Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 4:38–44
So we're gonna take up the second two or the last two miracles in chapter four. Last time we saw the widow's oil and the Shunammite's son who had died and been raised. Tonight, we're gonna look at this purification of stew and the provision of bread for 100 men. So I'll begin reading in verse 38.
And Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets. So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat.
Now what happened is they were eating the stew that they cried out and said, man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat it. So he said, then bring some flour. And he put it into the pot and said, serve it to the people that they may eat.
And there was nothing harmful in the pot. Then a man came from Baal, Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he said, Give it to the people, that they may eat. But his servant said, What, shall I set this before one hundred men?
He said again, give it to the people that they may eat. For thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left over. So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over according to the word of the Lord.
Introduction
So it's a relatively brief section and a relatively simple section in terms of exposition. So we'll look at it briefly and then draw out several lines of application. But I just wanted to re-quote Davis who said, we enter into a segment of Elisha's ministry in which he shows Yahweh's power as triumphant over debt. We saw that in verses 1 to 7, over death in verses 8 to 37, drought in verses 38 to 44, two episodes.
Disease will be in chapter 5, and then difficulty in chapter 6. So it is a manifestation or a demonstration of God's power through his prophet Elisha to very real and very tangible and very earthy needs that people have. We see in this section that God is in fact concerned with the major movements in world history, specifically the Moabite rebellion in 2 Kings chapter 3, But he also comes to render aid to persons in need at what we might consider a more small level. It's not the great big thing of nation against nation, but in the ebb and flow of men's lives in the kingdom of God, God is there for them.
So,
Purification of the Stew (vv. 38–41)
let's look first at this purification of Stu in verses 38 to 41. Now, it's similar to what Elisha has already done in chapter 2, when he was in Bethel, or in Jericho rather, and he purified the water. The water there was bad water. It produced barrenness.
It produced all kinds of calamity. and Elisha, under God, purified that water. He used a bowl and salt and he put it in there. It wasn't that that was magic, it was the word of the Lord that healed those waters. Well, the same thing is true here.
But note the situation. Verse 38 indicates that things are not well in the land. It says, Elisha returned to Gilgal. That's where he had been with Elijah prior to Elijah's translation.
And then it goes on to say, and there was a famine in the land. Now, that's not just in Gilgal. The land refers to Israel. And if you're familiar with Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, we refer to those often.
Those are the covenant blessings and covenant cursings. at the plains of Moab. We'll look at that one in Deuteronomy 28. God Almighty tells the nation of Israel, if you go into the land and you obey my covenant, you obey my law, there will be blessing. There will be, you know, blessing on the land.
There will be blessing in your homes. There will be economic prosperity and all sorts of good things. But if you go into the land and you disobey and you engage in wickedness and covenantal infidelity, then there will be curses. And one of the curses is famine.
And so when we read here in verse 38 that there was a famine in the land, we'll continue to see that that's the backdrop of this section in 2 Kings. It's repeated again in chapter 8 at verse 1. So famine in Israel usually indicates that God is judging the nation. God is displeased with what's going on in the nation, and so he has brought this covenant curse to bear upon them.
So we see there the famine. And then notice this stew. Elisha returned, there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, and he said to his servant, put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.
Now typically, when we read of a famine in the land, that doesn't mean there's no food whatsoever. The idea of drought doesn't mean no water whatsoever, but it's certainly something that limits the capacities of men to survive. But in this instance, Elisha is visiting these sons of the prophets. Remember that there were these schools of the prophets.
There were these places started, no doubt, by Elijah. where men would gather, they would be trained, they would engage in edification and encouragement one to another, and they were, in many respects, the thing that was actually holding the nation together by the grace of God. But he visits with these prophets, Elisha does, for instruction, encouragement, and then as well to confirm his place as the prophet of God. All of this is confirmatory or authenticating. All the miracles that he does, it does serve particular needs, but it also validates that he is the man of God and that his word is indeed the word of God.
Now notice this instruction to prepare stew to feed the prophets. Matthew Henry made this comment. He said, on the lecture day, the sons of the prophets being all to attend, he ordered his servant to provide food for their bodies while he was breaking to them the bread of life for their souls. I quite like that.
