ELISHA SERIES: THE MIRACULOUS DEEDS OF ELISHA

While Elisha headed the schools of the prophets, 2 Kings 4 records four miraculous deeds that happened as he traveled to different areas teaching and ministering to those in need of a miracle.

As this chapter opens, a widow unable to pay her creditor comes to Elisha seeking assistance. She reminds Elisha of her husband’s fear of the Lord and informs him of the creditor’s plans. Elisha instructs her to borrow all the vessels she can from her neighbors and bring them into her house. Next, she is to shut the door of her home, take the pot of oil she has, and pour it into these empty vessels. After completing the task, the widow returned to Elisha, and he told her, “Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.”

The next miraculous event takes place in Shunem. After becoming friendly with Elisha and convinced that he was a holy man of God, a wealthy Shunem woman invited Elisha to stay in her house whenever he was in the area. Because of her kindness, Elisha wanted to do something for her. After finding out from the woman, she did not need material assistance, his servant Gehazi mentioned the woman whose husband was elderly did not have any children. Thusly, Elisha informed the woman that she would conceive and have a son the following year, which she did.

One day years later, this child became ill and died. His mother laid him on the bed in the room set aside for Elisha and shut the door. She told her husband, “ Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again,” and when her husband questioned what she was doing she said, “It shall be well.”

As she was approaching Elisha, who was at Mount Carmel, he saw her and sent Gehazi to find out if she and her family were well, to which she responded, “It is well” However, when she got to Elisha, she grabbed his feet and said, “Did I desire a son of my Lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?” In response, Elisha sends Gehazi with his staff and tells him, “Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.” Meanwhile, the woman refuses to leave Elisha, so he travels with her back to her home.  

After following Elisha’s instructions and getting no response from the child, Gehazi returns to Elisha, who is on his way. Elisha went to his room upon arrival, shut the door, and prayed. Then he stretched himself upon the child, laid with his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hand until the child began to warm up. Elisha left his room, walked back and forth in the house, and then returned and laid himself on the child again. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha had Gehazi call the women who came in and saw her son alive bowed herself to the ground at Elisha’s feet, then took up her son and went out.

At Gilgal, Elisha was teaching the young prophets, and at mealtime, he told his servant Gehazi to make them some stew to eat. Due to a famine in the land, the regular provisions were unavailable, so a young prophet went out in the field and gathered some wild gourds for Gehazi to cook. After the people started eating, they realized the food was poisoned, and they declared, “Oh, sir, there’s poison in this stew!” Elisha threw some meal in the pot, and the prophets were able to eat the stew without being harmed.

In the final recorded event of this chapter, Elisha told Gehazi to feed one hundred prophets with fresh corn and twenty loaves of barley bread brought to him by a Baal-shalisha man. Gehazi was hesitant to do so, thinking they did not have enough food; however, Elisha told him there would be enough, and they would even have leftovers. Just as Elisha said, when Gehazi fed them, all the prophets ate, and there were leftovers.

I have given a limited summary of these four miraculous deeds; therefore, I recommend you take time to read 2 Kings 4 for more details of these events. As I’ve done in the previous blogs, I end this similarly with my thoughts and nuggets on the chapter; and here they are:

• When in trouble, know where to go for directions.
• God is concerned about the care of widows.
• When you know a prophet is legit, follow their directions.
• God uses what you have.
• As long as there is something empty, God can fill it.
• God can make much out of little.
• God is a God of multiplication.
• When God provides, pay your debt.
• Following the directions of the prophet yielded a positive outcome.
• The hospitality extended to a servant of God can be rewarding.
• God honors and rewards the kindness given to His servants.
• When you are satisfied with your life, you feel content with what you have.
• Don’t take advantage of someone’s generosity
• Despite what you see, don’t doubt the power of God.
• Act with faith on your beliefs.
• Don’t succumb to discouragement while waiting and trusting God to intervene.
• Rather than voice your fears, speak positively.
• God reveals what He chooses to His servants, and they only know what God reveals.
• Without the anointing, man cannot operate in the miraculous.
• Some miracles only occur behind closed doors.
• Some miracles happen over time.
• A true servant of God is concerned about the welfare of others.
• God can sustain His servants in times of famine.
• When you are blessed, be willing to share with others.
• God provides abundantly.
• No matter your situation, obedience to godly instructions will yield positive results.