2 Kings 4:38-44
Dear children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, and guests, things in Israel were not as well as they
could be. Yes, religiously speaking things were looking more positive for Israel in the days of Elisha –
certainly when you compare it to the days of the prophet Elijah and king Ahab. But there were still many
Israelites that served the Baals. We know, for there was a village called Baal-shalishah... And there were
still no Levites and priests in the northern kingdom. We know, for the first fruits were brought to the man
of God, to Elisha and the prophets.
Thus it’s no surprise that God once again oppressed the land by sending a famine. Boys and girls,
famine was God’s way of indicating His unhappiness and anger with His people. A famine is like a warning
or punishment from God: shape up.
A famine. Israel was very much a land that depended on rain from heaven to be fruitful. Much of Israel
is elevated, hilly and rocky. Its main river, the Jordan River, was for the most part in a canyon, much like
the Fraser River is north of Hope, a canyon just as deep. If the rain stayed away, the land was quickly
affected. Famine, so Moses had told Israel, would be God’s response to unfaithfulness on Israel’s part.
The drought that marked the start of Elijah’s ministry had reminded Israel of this. For three and a half
years it had not rained, so that God could make clear what foolishness the worship of Baal, the supposed
god of rain, was. It would seem, many in Israel had returned to worshipping the LORD. However, not the
nation as a whole. King Joram still walked in the ways of King Jeroboam. And Baal worship was still rife
among the people. And thus famine had struck God’s people, God’s disobedient covenant people.
Now a famine in the land of Israel could be very localized. The coastal plains were often okay – the
question was whether rain would fall on the hill country of Judah, of Ephraim, and of Galilee, and
especially in the Valley of Jezreel. During this famine the Sunammite woman went to live in land of the
Philistines on the coast – obviously there was food there. And a few centuries earlier Elimelech and Naomi
had moved to Moab during a famine. The land East of the Jordan generally gets more rain than the lower
hill country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Israel was very much a land that dependent
on direct blessing from God to be fruitful. It was a dry spot between less dry places, just like the Okanagan
is a drier place between better-watered valleys.
Famine. A punishment from God on account of false worship and self-willed worship. Our text this
morning recounts two events during this time of famine. Two events which, so the flow of the narrative
suggests, both took place at Gilgal. This would be the Gilgal from which Elijah and Elisha had set out to
Bethel, Jericho, and then beyond the Jordan, where Elijah was taken up into heaven. So it’s not the Gilgal
close by Jericho, where the Israelites had first eaten of the produce of the land, and the manna had
stopped falling. This is Gilgal north of Bethel and south of Shiloh – today it’s a village called Jiljilya. It was
village positioned among the peaks of the hills that run through the centre of Israel. It was about 750
metres above sea-level and sat on a bit of a ridge between two wadis, two canyons, both about 250 metres
deep. A great place to live safely and to travel through safely but not the greatest place for farming.
The events that form our text form a third account in 2 Kings 4. The story had been told how God had
saved a prophet’s widow from ruin by providing her with income. He ensured quality of life for her. The
story had been told how God had given life and then restored life in the household of a wealthy family in
Shiloh. God ensured the presence of life. This morning we hear the story how the Lord provided for His
servants the prophets, and for the people who came to be with those prophets. God made sure that
people would not lose their lives.
We listen to God’s Word this morning with this theme: The LORD provides. We consider (1) He
provides His prophets with nourishment in the face of death; and (2) He provides His people with plenty
in the face of want.
1) The LORD provides His prophets with nourishment in the face of death.
Throughout the northern kingdom there were towns and villages where groups of prophets lived.
Elisha, as lead prophet in northern Israel, would travel from place to place to instruct these prophets and
to encourage them in their duties. In the absence of Levites and priests, these prophets filled a void. And
Elisha, one might say, kind of filled the void of a high priest.
It was during the famine – we know from 2Kings 8 this particular famine lasted for 7 years – that Elisha
came to be in Gilgal. He came to be with the sons of the prophets. That expression “sons of the prophets”
doesn’t literally mean “the male children of the prophets”. Rather, the expression “sons” here refers to a
type of person. For example, the expression “son of man” emphasises ‘human nature’, and the expression
“sons of Israel” emphasizes a person’s ethnic or national identity. Thus, too, “sons of the prophets” is a
way of saying “the people who were prophets by profession”. Or, as the NIV has it, “the company of the
prophets”.
