Rijksmuseum: Elisha helps a poor widow; Image from Wikimedia Commons
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With God’s wrath hovering over Israel during the ministry of the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 4, we meet a widow:
Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” (2 Kings 4:1)
We are not told her tribe, her hometown or that of her husband, yet we are informed that she was married to one of the sons or disciples of the prophets—they were loyal to Elisha and faithful to the Lord. In a land of apostasy and idolatry, the sons of the prophets were true believers and worshippers of the Lord.
The widow cries to Elisha in her distress.
We know the widow had faith because she cried to Elisha. This crying out meant that she was in trouble. Hard times had fallen upon her, and in her pain and uncertainty she was in desperate need of help. Now in the Old Testament this crying out was ultimately directed to the Lord; it was an urgent prayer for heavenly aid. Yet, these cries went through an agent, an intermediary.
The usual mediator in those times was the king. If you stumbled into desperate need, you petitioned the king; the king was the Lord’s servant to give you relief. The widow, however, bypasses the king and goes directly to the prophet. When the king is wicked, you seek out a true agent of the Lord, and there was none better than Elisha. This is another mark of the widow’s devoted faith.
Elisha is obligated to care and provide for his servants.
Next, we get to listen to this woman’s voice. And the pain of the widow in no way diminishes her eloquence. Her first two words say it all: “your servant, my husband.” The widow and Elisha have a pre-existing relationship. Her husband was his servant. This means both he and she are loyal to Elisha; they are part of the same group with Elisha as the head or leader.
It also ignites Elisha’s duty. If the widow and her husband served Elisha with fealty, then as a master, Elisha is obligated to care and provide for his servants. She reminds Elisha of his duty and then pulls at his heart strings. He is dead; your servant, my husband is dead.
In ancient times, widowhood wasn’t just sad; it was also dangerous. It exposed women to vulnerability, need, and loneliness. Next, she underscores the piety of her husband. You know, Elisha, how he feared the Lord. Her husband had no eyes for idols, but his heart was wholly devoted in reverence to the Lord alone. Finally, the widow states her problem: “The creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves” (2 Kings 4:1).
The creditor had the legal right to seize the widow’s children for repayment.
Before he died, the husband had taken out a loan, probably fairly sizable. And for collateral or as a pledge, he put up his two children. This means that if he defaulted on the loan the creditor had the legal right, by contract, to seize his kids, and they would become the creditor’s debt-slaves until they pay off the loan. The word here for slave or servant means debt-slave. And this financial arrangement was fully legal under Mosaic Law, and it was common. Thus, there is nothing unjust or oppressive about this setup. When the husband died, the loan defaulted.
And the creditor has the legal right to seize the children for repayment. This is just one of those hard times. The family was struggling to get by, so the husband took out a loan. He unexpectedly died, and the loan fell to his wife and she defaulted. And now the creditor has no choice but to foreclose on her two children.
In the widow’s situation we observe the painful mystery of the suffering of the obedient.
Her kids were the widow’s life insurance policy; if she loses them, she has nothing left. She is the faithful saint who is suffering. This is the devoted missionary who gets cancer; the excellent parent who loses their child in a tragic accident. Her family did everything right. They feared the Lord; they kept his commandments.
They were loyal to Elisha, the Lord’s true prophet. They never bowed the knee to Baal or visited one of those golden calves. Their piety was pristine, but all they have known is difficulty. The widow lost her money, had her hubby taken, and now will she lose her kids too? She prayed for bread, but all she got was a rock. This is the painful mystery of the suffering of the obedient.
Elisha responds with words of refreshment, not blame.
And then Elisha responds, and with such words of refreshment! He doesn’t roll his eyes. He doesn’t brush her off as unimportant. And most significantly, he doesn’t blame her. He doesn’t say,
You are the one who took out the loan. Sorry, but you are reaping what you sowed.
He doesn’t even turn it into a lesson on sin:
Something must be lacking in your faith. This will teach you the importance of budgeting, of financial stewardship. Tell me what you have learned from your mistakes.
No, Elisha does none of this. Rather, without a hint of guilt, he offers to help. He gives her privileged access:
And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? (2 Kings 4:2)
Elisha’s first instinct is not to criticize, judge, or be suspicious. He erupts with charity, generosity, and willingness.
