YHWH Provides For A Poor Woman And Her Two Sons Who Seek Elisha's Help Through The Miracle Of Multiplying The Oil In A Vessel (2 Kings 4:1-7).
It will be seen that this miracle, and the one of raising the dead in the next passage, are vaguely parallel to two of Elijah's miracles in 1 Kings 18:9-23. But in each case it is only the central theme that is the same (multiplying oil, and in Elijah's case meal, and raising a dead son), otherwise in all the details the stories are very different. Given the fact that Jesus performed similar miracles (multiplying bread twice, raising the dead a number of times) we may see them as typical of miracles that God might choose to perform, rather than as miracles which are duplicates of one original (Elisha will also shortly multiply bread as well). Indeed we may see in each case that Elisha himself got the idea from Elijah, as well as from YHWH. As we have already seen with regard to the parting of the Jordan (2 Kings 2:8; 2 Kings 2:14), Elisha liked reproducing what Elijah had done. We need not doubt therefore that these were two different incidents.
The first deals with the case of a poor widow who had two sons, whose wife and father had been one of the sons of the prophets (it was in some ways similar to Jesus healing Peter's wife's mother in showing compassion to the relative of a disciple- Mark 1:29-31). Because she was in debt it looked as though her sons would be sold by their creditor as bondsmen (slaves) in order to repay the debt. Strictly this was against the Law in Leviticus 25:39-40 (although in accord with the Code of Hammurabi), however the term ‘bondsmen' may here be being used loosely of the alternative described there (compare also Isaiah 50:1). Either way it was not a very happy situation for the prophet's widow. The Law in Exodus 21:7 is irrelevant to this incident, for that has to do with the special situation of Habiru seven year contracts (as also evidenced at Nuzi), or Habiru wife contracts, and has no connection with a situation like this.
Elisha then asked her what possessions she had, and learned that all that she had was a small jar of olive oil. So he told her to borrow from her neighbours as many pots and vessels as she could, and when she had done so to ensure her privacy and then continue pouring the oil into the vessels until the jar ran dry. She was to continue pouring the oil until all the vessels had been filled. The he told her to sell the oil and use what she obtained, first to pay off her debt (which she could do in oil), and then to provide for the financial future of herself and her sons.
The story is so dissimilar in every way to the one in 1 Kings 17:8-16 that it is difficult to see how they could both be derived from the same occurrence. (Of course most who make the claim also believe that nothing like it occurred at all, but that is not on the basis of evidence but simply on the basis of their philosophical position).
Analysis.
· Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared YHWH, and the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be bondsmen” (2 Kings 4:1).
· And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your handmaid has nothing in the house, apart from a pot of oil” (2 Kings 4:2).
· Then he said, “Go, borrow for yourself vessels abroad of all your neighbours, even empty vessels. Borrow not a few” (2 Kings 4:3).
· “And you shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and you shall set aside that which is full” (2 Kings 4:4).
· So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons. They brought the vessels to her, and she poured out (2 Kings 4:5).
· And it came about, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me yet a vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not a vessel more.” And the oil stayed (2 Kings 4:6).
· Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live, you and your sons, from what remains” (2 Kings 4:7).
Note that in ‘a' the widow of one of the sons of the prophets came to Elisha because she could not pay her debt and her sons were about to be sold off as slaves, and in the parallel Elisha is able to tell her to pay her debt and provide for the future of the two boys. In ‘b' she has nothing in the house but a pot of oil, and in the parallel she has large numbers of vessels full of oil. In ‘c' he tells her to borrow a large number of vessels from her neighbours and friends, and in the parallel the vessels were brought to her and she filled them. Centrally in ‘d' she was to go to in privacy into her house and fill all the vessels, putting them to one side as they were filled.
‘Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared YHWH, and the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be bondsmen.” '
The death of a husband was a catastrophe for a woman with no grown up sons, for it meant that there was no provider for the family, and this may well have been moreso for wives of ‘sons of the prophets' who were probably the poorest in Israel due to persecution and discrimination. It is clear that these sons of the prophets were not living in their own community. The widow thus turned to Elijah for help. Their condition was largely due to the fact that they had feared YHWH, and now she had built up debts and could not repay them. The result was that the creditor was threatening to sell her sons as bondservants in order to recoup the debt. This was forbidden by the Law of Moses in Leviticus 25:39-40, but Israel would not be strictly observing the Law of Moses under their current king, and in other countries this was accepted practise (e.g. under the Code of Hammurabi)
‘And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your handmaid has nothing in the house, apart from a pot of oil.” '
Elisha's reply indicated that he was ready to help, and he asked her what she had in her house. And it was then that he learned of the family's total destitution. All that she had was one small vessel of oil.
‘Then he said, “Go, borrow for yourself vessels abroad of all your neighbours, even empty vessels. Borrow not a few. And you shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and you shall set aside that which is full.” '
We can almost hear Elisha say at this stage, ‘silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give you' (Acts 3:6), for his meaning was the same. And he told her to go abroad among her neighbours and borrow as many vessels from her neighbours as she could, and to ensure that she did not stop at a few. As so often, if she was to enjoy a miracle she must exercise faith and put in effort. Then she must close her door on all outsiders and in complete privacy pour oil out of her jar into all the vessels that she had collected, and as each became full to set it aside.
We are left to assume her busy search for vessels among her neighbours for that is assumed. As so often in Scripture the command given by a prophet or by YHWH assumes that the action follows.
‘So she went from him, and shut the door on her and on her sons. They brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.'
So she went from him, and having collected as many vessels as she could borrow, she shut herself and her sons up in complete privacy, and as her sons brought the vessels to her, she poured oil into them.
‘And it came about, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me yet a vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not a vessel more.” And the oil stayed.'
Having filled all the vessels that they brought to her she then said to one of her sons, ‘bring me another vessel'. But the son replied, ‘Mummy, there are no more vessels.' And at that the oil from her small vessel ceased flowing.
‘Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live, you and your sons, from what remains.”
Filled with wonder she came and told ‘the man of God' what had happened, and he gently told her to go and sell the oil, pay off her debt, and then use what remained to provide for herself and her sons into the future.
Note the change to ‘man of God' which emphasised that this had been done by YHWH. In the short term there was no purpose in this miracle except to demonstrate God's love and compassion for His own. In the longer term it is a blessing to all believers, and once again reveals YHWH as the God of creation. But it was deliberately done in private with no eye-witnesses, and was simply demonstrating how God cares for His own, and revealing the compassion of Elisha. It is, however, a reminder to us that when we become aware of our deepest need, we can seek to Him to fill our ‘vessels' with oil, knowing that He will do so.