What is the main message of the story of the widow’s pot of oil?

The story of the widow’s oil shows how God cares for people in real financial trouble and uses what little they already have. The widow has lost her husband, a servant of the Lord, and a creditor is about to take her sons. She has only a small pot of oil. Elisha tells her to borrow many empty vessels and pour out the oil. God makes the oil keep flowing until every vessel is full. She then sells it, pays her debt, and lives on the rest. It teaches trust, obedience, and paying what we owe.

Why did the Shunammite woman build a room for Elisha?

The Shunammite woman noticed that Elisha often passed by and understood that he was a holy man of God. Out of respect for God and kindness to His servant, she and her husband made a small upper room with a bed, table, stool, and lamp so he would have a quiet place to stay. She was not looking for a reward, since she said she was content among her own people. Her room shows thoughtful hospitality and a desire to support God’s work with her home and resources.

Why did the Shunammite woman say “It is well” when her son had died?

When her son died, the Shunammite woman laid him on Elisha’s bed and hurried to find the prophet. On the way, when her husband and Gehazi asked if things were well, she answered, “It is well.” This seems to show a steady trust and a resolve to speak with the man of God first rather than pour out her grief to others. She clung to the promise she had received about this child and would not leave Elisha until he came. Her words show a faith that looks to God even when the situation looks hopeless.

What does Elisha’s raising of the Shunammite’s son teach about God?

Elisha finding the child dead and then praying and stretching himself on the boy until he warmed and sneezed shows God’s power over death. Elisha could not do this on his own; he shut the door and prayed to the Lord. Life returned only after earnest prayer and repeated effort. When the boy opened his eyes, it was clear that God had heard. This miracle shows that God cares about one grieving family, keeps His promises of blessing, and is able to restore life where there was none.

Why did Elisha first send his staff with Gehazi, and why did nothing happen?

Elisha told Gehazi to take his staff, hurry to the child, and lay the staff on the boy’s face. The staff itself did not bring the child back to life, and Gehazi reported that there was no voice or sign. The passage does not explain every detail, but it does show that there was nothing automatic or magical about Elisha’s things. God chose to answer when Elisha himself came, shut the door, and prayed. This reminds us that it is God who works, not objects, and that prayerful dependence on Him is what matters.

What is the meaning of the story about the poisonous pottage being healed?

During a famine, Elisha’s servant made a pot of stew for the sons of the prophets. Someone had added wild gourds without knowing they were harmful. As they began to eat, the men cried out that there was death in the pot. Elisha asked for meal, threw it into the pot, and told them to serve it again. This time they ate with no harm. The meal itself was ordinary, but God used this sign to show His care for His servants in hard times and His power to turn danger into safety.

What is the significance of the man from Baal-shalisha bringing bread of the firstfruits?

A man came from Baal-shalisha bringing Elisha twenty barley loaves and fresh grain as firstfruits. Elisha told his servant to give it to the people to eat, even though there were about a hundred men and the servant thought it was too little. Elisha repeated God’s word that they would eat and have some left. They did, and there was food left over. This shows God providing for many through a simple gift and blessing the act of giving the first and best of one’s produce to His service.

How do these stories of Elisha apply to someone facing need today?

These stories show that God sees both poor and rich, those in debt, those longing for children, and those hungry in famine. The widow is told to use what she has and to act in faith. The Shunammite woman uses her home to serve and then clings to God’s promise when sorrow comes. The prophets in famine obey and eat what God has made safe. For us, it means bringing our needs to God, using what He has given, showing hospitality, paying what we owe, and trusting Him to provide in His own way.

What does this passage teach about hospitality and generosity?

The Shunammite woman and her husband open their home and even build a room for Elisha without asking anything in return. Later, a man from Baal-shalisha brings bread and grain during a time of lack. In both cases, God uses their gifts to bless many and also blesses the givers. The woman is given a son and later receives him back from death. The bread feeds a hundred with food left over. This encourages us to share our homes, food, and resources, trusting that God sees and is able to care for us too.

2Kgs.4.1

2 Kings 4:1

KJV

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.

The Widow’s Oil

1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.

2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

4 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.

5 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.

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

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

The Shunammite Woman

8 ¶ 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 oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

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

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

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

13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

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

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

16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

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

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

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

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

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

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

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

23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:

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

27 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 vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

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

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

30 And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.

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

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

33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.

34 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 waxed warm.

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

36 And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

37 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

38 ¶ 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.

39 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.

40 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.

41 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

42 ¶ 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 corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.

43 And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.

44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.

Cross References

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