2 Kings 4:43

_AND HIS SERVITOR SAID, WHAT, SHOULD I SET THIS BEFORE AN HUNDRED MEN? HE SAID AGAIN, GIVE THE PEOPLE, THAT THEY MAY EAT: FOR THUS SAITH THE LORD, THEY SHALL EAT, AND SHALL LEAVE THEREOF._ They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. This was not a miracle of Elisha, but only a prediction of one by the word of the Lord; and thus it differed widely from those of Christ (Matthew 15:37; Mark 8:8; Luke 9:17; John 6:12)....

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 2 Kings 4:43. _THUS SAITH THE LORD, THEY SHALL EAT, AND SHALL LEAVE_ THEREOF.] It was God, not the prophet, who fed _one hundred_ men with these _twenty_ loaves, c. This is something like our Lord's feeding the multitude miraculously. Indeed, there are many things in this chapter similar to facts in our Lord's history: and this prophet might be more aptly considered a type of our Lord, than most of the other persons in the Scriptures who have been thus honoured....

This miracle was a faint foreshadowing of our Lord’s far more marvelous feeding of thousands with even scantier materials. The resemblance is not only in the broad fact, but in various minute particulars, such as the distribution through the hands of others; the material, bread; the surprised question of the servant; and the evidence of superfluity in the fragments that were left (see the marginal references). As Elijah was a type of the Baptist, so Elisha was in many respects a type of our Blessed Lord. In his peaceful, non-ascetic life, in his mild and gentle character, in his constant circuits, in his many miracles of mercy, in the healing virtue which abode in his bodily frame 2 Kings 13:21, he resembled, more than any other prophet, the Messiah, of whom all prophets were more or less shadows and figures....

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

AND HIS SERVITOR SAID,.... His servant Gehazi very probably: WHAT, SHOULD I SET THIS BEFORE ONE HUNDRED MEN? for so many, it seems, the sons of the prophets were in this place; and these loaves being very small, no more, it is thought by some, than one man could eat, and the ears of corn but few, the servant suggests they would be nothing comparatively to such a company of men: HE SAID AGAIN, GIVE THE PEOPLE, THAT THEY MAY EAT; he insisted upon it that his orders should be obeyed: FOR THUS SAITH THE LORD, THEY SHALL EAT, AND SHALL LEAVE THEREOF; it was suggested to him by a spirit of prophecy, there would be enough for them, and to spare....

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....

SERVITOR. attendant. Old English. one who serves. AN HUNDRED MEN. Elisha's ninth miracle. See note on 2 Kings 2:15. One of three (App-10) miracles of feeding multitudes. Compare Matthew 14:20; Matthew 15:34....

_And his servitor_[R.V. SERVANT] _said_ The word is not the usual one for -servant" which has occurred above in this chapter; but it is rendered elsewhere by -minister" or -servant" (see Exodus 24:13; Exodus 33:11), and nowhere but here -servitor". As the word is used, in the passages referred to, of Joshua, the minister of Moses, it seems likely that Gehazi, the special attendant on Elisha, is here meant. _before an hundred men_ Probably the number of the prophetic college at Gilgal. We have seen above (2 Kings 2:7) that these communities had many members, not all perhaps resident regularly, but likely to gather in full force when Elisha was visiting their society. _He said again_ R.V. But he