This past week I was doing my normal sermon preparation for Sunday. That
trail took me to 2 Kings Chapter 4. I picked up a commentary on 2 Kings only to
find that the author said that the entire book of 2 Kings doesn’t pass the test
of critical examination, and therefore, should be read as such. The stories
that are in 2 Kings are anecdotal and full of Black Magic and are the stuff of
legend. I looked at the cover to see who the author was and found that he was a
seminary professor. I asked myself, “Why would someone devote their life to
teach a book they didn’t believe was true?” Here is my take on that question.
This author has only known a god of natural, human dimensions. The Almighty God
of Elisha in 2 Kings is a supernatural God—who is completely unknown to this
liberal theologian.[i] While I am at it, let me give
you a different expert opinion on the Old Testament by someone else, The
Apostle Paul:
“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as
warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think
you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!”
(1 Cor 10:11-12).
This story from 2 Kings is about facing crisis. It begs us to answer one
essential question, “Will I trust God with each crisis or not?” The answer to
that question is paramount to the success of our Christian experience. It is a
tough thing to trust God. It’s not natural. Most of us are inclined to trust
our own instincts and be guided by our own experience, which is usually not
godly experience. To trust God we often have to suspend logic and certainly our
desire for comfort. Well here is the story:
2 Kings 4:1-7 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets
cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that
he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his
slaves."
2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you
have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except
a little oil."
3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
Don't ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and
your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one
side."
5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They
brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full,
she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied,
"There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil
and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
Most of us minimize our gifts, and that is what this lady did. Although
this may be truthful in a pragmatic sense, it is based on what she sees and not
on what God has done for her. There was something about the crisis that caused
her to minimize her gifts. God’s gifts are not measured by big and little,
great or small. God used one small stone in David’s hand to bring Goliath down
and one small boy’s lunch to feed five thousand. “I have nothing except a
little oil” is so descriptive of our mentality. God’s solution not only
supplied the need, but was also meant to teach the woman to not despise what
she had.
God wanted this lady and her sons to expand their faith. They would need
more empty jars than they possessed. She was told to get as many as she could
find. “Don’t ask for just a few,” the prophet said. When she had collected all
the jars, she was to start pouring and was not to stop until every jar was
filled. Once she had filled all the jars, the oil stopped pouring. This is the
part that belongs to God. It is the miraculous. It is the supernatural. It is
the part where having done our part, then God does the rest. I offer conjecture
that the reason the liberal commentator says that what happened behind closed
doors was Black Magic was because he has never had a supernatural encounter with
God. Until you meet God and He literally saves and changes you in a
supernatural way, you cannot believe this part of the story. But, for those who
have met God, you know God can do this.
I can see the excitement of the lady and the boys as she kept pouring
from one vessel to the next. How was it possible that the oil kept flowing out?
They knew it was God. She asked for another jar, and the boys said, “That’s it
mom.” She could have filled a hundred more or a thousand more because the oil
had a limitless supply. The oil paid her debts and supplied her living. As
Abraham so long ago learned, “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen
18:14).
[i]
Richard Nelson, Interpretation, First & Second Kings, John Knox Press, Atlanta,
GA 1987, pp. 170-174.
