2 Kings 4

Jonathan Ledbetter

Kingdom, Come • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

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Scripture Reading: Psalm 72:1-4

Introduction

Elisha has Taken Over the Ministry of Elijah

He’s Proven this in a Number of Ways Already…

But the Author has More Proof to Give

In Our Text, We’re Going to See 4 Stories…

Of Elijah Performing Miracles for People in Need

2 of Which Purposely Share Great Similarities…

With Miracles that Elijah Performed During His Ministry

But All of Which Point Us to the Ministry of the Future Messiah

This Chapter Holds One of My Favorite Stories…

And Acts of Faith in the Entire OT

2 Kings 4

2 Kings 4:1–2 (NET)

1 Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying, “Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants.” 2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil.”

A Prophet’s Widow is in a Terrifying Situation

Her Late Husband Still Owed Money to Someone…

But He’s No Longer Alive to Work Off the Debt

So Now Her 2 Young Sons are Expected to Work Off the Debt as Slaves

She Needs Help & She Needs it Badly

We See the Heart of Our Father & Our King in Elisha’s Response:

“What can I Do for You?”

Then He Asks Her What She has

She Only has a Small Jar of Oil

So He Then Tells Her to Borrow Large Containers from All Her Neighbors

Then She’s to Fill Them Up with Her Small Jar of Oil

When She had Filled Up All the Containers…

2 Kings 4:7 (NET)

7 She went and told the prophet. He said, “Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”

This Story May Remind You of a Similar Miracle Story in 1 Kings 17

Elijah Miraculously Caused Oil to Multiply for a Widow in Need

This Similar Miracles Shows that Elisha…

Has the Same Spirit & Prophetic Ministry of His Master, Elijah

The 2nd Story in Our Text is One of My Favorites

2 Kings 4:8–10 (NLT)

8 One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat. 9 She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. 10 Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”

A Wealthy Woman of Shunem Wants to Show Incredible Hospitality to Elisha

She Even has Her Husband Build on to Their House…

So that Elisha will have a Nice Place to Stay When He Passes Through

One Night Elisha Expresses His Appreciation to Her…

And Asks Her if There’s Any Way He can Repay Her Generous Hospitality

She Asked for Nothing

She Didn’t Expect Anything in Return

2 Kings 4:14 (NLT)

14 Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”

Her Husband isn’t Going to Live Forever…

And When He Dies, Since They have No Son…

She will have No One to Provide & Take Care of Her

So Elisha Promises Her that She’d have a Son

2 Kings 4:16 (NLT)

16 “Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!” “No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”

He Wasn’t Just Getting Her Hopes Up

By the Next Year, She had a Son

A Few Years Later, When the Child was Bigger…

His Head Started Hurting When He was Out in the Field with His Dad

A Servant Carried Him to His Mom

She Held Him on Her Lap & He Died

Then the Woman Starts Acting Really Strange

Typically, We’d Expect Her to Inform the Family Her Son’s Death…

And Begin the Burial Ceremony & Grieving Process

But She Doesn’t Do Any of that

Instead, She Puts His Body in a Private Bedroom & Shuts the Door

She’s Keeping Her Son’s Death a Secret…

And it Seems Like She Wants it to Stay that Way

Then She Tells Her Husband that She Wants to Go See Elisha

He Asks Why

And All She Says is “Shalom” = Peace

NLT = “It will Be Alright”

NET = “Everything’s Fine”

Many Other Translations = “It is Well”

But, that’s Not True, is it?

Nothing is “Shalom”, “Alright”, “Fine”, or “Well”

She’s Definitely Up to Something

She Travels from Shunem to Mount Carmel…

Where Elisha is

2 Kings 4:25–28 (NLT)

25 As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming. 26 Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’ ” “Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.” 27 But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the Lord has not told me what it is.” 28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up’?”

Even Though She Told Gehazi the Same Thing She Told Her Husband:

“Shalom”, “Peace”, “Everything’s Fine”, “It is Well”…

Elisha Knew Something was Wrong

He Immediately Sends Gehazi to Run Ahead…

And Lay His Staff on the Boy’s Body

2 Kings 4:30 (NASB95)

30 The mother of the lad said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her.

I Don’t Know if You Remember or Not…

But Those were the Exact Words that Elisha Repeated to Elijah…

Before Elijah was Taken Up in the Whirlwind

Elisha wasn’t Going to Leave His Master, Elijah’s Side

And this Shunammite Woman wasn’t Going to Leave Elisha’s Side

She Believed “it is Well”…

But Only When You’re with the Man of God

Laying the Staff on the Boy’s Body Didn’t Do Anything…

So Gehazi Ran Back and Told Elisha the Bad News

When Elisha Got There…

He Laid Down on the Boy’s Body & the Boy Came Back to Life

Now, Everything is “Shalom”, “Peace”, “Alright”

“It is Well”

This Story is Also Very Similar to the Elijah Story in 1 Kings 17

After Elijah Caused the Oil to Not Run Out for the Widow…

Her Son Died of an Illness

Then He Placed the Child in an Upper Room…

And Laid Down on the Child to Bring Him Back to Life

Again, We’re Seeing Elisha in a Very Similar Situation as His Former Master

This is All to Show Us that Elisha has Taken Over the Power & Ministry of Elijah

Now Let’s Look at the 3rd Story

It Begins with Elisha Going Down to Gilgal…

And There’s a 7-Year Famine in the Land

He’s about to Boil & Share Some Stew with the Other Prophets…

When One of Them Put Some Gourds in the Stew

When One of the Prophets Tasted it…

It Tasted Bitter & Possibly Poisonous

Elisha Put Some Flour in it…

And it was Perfectly Fine to Eat

Now for the 4th & Final Story

A Man Came to Elisha from Baal-Shalishah…

To Bring Him the First Fruits of Their Barley Harvest:

20 Loaves of Barley Bread

Fresh Ears of Grain in a Sack

Elisha Tells Him to Serve it to the Prophets

2 Kings 4:43–44 (NLT)

43 “What?” his servant exclaimed. “Feed a hundred people with only this?” But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the Lord says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some left over!” 44 And when they gave it to the people, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the Lord had promised.

Does this Story Sound Familiar to You?

God’s Anointed Man Feeding a Large Crowd with a Small Amount of Bread…

And There Still Being Some Left Over?

In Both of These Final Stories…

We See 2 Really Beautiful Things:

1.) God Providing for His People During Hard Times

2.) God’s People Sharing with One Another

Application

The Primary Purpose of this Chapter…

Was to Show Elisha as the Man of God

God has Made Elisha Elijah’s Replacement

What is it that We Saw in this Chapter?

God’s Man Rescued a Widow & Her Children…

From Debt & Slavery

God’s Man Resurrected a Child

God’s Man Provided for His People in Their Time of Need

In Each of These Stories…

The People in Need Trusted the Man of God

All was Well Because They Trusted the Man of God

We can Say “It is Well” When We Trust in the Man of God

It is Well Because the Man of God:

Will Rescue His People from Debt & Slavery

Will Resurrect Me, My Loved Ones, and All His People

Will Provide for His People in Their Times of Need

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