The Lord’s Blessing

July 22, 2012

Lesson: 2 Kings 8:1–6

Key Verse: 2 Kings 8:6

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Introduction

The prophet Elisha traveled among the people of God, revealing the care of the Lord through wisdom and miracles. This care is illustrated in Elisha’s concern and help for a widow whose husband had been a prophet under Elisha: “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” (2 Kings 4:1). The woman responded to Elisha’s question as to what he could do, saying, “Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.” That pot of oil would be used by Elisha to save the woman from having to sell her sons. How shall the Lord use us with what we have to be a blessing to someone in need? Elisha told the woman to go and borrow some pots from her neighbor. At the command of Elisha she was told to bring the pots into her house and shut the door. She and her sons would then begin to fill the empty pots with the one full pot and soon they were all filled. “The she came to the man of God, and he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay the debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.” The Lord provided for the payment of the debt and the continued blessing of her home. The Lord provides for His servants the blessings they need.

There is another time recorded for us by the Spirit, of Elisha’s travel to Shunem (a city on the road between Samaria and Carmel). The providential care of the Lord is again shown that we too may have continued hope in Him. Elisha stops by the home of a “great woman” (an elderly woman, a noble woman). Elisha had passed through Shunem many times and was blessed with the hospitality of this woman, not only for food but for a place of lodging: She had said to her husband, Let us make a little chamber I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a (oil lamp); and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither” (2 Kings 4:10). We ought to be ready to receive those who are servants of the Lord, to provide for them the blessings which our Lord have given us.

On one of the visits, Elisha gave to her a blessing, which could only come by divine providence. She was of an old age and so desired a son. Elisha met her at the door of her home and said, “About this season according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my Lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid. And the woman conceived, and bare a son at the season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life” (2 Kings 4:16–17). To further introduce our study, we read that when this son was grown, “that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died” (4:19–20). The mother laid the son on the bed prepared for the prophet and then traveled to see Elisha. Eventually, Elisha went to her home and to the dead son, spending time alone with him. Commanding his servant Gehazi to call the mother to him, and he said, “Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took her son, and went out” (4:36–37).

Discussion: What do we mean by the ‘providence’ of God?

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The Woman is Protected as God’s Servant—2 Kings 8:1–6

A famine is about to come to the land. Elisha comes again “unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the Lord hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.”  The woman again obeyed the prophet Elisha, “the man of God.” The more experience we have with the Word of God, of the presence and teaching of the Holy Spirit, of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, the more we will respond in faithful obedience to His Word; and the more we will understand the prayer we have been taught, “Our Father…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The women did as Elisha commanded, “and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines.” During those seven years in the midst of the Philistines, God protected her and her family. Even within the community of the wicked, our Lord will bring us blessings, even through them.

The woman returned to her own land “and went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.” (For it seems that there were those who took advantage of her absence, and took over her house and land.) The king was talking “with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son had been restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.” The king asked the woman for her witness and she told him all that happened. “So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.” There will be trials that we need to walk through, but we do not walk alone. Christ is always with us, to comfort and refresh us. Let us be obedient to the Lord as we continually look to Him, and the Spirit continually guides and comforts us in His Word.

Our witness and praise is this: “For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psa. 135:5–6). The providential work and presence of our Lord is never absent from our lives. Therefore let us always look to Christ, for He alone is our victory, “who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3).

Discussion: How did the woman reveal her faith and hope?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2012 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.