“Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, ‘Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen (slaves).” 2 Kngs 4:1
The Bible seems to be filled with individuals of all walks of life in circumstances that are all different in one way or another, who had critical needs. Such was the case of a widow during the life and ministry of Elisha. Having little means to provide for her household, seeing that she was a widow, and having debts which she was unable to repay, she was in great distress because she was facing the loss of her two sons, who were at risk to become slaves to her creditor. What was she to do?
We learn a good deal about this widow because she makes herself known to the prophet Elisha as being the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, but who had died. She was certainly a woman of faith, for she came directly to Elisha, crying to him for help. Her husband had been a faithful servant of Elisha, fearing the Lord. There doesn’t seem to be an issue of sin here, except that the husband had incurred debts with regard to a creditor, however, we do not know why.
In this narrative it is important to see that there is a very critical need here, and that the widow came to the right place, to the man of God. Elisha asks her what she would have him do for her, but then asks a very simple question, one that ressembled a question asked of Jesus many years later by his disciples concerning the littleness, and insignificance, of five small barley loaves of bread and two fish: “…but what are they among so many?” (Jn. 6:9) The woman replied to Elisha’s question of, “What hast thou in thine house,” (2 Kings 4:2) by saying, “Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.” The widow’s answer reveals how resourceless and helpless she was in the face of such demands upon her. She was also sincerely honest, putting before the prophet the stark reality of her insurmountable debt, and no resource to meet it. It is then that God will direct the prophet to instruct the woman in a very specific way, one which would test her faith. He commanded her to, “Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow NOT A FEW.” (v.3) The faith of the woman would not resemble that of a kings of Israel who was promised complete victory, but only believed partially. This widow would believe God fully, not leaning unto her own understanding, but trusting implicitly the prophet. Without hesitation, or reserve, she obeyed.
The second thing that Elisha instructed her to do was to, “…shut the door upon thee, and upon thy sons.” (v.4) This resembles the time when Jesus took Peter, James, and John, away from the crowd, yet with him to where the twelve year old daughter of Jairus had died. It would be there, relatively “alone,” that God would work. The faith of this mother and her two boys, was to be one singularly “alone,” wholly fixed in God, proven by her simple obedience.
Thirdly, Elisha instructed her to, “….pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.” (v.4) Throughout this narrative, the widow, without hesitation, obeyed the words of Elisha, believing that God was in the process of providing for her need. Scripture says, “So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.” (v.5) The woman poured oil out of the small pot of oil that she possessed until all of the vessels were full. She was then instructed to sell the oil, pay her debt, and live with her children on the remainder.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to believe. In Jesus’ name, Amen.