>> Jen: Hello and good morning, friends and faithful listeners, and welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. On this lovely Monday morning, make sure to grab your cup of coffee or your cup of tea, because today we're going to be discussing second kings, chapter 4:1 through 17. You know, I never talk about myself, and that's probably a very good thing, but sometimes I think it's good to let people know who the host is. So I'm gonna share a
fun fact about myself today. So fun fact about myself, other than the fact that I like coffee better than tea, is that I am a very good crocheter. Currently, I'm working on another sweater for myself, which even though I make mostly clothes for myself, I don't really do clothes for other people all that much because, um, it's hard to get, like, sizes down. Exactly. And I don't want to mess up. But I do a lot
of projects for myself. But even though I make myself a lot of stuff, I don't make a lot of sweaters for myself. So I got some really nice cotton and Chanel yarn that was on sale, and I was like, this will make the perfect sweater for spring, which hopefully will come very quickly. So, yeah, I'm a crocheter through and through. I was taught when I was 6 years old by my grandma, and I have maintained the habit for many, many years. So tell me, what is your
favorite hobby to do? I'd like to get to know you guys as well. You'll find my contact information listed in the description of this episode. Now, the reason I mention hobbies is even though we're not going to talk about that in scripture is, uh, crocheting is kind of more of a female type hobby. Right. I don't really know very many men that crochet. I know one man that does, but more so I'd say
females crochet more than men. And today we're going to talk about females in the Bible and how much God cares so deeply for females. Because all of second Kings chapter four is just talking about females, like, basically the whole time, how much God cares about women and widows and all of that. So let's get into today's portion of Scripture. I'll be reading, as I usually do, from the web. Once Again, this is 2 Kings 4:1 through
17. Now, a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to Be slaves. Elisha said to her, what should I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? She said, you, servant has nothing in the house except a pot of oil. Then he said, go borrow empty containers from all of your
neighbors. Don't just borrow a few containers. Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons and pour the oil into all those containers and set aside those which are full. So she went from him and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her and she poured the oil. When the containers were full, she said to her son, bring me another container. He said to her, there isn't another container. Then the oil stopped flowing.
Then she came and told the man of God. He said, go sell the oil, Pay off your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest. One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread. She said to her husband, see, now I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually. Please, let's
make a little room on the roof. Let's set a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand for him in there. And when he comes to us, he can stay there. One day he came there and he went into the room to lay there. He said to Gehazi, his servant, call the Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him. He said to him, say now to her, behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?
She answered, I dwell among my own people. He said, what then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, most certainly. She has no son and her husband is old. He said, call her. When he had called her, she stood in the door. He said, at this season next year you will embrace a son. She said, no, my lord. You, man of God, don't lie to your servant. The woman conceived and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.
So you can see now why this chapter is so loving towards women. Because God takes care of these two women that we just talked about. And the first story here in verse one talks about this widow. It says now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant Feared Yahweh, but now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves. So this woman had a huge problem on her
hands. She had a lot of debt. Apparently her husband, even though he was a prophet, accrued some kind of debt. And back in these days in Israel, you know, people weren't very kind to each other. It didn't seem like widows didn't have any rights whatsoever. And if they didn't have a way to pay off those debts because the wife didn't typically go out and get a job and work, it was up to the husband to
do all of that. The creditor would come and take the children away as slaves or indentured servants in order to pay off this debt. Now, the whole concept of indentured servanthood wasn't necessarily wrong because it was actually talked about in the Old Testament law. If somebody had a huge debt they had to pay off, they could actually sell themselves into indentured servanthood. But then by, uh, Old Testament law, they could only work for seven years with that person or until the debt was
paid off. Then they'd have to be immediately relocated east. So slavery was not the same in Israel the way we think of it as today. However, I would say in this case of this widow, it was wrong for the creditor to come and take her children to be slaves, because other laws in the Old Testament talk about how people must take care of the widows and of the fatherless. In fact, that is talked about way more often than indentured servanthood throughout all
of Scripture. Actually, God is very consistent with how he cares for widows and for the fatherless, and he wants other people to care for the widows and for the fatherless as well. But unfortunately, in Israel's history, um, especially during this time period, Israel didn't follow God's laws, didn't care about widows, didn't care about the fatherless, and probably honestly did not ever release servants after seven years
like God had initially said. Because there's no evidence of the year of jubilee ever happening in Israel's history. It's never talked about the year of jubilee happened every seven years. So say it was the sixth year and somebody became an indentured servant in the sixth year, that person would have to be released one year later, during the year of jubilee, their debts would be paid for. But it never happened that we know of in Israel's
history. And I would imagine that these creditors coming to take this widow's children to be slaves, didn't care about her, didn't care what she would do for a living and didn't care about her children either. And m probably wouldn't have released her children, though we don't know that for sure.
