The Great Pot and the Twenty Loaves

The Great Pot and the Twenty Loaves

(No. 3187)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Set on the great pot." 2 Kings 4:38.

"Then bring meal." 2 Kings 4:41.

"Give unto the people that they may eat." 2 Kings 4:42.

WE scarcely need go over the story. There was a shortage of food in the
land. Elisha came to the college of the Prophets, which consisted of
about a hundred Brothers and found that they were in need as the result
of the famine. While he was teaching the young men, he observed that
they looked as if they needed food and he found that there was none in
the house. Elisha, therefore, ordered his servant to take the great
pot, which generally stood upon long legs over the fire, and make a
nourishing soup in it. True, there was nothing to put in this pot, but
he believed that God would provide. It was for him to set the pot over
the fire, and it was for the Lord to fill it! Some of the young men
were not so sure as Elisha was that God could fill it without their
help–and one, with great eagerness, went out to gather something from
the fields. His help turned out to be of small service, for he brought
home poisonous cucumbers, cut them up and threw them into the broth.
And, lo, when they began to pour it out, it was acrid to the taste,
gave them a terrible colic, and made them cry out, "There is death in
the pot!"

Then the Prophet said, "Bring meal." This was put into the steaming
caldron, the poison was neutralized, the food was made wholesome and
the students were satisfied. This miracle was in due time followed up
by another. A day or two afterwards, the young Prophets were still
needing food and the larder was again empty. Just at that time, a
devout man comes from a little distance, bringing a present for the
Prophet which consisted of a score of loaves similar to our penny
rolls. The Prophet bids his servitor set this slender quantity before
the college. He is astonished at the command to feed a hundred hungry
men with so little, but he is obedient to it. And while he is obeying,
the little food is multiplied so that the hundred men eat and are
perfectly satisfied–and there is some left!

I believe there are lessons to be learned from these two miracles and I
shall try to bring out these lessons in three forms. First, as they
shall relate to the present condition of religion in our land.
Secondly, as they may be made to relate to the condition of
backsliders. And thirdly, as they may afford comfortable direction to
seeking sinners.

I. First, then, our text, as in a parable, sets forth in a figure our
course of action in connection with RELIGION IN THIS LAND.

And first, there is a great need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have
not a hundred men famishing nowadays, but hundreds of thousands–and
even hundreds of millions in this great world who are perishing for
lack of heavenly food! The Church must feed the people. It is not for
us to say, "We hope they will be saved," and leave it there. Or set it
down as a work that cannot be done till the millennium and, therefore,
we have nothing to do with it. Our business is in the strength of God
to grapple with the present condition of things! Here are the millions
famishing–shall we let them famish? I remember seeing similar
sentences under the likeness of the late Richard Knill–"The heathen
are perishing! Shall we let them perish?" "But," says one, "how can we
possibly supply them with food?" Look what Elisha did–the people were
hungry and there was no food in hand, except a little meal, yet he
said, "Set on the great pot."

Faith always does as much as she can–if she cannot fill the pot, she
can, at any rate, put it on the fire. If she cannot find meat for the
pottage, she pours in the water, lights the fire–and prays and waits.
Some have not this faith, nowadays, and until we have it, we cannot
expect the blessing! Thus says the Lord, "Enlarge the place of your
tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitation." Why?
Because, "you shall break forth on the right hand and on the left." Few
will regard such a summons as this. The feeble faith of our time finds
it difficult to enlarge the tent even after the increase has come and
the people are there to fill it! Great faith would enlarge the tent and
expect the Lord to keep His promise and multiply us with men as with a
flock! The Church of God greatly needs not foolish confidence in
herself, which would lead her to be Quixotic, but simple confidence in
God which would enable her to be Apostolic, for she would go forth
believing that God would be with her and great things would be
accomplished by her! She would open her mouth wide, expecting that God
would fill it, and fill it He would! Faith does what she can, and waits
for her Lord to do what He can. Brother, Sister, what is your faith
doing? Are you putting a great pot on the fire in expectation of a
blessing?

