2 Kings 4:1-7
"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."
THERE ARE TWELVE LESSONS
BELOW ON OUR TEXT. (JUST BEGIN AT LESSON NUMBER 1 AND
SCROLL DOWNWARD AS YOU READ TOWARD LESSON 12. MAY THE LORD
BLESS YOU AS YOU STUDY HIS PRECIOUS WORD!)
LESSON 1 ... INTRODUCTION:
The Lord just
seemed to have me thinking about (of all things) ... oil!
I even saw a book
in a local bookstore about it!
Oil!
The noun "oil"
occurs 202 times in the Bible.
The general
consensus among Bible-believing preachers is that "oil" is
generally a picture of The Holy Spirit.
It seems clear that the Bible subject of "oil" is vast in its
scope. In fact, all the Bible is
"exceeding broad!" So says Psalm 119:96.
Gradually, after several other "potential" passages came and
went, the Lord focused me on 2 Kings 4:1-7. It describes a
miracle ... concerning "oil!"
Elisha is the Prophet involved and a poor widow lady is the
beneficiary! (And, of course, our great God provides the Power
behind it all!)
Here's the Bible account, word for word:
"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." Again, this brief text is found in 2nd
Kings 4:1-7.
Did you notice that this poor lady is a "widow?" That makes her
two boys "fatherless." And puts all three of them in a special
category! Listen to Psalm 146:9 which says:
"The Lord ... relieveth the fatherless and
the widow!" Our Lord always champions the cause of the
poor and humble and lowly! (And He always resists the proud!)
Peter tells us ... "God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace to the humble!" 1st Peter 5:5
I'm glad for the day the Lord, by means of Holy Spirit
"conviction," humbled my soul and brought me to the place where
I (submissively with heartfelt repentance and a broken will)
confessed myself to be a sinner in need of salvation! I got
"saved" that very hour as Jesus, the "Saviour," moved into my
life and literally took control!
Is someone reading here today who is that needy?
Fatherless?
Sorrowful?
Poor?
Destitute?
Come to the dear Lord Jesus!
He can give you oil too ... just like He did this little widow
in our paragraph!
And you, as her, can be associated with the
"Oil of Gladness," the precious
Holy Spirit of God!
Psalm 45:7 uses that very term in prophesying about Jesus! It
says that He will "love righteousness and
hate wickedness: therefore God will anoint Him with the Oil of
Gladness!"
The Lord willing, more about this precious "oil" tomorrow.
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 2 ...
verse 1:
What destitution the opening verse presents
us!
"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." 2 Kings
4:1
She is just called a "certain woman!"
But she surely knew what to do with her
problems!
She took them to the Lord! (Or at least
to the Man of God, the Prophet Elisha, whose very name means
"God is Salvation"!)
The noun in Hebrew for woman is "ishshah."
Man in Scripture is often depicted by the word "iysh." See
the similarity? The lady is WOMAN ... simply
a derivative of MAN! And often the feminists and the
rebels do not like that fact at all! To complicate
their problem, in the New Testament the same word is used for
woman and wife ... identically! To be a woman is to be a
wife (grammatically)! Of course the Bible has some
excellent exceptions to this rule ... but that's God's basic
standard! The enemies say that this "objectifies" the
woman.
Yet, on the other hand, no Book exalts
womanhood as does the Bible and no Person honored the ladies
with whom He came in contact more than Jesus! (Including the
lady in our text right here!)
Also notice that this lady was the wife of a
preacher! The "sons of the prophets" were a group of young
ministerial students who congregated around a great man of God
like Samuel or Elijah and studied the great truths of Scripture!
But her husband had died!
And left her poor! With unpaid bills!
This may or may not badly reflect on him.
We just are not given any details. If he was a careless
spender or a poor manager of money, he was wrong and his wife
suffered for it. But if he had an extended illness or was
persecuted for his faith's sake ... the poverty may have been
unavoidable. (In which case God's provision is even more
lovely!)
