Joel M Bradshaw

1Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 3Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” 

5So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”–2 Kings 4

1. A similar miracle was done by Elijah in 1 Kings 17.
2. This miracle clearly linked Elisha as continuing the prophetic ministry of Elijah.
3. In this case, though, we don’t learn that the woman was a foreigner, but a wife of a prophet of God.
4. There were schools of prophets in that day. Ahab and Jezebel killed these prophets. This was one of those widows who remained.
5. In fact, the woman declared to Elisha that her husband was faithful to God in his ministry. This meant he was not a prophet of Baal linked with Jezebel.
6. The woman showed enough faith to trust God in her extreme poverty.
7. God worked a miracle and she was able to see her situation completely solved. When facing troubling situations, turn to God and trust biblical counsel rather than growing bitter. We learn that lesson here.–JMB