"Set on the great pot," said the Prophet, "and boil the pottage." He
was not in jest. He meant what he said. Often, when we get as far as
setting on the pot, it is not for boiling pottage! We feel the desire
to carry out spiritual work, but we do not come to practical action as
those who work for immediate results. Oh, for practical common sense in
connection with Christianity! Oh, for reality in connection with the
idea of faith! When a man goes to his business to make money, he goes
there with all his wits about him–but frequently when men come to
prayer and Christian service–they leave their minds behind and do not
act as if they were transacting real business with God. Elisha, when he
said, "Set on the great pot," expected God to fill it! He was sure it
would be so and he waited in all patience till dinner was ready. O
Church of God, set on the pot, and the great pot, too! Say, "The Lord
will bless us." Get your granary cleaned out, that the Lord may fill it
with His good corn! Put the grist into the hopper and look for the wind
to turn the sails of the mill. O you doubters, throw up the windows
that the fresh breeze of the Divine Spirit may blow in on your sickly
faces! Expect that God is about to send the manna and have your omers
ready! We shall see greater things than these if we awake to our duty
and our privilege! It is the Church's business to feed the world with
spiritual bread–she can only do so by faith– and she ought to act in
faith in reference to it!

The faith of Elisha was not shared by all the Brothers. There were some
who must go and fill the pot, as we have said, but they gathered the
gourds of the colocynth vine and poisoned the whole mess! And it became
necessary to find an antidote for the poison. We here see our second
duty–the Church must provide an antidote for the heresies and
poisonous doctrines of the time. There has entered into the public
ministry of this country a deadly poison. We may say of the Church in
general, "O you man of God, there is death in the pot!" Zealous
persons, whose zeal for God is not according to knowledge, have gone
about and gathered the gourds of the wild vine. I think I could tell
you what kind of gourds they are–some of them are very pretty to look
at, and they grow best on the seven hills of Rome, they are called
"Ritualistic performances." These they shred into the pot. There are
gourds of another kind, very delicate and dainty in appearance, which
are known as "liberal views" or, "modern thought." As a philosopher
once talked of extracting sunbeams from cucumbers, so the wild gourds
are said to consist of "sweetness and light," but the light is darkness
and the sweetness is deadly! They have shred these into the pot and
nobody can taste the doctrinal mixture which is served out from some
pulpits without serious risk of soul-poisoning for, "there is death in
the pot." What Scriptural doctrine is there which men do not deny and
yet call themselves Christians? What Truth of God is there which our
fathers held which is endorsed by those who think themselves the
leaders of advanced thought? Have they not polluted the entire
sanctuary of truth and lifted up their axes against all the carved work
of the Temple? On the other hand, have we not, almost everywhere, put
aside Christ for the crucifix? And the blessed Spirit thrust into a
corner by the so-called "sacraments"? Is not the outward made to drown
the inward, and is not the precious Truth of the Gospel overlaid by the
lies of Rome?

There is death in the pot! How is the Church to meet it? I believe it
is to imitate Elisha. We need not attempt to get the wild gourds out of
the pot–they are cut too small and are too cunningly mixed up. They
have entered too closely into the whole mass of teaching to be removed.
Who shall extract the leaven from the leavened loaf? What then? We must
look to God for help and use the means indicated here. "Bring meal"
Good wholesome food was cast into the poisonous stuff and, by God's
gracious working, it killed the poison. And the Church must cast the
blessed Gospel of the Grace of God into the poisoned pottage–and then
false doctrine will not be able to destroy men's souls as it now does.
We shall

not do much good by disputing, denouncing and refusing to associate
with people. I call such things barking, but preaching the Gospel is
biting. The surest remedy for false doctrine is preaching the Truth of
God. Christianity is the cure for Popery! Preach up Christ and down go
the priests! Preach Grace and there is an end of "masses." I am more
and more persuaded that the good old Calvinistic truths which are now
kept in the background, are the great Krupp guns with which we shall
blow to pieces the heresies of the day if once more they are plainly
and persistently preached in harmony with the rest of revealed Truths
of God!

