Nothing ... Except a little Oil!

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out (complained) to Elisha "Your servant my husband is dead and you know he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have (of value) in your house?" " Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil" Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't just ask for a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each one is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." The the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left." 2 Kings 4:1-7

Elisha the Prophet           

Elisha  was a prophet in the Land of Israel for 55 years. We remember Elisha because of the many miracles he did. Like Elijah, who taught Him the Word of The LORD, he had been filled with God's Spirit. In fact, when Elijah went to heaven in a fiery chariot (and that's another story), Elisha had asked for a double portion of the Spirit that filled Elijah and it had been given to him. In the stories found in the Bible about Elisha are recorded double the number of miracles told concerning Elijah.

Elijah's miracles were characterised by judgement; those of Elisha, with one exception, were marked by mercy. Now some of Elisha's miracles were events of national importance, after all he was the advisor to five different kings, and known far beyond the borders of Israel. But many of Elisha's miracles were done for ordinary little people like you and me and involved seemingly insignificant things, like making an axe head lost in the river float, or making some porrage poisoned with poorly chosen mushrooms safe to eat. This story is about one of those often overlooked miracles and how important the lesson is for us today.

Elisha's Associates

Now Elisha had founded a school for prophets, and was training men to be pastors and teachers of the people. After Elijah had defeated the prophets of Baal by calling fire down from heaven (that too is another story), there was a need for bringing reform to the land and teaching the people God's ways and God's Word. One of his students, a married man with two young boys, had died unexpectedly. He left behind an enormous debt, and the debt was incurred while providing for other prophets in hiding.  His wife was unable to repay and now the creditor was demanding, as was the custom and his rights, that the two boys be made his slaves to pay off that debt.

Now perhaps the mention of the oil reminded Elisha of a miracle done by his teacher, Elijah, once when living with widow the oil and flour miraculously increased. A man of faith, he knew that faith must start with what we have - God begins there - and multiplies and uses it to accomplish His works. We tend to dwell on what we lack - but God zeroes in on what He has given to us - and will use as we believe and trust in Him.

Elisha's Creativity

Elisha had an idea - a test of her faith - and so he gave her a plan: "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars (every - don't just ask for a few! Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."

Now what he asked her to do took a lot of faith. First she had to believe him, and that God would meet her need. Then she had to act on that belief and beg and borrow jars from all her neighbors. That might have seemed seemed to be a foolish endeavor. The measure of her belief would be the number of jars she borrowed. Then closing up her house in privacy, she would need to fill those jars from her tiny flask of oil.

Elisha's Faith Remedy

The widow went back to see Elisha the prophet. The first time she came complaining and upset. But this time she must have rushed into the room, overflowing with excitement and joy, as she excitedly told Elisha what had happened. It was like the first oil well in the Near East had had a gusher in her living room. She could sell the oil and pay off her husband's debts. Her boys would not be taken as slaves. There was so much oil, she and her boys could live on what was left. All things work towards good to those who love the Lord (Rom 8:28). Even sorrows can become springs of joy and blessings.

There is a lesson for us here about faith. We must expect God to work with what he has already given to us, but believing, we must also make room for Him to accomplish great things with it. The miracle was a demonstration of God's power in the economic sphere.

Elijah and Elisha remind us of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus. The stern ministry of Elijah was likened to that of the Forerunner (Luke 1: 17); the gracious ministry of Elisha is suggestive of that of the Saviour Himself (Luke 7: 33, 34). The name, too, is eloquent in its meaning: "God is Salvation."

In 2 Kings 3 we have Elisha ministering to the necessities of kings; in 2 Kings 4: 1-7 he ministers to a widow and her sons, for there is room in the divine compassions for both the exalted and the lowly. Remarkably both Elijah and Elisha had dealings with a widow, and in each case a little oil in a vessel constituted an important item in their worldly possessions.

Christ would give unto us beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3); This story is an example of what God has done for each of us who believe in Him. As sinners, we have a sin debt to God because of our sins. We are enslaved by sin, and helpless before God. We have no one to turn to but Jesus for His mercy and help. Without Christ we are spiritually bankrupt, but to look to Him in faith, Jesus, our Help is on the way.

Like the woman who believed the Prophet of God's word, and took those illogical steps of faith, she was provided the full payment of her debts by a flow of precious oil, which continued to sustain her and her children's lives. The Lord provides for us a full payment for that debt of sin we owe, through the flow of the precious blood of His son Jesus, who died for us, in our place, upon the cross. That blood, given for us on the cross, can satisfy fully God's wrath and bring us forgiveness. We are then reconciled to the Father by our act of faith in Jesus and obeying His command - "Go and sin no more".

