2 Kings 4:40

_SO THEY POURED OUT FOR THE MEN TO EAT. AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY WERE EATING OF THE POTTAGE, THAT THEY CRIED OUT, AND SAID, O THOU MAN OF GOD, THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT. AND THEY COULD NOT EAT THEREOF._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

38-44 There was a famine of bread, but not of hearing the word of God, for Elisha had the sons of the prophets sitting before him, to hear his wisdom. Elisha made hurtful food to become safe and wholesome. If a mess of pottage be all our dinner, remember that this great prophet had no better for himself and his guests. The table often becomes a snare, and that which should be for our welfare, proves a trap: this is a good reason why we should not feed ourselves without fear. When we are receiving the supports and comforts of life, we must keep up an expectation of death, and a fear of sin. We must acknowledge God's goodness in making our food wholesome and nourishing; I am the Lord that healeth thee. Elisha also made a little food go a great way. Having freely received, he freely gave. God has promised his church, that he will abundantly bless her provision, and satisfy her poor with br...

Verse 40. THERE IS _DEATH IN THE POT._] As if they had said, "We have here a deadly mixture; if we eat of it, we shall all die....

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

SO THEY POURED OUT FOR THE MEN TO EAT,.... When the pottage was boiled, they poured it out into dishes or basins, for the sons of the prophets to eat: AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY WERE EATING OF THE POTTAGE, THAT THEY CRIED OUT, AND SAID, O THOU MAN OF GOD, THERE IS DEATH IN THE POT; poison, the cause of death; the pottage was so exceeding bitter, that they concluded there must be some poisonous herb in it; and coloquintida is so bitter, that it is called "the gall of the earth": AND THEY COULD NOT EAT THEREOF: they stopped eating, it being so very disagreeable, and, as they supposed, dangerous....

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

TWO MINOR MIRACLES OF ELISHA. The death (poison) in the pot healed and the feeding of a hundred prophets. The bread of the firstfruits (2 Kings 4:42) was by the Law the property of the priests (Numbers 18:13; Deuteronomy 18:4). Here the loaves and ears of corn are offered to prophets. In the Christian _Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ the prophets are to be given of the firstfruits, for they are your priests. There is no similar instance in the OT....

DEATH. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Effect), for that which causes death....

_they cried out_ The bitter taste shewed them that something was wrong, and their thoughts at once suggested that what they had eaten was poisonous. The fruit of the colocynth would produce sickness very soon, but there is no reason to suppose that there was enough in the pottage to kill. _O thou man of God_ The R.V. omits -thou", and thus improves both rhythm and language. _they could not eat_thereof] They had only just tasted the noxious dish and so no ill effects had followed....

II. MIRACLES ON BEHALF OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS 4:38-44 As the spiritual head of the sons of the prophets, Elisha frequently was called upon apparently to use his powers for the benefit of the group. On two occasions he rescued these men from serious sickness and possible death. In the closing verses of chapter 4 the author narrates (1) the healing of the noxious pottage (2 Kings 4:38-41); and (2) the multiplication of the loaves (2 Kings 4:42-44). A. HEALING OF THE NOXIOUS POTTAGE 4:38-41 TRANSLATION (38) And Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now famine was in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his lad, Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. (39) And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and