The widow’s faith grants her the privilege of prophetic intercession.
For a prophet who was supposed to bring the sword, this is certainly merciful. The widow has the benefit of prophetic mediation and aid, which was denied Jehoram in the previous chapter. Elisha told Jehoram, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother” (2 Kings 3:13).
The widow’s faith and devotion to the Lord didn’t shield her from suffering and hardship, but it did grant her the privilege of prophetic intercession. This is huge! Yet, Elisha’s second question is a bit curious:
“Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” (2 Kings 4:2)
The only thing left in the widow’s cupboard is a jar of oil. She is worse than dirt poor; she is death poor. The flask represents her utter poverty and desperation. Nevertheless, Elisha takes the object of her destitution and turns it into the source of her relief.
Note what Elisha tells the widow:
Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. (2 Kings 4:3)
The word for “vessels” here is the most general term for containers. In today’s terms, it would include anything from a 5-gallon bucket or a Tupperware bowl to a wine bottle or a perfume jar.
Elisha employs the community in his miracle to help the widow.
Elisha tells her to get as many empty containers as she can from her neighbors. Note how he employs the community in his miracle to help the widow. The neighbors’ charity to lend out their containers is essential to how she will find relief. Next, Elisha strangely orders her to shut the doors behind her and her kids. What is the point of this direction?
This step is an allusion to a law in Deuteronomy 24:10-11. It says that a creditor cannot enter your house to seize the pledge; instead, you have to bring the pledge outside to the creditor. Remember, the creditor is on his way, and the pledge of this loan is the widow’s children. If he finds them outside, he can legally confiscate the children.
But, inside they are safe. Elisha makes her shut the doors to follow this law and to protect her kids:
“Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” (2 Kings 4:4)
With the door shut, this buys her time to save them. And time is precisely what the widow is going to need as Elisha then tells her to take the flask and start filling up each borrowed container, one at a time.
This is a slow miracle taking place.
And the widow of course obeys. Her children bring her a vessel. She fills it, and then it is pulled to the side and replaced with an empty one. If you think about it, this has to be the slowest miracle ever! She is pouring from a flask. Surely, the output is not that fast.
Maybe she gets a gallon per minute, maybe less. She collected some 50, 100, or more containers. With this slow dribble, the widow is filling buckets, canning jars, tubs, and gallon jugs. This could have taken days. Nevertheless, with the last container up to the brim, the oil stops flowing. We can just picture the widow and her kids, exhausted and oily, sitting in a house crammed with vessels of oil with spills all over the place:
So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. (2 Kings 4:5-6)
And after a report to Elisha, he completes his charity to the woman:
She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:7)
Elisha provided the miracle of oil, so that the widow would pay off her loan and not lose her children. And there is enough oil to pay the loan and then to live off of! The widow can live off the surplus oil until her children find jobs and start getting a paycheck.
Elisha follows the law and satisfies justice.
The flask of oil, which represented the widow’s utter poverty, has become the very source of becoming debt-free and living daily life. Elisha really did help out this poor widow and her children. This only adds to the uniqueness of this miracle, since typically prophetic help forgives sin, erases debt, and corrects abusive oppression.
Here though, Elisha follows the law and satisfies justice. He doesn’t forgive the debt, but he produces income to pay the loan off. The rights of the creditor are fully upheld and granted. Remember, this creditor is not some massive Wall Street bank; he is a neighbor, a friend, or a family member. If the creditor didn’t get paid, he might end up in the poor house. There is no hint that the creditor was corrupt or abusive, but Elisha stepped in to pay off the loan.
Miracles of mercy typically are kindness to the undeserving. The person is a sinner; they deserve wrath, but the Lord graciously saves them. Here, though, the widow’s family feared the Lord. They fell on hard times. And Elisha provides oil to satisfy the law and to give them a daily income. This is not your usual miracle, but it is one that surely shows the Lord’s compassion on his people—in this case, a nameless and poor widow. Yet, this miracle sticks out for another reason.
Most of the miracles in the Old Testament were repeated by Jesus in some way or another.
This is a miracle that Jesus didn’t really imitate. Most of the miracles in the Old Testament were repeated by Jesus in some way or another. The sea was split; Jesus calmed the sea. Elijah raised the dead; so did Jesus. Manna fell from heaven; Jesus fed the 5,000. Yet, Jesus never really performed a miracle like paying someone’s financial debt.
