Elisha & the Widows Oil

2 Kings 4:1-7 “One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.” “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied. And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts…”

The story is parallel to Elijah’s miracle in I. 17:8ff.

James Alan Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings., International Critical Commentary (New York: Scribner, 1951), 366.

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Kings II. 4:1–44

The Hebrew law permitted the ‘selling’ of wife and children as chattels for debt (Ex. 21:7; Am. 2:6, 8:6; Is. 50:1), the practice lasting till after the Exile (Neh. 5

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Kings II. 4:1–44

such servitude might last for only three years

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Kings II. 4:1–44

The word translated ‘pot’ is unique; it may mean only a small unguent vessel; see Note. For the high value of oil, also a great export commodity from Palestine

1, 2 Kings (1) Elisha Multiplies Oil (4:1–7)

This story and the one that follows may be compared and contrasted with the account of the widow and Elijah in 1 Kgs 17:7–24. In both texts a woman is in need, and in both accounts oil helps solve a financial crisis. In the Elijah story, however, the widow receives oil and flour and has only one son, whereas the woman here gets only oil and has more than a single offspring. Finally, the same woman who is helped has her son die in 1 Kings 17, but a second woman suffers the loss in 2 Kgs 4:8–37. The stories share likenesses, therefore, but not enough of them to argue that the same story has been told twice.

A man from the company of the prophets has died, leaving his widow destitute and on the verge of having to sell her sons into slavery to pay her debts. That one of the prophets was married shows that these individuals led fairly normal lives. What remains unclear is “how they shared their time and commitments between the prophetic community and their own family and home.” The woman seeks help from Elisha because of his status as leader of the prophets.

At issue here is whether or not God will help the needy through Elisha as he did through Elijah (cf. 1 Kgs 17:7–24). The answer comes when Elisha learns the woman has a little oil. He instructs her to gather as many vessels as possible, then increases her oil until all jars are full. She sells the oil, which negates her need to sell her sons. Because of Elisha’s actions, the text explicitly calls him “the man of God” (v. 7), a designation this needy woman surely must have affirmed. Without question the Lord ministers to the hurting through the prophet. What else will the Lord achieve through this man?

Paul R. House, 1, 2 Kings, vol. 8, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 265.

Little become much when you put it in the hands of God!

The enslavement of defaulting debtors or their families was common throughout the ancient Near East

Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 9, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 215.

The ‘pot (’āsûk) of oil’ (AV; NIV a little) is a unique word here, possibly for a small anointing flask. Relief often begins with the little we have at hand. Elisha elicits faith and action by questions, encouragement (‘not a few’) and word. The quantity of oil was only limited by the woman’s lack of faith in failing to ask for more empty jars (AV ‘vessels’, kēlîm)—a general word for utensils irrespective of type and size.

Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 9, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 215.

1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary a. The Widow’s Oil (4:1–7)

One lesson implied by the historian here is that God does not fail as the God of the widow and fatherless (Deut. 10:18; Jas 1:27) as do some earthly rulers.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 4

Owners were to free slaves in the Year of Jubilee (Lev 25:39–42) or upon a special decree (Neh 5).

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 4

can live on what is left over This miracle not only meets the widow’s needs, but leaves her and her sons with an abundance.

Touch two people and tell them “God is giving you what you need and some.”

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 4:2–7

4:2–7. Elisha was eager to help the widow. His miracles, as contrasted with Elijah’s, frequently involved meeting the needs of individuals. Her little bit of oil was olive oil used for food and fuel. Elisha told her to collect empty jars; they would be filled with oil God would provide. The widow’s faith can be “measured” by the number of jars she collected in response to the prophet’s instructions. Shutting the door provided privacy for the task of pouring the oil. Not everyone was to see the miracle take place; only the widow and her sons, the direct beneficiaries of God’s grace, should see it. But later she probably told all her friends about God’s miraculous provision. God provided oil enough to fill all the jars the woman had collected, all she felt she needed. She returned to Elisha with a report of the miracle and he told her to sell the oil and pay her debts. There was enough money left over for her to live on after all her financial obligations had been met. Elisha is called a man of God, a term used of several prophets in 1 and 2 Kings (cf. comments on 1:9).

This story demonstrates God’s care for His faithful ones who lived in apostate Israel at this time. Widows were always vulnerable and the widow of a prophet would have been even more needy. Yet God miraculously cared for this faithful, dependent believer.

There is a blessing behind closed doors. God is about to perform a miracle in the private, that will be broadcasted publically. Everybody don’t need to see the miracle take place, only those who are the direct beneficiaries. Some will only hear about, but the remnant will witness it.

The olive oil was a expensive commodity because everyone needed it.

Old Testament V: 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther Overview

The woman who asked for the help of Elisha was the widow of Obadiah, treasurer of Ahab and Elijah’s secret disciple, who had protected and fed one hundred prophets persecuted by Jezebel

Old Testament V: 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther Obadiah’s Wife Calls for the Help of Elisha (Ephrem the Syrian)

It seems that in this affair he was entrusted with the gold of the royal house, but after his death his wife was left with a huge debt to be paid to his masters.

Old Testament V: 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther Symbolic Meaning of the Miracle of the Oil (Ephrem the Syrian)

He made flow into the vessels an amount of oil sufficient to pay the debt of her husband and abundantly multiplied it for the nourishment of her children

The Message of Kings: God is Present (1. Freeing a Widow from Economic Bondage (4:1–7))

People may owe money for various reasons. In today’s society, people turned to individuals for loans, not for business development or a more comfortable lifestyle, but simply to survive (due to drought, poor crops, sickness, injury or other misfortune). High interest rates are still common. Diverse government laws and regulations for consumer protection and limits on interest rates sit alongside financial institutions enticing and pressuring people to borrow more, generally for some form of immediate gratification and ‘lifestyle enhancement’. Many later experience institutions exacting their dues, with statements such as: ‘we are a business, not a welfare agency’; ‘we’re following the rules agreed to’.

What we know of this widow’s financial situation is her loan was outstanding. In such a situation, because of the importance of community, relevant laws protected the weak. One way to repay a loan was for the person to become a ‘slave’ of the creditor. The laws however recognised that there was something wrong in one Israelite being the slave of another, for Yahweh had brought all his people out of slavery in Egypt and so clear provisions were specified for the financial treatment and the setting free of slaves. Theology shaped their economics and labour laws!

As a widow she would be unprotected without the presence of her sons, a reason for God being known as protector of ‘the fatherless and widow’. A woman in danger of losing all—possessions, family and security—calls out to the prophet, Yahweh’s representative. His response is surprising as he questions and involves her.