He wants to make sure that they're able to eat while he is indeed feeding them with the truth of God in terms of edification and instruction and encouragement for their usefulness in ministry there in Israel. Now
The Problem: Death in the Pot
note the problem in verses 39 to 40. Verse 39 says, So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lap full of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Now that last bit is a bit ambiguous. We're not sure if it was the group that didn't know that he put this into the pot, or if they, to a man, didn't know what kind of a gourd this was.
But suffice it to say, bad things were placed into this pot. Now the older commentators, and Davis agrees, that it was probably citrullus calcintus. which produces a small yellow melon that acts as a strong laxative. A large quantity can be fatal, so it's not a good thing that they're about to ingest, and they realize this. Matthew Henry here again says something very perceptive.
As I get older, and hopefully more seasoned, the more I appreciate Matthew Henry and Matthew Poole. These brothers are just fantastic. But listen to what Henry says. He says, the sons of the prophets, it seems, were better skilled in divinity than in natural philosophy.
That's what the old boys called science. They were better skilled in divinity than in natural philosophy, and read their Bibles more than their herbals. So they didn't know what gourd it was they had picked up and plopped into that stew pot, and so this is indeed a bad thing. However, the implication ought to encourage those of us who seek to honor God, we have good intentions at times, but we make mistakes along the way.
God in His goodness overrules this. Not everybody ends up having to run to the bathroom or ultimately run to the emergency room to get some sort of treatment because they ingested this poisonous gourd. But God, in His grace and in His mercy, overrules this. No doubt the one who went into the field to gather the herbs, more in tune with divinity than he was with natural philosophy, thought it was a good thing to grab this little yellow melon-looking fruit, or gourd rather, and put it into the stew pot.
It was well-intentioned, but it was mistaken. And God in His goodness overruled that. Now, we ought to appreciate that, but with this miracle and the next, it ought not to be universalized. In other words, the scope of these miracles ought to be considered.
Just because we see that these men, these prophets, didn't get poisoned, we don't lift that out of its context and then somehow think, we'll never get poisoned. I can eat whatever I want because I'm never going to get poisoned because God will make... No, don't live like that. Don't put poisonous gourds in your stew pot.
Be wise and exercise judicious pursuit of natural philosophy when it comes to stuff you're going to put down your gullet. Don't be a fool and universalize a miracle and then start living as a fool in light of it. Same thing with the feeding of these 100. The idea that Jesus teaches us that we need to pray that God give us this day our daily bread indicates, at least on the part of Jesus, that our provision isn't going to be a miraculous multiplication of loaves and fish every day that we live.
We need to seek God. We need to ask God. We need to trust God. We need to depend upon God.
But with reference to this, we ought not to universalize it, but we ought to take some comfort that even though this man was mistaken, the Lord nevertheless overruled this particular situation. So there's death in the pot, verse 40. They served it to the men to eat. Now what happened is they were eating the stew.
They cried out and said, man of God, there is death in the pot, and they could not eat it.
The Remedy: Flour in the Pot
Now note the remedy. He said, then bring some flour. Now this is like that salt in the new bowl that was used to purify the waters at Jericho. The salt in the new bowl was not magic, it didn't have healing properties.
It wasn't the case that you could take that, put it into any body of water and it would somehow clean it up. It wasn't iodine, it wasn't some water purification salt, but rather it was a sign, an emblem, a symbol And that's how this flower functions here. It's not the case that this flower can neutralize the poisonous effect of this gourd. As Matthew Poole says, it happens too quickly.
It's not the case that the flower exercises some healing properties into this stew pot. Rather, it's a symbol or a sign or an emblem and a display of God's power. much like water is useful to us in baptism, or much like bread and wine are useful to us in the Lord's Supper. It's an unofficial sort of a sacrament. It's an unofficial sort of pledge that God is at work.
I say unofficial in terms of salt in a bowl, and flour in a stew pot. Official sacraments include baptism and the Lord's Supper, but you see in the history of Israel, you see in the New Covenant Church, that God uses these emblems to help the people of God. Not that we live by sight, but these visual reminders keep us from going astray. They help us.
Baptism, Lord's Supper are constant emblems and signs of what God has done for us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's probably how this flower functions in this particular capacity. Davis says visible signs are God's defense against spiritual amnesia. And then notice at the end of verse 41, and there was nothing harmful in the pot.