Elisha is with the sons of the prophets in Gilgal. Given the confines of its location Gilgal was not a big
place. The hundred men of verse 43 may well have been all the men in Gilgal at that point in time –
residents and visitors. There would have been maybe 20 prophets at the most. They are sitting in front of
Elisha and Elisha notices “hmm, their attention is drifting.” A good teacher knows that hungry students
don’t make good students. Hunger, in its early stages, has a way of becoming a distraction. In its later
stages, hunger makes a person lethargic. Elisha could see, his students needed a good meal. And so:
“Servant, could you fetch the large pot? Let’s see if we can make some stew to feed us all.” Stew: it was a
time of famine and so you couldn’t be too picky about what you ate. Basically, anything that was edible
was going to be thrown into the pot.
One of the students figured on spicing things up a bit. He goes out into the fields to gather herbs. Wild
herbs. By the way, the fact that he went out into the fields to gather herbs suggests he was someone who
knew a bit about plants, about herbs and vegetables. And as he gathers things like dandelion leaves and
wild onion stems he comes upon a wild vine. Picture a pumpkin, squash, or cucumber vine. It’s not clear
from the words used exactly what kind of vine it was. The fact that the man did not know what it was
could suggest it was a kind of vine that was normally found only in much lower elevations. And maybe he
had never ranged that far from home yet. It makes perfect sense for this man to know his herbs and
vegetables and then to come upon a plant he didn’t know. The fruits of the plant look good, maybe the
leaves had him think that this was family of an edible vine he did know, there was lots of fruit. The ESV
translates gourds, suggesting something like the decorative little squashes that are so common in October
and November. “Wow, what a find. What a blessing!” He picks his mantle full of the gourds, comes back,
cuts the gourds up and puts them into the pot.
But, no, the fruit turns out to be poisonous! Many gourds and squashes are not fit for human
consumption. You’ve got to know what you can eat and what you can’t. The gourds the man had picked
would have given the stew a very bitter taste. And the gourds themselves would have induced vomiting.
So picture the scene: maybe 20 men gather around a large pot bubbling with stew. The first bowls are
poured and the men quickly begin slurping up the stew. They barely taste it and they spit it out again. It
tastes so bitter, it makes their stomachs feel awful. No doubt the first few bowls were quickly emptied
out on the ground.
“O man of God, there is death in the pot.”
Finally a good meal, and then there is death in the pot!
Death. If it was the kind of gourd most scholars think of, it could indeed kill you. But then you’d have
to eat a lot of gourd. Mind you, if you’re weakened by hunger it may not take as much to feel the ill-effects
of poison. Still, “death” could also be more general, “death causing”. Then the expression “death in the
pot” is more like our “the food is poisonous”. Food poisoning – that was the real threat here. And food
poisoning when there’s enough to eat and you’re body is healthy, that’s uncomfortable, but no real threat.
However, food poisoning when you’re emaciated and in need of a good meal, that’s a different story.
“Death in the pot.” It’s interesting how the author of Kings, how God, has this story positioned right
after the story of the Shunammite woman’s son. There was a story of death conquered by God through
his servant. Now we’ve got a story where it looks like the man of God himself is going to be directly
responsible for death!
However, the man of God is not about to give death a chance. He proclaims the God who saves, the
God who saves unto life. And so Elisha comes into action. He calls for some flour. You see, it’s not like
there’s absolutely no food. One of the basic staples of life is present. Elisha is brought some flour and he
throws it into the pot. The stew thickens somewhat – that’s what happens when you put flour in a liquid.
Then he tells the men to eat the stew. The men don’t know why all would be good now. There are
vegetables and fruits that are poisonous when raw and fine when cooked. But flour neutralizing a poison
that comes from gourds: no. There’s no simple scientific explanation for what Elisha did. Just like there
wasn’t for when Elisha threw salt into the spring with bad water by Jericho. When the men eat, they eat
in faith. They trust Elisha, they trust Elisha’s God, to have made the food wholesome by the adding of
some flour.
And the food is wholesome. “There was no harm in the pot.” The food is good. The men felt
strengthened. Picture them licking out their bowls like a child may lick a bowl that had ice-cream in it. The
class could begin again. Elisha was no longer listening to rumbling stomachs and watching students fade
out and in.
Thus Elisha, not only in word but also in deed, proved again how His God is the God who saves. While
Israel suffers from famine, a famine sent by God, those who seek to further the cause of God are nourished
in the face of death. Not only do they receive food. When the food proves bad, the food is healed. The
ignorance of man does not undo the grace of God. Good intentions can still have disastrous results – the
student prophet meant well but did ill. However, God in His grace can prevent disastrous results from
happening.
The story is told as it confirms Elisha in his role as successor to Elijah and as the man of God. It is told
as it confirms the message of who Elisha’s God is. It encouraged the prophets that in a society poisoned
by the teachings of Jeroboam – self-willed worship of God – and poisoned by the teachings of Ahab –
idolatry – God can still work the good of His Word. Just as flour in the pot became God’s means to
neutralize the poison of the gourds, so the prophets are to spread out among the people and make the
people presentable to God. One is reminded of the Lord Jesus saying “You are the salt of the earth.” We
today are encouraged by this account to look to the great prophet, not just the man of God but God
Himself, Jesus the Christ, for dealing with all that is ill and bad in life. God is more powerful than all the
evil that exists in life.
Do you see the prophets with filled stomachs eagerly listening to Elisha teach, encouraged in their
conviction that it’s God and not Baal they should serve? Rubbing their stomachs they now drank in Elisha’s
words.
2) We come to our second consideration: The LORD provides His people with plenty in the face of
want.
Verse 42 tells us of a man who came from Baal-shalishah. It doesn’t say that this happened in Gilgal.
But given that verse 8 and verse 38 mention a place name, it makes sense to assume that the event
described in the verses 42-44 also happened in Gilgal. All the more so as Shalishah is a region to the east
of Gilgal. Gilgal may not have been the most logical place for a man to bring the first fruits if his intention
was simply to bring them to the sons of the prophets. But with Elisha in Gilgal, it does make perfect sense.
Elisha would have been the closest ‘thing’ to bringing them to the high priest in Jerusalem.
Moreover, it may well be that the prophets from other villages had come to Gilgal to be with Elisha.
And not just prophets. We know that people would go to the prophets on New Moons and Sabbaths. It
may well have been a Sabbath, and many people had come to be with Elisha. The population of Gilgal
swelled that day.
The man came from Baal-shalishah. While we know where Shalishah is – it was the name of a region –
we don’t know where this village exactly was. Not that it matters, but the name is worth noting. Baalshalishah. When Israel had captured the Promised Land, the Baals were to be removed from the land.
Among others it had meant that villages with the name “Baal” had received alternative names. Usually
“Baal” became the Hebrew word “Beth”: house. And so it’s striking that this man came from a village
called “Baal-shalishah”. Here’s evidence that under Ahab and Jezebel deformation had taken deep root
and that, even in the days of Elisha, such things were not put straight again. Yet, note the grace and power
of God. Even in the village Baal-shalishah there is someone who seeks to serve the one true God of Israel.
The man comes bringing first-fruits from the harvest. First-fruits during a famine. First fruits when
there’s no way to live in obedience to the Law of God as given by Moses, and bring them to the Levites
and priests. This man was clearly devoted to the Lord’s service. He’s going out of his way to give to the
Lord. And he’s giving when one would think he wouldn’t have too much to give. Giving your first fruits
when there’s famine in the land, that’s a great testimony to one’s faith.
The gift of first-fruits was also special. It was not a gift given from the wealth of a good harvest. It
wasn’t a gift given when you knew your future was okay. It was very much a gift given in faith. The first
thing you harvested from your field, you gave it to the LORD. Giving the first-fruits in a time of famine was
thus very much an act of faith: this man was confident the Lord would bless the harvest.
The man comes bringing 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. When it says “loaves”
don’t think our modern loaves of bread. The loaf is more like an oversized hotdog bun or an undersized
baguette. We read in John 6 how a boy had 5 barley loaves on him, and two fish, and that was his lunch
and maybe his dinner. Twenty loaves of barley bread doesn’t go far, it would make a good meal for maybe
10 men. And the ears of grain don’t add a significant amount. The text does say the food was all in the
man’s sack, and there’s a limit to what can be carried in a sack. While the loaves and grain would be
nourishing, if evenly divided they would be no more than a snack for the hundred men present. And so
it’s no surprise that, when Elisha says “Give to the men that they may eat” his servant responds with:
“There’s not going to be enough for the hundred men here.”