Jesus made the crippled walk; he restored eyesight and hearing. He banished demons. He purified lepers and a bleeding woman. He touched the dead to make them alive. He spoke words and diseases were erased. But Jesus’ miracles avoided money. He didn’t cancel anyone’s debt. He didn’t get anyone hired at a new and better job.
Jesus didn’t produce wealth for anyone.
There was the one time when he told Peter to grab a shekel out of the mouth of a fish to pay a toll-tax. He preached that people should sell their possessions and give to the poor. We know that Jesus and his disciples had a purse to pay for expenses and to give alms. Jesus did multiply wine, but this wasn’t a relief for hardship—it was to let the people celebrate and drink more.
Yet, Jesus didn’t produce wealth for anyone. Sure, the healings made the people able to work, which is big, no doubt. Jesus didn’t pay off anyone’s loan though; he didn’t supply them with a daily stipend to live off of. From all appearances, this seems to be a miracle that was not fulfilled in Christ. Have we found a passage that is not Christ centered?
Well, it is true that Jesus did not fulfill this miracle in his life. Rather, he saved this miracle for the last. He fulfilled it in his death—a miraculous source of wealth to pay off the widow’s debts and to satisfy the law.
By his death Jesus paid off the debt that stood against us, the wages of all our sin.
When did Jesus do this? On the cross. And he didn’t use oil, but his own blood. Yes, by his death Jesus paid off the debt that stood against us, the wages of all our sin. The Father is just. His rights as the creditor had to be upheld. God loaned us life, but we rebelled in depravity and idolatry. His justice had to be satisfied; the terms of the law must be met.
And just as a flask of oil appeared impossible for the task, how could the life of one man pay for our sins? Yet, Jesus was righteous—he was the God-man. His shed blood paid for all our sins, past, present, and future. In Jesus Christ, we get no more bills in the mail from justice. It is God who justifies—who can condemn? There is no condemnation for us in Christ.
Such a miracle could not be wasted on earthly dollars and cents. It had to be saved for an eternal redemption—to pay off our corruptions, to purchase us for Christ himself, and to pay our way into heaven. Indeed, as the oil paid off the loan and provided for the life of the widow’s family, so by Christ’s blood we are forgiven and have life—even resurrection life! The merit of Jesus is the grace and favor by which we live, every day here and now and forevermore. Moreover, once we see this miracle reach its fulfillment in Christ’s death for us, we can also detect the privileges we have in Jesus.
By faith in Christ, we have the privilege of Christ’s intercession for us.
First, while Jehoram was cut off from intercession, the widow had access to Elisha’s prayers and helps. So also, for us, by faith in Christ, we have the privilege of Christ’s intercession for us. Like the widow, the Lord has told us that we are not immune to the losses and tragedies in life. Our faith and fear of the Lord doesn’t mean constant ease.
Loved ones will die. We will struggle with financial debt. Betrayal, heartache, and desperation are on the menus of life. Yet, amid the loss and pain, Christ prays for us. We have access to the Father through Jesus, with the help of the Spirit. And Christ’s intercession is more precious than diamonds, for it means we can cast our cares upon him.
It means our Father in heaven is listening to us. We may not know how he will answer; but God is listening and he cares, because Jesus died for us and is praying for us.
May we be a family that is rich in charity and lavish in compassion and generosity.
Secondly, the widow was granted charity, a charity that all the neighbors helped with. In answer to our prayers, God has not promised us a miracle, but he has assured us of the charity of the saints. Being part of the family of God, we have a right to helped by the saints. And as saints, we have the duty to show love and charity to one another, especially when hard times strike. The generous giving of the saints and the work of the deacons is how God often answers our prayers in times of need.
So, may we be a family that is rich in charity and lavish in compassion and generosity. For in this way we glorify God, we spread the grace of Christ, and we wait until all our cares and needs will be gone forever in the resurrection.
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Recommended:
The Majesty on High: Introduction to the Kingdom of God in the New Testament by S. M. Baugh
This article is adapted from a sermon given by Rev. Keele on 2 Kings 4:1-7 on November 24, 2019.
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