And Jesus having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross Col 2:14

Elisha left all to follow devotedly the footsteps of another. Here is our example. "Follow  Me" is the voice of Christ (John 21: 22). Let us cultivate the spirit of Ruth in her fervent outburst to Naomi: "Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after you: for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge: your people shall be my people, and your God my God: where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part you and me" (Ruth 1: 16, 17). This is devotion indeed and an example of our devotion to our Kinsman Redeeemer.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer. He is our Kinsman by His incarnation (2 Cor. 8:9). He is a great and mighty Kinsman, for He is Himself God (Col. 2:9). He is a Kinsman of great wealth. All things are His. All the fulness of grace and glory is in Him. As Boaz loved Ruth, so Christ Jesus loved us without a cause, freely. "We love Him, because He first loved us!" He says, "I have loved thee, with an everlasting love…I have drawn thee with the cords of love." As Boaz promised to redeem Ruth, so the Son of God promised to redeem us in the covenant of grace before the world began (Heb. 7:22). But, as with Ruth, there was one who had first claim upon us. The law of God held us as its captors (Job 9:2; 25:4-6). But the law of God says, "I cannot redeem the fallen one, lest I mar My righteousness." The law has claim upon us, but not the ability to redeem us. The law is our kinsman condemner, but could never be our deliverer (Rom. 3:19-20). So the Lord Jesus willingly paid the price of our redemption, the price demanded by the justice of God. By His life of obedience, He magnified the law and made it honorable, and brought in everlasting righteousness for His people. By His sin-atoning death, He fully satisfied the wrath and justice of God as our Substitute.

As Boaz took Ruth to be his wife, so the Lord Jesus has taken chosen sinners to be His bride (vv. 13-15). Thank God, He has not left us without a Kinsman. Christ is the Restorer of our lives. He is the Nourisher of our old age. Like Boaz, our Lord Jesus will not rest until He has "finished the thing." "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it." "He is able to keep you from falling;" and He will. Christ will, at last, present you who are His holy, unblameable, and unreproveable before the presence of His glory.

Ruth, the pagan Moabitess, became the wife of Boaz, heir to all his vast estate, great-grandmother of king David, and was placed in the direct lineage of Christ. Even so, all who trust him are married to Christ, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, and are made to be the sons and daughters of God almighty – All by grace! All through Christ our Kinsman Redeemer!

Additional Observations God's Power to Use Elisha in the Oil Miracle

The greater the emergency, the greater the opportunity for God to show Himself on behalf of His people. When the men of Israel magnified the prowess of the nations of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb, true men of faith, said, "They are bread for us; Jehovah is with us; fear them not" (Num. 14: 9). Bread indeed! for every difficulty surmounted by faith in God yields strength and nourishment to the soul. Our wonder-working God is able to make the eater yield meat, and the strong one sweetness (Judges 14: 14). It is a great reality to have to do with God. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11: 6). The widow of our chapter proved the truth of this most blessedly. Let us note that in her trouble she sought the aid of "the man of God." This is a title more frequently applied to Elisha than to any other Person named in Holy Scripture. Seventy times we read of "the man of God" in the Old Testament, twenty-two Of the passages referring to Elisha. What are we to understand by the title! Is it the equivalent of "Saint," and therefore applicable to, only man born of the Spirit? The Spirit's Sparing use of the term forbids the thought. It is first applied to Moses in Deuteronomy 33: 1. This gives us the key to its meaning. Moses was one who cut himself entirely adrift from the world, renouncing absolutely all its honours and advantages in order that he might be Wholly for God. Only persons of this Stamp may rightly be regarded as men of God. In the midst of general ruin and departure, the, man of God is God's emergency instrument. It is open to us all to be in this blessed position, if so our hearts desire. The Church in these days needs men of God.

But what had Elisha for the distressed widow? Nothing, as far as his own resources were concerned, and yet he more than met her need. He could have said with the apostle, "As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2 Cor. 6: 10). And what have we wherewith to meet the need of souls? The amount contained in our pockets is a small matter; the question is, what have we in our hearts! Blessed be God, we have that enshrined there which is capable of meeting every form of human necessity. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4: 6). Our hearts have thus been illuminated by the knowledge of God, and from us that knowledge should radiate to others. Herein lies an immense opportunity for spiritual usefulness in a dreary world.

But Elisha asked the woman, "What hast thou in the house" She replied, "Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil." But there were great potentialities in the pot of oil, though the widow knew it not. Whatever else we lack, every Christian has his pot of oil. In other words, every Christian has the power of the Holy Spirit within him. Let us use it in faith, and all our difficulties become as nothing. So the widow must beg empty vessels of her neighbours not a few. "And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full."

Picture the scene in that humble house. What had the widow to look upon that day? Just a small vessel of oil, a number of empty receptacles, and two poor orphan lads earmarked for slavery. This was what the eye saw; but there was something else that no natural sight could behold — God. In Matthew 6: 1-18 we are taught that the Father's eye is upon us, and in verses 19-34 that our eye should, in consequence, be solely upon Him. In this is rest and peace.

Now observe a remarkable thing. The oil flowed while a vessel remained to take it. It was only when the son said "there is not a vessel more" that the oil stayed. What a lesson is here! The blessing is limited by man only. In 2 Kings 3 the kings obtained water according to the depth of the ditches that were prepared. In 2 Kings 13: 18 Joash, King of Israel, missed the opportunity of his life, when in the presence of the dying prophet, and with full knowledge that the actions of that day were significant, he smote upon the ground thrice only. This meant three victories over his enemies instead of total annihilation. Abraham, in Genesis 18, when making intercession for the guilty cities of the plain, paused at ten persons, though God had given no indication of weariness in listening to His servant's voice. Alas! alas! It is always man who limits the blessing.