Elisha and the Poisonous Stew

Healing testimony from an Old Testament miracle, relevant for today’s believers.

2 Kings 4:38–41 “And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. He said, “Then bring flour.” And he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.”

This miracle in the old testament by the prophet Elisha seems to be often overlooked. There is a deeper meaning to this passage, if read as a parable that gives us both a warning, and of healing hope in a world that today seems more and more absent in God’s Word. We follow the story of Elisha the prophet, who was chosen by God to follow Elijah after God takes him to heaven, coming to the town of Gilgal during a famine. The town of Gilgal is significant because it was one of the first towns the Israelite nation came to after it crossed the river Jordan. It was east of the city of Jericho, and it was the place where Saul was ordained King of the Israelite nations. So at one point, it was a holy place. But by the time Elisha arrived, Gilgal had become a place of false worship [ Hosea 4:15 “Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”” , Amos 4:4 “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days;” ]. In the very absence of God’s Word, there was a spiritual famine that existed! The sons of the prophets were gathered waiting to be in the presence of God’s chosen prophet. (At the time waiting to hear God’s Word from the most valuable source available next to scripture.) Elisha could see that these men were hungry (for God’s word) and instructed his servants to go out and gather everyone together so that he could share His Word. He told his servants to put on the large Pot and make a stew for their sustenance. [The “Pot” symbolized a few things in the bible. Ezekiel 24, in his parable of the boiling pot, where the good and the bad were mixed together because they (the people of Israel and the gentiles) were no better than one another thus God would punish all. Then in Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Where God forms his people into a vessel for His own purpose. Elisha gathered everyone together, the sons of the prophets and anyone who would listen so that God himself could transform them. ] One of the servants went into the wilderness of Gilgal (now a place that had fallen from God’s grace where his people practiced idolatry), and came across a wild vine, and gathered wild gourds (fruits) from that vine and brought it back, cut it up and placed it in the Pot for the stew; though they did not know what it was.

[Looking at this verse here, the wild vine was indeed a false prophet, and the gourds that were gathered were obviously the bad fruits, followers of that false prophet, (Matthew 7:16 “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”) and when added to the pot, they began to spread the lies of the false prophets to the others. Always remember that inn John 15, Jesus tells us that he himself is the true vine: John 15:1–3 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” ]

As important as it is today, it was back then as well: Not everything that looks good, is shiny and sparkly, high-fashion, or even a fantastic fab; is necessarily good for you, regardless of what it may look like, or sound like. We have Jesus, Peter, and Paul all warning us to be wary for false prophets and go out of their way to describe them for us. In the Old Testament, they did not have Christ Jesus. They were at the mercy of their own blindness into sin, and suffered against false prophets. [see: Matthew 7:15-20, Matthew 12:33-37, Matthew 24:3-14, 2Timothy 3:1-9, 2Peter 2]

[Remember the goal of Satan is only to keep us apart from God’s grace and glory. Satan does not care if we do evil or perform evil acts or be a good person and always do good things. (As Paul says in Romans 3:20 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”, and in Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”) In fact, Satan will use false comforters to act as immediate relief to our earthly pains and woes to keep us from God; i.e. addictions such as drugs, alcohol, pornography etc.. to keep our eyes on that immediate rush of satisfaction that does not last, and not focused upon the eternal love, healing and grace that only God can provide. Regardless If we do not believe in God, and in Jesus, the work he did on the Cross, and in the Holy Spirit, our fate will be that separation from God for eternity!]

Now when the sons of the prophets began to hear the words of these sons of the false prophets, they immediately recognized that their words were not of God’s. They were poisonous, and deadly, and they exclaimed that there is death in the pot! [ We are made aware in the book of Revelation, that there is a final death for those who do not believe: Revelation 20:14 “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” Revelation 21:8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” The sons of the prophets knew that what was being shared within the pot could condemn them to this second death, and they would rather starve and not “eat” from this stew.]

Elisha recognized immediately what was going on at this point and commanded his servants to bring flour, and he threw it into the pot and told his servants to feed them this. This is perhaps the most exciting part of this story itself, the miracle that Elisha performed. He purified the stew with flour. Some studies suggest that the flour itself had no magical properties, that it was solely Elisha’s faith in our powerful living God that cured the pot of it’s poison. But let us examine this part the miracle a little more closely: [Let us ask ourselves, what is a primary ingredient for bread? Flour!. The Apostle John in his gospel wrote in John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” There is a vivid comparison to the flour being the substance of bread, and the Word of God. “For it is only when Elisha emphasizes and pours in the substance of God’s truth among the sons of the prophets and all those who gathered in the pot, can the contaminating effects of false religion be overcome!”((Tony Evans, 2019))]

In conclusion, we have this ‘minor’ miracle found in 2 Kings by the chosen prophet of God, Elisha which imparts a most valuable lesson for us today in our modern era. That we are living in a time which is going through a spiritual famine. We are living in a world where we will find ourselves believing in the lies of others, focusing our attention on things that do not provide us the lasting comfort that only our living God can provide us. That we continuously fall deeper into this pit that Satan has filled with everything we that we think that will make our hearts content, only to find death. And in this troubled broken world, filled with every imaginable temptation, we are lost. But we still have hope. We still have Gods Word (Scriptures and the Gospel) to use as our “handbook” in the absence of believers around us. We have life the very substance of God’s loving grace, his gift to us because we believe in Christ Jesus’ work on the cross. That while false prophets surround us on all sides trying to feed us poison, that the Apostle Paul himself describes that we have this wonderful Word of God given to us by He himself; in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” to sustain us, so that we will never go hungry, and never be thirsty when we come to Jesus and believe in Him.

Thank you, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, His spiritual blessings and profound mercy be with you forever and ever. Amen!