Death In The Pot (2 Kings 4:38-41).
To turn this story into an example of the culinary art, with Elisha as the experienced chief cook is to misrepresent it. Whatever we may think it is quite clear that the author saw it as a miracle, and intended it to be read in that way. Furthermore it would never have been recorded had it not been seen in that way by the participants. They would have had many experiences of when food did not quite taste right and was put right by adding something more, no doubt resulting in some leg-pulling. No one bothered to record things like that. But this was clearly seen as something different.
One problem is, of course, that, while we may hazard guesses, there is no indication what the plant was that was added to the pot, but we can safely assume that it was not anything common. That is why we do not see it as fitting in with the usual suggestions. It was clearly not a commonly recognised plant (‘they did not know them'). However, the idea that it was poisonous did simply rest on the taste. But no one, probably even Elisha, knew whether it was so or not. Thus the adding of the meal was intended to be a divine remedy for the situation, not just something to make the stew more palatable, necessary because it was a time of shortage and they could not afford to lose what was in the pot. And for that it turned out to be perfectly satisfactory. It was another example of Elisha's remarkable powers.
Analysis.
a And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him (2 Kings 4:38 a).
b And he said to his servant, “Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets” (2 Kings 4:38 b).
c And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it wild gourds, his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of stew, for they did not know them (2 Kings 4:39).
b So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came about, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” And they could not eat of it (2 Kings 4:40).
a But he said, “Then bring meal.” And he cast it into the pot, and he said, “Pour out for the people, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot (2 Kings 4:41).
Note that in ‘a' there was famine in the land and the sons of the prophets were depending on Elisha, and in the parallel their need is met by Elisha. In ‘b' the stew was set on the fire so that it would be ready for the sons of the prophets to eat, and in the parallel they tried to eat of it but could not. Central in ‘c' is the reason for the problem, the gathering of an unknown ingredient.
‘And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant, “Set on the great pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” '
The famine was probably the same one as described in 2 Kings 8:1. We do not know which Gilgal it was, whether the one in the Jordan rift valley, or the one in the hills above Bethel, or possibly another one. The important thing is that Elisha and the sons of the prophets were having a community meal. This may have been because the famine had brought them together, or because they were having a special conference in view of the coming of Elisha to the region. But as their acknowledged leader when he was present Elisha gave orders for a large pot of stew to be put on the fire to boil, ready for their meal.
‘And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it wild gourds, his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of stew, for they did not know them.'
We have here a stark warning of the danger of eating things which are unknown to us, unless of course we have good grounds for knowing them to be safe. This is especially so when we gather them in the wild. In this case one of the sons of the prophets found an unknown ‘vine' and gathered its fruits, which he then placed in his turned up robe (forming a carrier bag). When they were brought back to the camp they were shredded with everything else, even though ‘they did not know them'. Possibly no one thought to ask, each assuming that the others knew what they were. The fact that it was unknown indicates that it was a rare plant, and it is therefore unlikely that we can identify it. The description is a loose one using common terminology. The plant was ‘a creeping plant' producing some kind of ‘knop like fruit', but as the description came from a layman it cannot be taken too literally. Any suggestions based on plants which were common can be discounted (thus we exclude the later guess at the colocynth, a common wild plant which produced cucumber like fruit, and was purgative, and in quantities, poisonous. It would be too commonly known).
‘So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came about, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” And they could not eat of it.'
‘There is death in the pot.' It would only be when the stew was tasted and found to be inedible that questions would be asked, and it may well be that when that occurred the description from the culprit indicated to a fellow son of the prophets some kind of rare ‘fruit' which from past experience he knew to be poisonous. Thus it may well be that it was literally poisonous. To make it into a kind of joke such as we might make over something we do not like the taste of is to ignore the seriousness with which this story has been treated. It is not meant to be light entertainment. As a result of what they had discovered they could clearly not eat of it. As presumably what the man had put in was a relatively small part of the ingredients, its drastic effect on the taste is remarkable evidence of its potency.
‘But he said, “Then bring meal.” And he cast it into the pot, and he said, “Pour out for the people, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.'
So Elisha called for some meal to be brought, and he himself cast it into the pot, and then declared it to be now perfectly safe. And so it turned out to be. While we would not discount the fact that adding meal could quite well have a taste-changing effect on the stew, making it palatable, we would not deny. It may even have helped to compensate for whatever poison was in the pot. But if so it was YHWH Who knew about that, not Elisha and the sons of the prophets. They saw it as a miracle. And it was certainly a miracle of answered prayer.
The final point behind the story was that as the God of Creation, YHWH had full control over all vegetation, and could make of it what He would.