Is the remedy too simple? Do not, therefore, despise it! God be thanked
that it issimple, for then we shall not be tempted to give the glory to
man's wit and wisdom when the good result is achieved. In this work you
can all help, for if only meal is needed, a child may bring his little
handful. One man may contribute more than another, but the humblest may
put in his pinch of meal, and even the most common servitor in the
house may assist in this work. Spread the Gospel! Spread the Gospel!
Spread the Gospel! A Society for Prosecuting Puseyites, will that do
the work? Appeals to Parliament, will they be effectual? Let those who
choose to do so cry to lawyers and Parliaments, but as for us, we will
preach the Gospel! If I could speak with a voice of thunder, I would
say to those friends who are for adopting other means to stop the
spread of error, "You waste your time and strength! Give all your
efforts to the preaching of the Gospel. Lift up Christ and lay the
sinner low! Proclaim justification by faith, the work of the Holy
Spirit in regeneration and the grand old doctrines of the Reformation
and your work will be done–but by no other means." "Bring meal," said
the Prophet, and our word at this time is, "Preach the Truth of God as
it is in Jesus."

Some of the grossest errors of our own day may yet be overruled by God
for the promotion of His Truth. There are men who believe in
Sacramentarianism who love the Lord Jesus very ardently. When I read
some of the poetry of this school, I cannot but rejoice to see that the
writers love my Lord and Master–and it strikes me that if the whole
Gospel could be put before them, we might expect to see some of them
become noble preachers of the Truth of God and, perhaps, save the
orthodox from dead dry doctrinalism by reviving a more direct devotion
to the Savior. Perhaps they will not, with us, talk often of
justification by faith, but if they extol the merit of the precious
blood and wounds of Jesus, it will come to much the same thing. For my
part, I care little for the phraseology, if essential Truths of God are
really taught and the Lord Jesus is exalted!

Some of the doubters, too–"thinkers"–as they prefer to be called, if
our Lord renewed them by His Spirit, might bring out the old Truths
with greater freshness than our more conservative minds are able to do.
I love to hear those who have known the vanity of error speak out the
Truth! They are more sympathetic towards the tempted and are generally
more conversant with the grounds of our faith.

Who knows? Who knows? I have a hope which may not prove a dream. I hope
that thousands are feeling their way into the Light of God and will
come forth soon. Let us not despair, but keep to our work which is
Gospel preaching, telling about Jesus and His dear love, the power of
His blood, the prevalence of His plea and the Glory of His Throne and
who knows but that a multitude of the priests may believe, and the
philosophers, also, may become babes in Christ's school? "Bring meal,"
and thus meet the poison with the antidote!

Another lesson comes from the second miracle. Let us look at it. The
loaves brought to Elisha were not quartern loaves like ours, but either
mere wafers of meal which had been laid flat on a hot stone and so
baked, or else small rolls of bread. That store was but little, yet
Elisha said, "Feed the people," and they were fed. That is the third
lesson, the Church is to use all she has and trust in God to multiply
her strength. Nowadays, individuals are apt to think they may leave
matters to Societies, but this is highly injurious. We should,
everyone, go forth to work for God and use our own talents, be they few
or many. Societies are not meant to enable us to shirk our personal
duty under the idea that our strength is small. Little Churches are apt
to think that they cannot do much and, therefore, they do not expect a
great blessing. What can these few cakes do towards feeding a hundred
men? They forget that God can multiply them! Do you limit the Holy One
of Israel? Do you think He needs our numbers? Do you think He is
dependent upon human strength? I tell you, our weakness is a better
weapon for God than our strength! The Church in the Apostolic times was
poor and mostly made up of unlearned and ignorant men–but she was
filled with power. What name that would have been famous in ordinary
history do you find among her first members? Yet that humble Church of
fishermen and common people shook the world! The Church nowadays is,
for the most part, too strong, too wise, too self-dependent to do much.
Oh, that she were more God-reliant! Even those whom you call great
preachers will be great evils if you trust to them! This I know–we
ought never to complain of weakness, or poverty, or lack of
prestige–but should consecrate to God what we have.

"Oh, but I can scarcely read a chapter!" Well, read that chapter to
God's Glory! You who cannot say more than half-a-dozen words to others?
Say that little in the power of the Spirit! If you cannot do more than
write a letter to a friend about his soul, or give away a tract to a
stranger in the streets, do it in God's name! Brother, Sister, do what
you can and in doing this, God will strangely multiply your power to do
good and cause great results to flow from small beginnings. Active
faith is needed–and if this is richly present, the Lord in whom we
trust will do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask, or
even think!