So they're able to eat this stew and to receive sustenance in a time of famine. Now
Provision for One Hundred Men (vv. 42–44)
notice, secondly, the provision for 100 men. Verse 42 indicates the resources. Notice, then a man came from Baal-shalisha and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, 20 loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. Now, this is a great indicator that there was still faith in Israel.
Verse 38 indicates that there was, in fact, a famine. Already said that there is no doubt God's judgment upon the land as a result of that. Ahab was a wretch, the kings after him, the kings prior to him, Jeroboam the son of Nebat. These men were terrible servants of God Most High, and they drove the kingdom into the ground.
But this is an evidence that what God spoke in 1 Kings 19 18 was in fact true. God said, I have reserved for myself 7,000 knees that will not bow to Baal or kiss him. So God had a remnant in place, and this is evidence of that. Because it was the case, according to the law in Exodus 23, in Leviticus chapter 23, Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 18, the first fruits were to be presented to the house of the Lord, specifically to the priest.
Now note where this man from Baal-Shelisha takes his first fruits. When there's a corrupt priesthood, when these priests are servants of Baal as they serve Ahab or as they serve Ahaziah or as they serve Jehoram, those wicked kings, when those men are not engaged in the true worship of the living God and they are false and they are fakes, then what does this man do? He takes these first fruits to Elisha the prophet. This is a wonderful display that there was indeed a remnant.
There was, in fact, faith in Israel. Hubbard says, in this case, however, the man brought it to Elisha, bypassing in protest the apostate northern religious leaders at the sanctuary nearby at Bethel. He passes that, comes to Gilgal so he can find Elisha to present him with these first fruits. That is the evidence that there is faith.
Howe says, not all Israelites adopted the religion of Jeroboam and Ahab. Faithful individuals supported the separatist Yahweh prophets. The Lord did indeed reserve 7,000 who refused to worship Baal. You see, that little sign, or that little statement in verse 42, I mean, obviously the existence of these schools of the prophets, obviously Elisha, but not just in terms of the prophetic class, but there were men in Israel that had not bowed the knee to Baal.
And so this man brings his first fruits, he brings these 20 loaves of barley bread, newly ripened grain in his knapsack, and he presents it to Elisha.
Elisha's Instruction and God's Word
Now note Elisha's instruction. He says, give it to the people that they may eat. That's a good thing, isn't it? Elisha's not going to hoard.
He's not going to save it up for next week. He's going to make sure that all the people that are present are going to eat. And now the man is smart enough to realize that 20 loaves and a bit of grain isn't going to be enough or sufficient to feed this multitude. Now, if you're thinking New Testament, you should be, because Elisha here is functioning as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, which we'll investigate in a little more detail as we continue tonight.
But simple mathematics dictated that the 20 loaves and bit of grain would not sufficiently feed the 100 men, that are present at this particular setting. So the servant says what? Shall I set this before 100 men? So Elisha said again, give it to the people that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left over.
So we see the instruction is based on the Word of God. The instruction includes present provision, and the instruction includes future provision as well. There will be some left over. Just like with that widow's oil, she filled up all of the vessels, she was able to pay off her debts, and then she had some left for her and her sons to sustain themselves.
We have another Ephesians 3 verse 20 moment in this particular text. He not only provides, but he does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. He not only feeds them presently, but there's also leftovers. Now, this is a time of famine.
I think it's tough for us as North Americans to really get into passages like these. wherein, in an agrarian society, food gathering was a whole lot more labor-intensive than it is for us. In fact, a large part of your life was founded on getting food. Okay, so when we read through this and we see this reference in verse 38 to famine in the land, we really should let that sink in for a moment. Famine in the land for us means Costco's out of my favorite brand of peanut butter.
I just can't have that. I just complained today to somebody that Superstore doesn't ever have the coffee that I like. That's a famine in the land in North America. But in this particular context, famine in the land meant death.
So much of life at that particular time was about gathering food, storing food, getting food. It wasn't the case that they had a Walmart, a Superstore, a Price Mart, shelves full of breakfast cereal. There's more stuff in one aisle of our stores than we could ever use in a lifetime if it was able to be preserved for that long. We just take it for granted, but in this situation, the fact that there are these 20 loaves of barley bread, some newly ripened grain in his knapsack, no doubt these persons are watching this transaction when this man hands over the food to Elisha, and they're licking their lips.
