The woman rushed outside and told Elisha. The woman and her sons looked around their house and saw all the jars full of oil. Her jar always had enough oil, and it did not run out.įinally, when she asked her sons to pass her another jar, they had to tell her that no more jars were left to fill. Over and over, she poured from her jar and filled another jar with oil. Her sons continued to pass her empty jars to fill. Then she filled another and set it aside. They went inside the house and shut the door. She and her sons did exactly what Elisha told her to. I will run out of oil.”īut the woman knew that Elisha was a prophet of God, so she trusted that he was speaking the truth. “How could a little jar of oil fill so many other jars?” the woman thought, “That does not make sense. Keep using that same oil to fill your collected jars.” Then, fill the next jar with your little bit of oil. “Use the little bit of oil that you have to fill the first jar and then set it aside. Now, Elisha told the woman and her sons to go inside her house and shut the door. Finally, there were no more jars left to find or borrow. They asked all the neighbours and all of their friends to give them their empty jars. The boys went out and did just as their mother said. Tell them to borrow jars from your neighbours and friends. Elisha told the woman, “Tell your sons to go out and gather all the empty jars that they can find. Please help me!”Įlisha felt sorry for the woman. I love my sons and don’t want anything bad to happen to them. The man that my husband borrowed from said that if I did not pay him back, he would take my sons away to be his slaves. If I had a lot of oil, I could sell it and earn some money, but I do not have enough to sell. All I have in my house is a little olive oil. Now that he is gone, we can never pay back the money. But then a terrible thing happened – my husband died. He knew he could work and pay the man back. When he was alive, he borrowed money from someone. “Please, sir,” the woman said, “I am a widow. Once, when Elisha passed through a town, he saw a woman with two sons. God would give him important truths to tell the people, and Elisha would preach those to them. Truly, God provided Elisha to be a friend to this family in their time of need.īackground Information on the Divided Kingdom.Įlisha was a prophet of God. The woman and her sons were then able to live on the money that was left over. When the widow told Elisha what had happened, he instructed her to sell the oil and pay off her husband’s debts. Solomon had used it years before to pay for some of the supplies he used to build the temple ( 2 Chronicles 2:10). Oil was a precious item in international trade. One jar of oil-based myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon and aloe ointment could sell for as much as one labourer’s yearly salary. When perfumers boiled oil and then added secret blends of root and bark powders, tree resins and spices, they could make a very expensive ointment. Oil was also the base for making perfumes and fragrant ointments. This kept the shields from becoming brittle. Soldiers often worked the oil into the leather shields they used in battle. It was also used as a fuel for lamps in homes. Oil was used as a religious offering ( Leviticus 2:4), as a remedy for stomach distress and as a balm to heal wounds. It was spread on bread, used in cooking, and mixed with flour to make bread. The oil pressed from the fruit of olive trees had many uses in biblical times. As she obeyed, the widow saw that God provided enough oil to fill all the jars.Īlmost every time the bible mentions oil, it is referring to olive oil. God’s servant, Elisha, told the woman to borrow all the empty jars from her neighbours that she could possibly get, close her doors, and begin pouring the oil from her jar into the borrowed jars. In this case, he was going to exact a more harsh payment. As was the common practice of the time, her two sons were going to have to work for the lender until the money was paid back. She had only a small amount of olive oil in her home – nothing else of value. This poor widow was unable to pay the debts that her husband had left her with. In one town, a poor widow approached Elisha. He became known for his miracles ( 2 Kings 2:19-22). He travelled on his own throughout the countryside, probably on a donkey led by a servant. He faithfully continued the work of the Lord as Elijah had done. After the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven ( 2 Kings 2:11), his disciple and successor, Elisha, became the chief prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |