2 Kings 4:1

_NOW THERE CRIED A CERTAIN WOMAN OF THE WIVES OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS UNTO ELISHA, SAYING, THY SERVANT MY HUSBAND IS DEAD; AND THOU KNOWEST THAT THY SERVANT DID FEAR THE LORD: AND THE CREDITOR IS COME TO TAKE UNTO HIM MY TWO SONS TO BE BONDMEN._ There cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets. They were allowed to marry as well as the priests and Levites. Her husband, not enjoying the lucrative profits of business, had nothing but a professional income, which in that irreligous age would be precarious and very scanty, so that he was not in a condition to provide for his family, or to leave them in comfortable circumstances at his death. In fact, he had died insolvent. THE CREDITOR IS COME TO TAKE ... MY TWO SONS TO BE BONDMEN. A Hebrew was permitted by the law (Leviticus 25:39;...

1-7 Elisha's miracles were acts of real charity: Christ's were so; not only great wonders, but great favours to those for whom they were wrought. God magnifies his goodness with his power. Elisha readily received a poor widow's complaint. Those that leave their families under a load of debt, know not what trouble they cause. It is the duty of all who profess to follow the Lord, while they trust to God for daily bread, not to tempt him by carelessness or extravagance, nor to contract debts; for nothing tends more to bring reproach upon the gospel, or distresses their families more when they are gone. Elisha put the widow in a way to pay her debt, and to maintain herself and her family. This was done by miracle, but so as to show what is the best method to assist those who are in distress, which is, to help them to improve by their own industry what little they have. The oil, sent by mira...

CHAPTER IV _A widow of one of the prophets, oppressed by a merciless_ _creditor, applies to Elisha, who multiplies her oil; by a part_ _of which she pays her debt, abut subsists on the rest_, 1-7. _His entertainment at the house of a respectable woman in_ _Shunem_, 8-10. _He foretells to his hostess the birth of a son_, 11-17. _After some years the child dies, and the mother goes to Elisha_ _at Carmel; he comes to Shunem, and raises the child to life_, 18-37. _He comes to Gilgal, and prevents the sons of the prophets from_...

THE CREDITOR IS COME ... - The Law of Moses, like the Athenian and the Roman law, recognized servitude for debt, and allowed that pledging of the debtor’s person, which, in a rude state of society, is regarded as the safest and the most natural security (see the marginal reference). In the present case it would seem that, so long as the debtor lived, the creditor had not enforced his right over his sons, but now on his death he claimed their services, to which he was by law entitled....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 4:1 TYPICAL MIRACLES WROUGHT BY ELISHA. General _introduction_._ _The miracles of this chapter are all of them miracles of mercy. The first and last consist in the multiplying of food, and thus belong to the same class as our Lord's feeding the four and the five thousands, and Elijah's increasing the meal and oil of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:10). It serves no useful purpose to ask how miracles of this class were wrought. The inspired writers have not told us; and our own thoughts upon the subject can at the best be mere unfounded conjectures. The rationalistic attempts which have been made to solve the mystery exhibit a weakness and feeblen

NOW THERE CRIED A CERTAIN WOMAN OF THE WIVES OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS UNTO ELISHA,.... This, according to the Targum, was the wife of Obadiah, who had hid the prophets by fifty in a cave in the times of Ahab; and so Josephus q, and it is the commonly received notion of the Jewish writers; though it does not appear that he was a prophet, or the son of a prophet, but the governor or steward of Ahab's house; she was more likely to be the wife of a meaner person; and from hence it is clear that the prophets and their disciples married: SAYING, THY SERVANT MY HUSBAND IS DEAD; which is the lot of prophets, as well as others, Zechariah 1:5 AND THOU KNOWEST THAT THY SERVANT DID FEAR THE LORD; her husband was well known to the prophet, and known to be a good man, one of the 7000 who bowed not the knee to Baal, for the truth of which she appeals to Elisha; an

FEAR (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 19:9). _...

3. THE MIRACLES CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The widow's oil multiplied (2 Kings 4:1)_ 2. The Shunammite and her reward (2 Kings 4:8) 3. The son of the Shunammite raised from the dead (2 Kings 4:18) 4. The deadly pottage healed (2 Kings 4:38) 5. The multitude fed (2 Kings 4:42) In the previous chapter Elisha appeared as the saviour of Israel, and now he acts in behalf of the widow of one of the sons of the prophets. His name is not given. Elisha had known him as one who feared the Lord. And now the widow deeply in

2 KINGS 4:1 TO 2 KINGS 6:23. STORIES ABOUT ELISHA AS A WONDER-WORKER. The miracles of Elisha fill a considerable part of the early Chapter s of 2 K. They are mostly beneficent in character, and this prophet was evidently more in touch with the people than his stern predecessor. There is no reason to confine these tales to the reign of Jehoram, because the death of that king is recorded later in the book. The king of Israel is not mentioned by name, and was evidently on good terms with the prophet, which could hardly be expected of Jehoram. Probably some of the occurrences, especially in the Syrian wars, belong to the age of Jehu's dynasty. The biography of Elisha in 2 K. consists of 2 Kings 2:1;...

HUSBAND. man. Hebrew. _ish_. App-14. BONDMEN. Compare Leviticus 25:39 and Nehemiah 5:5....