The hunger pangs are ringing inside of them. It wasn't that they just finished a great big meal and they don't care about barley loaves. They see this and it looks enticing. So God not only provides for them, but there's leftovers.
There's more for later. You see a famine in the land and nevertheless God is showing grace and mercy and kindness and goodness to his people on the ground. And then notice that is precisely what transpires in verse 44. So, he set it before them, and they ate, and had some left over according to the word of the Lord.
So, as I said, it's a very brief section. As Matthew Henry says, he says, he made hurtful food to become safe and wholesome. He made a little food to go a great way. Those are the two things operative in this particular passage, but I think there are several lessons that we need to appreciate.
The Earthiness of God
In the first place, and I'm taking this right from Davis, he speaks of the earthiness of God. The earthiness of God. And what does he mean by that? He means God is a real world God.
God is in the muck with His people. God knows where we're at, God knows the situations we face, and God is there for us, the earthiness of God. Davis says these two episodes, this brief section, verses 38 to 44, use the verb to eat Eight times. That's not accidental.
Because verse 38 tells us there's a famine in the land. Doesn't that naturally suggest, again, as North American readers, we probably go right over verse 38 without giving it a second thought. But whenever you read there's famine in the land in the biblical narrative, the natural question that should present itself would be, well, what are they going to eat? If you came home and you told your wife and your kids, you know, dad lost his job, I would imagine they would say, well, what are we going to eat?
Or they probably at some point will say that, what are we going to eat? And so that verb is used eight times in this brief section. And notice he goes on to say, without becoming Marxists, we can see a very important point here. Yahweh is very earthy.
Daily bread matters to him. How close the God of the Bible is to where you live. I think that's a good observation and one that's helpful to remind us with reference to the mundane affairs of our lives.
Faithfulness in a Faithless Regime
A second thing that we ought to appreciate is the faithful response in a faithless regime. In other words, what is the faithful man's response in a faithless regime? Well, you function in accordance with the law, verse 42. Now, brethren, that was a sacrifice.
Remember, there's famine not just in Gilgal, but in Baal Sheleshah. There is famine in the land. And for this man to take his stuff, this precious food, and take it to the prophet Elisha and turn it over to him to do with as Elisha sees fit, that's an act of faith. He's obeying the law of God even when circumstances are against him.
He's obeying the law of God even when the government is against him. He's obeying the law of God as a faithful man in a faithless regime. We ought to appreciate as well that God does provide for his faithful ones during a faithless regime. The fact that there were schools of prophets.
The fact that there was Elijah the prophet. The fact that there was Elisha the prophet. Why does God send those men to this particular region? Because there was a remnant.
There were those who had not bowed the knee to Baal. There were those who had not succumbed to Baal worship. They wanted to serve Yahweh, and so the prophetic ministry continued. So God deals with His faithful people in the midst of a faithless regime.
The Faithful Suffer with the Faithless
And a third lesson with reference to this particular point is one that I think is difficult as well, is that the faithful oftentimes suffer along with the faithless. Notice, it doesn't say in verse 38, Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in the land. So God raptured the faithful out of the land for the period of time that there was a famine. Or God set up tent cities for the faithful.
No, he did provide for them through the ministry of his law, through the ministry of his prophets. But brethren, when a faithless regime drives the nation into a ditch, And when persons all around us start to engage in idolatry and cry out to God for judgment, oftentimes God visits nations with judgment and the righteous suffer alongside of that. I think gives us some impetus to pray for the good of the nation that we are in. I mean, it could sound self-interested, God bless the nation so that I don't end up in trouble, but isn't that in essence what Paul tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 2?
In fact, you can turn there so you can see that I'm not making this up. I think it's got at least in the context or there's an allusion or some sort of frame of reference to the letter to the exiles by Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 29. Go to 1st Timothy 2, but just while you're turning there, think of Jeremiah chapter 29. The people of Israel, Judah specifically, are in captivity in Babylon.
And God tells them, very specifically, to pray for the peace of the city that you indwell. In other words, pray for a pagan Babylonian city. Why? So that you can continue to flourish and thrive and populate and have children and eventually return back to Judah.
Pray for the peace of the city that you dwell in. Notice Paul in 1 Timothy 2.1, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. Notice, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. In other words, pray for the governing authorities so that they don't outlaw Christianity.