Yet the now deceased preacher did have a
godly testimony! (At least he did with his wife and with
Elisha!) I would say that the companion of a man, his
wife, would be the first to know his real character! This
one "feared the Lord," the Old Testament clause that indicates
godliness and reverance.
Yet another problem has risen. (Did you
ever notice how trials come in "groups?" Her husband died ...
her money is gone ... and now her boys are threatened! Ask
old Job about this too! And the devil tempted Jesus three
times in rapid succession!)
A "creditor" has come to take away her
children!
The term means a man to whom they owed money!
(Paul later encourages us to ... "Owe no
man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth
another hath fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8)
And this financial tyrant did have legal
right to "claim" these boys and make them work off the
indebtedness ... at least until the 7th year came. See
Exodus 21:2 and similar verses.
The noun "bondmen" is in Hebrew "ebed" and
just means a common slave (servant).
As I said in the opening sentence today ...
This lady was destitute!
She reminds me of the plight of those who
congregated around David as he fled from King Saul!
"And every one that was in
distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one
that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and
he became a captain over them: and there were with him about
four hundred men." This is 1st Samuel 22:2.
Even Jesus said:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Or listen to what commonly happened in the
life and ministry of our Lord. "The
blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them." Matthew
11:5 (What a group this was!)
It sounds to me like the dear Lord Jesus came
to the very kind of people this widow lady represents!
(And that includes you and me ... at least
spiritually it does!)
I'm glad He cares!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 3 ... VERSE 2:
Just prior to God working this miracle,
Elisha asks the poor widow lady a couple of questions.
"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." 2 Kings 4:2
The first question,
"What shall I do for thee?" is unusual. The great
Prophet has just heard the details of the lady's plight!
"What shall I do for
thee?"
This sounds to me like something Jesus
occasionally did too!
Listen to the first thing Jesus says to blind
Bartimaeus in Mark 10:51 --- "And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might
receive my sight."
Did you see that?
The same question!
And again in John 5:6 at the Pool of Bethesda
Jesus asks the impotent man nearly the same thing.
"When Jesus saw him lie, and knew
that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith
unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?"
I am prepared to go this far today ...
Elisha seems to be here a picture of Christ Jesus!
One day soon I am going to write a whole
article on that subject alone. I think there may be a
dozen or more ways in which Elisha depicts Jesus!
Yet again there's another question!
"What hast thou in the
house?"
How very practical!
Do YOU have anything the Lord can use?
(Of course God can perform miracles without any "means"
whatsoever! He "spoke" the worlds into existence Hebrews
11:3 tells us! But often He uses some "catalyst" in His
miraculous doings!)
Again, this sounds just like Jesus!
At the feeding of the 5,000 He asks
"How many loaves have ye?" Matthew
15:34
Or by the shore that post-resurrection day in
John 21:5, Jesus asks his failing disciples,
"Children, have ye any meat? They answered
him, No."
Wow!
Now watch the lady's answer.
She had "not any thing
in the house!"
Not a thing!
Think what this means!
Likely the "creditor" had been to see her
before!
He who now threatens to enslave her two sons
has already (piece by piece perhaps) emptied her house of
furniture and keepsakes and "everything!"
One loss after another!
One "reversal" followed another "reversal!"
YET this lady's faith failed not!
She still sought help from the Hand of the
Lord!
She watched her pantry being depleted day by
day. Now everything is gone ... except a pot of oil!
She here reminds me a little bit of Habakkuk
who said: "Although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in
the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Habakkuk 3:17-18
Or maybe even Job who said:
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust
in him!" Or "What? shall we receive good at the hand of
God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin
with his lips."
I admire such faith!
However I do not want to close this verse
without noticing one more little word. That's the adverb "save!"
Nothing left ... except!
Just this pot of oil!
And the word here is NOT indicative of a big
earthen oil vat ... but a small flask or "skin" of oil!
The "root" of the word used here, "asuk,"
means "anointed!"