II. And now, briefly, but very earnestly, I desire to speak TO
BACKSLIDERS.

In all our Churches there are members who are no better than they
should be. It is very questionable whether they ought to be allowed to
be members at all–they have gone very far back from what they used to
be, or ought to be. They scarcely ever join the people of God in public
prayer, though they once professed to be very devout. Private prayer is
neglected and family prayer given up. Is it not so with some to whom I
address myself? Have you not lost the Light of God's Countenance and
gone far away from happy communion with Christ? It is not for me to
charge you–let your own consciences speak! I hope that you are now
beginning to feel an inward hunger and to perceive that your
backslidings have brought famine to you. What shall I bid you do? Go
and attempt your own restoration by the works of the Law? By no
means–I bid you bring your emptiness to Christ and look for His
fullness. Yours is a great empty pot–set it on the fire and cry to God
to fill it! Jesus says to lukewarm Laodicea, "If any man hears My
voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him." "Alas," says the Laodicean, "I have nothing in the house!" Your
confession is true, but when our Lord comes to sup, He brings His
supper with Him! He stands at the door of every backslider and knocks.
Will you let Him in? "Oh," you say, "I wish He would enter." Dear
Brothers and Sisters, open your heart, now, just as you did at the
first when, as a poor sinner you went to Him. Say to him, "Blessed
Lord, there is nothing in me but emptiness, but here is the guest
chamber. Come in all Your love and sup with me, and let me sup with
You. I am nothing, come and be my All-in-All." "But," says the
backslider "may I really come to Jesus, just as I did at the first?"
Listen! "Return, you backsliding children, for I am married unto you,
says the Lord." He is married to you! And though you have behaved
badly, the marriage bond is not broken. Where is the bill of
divorcement which He has sued you? Is it not written ,"He hates putting
away"? Come just as you are and begin anew–for He will accept you
again.

"But," you say, "alas for me, I have been gathering wild gourds!" What
have you been doing, professor? You have left undone what you ought to
have done and you have done many things you ought not to have done and,
therefore, there is no health in you. You have been trying to find
pleasure in the world and you have found wild vines. You have been
tempted by love of music, love of mirth, love of show–and you have
gathered wild gourds, a lap full, almost a heart full! You have been
shredding death into the pot and now you cannot feel as you used to
feel–the poison is stupefying your soul. While we were singing, just
now, you said, "I want to sing as saints do, but there is no praise in
me." When you meet with a man who is mighty in prayer, you say, "Alas,
I used to pray like that, but my power is gone." The poison is
paralyzing you! If you are a worldling, and not God's child, you can
live on that which would poison a Christian, but if you are a child of
God, you will cry out, "O you man of God, there is death in the pot!"
Some of you have become rich and have fallen into worldly fashionable
habits–these are the colocynth cucumbers. Others of you are poor and
necessarily work with ungodly men and, perhaps, their example has
lowered the tone of your spirit and led you into their ways. If you
love this condition, I grieve for you–but if you loathe it, I trust
you are a child of God, notwithstanding your state.

What are you to do who have in any way fallen? Why, receive afresh the
soul-saving Gospel! "Bring meal"–simple, nourishing, Gospel Truth–and
cast it into the poisoned pottage! Begin anew with Jesus Christ, as you
did at first! Say to Him, "God be merciful to me a sinner." "Repent and
do your first works." Do you not recollect the period when first your
eyes lighted on His Cross and you stood there burdened and heavy-laden,
fearing that you would sink to Hell until you read in His dear wounds
that your sins were put away? There you found peace as you saw your
transgressions laid on Jesus and removed from you. Oh, how you loved
Him! Come, Brother, come, Sister, let us go tonight again to the Cross
and begin to love Him again. That will cure you of the world's personal
influences and bring back the old feelings, the old joys, the old
loves–and take the death out of the pot! Backslider, you see now
exactly what you needed at first,

namely, faith in Jesus. Come repenting, come believing in the Savior
and He will remove the ills which the gourds of earth's wild vines have
brought upon you!