Pray for the governing authorities so that they don't throw you into prison. Pray for the governing authorities so that you may continue to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. I don't think it's untoward and I think it's absolutely positively a good thing to pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Because when men continue to violate his law, when they continue to butcher babies and butcher old people and butcher sick people, when they continue to engage in flagrant abuse of God's holy law and he sends vengeance down from heaven, he doesn't cart the believers off first to a particular province where they can be safe until the judgment passes.
Brethren, believers go through these sorts of things as well, and we, knowing that, ought to be a prayerful people and interceding people, not only for our own benefit, but for the sakes of governmental authority, for families, for society. These are legitimate things to cry out to God for. So faithfulness in a faithless regime ought to be the pursuit.
Lessons from All Four Miracles
And then thirdly, we ought to appreciate as a whole these four miracles in chapter four. The widow's oil, the Shunammite sun, the pot of stew, and these hundred men. In the first place, the Lord is not only concerned with the big stuff affecting nations. I mentioned this earlier.
I want to tease it out a bit here. The Lord is not only concerned with the big stuff affecting nations, the Moabite rebellion in chapter 3, which is successfully put down, but also with the small stuff. And when I say small stuff, I don't mean that it's insignificant, but comparatively. You know, Moabite rebellion against an entire nation, we'd call that a big thing.
You know, if some nation invaded Canada, we'd call that a big thing. When it comes to our own debts and when it comes to our own life in this world, those are big things, but you get the contrast I'm making. Big stuff, small stuff. Small stuff doesn't mean it's unimportant, as this section teaches us, because God deals with it. but big in terms of national sort of situation, and small with reference to the things that we go through on a daily basis.
So God is not only concerned with the big stuff affecting nations, but also with the small stuff of everyday life. And what we've seen in this passage in terms of everyday life includes debt, death, killer stew, and just a few loaves. Those sorts of things God is concerned with as well. And I think that naturally from this, two implications follow.
Antidote to Carnal Anxiety
The first is to recognize this and to understand it and to use it as an antidote against carnal anxiety. In other words, if God is concerned to subdue Moabite rebellion and to make sure that a nameless woman gets endless oil, at least for a time, then that ought to promote in us a lack or a desire, rather, to resist the tendency to carnal anxiety or what we popularly call worry. If you look at Matthew 6, I think this is the gist of Jesus' teaching in this particular section. the antidote to worry in Matthew 6, 25 to 34. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You see, God tends to birds. And if you're more valuable than birds, you may not be at the level of a Moabite rebellion against the Northern Kingdom.
Might not be big stuff that way. Even though it is classified as small stuff, you need to understand that God is there in the small stuff. And as a result, do not worry. Do not be riddled with carnal anxiety.
Don't be paralyzed by that sort of a mindset. But rather, look at the birds. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?" I mean, in the end of the day, it just doesn't help or benefit to worry, doesn't it? Or does it? Have you ever got to the end of the day of worry? I'm a worrier.
I'm a chronic worrier. I don't have any qualms admitting that to everybody here. I think you probably already know that. But at the end of the day, and I don't ever do this, but I probably should, I should reflect and say, did any of my worry today make anything better?
I think the answer will always be a resounding no. No. I've learned that half the stuff I worry about doesn't happen. You know, it's just really not a good exercise to engage in.
So why do you worry about clothing? He says in verse 28, consider the lilies of the field. You see what he's saying? Look at the small stuff to learn of your God.
I think we're in tune to look at the big stuff and to see God in that, and that's good. We better see God in the big stuff. But I think here, precisely, Jesus is saying, see God in the little stuff, and may that serve as an antidote to your carnal anxiety and to your worry and your panic. Look at the lilies of the field.
They don't toil, they don't spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For after these things the Gentiles seek.
For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Now, it's not lost on me, brethren, that I just confessed a sin to you in terms of worry. Four times Christ says, don't worry.
Four times in that big of a passage. He points to birds, he points to lilies, he points to gentiles. He says, God's got this. Why do you worry about it?
And I think having that proper understanding of God in the big stuff, but God in the small stuff as well. And that's what a 2 Kings 4 just parades, it highlights, it demonstrates. It is conspicuous that it's the small, everyday, ordinary, earthy affairs that God speaks to and deals with. But as well, this is an antidote with reference to fear.