That's just my own speculation, but I would say in this case, this creditor, if he was truly trying to follow the Old Testament laws, should have left this woman alone, should have forgiven her debts, but he did not do that. So this woman has a huge problem on her hands. She's like, I am going to be destitute. I have no sons now to help me provide for myself, and they're going to be taken as slaves, and I don't want to see that for my sons.
So Elisha, who knows the seriousness of this issue, he says, what can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? Meaning, what do you have in the house that's worth anything, anything of value, let me know. And the woman says, I have literally nothing worth any value except for a small jar of oil. Now, this wouldn't have been normal cooking oil, because if you look at the Hebrew word here for the word oil, it meant a special kind of
oil. So probably like an anointing oil of some sort or a perfume of some sort, it would have been more along those lines rather than a cooking oil. So she says, I have a small flask, a small bottle of oil. So Elisha says, go and borrow empty containers from all of your neighbors. Don't just borrow a few containers. Go in, shut the door on you and your sons, and pour the oil into all of those containers and set aside those which are full. So Elisha challenges this woman's faith.
Kind of like the story we just read last week, actually, where the men were supposed to dig the trenches in order to receive the from God. This here is a similar story. This woman would have to go and borrow a whole bunch of containers to pour this oil into. If she borrowed only a few containers, she would not get very much oil. If she borrowed a bunch of containers like Elisha told her to, she would get a lot more oil. So her faith was being
put to the test. Elisha also tells her to shut the door on herself and on her sons, meaning, don't let anybody else in on this. Don't let anybody know what you're doing. Shut all of your windows. If you have neighbors so that they can't peek in, shut your doors. Don't let people know what is happening, because obviously that would put this widow now in a very vulnerable position that, uh, she suddenly has all of this, this fancy oil
in her house. And people would see that and try to break in and steal. So he protects the widow and he also challenges her faith. So it says that the woman went from him, she shut the door on herself and on her sons, and her sons brought the containers to her and she poured the oil. And her sons were tasked with the embarrassing chore of having to go door to door to their neighbors and borrow a whole bunch of containers so that this widow could pour the oil into the containers
while also being very tight lipped about it. And we don't know how many containers this widow was able to get. It could have been a few containers, it could have been a lot of containers, depending on how much faith this widow and her family had. But it says that the sons brought the
containers to her and she poured the oil. So she starts pouring it out of this little container into these bigger containers, and the oil just kept pouring, it just kept flowing miraculously from the little container into these much larger containers that she had. And it says she just kept pouring and pouring and pouring. And it says when the containers were all full, she said to her son, bring me another container. And the son was like, we're out of containers.
And the oil immediately stopped, uh, flowing. So she probably tried to, like, you know, take whatever was left in the bottle and really fill up the rest of the containers as best she could. But there was no more oil in that bottle. It was completely out. So we don't know how many containers of oil this woman got, but whatever she got would be enough, at least to pay off her debtor, because this was very expensive
oil. So once the oil stops flowing, she goes back to Elisha and he says to her, go and sell that oil and pay your debt and you and your sons live on the rest. So it sounds to me like she got enough. She was able to pay off that creditor and then also live quite comfortably, her and her sons, on the rest of that oil, at least until her sons grew up and were able to get jobs of their own and families of their own and take care of their mom until she passed, basically.
So this woman, it seems like, did a pretty good job of getting all of those containers. Her faith was good, at least. So that's the first story of how God loves widows. And by the way, I heard a fantastic testimony at my church last Sunday. This woman came up on the stage and talked about how her husband died. She had been with him for 30 something years. He was a pastor. They both lived down in Tennessee but after her husband died, her
family was all up by me. And so she came up to Ohio to live near her family. And so she told the whole story of how she found her husband, and it was a very cute story, and how they found Christ and everything and became a pastor and a pastor's wife. But then she said something really, really interesting to me that I have never heard anybody say before. She said, you know, as much as I miss my husband, it's been fantastic to see how
God provides for widows. The death of my husband has shown me for real how much God truly loves widows and how I've been provided for on so many different fronts that I would never have expected. So God truly does love widows, and He does provide for them. And I thought that was a really cool testimony. But moving forward, we find a story of this woman who is called the Shunammite. We do not know her full name.
Throughout Scripture, she is referred to as the Shunammite, but she apparently was a woman of faith. She lived in the area of Shunam, which was an area of northern Israel in the tribe of Issachar. I think it's near, uh, modern day, um, Sulam and Mount Gilboa, I'm pretty sure. So it's still around to this day.