Nothing was left but a small skin of oil ...
anointing oil!
(Perhaps her preacher husband had used it
again and again prior to his death!)
BUT that bit of oil was sufficient!
God used it mightily!
Again, could this be a picture of the Holy
Spirit?
Is He sufficient?
I rest my case right there!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 4
... THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2004 ... VERSE 3:
The Lord gave the widow lady (through Elisha)
some very specific instructions.
"Then he said, Go,
borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even
empty vessels; borrow not a few." 2 Kings 4:3
The verb "go" (in Hebrew = "yalak") means to
walk! "Get started" says the preacher. Go! The verb
is framed as a command too! This is now urgent business!
God wants to meet our need! It is important to Him!
And the verb "borrow" (in Hebrew = "shaal")
means "to ask" for something! (It's the "root" of the
Hebrew name "Saul" too.) It too is an imperative, a
command! In the King James Bible this word is translated
"ask" 94 times and "borrow" 6 times. It's also
rendered "beg" twice! (Get the vessels any way you
honorably can!)
And the noun for "vessels" in interesting!
It is spelled "kaliy" and means a utensil or implement or
apparatus of nearly any kind! Again, in the King James
Bible it bears the following translations: vessel (166
times), instrument (39 times), WEAPON (21 times) and JEWEL (21
times), ARMOUR (10 times) and even FURNITURE (7 times)!
If these vessels, when filled with precious
oil, picture the believe saturated with the Holy Spirit, we have
something beautiful here!
Is the fullness of the Spirit the equivalent
of being well armoured, of having the right weapons in the
spiritual battle? Of course it is!
Is the fullness of the Spirit also a picture
of the believer "bejeweled" with godly beauty and loveliness?
Certainly that's so!
Is the fullness of the Spirit in relation to
the Christian just what a complete set of furniture is to a
room? Yes! Yes! Yes!
Wow! What vocabulary this Bible has!
Even the adjective "empty" has significance!
"Reyq" (Hebrew for "empty" in this verse)
means "poured out" or just "empty." In our Bibles it is
translated "empty or emptied" 7 times ... but also "vain" as in
vain men 7 times!
We as vessels are to pour everything out of
our lives ... everything that does not belong there! To be
emptied of ourselves and our fleshly desires and our old
besetting sins! (This is part of what Paul meant when he
said "I die daily!")
BUT also when we describe ourselves as
"empty" vessels ... we are admitting that once we were "vain"
too! Useless to God and good! Idle in any sense of
accomplishing God's will for our lives!
Lastly, Elisha taught the lady and her sons
to "borrow not a few" empty vessels!
Get as many as possible!
This sounds a lot like commanded
"determination" to me!
Don't be slack!
Go door to door!
Ask and seek and knock!
Come boldly before thy neighbor!
Elisha is a real disciple of diligence!
(Remember his "shooting arrows" lesson to
King Joash in 2 Kings 13? The Preacher was upset because
the King didn't shoot enough arrows toward the enemy!)
The more vessels ... the more oil!
This even reminds me of Elisha's great
"digging ditches" miracle too. And it's in chapter three
of 2 Kings (within the context of our "oil" miracle right here)!
The verb "borrow (not) a few" translates "maat"
in Hebrew. It means "to lessen or to make small or to
diminish."
Everything is pointing to fervency in
gathering the oil holders!
Paul teaches us to be "fervent" in spirit in
all our business dealings! See Romans 12:11.
Peter repeatedly teaches us to "give all
diligence" to our Christian growth! See 2nd Peter 1:5.
Be eager and hungry and excited when it comes
to the filling of the precious Holy Spirit of God!
His Presence is essential!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 5 ...
VERSE 4:
The Prophet Elisha continues to instruct the
lady.
He says: "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." 2 Kings
4:4
Notice first that the widow is to do her work
in private. Have you ever thought about that? Jesus
did some of His miracles in private also.