"Ah," say some of you, "we can understand how the Lord Jesus can fill
our emptiness and heal our soul's sicknesses, but how shall we continue
in the right way? Our past experience has taught us our weakness–we
are afraid that even the great pot will only last us for a little while
and then our souls will famish." Then remember the other part of our
text, in which we read that when the few loaves, and the ears of corn
in the husks, were brought to Elisha, the Lord multiplied them. Though
you may have very little Grace, that Grace shall be increased. "He
gives more Grace." We receive Grace for Grace, daily Grace for daily
need! Between this and Heaven you will need a Heaven full of Grace and
you will have it! No one knows what drafts you will make upon the
sacred bank of the King of kings, but His treasury will not be
exhausted! "Trust in the Lord and do good–so shall you dwell in the
land, and verily you shall be fed."

III. Our third and last word is TO THE SEEKING SINNER.

Many of you, I trust, desire salvation. The subject before us has much
comfort in it for you. You are hungering and thirsting after Christ,
but have not yet found peace in Him. You lament your own emptiness of
all that is good. Then, poor Soul, do just what the Prophet bade his
servant do, "set on the great pot," that is, confess your emptiness
unto the Lord! Tell the Lord what a sinner you are. I know not whether
the story is true of Mr. Rowland Hill's leading the landlord of an inn
to pray. Mr. Hill would have family prayer wherever he stayed–and if
this was refused, he would order out his horses and go on. On one
occasion, he is reported to have asked the landlord to act as priest in
his own house, but the man replied, "I can't pray, I never prayed in my
life." However, after a while, Mr. Hill had him on his knees and when
the man said, "I cannot pray," Mr. Hill cried out, "Tell the Lord so
and ask Him to help you." The man exclaimed, "O God, I can't pray,
teach me!" "That will do," said Mr. Hill, "you have begun." Whatever
your state is, tonight, if you desire salvation, go and tell the Lord
your condition! Say, "Lord, I have a hard heart–soften it." If you
cannot feel, tell Him so and ask Him to make you feel. Begin at the
root of the matter–set on the great pot, empty as it is. Be honest
with the Most High. Reveal to Him what He knows so well, but what you
know so little–the evil of your heart and your great necessity. If you
cannot come with a broken heart, come for a broken heart! If you cannot
come with anything good, the mercy is that nothing good is needed as a
preparation for coming to Christ. Come just as you are! Do not wait to
fill the pot, but set it on to be filled.

Do I hear you reply, "Ah, you don't know who I am. I have lived many
years in sin"? Yes, I know you. You are the young man that found the
wild vine and went and gathered of its gourds a lapful–a horrible
lapful. Some of you rebellious sinners have ruined yourselves, body and
soul, and perhaps in estate as well, by your sins. We hear of people
sowing their wild oats–that is a bad business. They had better never
do it, for the reaping of those wild oats is terrible work! You have
poisoned your life, man, with those wild gourds. Can the pottage of
your life be made wholesome again? Yes! You cannot do it with your own
efforts, but, "bring meal," and it will be done. If you believe on the
Lord Jesus, He will be the antidote to deadly habits of sin! If you
will simply trust in Him who bled for you, the tendency of your soul to
sin shall be overcome, the poison which now boils in your veins shall
be expelled, and your soul shall escape as a bird out of the snare of
the fowler! Your flesh upon you, in a spiritual sense, shall become
fresher than a little child's. Though you are full of the poison till
every vein is ready to burst with it, the Great Physician will give you
an antidote which shall at once and forever meet your case! Will you
not try it? Incline your ear and come unto Him–hear, and your soul
shall live! May God put the meal of the Gospel into the pot tonight!

"Ah," you say, "but if I were now pardoned, how should I hold on? I
have made a hundred promises and always broken them. I have resolved
scores of times, but my resolutions have never come to anything." Ah,
poor Heart, that is when you have the saving of yourself, but when God
has the saving of you, it will be another matter! When we begin to save
ourselves, we very soon come to a disastrous shipwreck! But when God,
the eternal Lover of the souls of men, puts His hand to salvation-work
and Jesus puts forth the hand once fastened to the Cross, there are no
failures!