But in the city of Shunam, where apparently Elisha would travel to quite often, or at least travel through, there was a prominent woman who lived there, meaning she was well known in society. Maybe her husband was well off. It sounds like they kind of had some money, because as we're going to read through her story, she's able to, you know, build things for the prophet to feed him, to host him. And she also had quite a few servants. So she was a rich woman,
it sounds like, living in the city of Shunam. So she meets Elisha, and she persuades him to come home and eat some food at her table. And so Elisha went home with her to eat some food. And every single time he passed through Shunam, she asked him to come home and eat bread with her or eat some food with her. And so he did. He came and visited her every time he went through Shunam. So she eventually says to her husband, she's like, look, you know, this
is a holy man. I want to do something more for him. Let's build a small room on our roof that he can go up to whenever he needs to. We'll put a bed in there, put a table and a chair in there. We will put a lamp in there, and it'll be a very comfortable area for him to live whenever he needs to use it. So her husband agrees. And they build this little room on the top of their house. And this probably wouldn't have been connected to the house itself. Likely there would have been a staircase on the
outside of the house going up to this room. And Elisha was free to use it at any point in time because that was basically now his room. And of course, he's very touched by this, obviously, because this woman, who he's never asked anything for, has gone above and beyond to take care of him and donate to his ministry. So he's lying in the room there, and he has Gehazi, his servant, with him. And I think this is the first time Gehazi is mentioned. We're going to hear more about
Gehazi coming up soon. And he says to Gehazi, call the Shunammite. And so he calls her. And she stood before him. And so he said to Gehazi, say to her, behold, you have cared for us with all of this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army? So Elisha wants to do something very kind for this woman. He's like, look, is there any specific need you have that I can talk to the king about or
talk to the captain of the army about? Do you need some sort of protection? Do you need anything at all? Because I can go to the king and ask him on your behalf to do something for you, Because I just want to pay you back for all of this wonderful kindness that you do. And the Shunammite woman responds, no, I'm comfortable. You don't need to do anything for me. But Elisha is insistent. He's like, what
can I do for her? So Gehazi comes back into the room after meeting with the Shunammite woman, and Elisha says to Gehazi, he's like, what can we do for her? Because she doesn't need anything, she doesn't want anything, but I want to do something very kind for her. And so Gehazi gives a good response. He's like, well, actually, you know, she doesn't have a son, and her husband is rather old, and so it doesn't look
like she's ever going to be able to have a son. And that's a problem because how is she going to be taken care of once her husband eventually dies? Elisha is convinced. He calls the Shunammite woman again, and she's standing in his doorway. She doesn't enter into his room. She's standing in the doorway, and Elisha says to her, at this season, next year, you will embrace a son. And she's like, you're a man of God. You shouldn't be lying to me. So she, uh, it
kind of sounds like she makes a joke. She's like, you man of God, why would you lie to me? Don't say such silly, uh, lies to me. And it turns out Elisha was not lying. She gets pregnant almost immediately after this and has a son a year later. It says they bore a son that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her. So God cares about women, and also he cares about those who have a giving spirit. It says in scripture that God loves the
cheerful giver. It also says in Proverbs 11:25, the generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. You know, it's really cool. I was going through the Wendy's drive thru not too long ago, and the person ahead of me. I've never had this happen to me. The person ahead of me paid for my meal, and no, they did not know me. They just decided to pay for my salad and chili that I ordered. Which, by the way, Wendy's is very expensive for a salad and chili.
I think their, their taco salad that I bought was like $9. And I was like, what, what the heck? It's a taco salad. I can make that at home for like three bucks. Anyway, Wendy's is expensive, but somebody graciously ahead of me paid for my meal, and that was so kind. And immediately I thought of this verse, Proverbs 11:25, that the generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. And so I prayed for that person. I said, you know, that person was so
generous. I pray God that you refresh them the way that they've refreshed me. I just pray that you do that. And God will refresh people. He will refresh those who refresh others. And so this Shunammite woman refreshed the prophet Elisha physically through donations. Sometimes, like we talked about actually last week, sometimes people can be refreshed spiritually, like Titus was when he went down to visit the Corinthians. He was refreshed probably
both spiritually and physically. And sometimes people refresh others financially and physically as well, which is what this Shunammite woman did because she had the finances to do it. But she didn't hold on to those finances and cling to them greedily as if they were something to worship. She gave back to God, God gave to her. And she gave back to God
by blessing Elisha in this way. And then once again, God refreshes this woman by giving her something that she clearly very much desired, but didn't even ask Elisha for it all. In fact, she didn't ask a single thing from Elisha. And even when Elisha was like, I'm going to do something for you, she's like, no, no, no, no, no. She didn't ask anything from Elisha, but she gave m to Elisha. And God loves the cheerful giver.
The generous will prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Just some lovely stories in today's chapter. I think now it is gonna be a little bit sad. We're gonna talk about the rest of this chapter on Wednesday, where something really sad ends up happening. But God blesses through that sadness. So we'll talk about the rest of second Kings on Wednesday. I think the rest of second Kings. Anyway, faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.
I'll see you guys tomorrow, 6am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen. Until then, happy listening and God bless.