The deaf man with a speech defect was healed
by Jesus ... "aside from the multitude!" ("And
he took him aside from
the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he
spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he
sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his
tongue was loosed, and he spake plain." Mark
7:33-35)
Or remember when Jesus raised that little 12
year old girl from the dead He "And they
laughed him to scorn. But
when he had put them all
out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel,
and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel
was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto
her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say
unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked;
for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were
astonished with a great astonishment." Mark 5:39-42
Some things are to be done with the door
shut! They are just too precious and private to be shared
with gawking unspiritual eyes! (Matthew 7:6 just might
apply here: "Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine."
Jesus said that too!)
Here are some more things Jesus encourages us
to do in private: our praying, our giving and our fasting!
See Matthew 6:1-18!
Then notice this. The lady was to have
her sons with her as this miracle unfolded! God wanted the boys
to see and know of His great Power!
Isaiah 44 tells us that when God blesses, He
can and will include our sons and daughters!
"I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and
my blessing upon thine offspring ..." declares the Lord!
Much of the visual aspect of the Old
Testament history is for the children to see and understand!
Listen to Joshua 4:6 --- "That this may be
a sign among you, that when your children ask their
fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by
these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of
Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD;
when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off:
and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of
Israel for ever." Include the children!
Then ... "pour out" into all those empty
vessels!
The verb is "yatzsaq" and means to let flow
or to even to overflow! The first 2 Bible uses of the word
(from the life of Jacob) involve pouring oil also!
(Genesis 28:18 and Genesis 35:14)
The verb is also the one used when molten
metal is being poured into a mold and cast (set) into hardened
form! It is translated "cast" 11 times. (Pouring to
set firm!)
Then she is instructed to "set aside" that
which is full!
Here's the exact wording:
"And thou shalt set aside that which is
full."
It just locally means that, in order to stay
organized, place the empty vessels in one place and the full
ones in another.
BUT I believe it may have a spiritual meaning
for us today also!
When a vessel (a picture of a believer) is
completely filled (with oil ... a type of the Holy Spirit) ...
he often is to be "set aside" (dedicated, consecrated, used in a
special way) to the glory of God!
Oh, to be filled with the Spirit of God!
Then, oh, to be used of God!
It should be our hearts constant desire!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
LESSON 6, OIL, A TYPE OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT:
First let's look at some
places oil was used in Bible days.
In Luke 10:34 we are told some
of the things the Good Samaritan did for the battered and robbed
traveler. "And went to him,
and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on
his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."
See the oil being poured into his wounds! Just
think of the sin-festered cuts and gashes on our poor old souls
... when the Holy Spirit convicted us of our sins! Yet His
"oil" has soothed and healed us completely!
And in the Tabernacle of
Moses' day oil was used as a source of fuel for the lampstands!
Exodus 25:6 tells us some of the thigns needed in the true
worship of God. "Oil for the light,
spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense."
The oil gave light! There will never be any true illumination of
the Word of God or the Christian way of life apart from the oil
of the Holy Spirit!
Here's another Biblical use
for oil. It was put on one's face! Listen to what
God can provide. "And wine that
maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his
face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's
heart." Psalm 104:15 I am telling you, dear
friend, when one is anointed with the Holy Spirit, it shows on
his or her face!
And how about the old cleansed
lepers, who had oil put on their ears, their hands and their
feet during their consecration ceremony! (First blood was
placed on these areas ... because one must be blood-washed
before he can be spirit-anointed!) Oil on these body parts
suggests Holy Spirit control of all I hear, all I do and
everywhere I go! "And of the rest of
the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the
tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the
thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right
foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering." Leviticus
14:17
And when Aaron was dedicated
as Priest ... oil was poured on his head! Leviticus 8:12
tells us: "And he poured of the
anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify
him." This simply means all one's thoughts are to
be Spirit approved!
And of course there was that
copious supply of oil on the meal offering in Leviticus 2 also!
