Elisha: Dealing with Crises

1
Elisha Dealing with Crises

• 2 Kings 4.1-7, 38-41, 42-44

2
In Major Crises in Life

• 2 Kings 4.1-7

3
2 Kings 4.1

• Now a certain woman, a wife of one of the sons of
  the prophets cried out to Elisha saying, "Your
  Servant, my husband is dead and you know that
  Your Servant feared Yahweh. The creditor is
  coming to take my two children to be his slaves!"

4
2 Kings 4.2

• And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing at
  all in the house, except for a jug of oil"

• So Elisha said to her, "What can I do for you?
  Tell me, what do you have in the house?"

5
2 Kings 4.3-4

• "Go," he said, "borrow containers from outside,
  from all your neighbors, empty containers and not
  just a few!"
• "Then go and close the door behind you and your
  sons, and pour into all the containers. What is
  full you will remove."

6
2 Kings 4.5

• So she went from him and closed the door behind
  her and her sons. They kept bringing to her and
  she kept pouring."

7
2 Kings 4.6

• When the containers were full, she said to (one
  of) her sons, "Bring me another container!"
• But he said to her, "There are no more
  containers."
• Then the oil stopped.

8
2 Kings 4.7

• She came and told the Man of God, and he said,
  "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts so you and
  your sons can live on the left overs."

9
An Outline of 2 Kgs 4.1-7

• A Opening Woman Presents the Problem 4.1
• B Dialog What have you got? Nothing 4.2
• C Elisha gives the woman instructions 4.3-4
• C' Woman carries out the instructions 4.5
• B' Dialog Another container? No 4.6
• A' Conclusion Prophet Presents the Solution - 4.7

10
Who is the Main Character?

• Elisha?
• What can I do for you?
• What do you have in the house?
• Go borrow
• Go sell

• The woman did come to him rather than the king of
  Israel
• The miracle was a secret behind a closed door
• Elisha wasn't even there!

11
Who is the Main Character?

• Yahweh?
• "Sometimes God has the strongest influence when
  he is notoriously invisible, and even the silence
  around the center of the story, the unexpressed,
  is inspired." Fokkelman

12
Who is the Main Character?

• Only the Woman and her sons saw the miracle!
• In verse 5 both the containers and oil are not
  mentioned.
• "They kept bringing to her and she kept pouring!"
• She and her sons lived on the remainder of the
  monies

The un-named Woman!
13
Some Simple Lessons

• 1. Those who minister should have a caring heart
  and realize that it is only God working in the
  individual that can ultimately solve the crisis.
• 2. God works behind the scenes Invisible

14
Some Simple Lessons

• 3. The Person in crisis is the center of gravity
• 3.1 Problems are real
• 3.2 Even the Miraculous takes participation

15
In Minor Crises in Life

• 2 Kings 4.38-41

16
2 Kings 4.38

• Elisha returned to Gilgal. There was a famine in
  the land and the sons of the prophets were
  sitting before him. He said to his attendant,
  "put a large pot on and cook a stew for the sons
  of the prophets."

17
2 Kings 4.39

• So one went out to the field to gather herbs and
  he found a wild vine and gathered from it wild
  gourds, his garment full. Then he came back and
  sliced them into the pot of stew, for they did
  not know . . . .

18
2 Kings 4.40

• And they poured for the men to eat. But while
  they were eating from the stew, they cried out
  and said, "O Man of God, there is death in the
  pot!" So they could not eat.

19
2 Kings 4.41

• "Fetch some flour!" he said
• He threw it into the pot and said, "Serve to the
  people so they can eat!"
• And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

20
Some Simple Lessons

• Even if the crisis is a minor one, it still must
  be treated as a real issue, with pastoral care.
• Problem of not knowing

21
Is this Really a Crisis?

• 2 Kgs 4.42-44

22
2 Kings 4.42

• A man came from Baal-shalishah and brought to the
  Man of God the bread of first fruits, twenty
  loves of barley bread and some fresh grain in his
  sack. So he said, "Give it to the people and let
  them eat!"

23
2 Kings 4.43

• His server said, "How can I set this before 100
  men?"
• But he answered, "Give to the People and let them
  eat, for so Yahweh says, "Eat! . . . even some
  left overs!"

24
2 Kings 4.44

• So he set it before them. They ate and even had
  some left over, as according to the word of
  Yahweh.

25
Some Simple Lessons

• The Bible indicates God's concern for all levels
  of human problems.
• Food concerns in Exod 16, Num 11, even in the NT
  with the feeding of the Multitudes . . . .
• Just like the story of the Woman and the pots of
  oil there are "left overs."

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In All Crises