Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, thank you for your direction. As you speak to me, help me to listen and to then follow where you lead me.
Read 2 KINGS 4:38–44
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Death in the Pot
38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”
39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
Feeding of a Hundred
42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.
43 “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.
But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Because of God’s great love we are not consumed. God’s compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is God’s faithfulness.1
Think Further
Today’s story follows on from yesterday’s in an unusual way. Elisha had raised a dead person and now those surrounding Elisha call out that there is ‘death in the pot’ of stew (v 40). Presumably, they realized that the unknown gourds were poisonous. These people were in the middle of a famine so they were scrambling around for anything that looked edible, but the resulting stew was worse than the famine itself. Perhaps it seems a far smaller miracle than that in the previous story; certainly, it is less dramatic. Throwing flour into the pot was unsensational, but it turned the stew into life-giving sustenance. We probably have no idea of the times when God prevents something bad happening to us – we usually tend to notice either when something bad does happen or when something bad is dramatically turned into something good.
Elisha is referred to as a/the ‘man of God’ eleven times in this chapter with its five life-giving miracles. He is not God, but simply God’s vessel: the chapter makes plain that Elisha does not know everything (e.g. vv 14, 27).
The chapter ends almost as it starts, with a miraculous provision of food being distributed far further than it would naturally have gone. You may be reminded of Jesus feeding the thousands in the Gospels. Elisha’s servant would surely have been familiar with all that Elisha had done and yet he questions how twenty barley loaves could feed a hundred people. Sometimes, even those who should know the most do not grasp the power of God; it may well be particularly hard in times of famine to recognize that God can provide in abundance.
Apply
Consider getting into the habit of thanking God when you wake to the gift of the new day and of life, even in times of ‘famine.’
Closing prayer
Loving God, thank you for everything that is mine because of the grace and mercy you pour out on me each day. Help me to use all that you give me to encourage others.
Last Updated on October 3, 2024 by kingstar