The meal offering is a picture of Jesus (here in His Life as
well as in His Death) saturated with the oil of the Holy Spirit!
"And if thou bring an oblation of a
meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened
cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers
anointed with oil." Leviticus 2:4 In fact
Jesus had so much of the Spirit upon Him and within Him that we
are told by John "For
God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."
John 3:34
And from whence does this oil
come? Why, from the olive! See what Exodus 27:20
says: "And thou shalt command the children
of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the
light, to cause the lamp to burn always." And these
olives had been bruised or crushed or "beaten" ... just
what happened to Jesus on Calvary! Had Jesus not gone to
the Cross ... no Holy Spirit would have been given, at least not
as we have him today in this age of Grace! John 7:39 ---
"But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
Praise God for the lessons of
the oil in Scripture!
And praise Him even more for
the Holy Spirit that oil represents!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
The Bible reports that this widow lady was
obedient to the Man of God!
And she went.
And she did.
He said for her to include her sons.
And she did that too.
That thought send me to my concordance.
In Luke 17:10 Jesus observes a servant, a
common slave, doing all that he was commanded. Then Jesus
said: "So likewise ye,
when ye shall have done
all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to
do." Wow! What kind of servants are we?
And in Jeremiah 35 we meet a group of people
who have done all that their fathers commanded them. The
Rechabites were highly commended of God! He used them as
an example of obedience to spur the Israelites onward!
"And Jeremiah said unto the house of the
Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel ...
ye have obeyed
the commandment of Jonadab your father, and
kept all his precepts,
and done according unto
all that he hath commanded you." Jeremiah
35:18
And God promised special blessings to Israel
if she as a nation obeyed all His commands!
"Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy
God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine
house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the
stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow,
according to all thy
commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not
transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:
I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken
away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor
given ought thereof for the dead: but I have
hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and
have done according to
all that thou hast commanded me."
Deuteronomy 26:13-14 (Therefore they could pray:
"Look down from thy holy habitation,
from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which
thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land
that floweth with milk and honey." Deuteronomy
26:15)
And one last time, it appears that Moses and
the people did all God commanded when it came to the building of
the Tabernacle! I base my statement on Exodus 39:43 ---
"And Moses did look upon
all the work,
and, behold, they had
done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it:
and Moses blessed them."
So this poor widow lady joins an impressive
group of folks who did ALL they were commanded!
She also joined the group who enjoyed
multiple blessings from the Lord! (He does bless
obedience!)
I therefore will say this. (Based on
God's Word.) If you do ALL He has commanded you ... He
will bless you too, abundantly bless you!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
I wish to extract just one lesson from
today's verse. We shall perhaps return to it later.
Just notice with me that the oil flowed as
long as there were empty vessels!
The number of empty vessels was diminished.
The insufficiency was on the vessel end, the
human end, NOT the Supply end of the miracle!
Theoretically had they gathered more empty
pots, they would have had more oil to fill them!
Here's my point today.
The oil, being a picture of the Holy Spirit,
was absolutely inexhaustible!
Watch the expression of Paul's that I have
highlighted from Philippians 1:19 --- "For
I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer,
and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ ...." That word
"supply" is a technical Greek noun that was used of a man who
provided everything needed for a play or a concert or some other
public program! He took care of EVERYTHING! The
place, the cast, the wardrobe, the refreshments ... everything!
Paul is teaching us that the Holy Spirit provides all we need to
live the Christian life to the glory of God!
Just as the oil was more than enough ... so
is the Holy Spirit more than sufficient in our lives!
I've just been word-searching in my Bible!
"Sufficiency" and its cognates have interested me. Let me
share my findings with you:
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, as Paul was suffering
with is "thron in the flesh, our Lord encouraged him with these
words: "And he said unto me,
My grace is sufficient
for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me."
The sufficiency of the oil in our 2 Kings 4
text here is a picture of the Sufficiency of the Lord God
Almighty!
--- Dr. Mike Bagwell
