II Kings 4 · The Lantern

The Widow’s Oil

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor has come to take to him my two sons to be slaves.

It is said that this woman was the wife of Obadiah, the treasurer of Ahab and a secret disciple of Elijah, who had taken one hundred prophets away from the rage of Jezebel and had fed them when they were hungry. It seems that in this affair he was entrusted with the gold of the royal house, but after his death his wife was left with a huge debt to be paid to his masters.

Just as we said concerning blessed Elijah that he typified our Lord and Savior, dearly beloved, so we assert with confidence and assurance that holy Elisha was an image of our Savior.

Concerning this oil of piety it is said in the fourth book of Kings that a certain woman came to Elisha and said that her creditors wished to take her children; and she said: "My husband was a man who feared God." And Elisha said that she should bring all the vessels of her neighbors and pour some of that oil into each one, until all were filled.

And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? tell me, what have you in the house? And she said, Your maidservant has not anything in the house, save a pot of oil.

Then he said, Go, borrow you vessels abroad of all your neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

And when you have come in, you shall shut the door upon you and upon your sons, and shall pour out into all those vessels, and you shall set aside that which is full.

So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.

And it happened, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.

Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live you and your children of the rest.

The Shunammite Woman

And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.

And she said to her husband, Look now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passes by us continually.

Let us make a little chamber, I pray you, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a lampstand: and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there.

And it fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

And he said to him, Say now to her, Look, you have been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for you? would you be spoken to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people.

And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Truly she has no child, and her husband is old.

And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, you shall embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.

And the woman conceived, and bore a son at that season that Elisha had said to her, according to the time of life.

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

And she called to her husband, and said, Send me, I pray you, one of the young men, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

And he said, Why will you go to him today? it is neither new moon, nor Sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not your riding for me, except I bid you.

So she went and came to the man of God to mount Carmel. And it happened, when the man of God saw her far off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Look, yonder is that Shunammite:

Run now, I pray you, to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you? is it well with your husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is troubled within her: and the LORD has hid it from me, and has not told me.

Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?

Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute you, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

When he saw her suffering and anguish, he immediately sent his disciple, entrusting him with his staff, and told him to lay it on the dead child and to inform him about the results of his ministry. He wanted the resurrection of the dead to happen by means of the staff of the master and the hands of the disciple, if his servant was sufficient for the miracle.

There is another representation of the same truth: Elisha's action in first dispatching his servant with his staff to raise the dead child. The son of the woman who had given Elisha hospitality had died; the news was brought to Elisha, and he sent his servant with the staff. "Go," he told him, "lay the staff on the dead child." Was the prophet unsure what to do?

After the death of her son, that woman went out and prostrated herself at the feet of holy Elisha, but the blessed man gave his staff to his servant and said to him, "Go, and lay my staff on the face of the child.

And the mother of the child said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And he arose, and followed her.

And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.

And when Elisha had come into the house, look, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them two, and prayed to the LORD.

And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child grew warm.

"Sing to the Lord." Why? What has he done? Why is there a new song due him? "For he has done wondrous deeds." He performed miracles among the Jews: he cured paralytics; he cleansed lepers; he raised the dead to life. But other prophets had done that too. He changed a few loaves into many and fed a countless multitude. But Elisha did that.

What is the point of the addition you thought you should make to this comparison drawn from the example of blessed Elisha, namely, that he raised a dead boy by breathing into his face? Do you really think that the breath of Elisha became the soul of the boy? I would not have thought that you had wandered so far from the truth.

Thus, blessed Elisha came and went up to the chamber, because Christ was to come and ascend the gibbet of the cross. Elisha bent down to revive the child; Christ humbled himself to lift up the world that lay in sin. Elisha further put his eyes on [the child's] eyes, his mouth on his mouth and his hands on his hands.

Then he returned, and walked in the house back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she had come in to him, he said, Take up your son.

Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

Elisha Purifies the Poisonous Stew

And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.

And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and its gathered wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.

So they poured out for the men to eat. And it happened, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O you man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat of it.

But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.

Feeding a Hundred Men

And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of grain in its husk. And he said, Give to the people, that they may eat.

And his servitor said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and shall its leave.

So he set it before them, and they did eat, and its left, according to the word of the LORD.