Notice in Matthew 10. Now, carnal anxiety and fear are very similar, or worry and fear are similar, but not exactly the same sort of thing. But notice, Jesus' emphasis with reference to not fearing. In the context, it's with reference to the apostles on a missionary trip, going out and preaching the gospel.
Certainly they're going to meet opposition. The book of Acts highlights that. The opposition first from unbelieving Israel, opposition from the Roman Empire. There's going to be great opposition against the Christian church.
And so Jesus is cautioning, Jesus is exhorting, Jesus is encouraging his disciples not to fear. But notice how he encourages them not to fear. Notice, specifically, in verse, he mentions do not fear in verse 26, but then drop down to verse 27, whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light, what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
There's a whole lot of things that could be said there, but I think it points to the incompetence of men and the omnicompetence of God. Man's incompetent. He can only kill your body. God's omnicompetent.
He can kill body and soul and throw it into hell. So you have to fear him. Don't fear men that are incompetent, but rather fear God who is omni-competent. And then notice.
How does he display this? In the small stuff. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. So an antidote to fear, a help so that we do not, is to understand God's sovereignty and power in the midst of the small stuff. And if you haven't seen it, if I haven't been clear, 2 Kings chapter 4 is a trophy case of God's dealings in the small stuff.
Again, don't go home and say, Butler thinks death of a child is a small thing. I'm not saying that. Moabite rebellion against Israel, life on the ground in terms of ordinary day-in, day-out situations.
God's Care for Nobodies
Secondly, the Lord is not only concerned with kings, and sometimes He isn't, but He's also concerned with nobodies. There's a great contrast between chapters 3 and chapter 4. Elisha doesn't even want to look at doesn't even want to look at Jehoram. Verse 13, Elisha said to the king of Israel, what have I to do with you?
Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother. But the king of Israel said to him, no, for the Lord has called these three together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you. So you see, God doesn't even want to look at Jehoram, but he does.
He does tend to not only Jehoram, but especially to Jehoshaphat. Actually, he tends to Jehoshaphat. Jehoram is a benefactor. He is sort of on the sidelines and receives blessings.
But he's not only concerned with kings, he's also concerned with nobodies. A nameless widow, in the first part, a nameless Shunammite, a nameless group of guys sitting around a stew pot, and a nameless hundred that got to eat. You see, God's not only concerned with big stuff, small stuff, kings and nobodies. Isn't that encouraging?
See, that's what chapter 4 of 2 Kings teaches us. Thirdly, the Lord is not only concerned with the direct advancement of His kingdom, but also He delights in showing kindness in the midst of the kingdom. What do I mean by that? When Elisha comes to the stew pot or calls for the stew pot, that directly aids the advance of the kingdom, doesn't it?
I mean, I'm sure prophets were just like men today. If they didn't eat, they dropped dead. If you don't have a prophet, you don't have the Word of God. And so when these prophets are fed, it is a direct advancement of the Kingdom of God.
But for the others, they're not directly advancing the Kingdom of God. It's God delighting and showing kindness and mercy without necessarily a view to advancing the Kingdom. The Shunammite woman. No notoriety, no redemptive historical sort of presence in Israel, just a son for a woman to put a smile on her face.
So it's for the advancement of the kingdom and it's for happiness in the life of the kingdom. Fourthly, the Lord utilizes means in this chapter, oil, a bowl with salt, flour in the stew, a few loaves to feed a multitude, but the power is according to his word. That's what's uppermost in the chapter, and that's what I said earlier. We're not to take these two particular miracles and universalize them and think that we can throw anything into our stew pot and eat it, because in 2 Kings 4 they didn't die, so neither will we.
Or we ought not to think we don't need to get enough food for the church picnic, because if we just have 12 hamburgers, it's going to feed everybody, because that's what happened in 2 Kings chapter. We're not to do that. We're to understand that precisely what God promises comes to pass in 2 Kings 4. It's the power of His Word.
Fifth, the Lord brings judgment on His unfaithful people, the famine, but also demonstrates grace in the midst of such judgment, like food. You got the overarching term in verse 38. There's famine in the land. That's judgment.
But in the midst of the land, there's grace because God is providing for his remnant in the midst of this particular context. You see, God, the prophet Habakkuk prayed, in your wrath, remember mercy. Why do you think Habakkuk prayed that? Probably because he had witnessed such things in God's history.
