2 Kings 4:38-44 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 Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land, etc. Elisha had returned to Gilgal, the seat of a school of the prophets; he had come thither once more on his yearly circuit, and during the famine, which prevailed in the land. As the students sat before their master, he discerned in their emaciated forms the terrible effects upon them of the famine. In the narrative we discover the action of several ministries, or events with which men are visited more or less in passing through this sublunary state. I. Here is the ministry of SEVERE TRIAL. "There was a dearth in the land." To be destitute of those provisions which are essential to the appeasement of hunger and the sustentation of life is undoubtedly one of the greatest trials. Such destitution is of two kinds - the avoidable and the unavoidable. The former is common. Tens of thousands of people in this country, which so abounds with wealth, are, alas! subject to the trial of this destitution every day. But men bring this destitution on themselves. To the heartless cupidity of one class of men, and the indolence, extravagance, and intemperance of another, the poverty which is rampant in England today must be ascribed. The latter kind of destitution, viz. the inevitable, is that recorded in these verses; it arose out of the sterile condition into which the land was thrown. This was the destitution which now prevailed in Israel; it afflicted all, the good and the bad. In truth, Nature knows of no moral distinctions; she treats kings and paupers, the righteous and the wicked, alike. II. Here is the ministry of GROSS IGNORANCE. In order to allay the ravenous hunger of his pupils, Elisha 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 gathered thereof 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 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." Whatever were the herbs which the servants gathered it matters not; they were nauseous and pernicious. "The sons of the prophets," says Matthew Henry, "it would seem, were better skilled in divinity than philosophy, and read their Bibles more than their herbals." What they put into the pot tended to produce death rather than to strengthen life. Every day men are afflicted through the gross ignorance of themselves and others. Through ignorance men are everywhere putting "death in the pot," in a material sense. The cook, the doctor, the brewer, the distiller, how much death do they bring into the "pot" of human life! Through ignorance, too, men "pot" of life! Man's ignorance of God and his claims on the soul, its nature, its laws, and the necessary conditions of true spiritual progress, is the minister of death. III. Here is the ministry of HUMAN KINDNESS. "And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of bread, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof." Whoever this man was (for no description is given of him save the place of his residence), he was a Heaven-inspired philanthropist. Mercy, the highest attribute of heaven, was in him, and he left his home and came forth to minister to the needs of his suffering race. Thank God for that kindness which has survived the Fall, and still lives in human hearts. The most precious ministry on earth is this: it feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, heals the diseased, wipes away the tears of human sorrow; it is, indeed, Christ in human flesh. For he was then in the world, though the world knew it not. IV. Here is the ministry of SUPERNATURAL POWER. Supernatural power through Elisha comes to the relief of these sufferers. The supernatural was manifested in two ways. 1. In counteracting the death-tendency of what was in the pot. "But he said, Then bring meal. And he east it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot." A supernatural power is required to counteract the pernicious in life. If the Almighty allowed evil to take its course freely and fully, death would run riot and reduce the whole race to extinction. The supernatural was manifested also: 2. In increasing the supplies of life. Elisha commanded his servant to distribute amongst his starving pupils the provisions which the man that came from Baal-shalisha had brought. To this the servant replied, "What, should I set this before a hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord." As the pot of oil increased in the pouring, so the provisions increased in the eating. It has been said of old of God, that he will abundantly bless the "provisions of his people, and satisfy the poor with bread." It is true that moral goodness, truth, and justice, skill, prudence, and diligence, have a tendency to increase everywhere the provisions of human life, and they are doing so every day. But in this case there seems to be the exertion of a power transcending the human. However this may be, that which we call the supernatural is nothing more than the natural. As Nature herself is immeasurably beyond our comprehension, transcends our conceptions, for us to speak of the supernatural implies the arrogation of an intelligence which we do not possess. - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: 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 unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. |
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