The servant: he’d seen how the quality of food does not affect God’s ability to provide. Now he was
going to see how the quantity of food does not affect God’s ability either.
Elisha repeated the command. “Give to the men that they may eat.” He added to it a word from the
LORD. “They shall eat and have some left.” Clearly, there had been a direct revelation from the LORD for
this situation. It is the LORD Himself who indicated that the 100 men should eat the first fruits. And not
only would the 20 loaves and the fresh ears of grain prove sufficient, there will even be food left over.
Picture the servant thinking. There’s no way near enough food for a 100 men, and the LORD says
there’s even going to be left-overs?
This time round there’s nothing Elisha does to make the miracle happen. No action on his part, just the
Word of God as a command. It is by the power of God’s Word that in the face of want, the little that is
given proves to be plenty. The point is emphasized by Scripture, it all happened “according to the word of
the LORD.”
This event, too, established the identity of Elisha as a faithful man of God. And it also confirms God’s
goodness. God can take the offerings of people and use them to fill the needs of others. Indeed, God can
multiply offerings so that even if there is but little to work with, God can achieve great things with it. That
would be a message of encouragement for the prophets. Even though they were few in number, God
would be able to use their work among the Israelites to nourish the faith of God’s own people.
There’s also a very direct link from this account to the New Testament. We have records in all the
gospels how during the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ something similar happened, even twice over.
There’s the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000. We read of the feeding of the 5000 from the
Gospel of John. The multiplying of the loaves and fish had filled the people with amazement. When the
Lord Jesus Christ performed the sign of multiplying bread he was proving to the people of Israel that He
was on par with the prophet Elisha. If multiplying bread by the Word of God gave Elisha credibility, it
should do the same for Jesus of Nazareth. As for the people, not only did they understand the implications
of the miracle for Jesus’ credibility, they figured on making Jesus king.
But it goes deeper. Soon after the event the event becomes a discussion starter on Jesus as the true
bread from heaven. The Lord Jesus makes clear, our focus should not just be on physical, earthly bread.
There’s something deeper to all this.
Let’s turn to John 6:47-51 and read some of what the Lord Jesus said on this topic. (I had thought of
reading more but that would mean also having to explain more; so we’ll limit it just to John 6:47-51.)
John 6:47-51
Life is more than earthly possessions. There’s a huger dimension to life and we should take that to
heart. While material blessings, as shown in the multiplication of bread, are a wonderful and gracious gift
of God, it all points to the greater reality that includes the spiritual life. The works of just one man will
multiply to satisfy the needs of many. Eat the flesh of Christ, that is, be part of Christ in such a way that
He is very much part of you, belong to Christ, and all the benefits that flow from His work will come to
you. It’s in that sense that the feeding of the 5000, and before that already the multiplication of bread
through Elisha and the manna eaten in the wilderness…; it’s in that sense that all these bread-meals signify
the Lord’s Supper and the truth this sacrament represents and seals.1 The work of one man, Jesus the
Christ, nourishes the souls of millions. And so, not only is Christ present in our text in Elisha the officebearer, but also as the bread, the gift of God. As such this text tells us today to receive what God graciously
grants us, even if we cannot comprehend how the works of one Man can suffice to satisfy the wrath of
God against every sin that is to be forgiven, and even more.
We’re taught: the LORD provides. In the face of death the Lord provided His prophets with
nourishment. In the face of want the Lord provided His people with plenty. Like the flour in the pot, the
faith of the prophets can make Israel good. And like the multiplication of loaves and ears of grain, the
faithful among Israel can feed the whole nation with God’s Word. It’s all possible, thanks to God.
Brothers and sisters, Elisha’s God is your God, and He is a God who Saves. He does not change, His
power does not diminish. Trust in Him to supply you with all your bodily and spiritual needs even when it
seems His resources are bad – like poisonous gourds – or limited – like 20 buns for 100 people. When
society around us goes bad, the flour or salt that the church is continues to work. When numbers are
small, God can still do great things.
God can save, even in the direst of circumstances.
The LORD provides. Trust Him for everything.
Amen.
1
Just as the flood of Noah and the crossing of the Red Sea signify baptism.