Focal Passage: II Kings 4:1-7
Many Bible students see the prophet Elisha as a “type” of Christ — a person in the Old Testament who behaves in a way that corresponds to Jesus’ character and/or actions in the New Testament. One scholar identifies sixteen ways Elisha is a type of Christ!
Today’s focal passage, II Kings 4:1-7, details two of them: helping widows in their grievous circumstances, and raising ‘dead’ sons to life and ‘restoring’ them to their mothers (see Luke 7:11-17).
This is our second lesson in the series, Elisha: Seeing the Hand of God at Work. If Dr. Stephen Olford’s interpretation of our focal passage is correct, God’s hand works through the jar of oil, which is a picture of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer.
From his book Fresh Lessons from Former Leaders (Baker Book House, 1991), I’m ‘tweaking’ Dr. Olford’s outline of the passage:
Verse 1, Introducing the Characters
Mike Dawson
Six characters arrive in this first verse! We meet the desperate widow; her deceased husband — a devoted man of God; Elisha the prophet; the creditor — who was obviously unmerciful, but was actually acting within the law; and the two sons, who were doomed to become slaves because of their dead father’s unpaid bills.
A bad situation! Many “good” people, even Godly ones, can find themselves in “bad” situations.
Verse 2, The Identity of the Spirit
The New Testament teaches us two ways to identify the Holy Spirit in our lives:
• By His Indwelling. Elisha asked the widow, “What do you have in your house?” There may have been many things she had ‘let go’ in her bankrupt condition. But she had kept in her house that little jar of oil. We’re taught that every believer is INDWELLED by the Spirit of God; He lives in our bodies — within our “house.”
• By His Anointing. The widow replied, “…nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” This was likely a very small vessel of oil used for anointing.
Could it even have been the one used to anoint her husband as a son of the prophets when he was set aside for ministry? Had she replaced the oil and kept the vessel as a cherished treasure? We don’t know, but we do know that every believer requires a continued anointing of the Spirit!
Verses 3-5, The Reality of the Spirit
Whatever it had meant in the past, this jar of oil was now becoming a most significant reality in the family’s life! There was now: an emptiness: “Go, borrow empty containers … from all your neighbors…”
The Holy Spirit cannot — WILL NOT — fill believers who are filled with themselves! Also a prayerfulness: “shut the door…” In teaching us to pray Jesus said to “shut the door” (Matthew 6:6). There was also a yieldedness: “Pour oil into all these containers…” This seemed ridiculous and impossible, but in simple faith this mother yielded, and the miracle happened! Notice, when there were no more empty vessels, the oil stopped; ‘nuff said’!
Verses 6-7, The Sufficiency of the Spirit
To “sell the oil, pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest” was an indication how sufficient the supply was! What’s your need right now? God’s Spirit is MORE THAN ENOUGH! B&R — Dawson is pastor emeritus at First Baptist Church, Columbia, and has served as transitional interim pastor at numerous churches across the state since retiring from full-time ministry.