We can pray that prayer today. In your wrath, we believe that this culture is progressively and more so under the wrath and judgment of God. And we can pray, in your wrath, remember mercy, because of 2 Kings chapter 4. There's famine in the land, but in the midst of the famine in the land, it is punctuated by these outflows of God's grace in terms of the provision of food.
Six, the Lord not only grants grace in the provision of food, but He does so in an exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think manner. They had some left over. Beautiful. We don't even sometimes don't even eat up leftovers.
It goes into the fridge, it grows hair after a week and we toss it out. You wouldn't throw away leftovers here. Remember when we used to go to Union Gospel Mission, we'd see food on the ground out in front of the Misha and Steve and I would muse. You wouldn't see that laying on a street in the Sudan.
I mean, there's no way there'd be a big sweet bun laying on the street. It would be eaten. It would be gone in Haiti. I mean, it's just amazing.
Homeless take route back here and they leave pizzas and sandwiches. I mean, if it was a famine in the land, there'd be no pizzas and sandwiches on the ground at the Free Grace Baptist Church, would there? So the fact that there were leftovers, brethren, that was a blessing from God. That was in Ephesians 3.20 moment.
He does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. We just wanted something for our bellies now, but we got something for later too. This is the God of 2 Kings 4. And then finally, the Lord God not only rules His people from on high, He sends His prophet to dwell among them as His representative.
Imagine how it warmed the hearts of the remnant to see Elisha and to see these schools of the prophets. They knew things weren't right in Israel. They knew that every time they went to their pantries and there was only a little bit of food sitting on that shelf. They knew that because of Ahab or Jeroboam, and then Ahab, and then Ahaziah, and then Jehoram, and then the whole host of ungodly kings that they had been unfortunate enough to live under.
They knew what was happening. So they'd see these school of the prophets, or they'd hear these school of the prophets, or they'd see the prophet Elijah. It must have cheered their hearts. Proven sort of summarizes at the end.
He says, it is the chapter's concluding demonstration that the Lord is a God who heals and provides. Talking about these two miracles. A God who brings life from death, it is also the final proof that the God of Elijah is now the God of Elisha. And I think that's a beautiful way to conclude.
With reference to the miracles, I mentioned the typical significance of the miracles. Generally, Elisha, like Jesus, does a lot of miracles. I mean, we see that in Matthew 5-7, the authoritative word of Christ. Matthew 8-9, miracle, miracle, miracle.
One after another. Elisha the prophet, he's commissioned in chapter 2, or he receives the mantle. He does a couple of initial things in Jericho. and then at Bethel, and then in chapter 3 he speaks the authoritative word to these kings going into battle to subdue this Moabite rebellion, and then chapters 4 to 6 he's a Jesus-like figure going from place to place to place doing miracles among the common folk, among the nameless, among the nobodies. That's precisely what Jesus did.
Typological Significance: Elisha and Christ
But this last miracle specifically points to our Lord. the specific significance when Jesus fed the 5,000 and then again the 4,000. We might wonder, why a 5,000 and then a 4,000? I think the 4,000 was a Gentile region. I think what we have in the feeding of the 5,000 is Jesus ministering to Jews, and then the 4,000 reason I think it can be shown, I tried to show it when I preached this passage, is that he's feeding Gentiles.
Jew-Gentile benefit under the Messiah of Israel, even our Lord Jesus Christ. So the specific significance of this last miracle is that it's typical of our Lord Jesus. And when we see Jesus in the New Testament scriptures doing these things, he is the antitype to Elisha, but as well in John's gospel, as he records the feeding miracle, Jesus is the antitype to Moses. Moses gave you bread in the wilderness.
Your father's ultimately died. The bread I give you, you will not Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the excellence and the power and the majesty displayed in a passage like 2 Kings 4. It cheers us and it encourages us, God, to see you active and moving and blessing and dealing and doing miracles in the lives of ordinary people, people whose names are not even recorded in Scripture. Encourage us with this view of our God, and encourage us with the reality that You are over all things, the big things, the small things, and that You are a God who calls us not to worry, and a God who calls us not to fear.
May we take these things, may we pray them in, and may You help us to be more and more conformed unto the image of Your beloved Son. And we pray in His most blessed name. Amen.