us … a son …
The next event concerns a widow who is in debt and can no longer provide for herself and her children. She faces having to sell her children. Elisha, on behalf of the LORD, provides deliverance.
How has this widow come into such debt? Is it not the result of the worldliness of God’s people? The whole people has the duty to care for the widow.
Moreover, this is the widow of an office-bearer, a son of the prophets. Apparently he could leave her little at his death, and her condition is a sign of neglect in supporting office-bearers. It is a sign of spiritual decline that this widow is so poor, contrary to the will of the LORD.
The widow expresses this by saying: “your servant feared the LORD.” The LORD has evidently tested her whether she would bring her troubles to Him. And she does so by going to Elisha. This is now blessed by the LORD.
In the second event, it appears that Elisha is hospitably cared for by the woman in Shunem. That is remarkable in a people in such decline. Later she recognizes that he is a man of God (v. 9), which leads her to serve him even more.
After consultation with her husband, they give him a room in their house, furnished with all he needs to rest and work. They offer godly help to a servant of the Word, without shame in a worldly society.
Elisha wishes to show his gratitude for this moving expression of fellowship. He recognizes in them members of the seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Yet they have a serious lack: they have no son. Thus they cannot contribute to the building up of the church. But receiving a son would be a divine miracle for them.
Why does the LORD allow the poor widow to come to such a state?
Singing: Ps. 146:4
READ: 2 Kin. 4:1–17: … when the vessels were full … the oil ceased … you have shown great care for us … a son …
The next event concerns a widow who is in debt and can no longer provide for herself and her children. She faces having to sell her children. Elisha, on behalf of the LORD, provides deliverance.
How has this widow come into such debt? Is it not the result of the worldliness of God’s people? The whole people has the duty to care for the widow.
Moreover, this is the widow of an office-bearer, a son of the prophets. Apparently he could leave her little at his death, and her condition is a sign of neglect in supporting office-bearers. It is a sign of spiritual decline that this widow is so poor, contrary to the will of the LORD.
The widow expresses this by saying: “your servant feared the LORD.” The LORD has evidently tested her whether she would bring her troubles to Him. And she does so by going to Elisha. This is now blessed by the LORD.
In the second event, it appears that Elisha is hospitably cared for by the woman in Shunem. That is remarkable in a people in such decline. Later she recognizes that he is a man of God (v. 9), which leads her to serve him even more.
After consultation with her husband, they give him a room in their house, furnished with all he needs to rest and work. They offer godly help to a servant of the Word, without shame in a worldly society.
Elisha wishes to show his gratitude for this moving expression of fellowship. He recognizes in them members of the seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Yet they have a serious lack: they have no son. Thus they cannot contribute to the building up of the church. But receiving a son would be a divine miracle for them.
Why does the LORD allow the poor widow to come to such a state?
Singing: Ps. 146:4