Sermon Tone Analysis

Elijah and Elisha 21.

“Elisha” – the name means: “my God is salvation”, “God saves”.

יהוה is a mighty deliverer!

Hallelujah!

A Saviour! Salvation belongs to the LORD! [P] The name “Jesus” means יהוה saves!

So, I have contended, Elisha is a picture of Jesus.

So, today, I want to tell three stories of [P] salvation from the life of Elisha.

Too ambitious?, probably; but they are short.

When you examine it, possibly all the stories about Elisha, have salvation in them.

The first is in 2 Kings 4:38-41 [P].

You may recall the story of the Shunamite woman, to whom God miraculously gave a son, who died but was raised to life; this story follows straight after that.

Elijah returned from the Shunem to Gilgal.

[2 Kings 4:38–41 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land.

(remember last time, in chapter 8; Elisha warned the Shunamite that there was going to be a 7-year famine in the land; and she left her land for Philistia.

Elisha, however, remained in Israel.

He had commitments there.

There was a number of men who followed him, disciples, men he trained: a school of prophets, known as “the sons of the prophets”) As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”

Then one 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 sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did not know what they were.

(Here were men who had probably left their employment/their land to join the sons of the prophets.

They were possibly financially disadvantaged, furthermore there was a famine on the land.

You get the impression that they were hard up – the had to glean and hunt around just to get enough food to eat.

They didn’t go to market to buy, they were gathering stuff growing wild.

One of them found a wild vine bearing gourds.

He may have seen it as God’s provision.

So, he eagerly gathered up a load of them and they put them in the stew.

He was doing as the man of God instructed; but it turned sour.

They did not make a botanical identification, they were just grateful for some substance to fill their belly.

However, not all that grows is edible.)

So they poured it out for the men to eat.

And as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot.” (he had inadvertently picked poisonous gourds!

They were bitter and tainted the whole stew) And they were unable to eat.

But he said, (that, of course, is Elisha) “Now bring meal.”

He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people that they may eat.”

Then there was no harm ( רָ֖ע or evil/bad) in the pot.]

Here they were poisoned, “death was in the pot”; but they were saved from death and were fed.

You may recall that earlier on there was a similar situation; the water supply at Jericho was poisoned.

What did Elisha do then?: [2 Kings 2:20–22 He said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.”

So, they brought it to him.

He went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says יהוה, ‘I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.’”

So, the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.]

Elisha put salt in and pronounced in the Name of יהוה.

It worked then; but now, he did something different.

Sometimes God does something dramatic some place; we think: “It worked then, it worked there; that’s what we should do now.”

We reduce God to a formula.

They did this at Coral Ridge, or Pensecola or wherever; so we run seminars so that we can have the same success here.

But this time it was different.

You have to be listening to God, be directed by Him for each situation.

This time Elisha threw some “meal” in the pot – the word is “flour”, the same stuff the widow of Zarephath used to make Elijah a cake and which יהוה miraculously sustained through a 3-year drought.

Just ordinary flour.

This is no magic trick, flour has no poison reversing properties – it is just the ordinary stuff that you make bread out of.

There was fine flour, stuff used for offerings; but this was just the ordinary stuff of the common people.

What is going on here?

Why is the incident recorded?

Well it was an amazing miracle.

They thought that they were all going to die, had been poisoned, but their lives were saved.

But it does not record Elisha praying, or God telling him to take flour.

That may well have happened, but it is not mentioned.

Elisha just took ordinary common flour, threw it in the pot.

He made no special proclamation stating that the stew was now wholesome, he just said: “Pour it out for the people that they may eat.”

And eat they did.

They did not die of hunger nor of poison.

God preserved their life.

They were saved.

But you will notice that God is not even mentioned (except in calling Elisha “man of God”).

The simple message is the same as last week where the Shunamites land was restored: [P] God looks after His own.

He acts to save them.

Rhoda and I listened to a great message by John Piper based on this verse: [P] [Isaiah 64:4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.] God acts!

Acts on behalf of His own, those who depend upon Him.

He acts to save!

That is what He did when He sent His Son, Jesus, to this world.

Now, I don’t want to read too much into this, and symbolism ain’t my strong point.

But, Elisha took common flour, the stuff you make bread out of and threw it in the pot.

Jesus said: [P] [John 6:48 “I am the bread of life!]

In fact, to make sure we got the point He said it three times: [John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 6:51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”]

The bread is Jesus’ flesh.

[P] [John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.]

[1 Timothy 3:16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh.]

Jesus, as “the bread of life” is Jesus in a human body – made of common flour.

Not of noble birth, a common, ordinary man – like you and me!

He humbled Himself, emptied Himself, just common flour.

What a humbling for Jesus to lay aside His glory and be confined to pathetic human form, mere dust! [Philippians 2:6–8 although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, (not just man, but the lowest form of men) and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.]

God threw Him in the pot – sent Him into this mess of a stew that is the world.

[John 6:32–33 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”]

They were going to die, poisoned, but the flour, the bread, gave them life: [John 6:57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.]

In Jesus is salvation from death!

We are all going to die! Poisoned with sin.

But God sent Jesus into this world that by eating of Him, taking His life, being one with Him in His death; we have life.

Share His resurrection life.

What is necessary for salvation is that Jesus come in the flesh, live as one of us.

The second story has the same context: there was a famine in the land, and it concerned the sons of the prophets.

How these men lived, we are not precisely told; but it seems that they were reliant on charity, other people supplying their needs.

That is all well and good when there is plenty to go around; but, in a famine there is not enough for your own family, let alone a surplus to give to others.

So, they were in dire straits; when, praise the LORD, someone brought them a gift: [P] [2 Kings 4:42–44 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack.

(barley was the poor man’s grain) And he said, (that is Elisha) “Give them to the people that they may eat.”

His attendant said, “What, will I set this before a hundred men?” (the response is incredulity!

20 loaves for 100 people sounds O.K. to me; but it is not big loaves like we have – think of something more the size of a hamburger bun.

It is evident by the attendant’s response that it was woefully inadequate) But he said, (that is Elisha again) “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says יהוה, (this time Elisha does make a pronouncement from יהוה) ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’”