The last mini-series of articles covered several miracles that God performed through the prophet Elisha, but there are even more of them recorded in the book of 2 Kings. As a result, the next few articles are also intended to cover additional miracles associated with Elisha (even though God was the one who actually made them happen), specifically from 2 Kings 4.
As a reminder, miracles aren’t done for no reason, and the purpose of the miracles that we read about in this chapter may include God doing any or all of the following:
- Showing people that He is real.
- Showing people what He is like.
- Confirming His message given through His messengers.
- Inspiring people to turn to Him.
- Testing – or demonstrating – the faith of those who are asked to do something unusual as they participate in His miracles.
Let’s start the chapter and set the stage for the first miracle recorded in 2 Kings 4.
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
2 Kings 4:1 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/2ki.4.1.NIV
Within the book of 2 Kings, this “company of the prophets” [NIV] or “sons of the prophets” [NASB] features prominently in the ministry of Elisha. As we learn from this passage, a man from this group had passed away, leaving behind a wife, two children…and some debt.
As you may know, while God’s commandments provided for even the poor among His people, His instructions weren’t always followed, and social safety nets in ancient times weren’t necessarily as robust as we find in our culture today. (And, we’re not always perfect at taking care of those who need help in our day and age, either.)
Now, it might seem strange to most modern cultures for children to be taken as payment for debts. In that era, though, it was much more common to settle debts by taking people into service, servanthood, or slavery. According to a commentator [Long, p.310, citing Amos 2:6 and Amos 8:6], the prophet Amos pointed out how excessive debt slavery had become a problem, even for God’s people.
Conversely, we are still expected to pay off debt today (in most cases), but we usually retain our personal freedom while doing so. Having said that, those who are convicted of serious crimes may have to give up their freedom in order to pay off their “debt to society”, so perhaps we’ve retained some of those concepts in our language.
This woman doesn’t appear to have any other options, so she asks Elisha for help. Note how she also appeals to Elisha’s conscience here, by affirming that her late husband was God-honoring. Based on other passages, it seems like her husband – like the rest of this prophetic group – had been a student of Elijah and/or Elisha.
Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
2 Kings 4:2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/2ki.4.2.NIV
Elisha’s question sounds pretty practical. In my paraphrase, “What do you have to work with?” Maybe he was first checking to see if a “non-miraculous” solution was available. After all, sometimes God has already given us what we need to solve our problem, even if the connection isn’t immediately obvious to us.
What the woman has isn’t much, though. Presumably, she has either gone through her remaining savings to preserve herself and her children for this long, or perhaps she has sold her other belongings to keep her creditor at bay.
Let’s continue this account in the next couple of articles, but in the meantime, today might be a good opportunity to look around and see if there is anyone needing our help. Is there anyone in your circle of influence who has been abandoned by society, or who has become dependent upon a source that cannot provide for them? Is there someone nearby who has been put into a situation that they didn’t choose and aren’t responsible for, but where they need some help? Maybe today is a day that God will ask you to step in and be part of the solution, whether it is material or miraculous!
From Sunday School lesson prepared for June 15, 2025
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – 1 & 2 Kings, by Jesse C. Long, Jr. © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 