I have tried to preach a very simple sermon and to say some earnest
things. But it is likely that I may have missed the mark with some and,
therefore, I will again draw the Gospel bow in the name of the Lord
Jesus. O Lord, direct the arrow! If God will bring souls to Jesus, I
will bless His name throughout eternity! Poor lost Souls, do you know
the way of salvation, do you know how simple it is? Do you know the
love of God to such poor souls as you are and yet do you refuse to
attend to it? Do you know that He does not exact any hard conditions of
you, but He points to His Son on the Cross and says, "Look"? Can it be
that you will not look? Does Jesus die to save, and do you think it is
not worth your while to think about salvation? What is the matter with
you? Surely you must be mad! When I look back on my own neglect of
Christ till I was 15 years old, it seems like a delirious dream! And
when I think of some of you who are 30 or 40 and yet have never thought
about your souls, what can be invented to excuse you? I see some of you
with bald heads, or with the snow of wintry age lying upon them and you
have not yet considered the world to come. I would say to you, "Men,
are you mad?" Why, you are worse than mad, for if you were insane, you
could be excused! Alas, the madness of sin has responsibility connected
with it and, therefore, it is the worst of all insanities! I pray you,
by the living God, you unsaved ones, turn unto the Savior tonight!
Whether you are saved or lost cannot so much matter to me as it will to
you. If I faithfully beseech you to look to Jesus, I shall be clear,
even if you reject the warning. But for your own sakes, I beseech you
to turn to Jesus! By death, which may be so near to you. By judgment,
which is certain to you all. By the terrors of Hell, by the
thunderbolts of execution, by eternity and, better still, by the sweets
of Jesus' love, by the charms of His matchless beauty, by the Grace
which He is prepared to give, by the Heaven whose gates of pearl are
glistening before the eyes of faith, by the sea of glass unruffled by a
single wave of trouble–where you shall stand forever blest if you
believe in Jesus–by the Lord Himself, I entreat you, seek Him at once,
while He may be found! May His Holy Spirit lead you to do so! Amen and
Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 KINGS4:1-37.

Verse 1. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of
the Prophets unto Elisha, saying, Your servant, my husband, is dead;
and you know that your servant did fear the LORD. And the creditor is
come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. According to the very
cruel custom of those times, if a man were in debt and had no means of
payment, his children were sold for slaves. Here was a poor widow whose
husband had been one of the sons of the Prophets, but he had died in
debt. He was evidently one who was known to Elisha as a faithful,
God-fearing man and, perhaps that partly accounted for his poverty. The
false priests were fed at Jezebel's table, but because this man
worshipped Jehovah, the one living and true God, he had probably been
persecuted and hunted down until he had lost what little he formerly
had and, therefore, when he died, he could leave his wife no other
legacy than that of debt. And in consequence, the creditor came to
seize her two sons to be bondmen.

2. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what
have you in the house? And she said, Your handmaid has not anything in
the house, save a pot of oil They used oil extensively in the
preparation of their food as well as for lighting their dwellings. This
woman was so poor that she had no meal in the house, but she had a
little oil. When our Lord was about to feed the five thousand, He asked
His disciples, "How many loaves have you?" So here the Prophet asked
the poor woman, "What have you in the house?" and she told him she had
only "a pot of oil."

3. Then he said, Go, borrow the vessels abroad of all your neighbors,
even empty vessels; borrow not a few. [See Sermon

#2063, Volume 35–THE FILLING OF EMPTY VESSELS.] Evidently the poor

woman's credit was good, though her debts were heavy. Her neighbors
knew she would have paid her creditor if she could, so they were
willing to grant her request though they probably wondered why she
wanted so many empty vessels.

4-7. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and
your sons, and shall pour out into all those vessels, and you shall set
aside that which is full. So she went from him and shut the door behind
her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out
And it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said unto her
son, Bring me yet a vessel. Andhe said unto her, There is not a
vesselmore. And the oil ceased Then she came and told the man of God.
As

it was through obeying his directions she had miraculously obtained
this large supply of oil, she would not make use of it

without further counsel from the man of God who had already given her
such good advice.

7. Andhe said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt "That is your first
duty–'pay your debt'"–

7, 8. Andlive, you andyour children, on the rest. Now it happened one
day that Elisha went to Shunem, where was

a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was,
that as oft as he passed by, he turned in there to eat

bread.The Prophet had helped a poor woman. Now a rich woman helps him.
God sometimes pays His servants in kind

very speedily for anything they have done for those who belong to Him.
At other times, He puts it to the credit of their account.

9-13. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this
is an holy Man of God, which passes by continually. Let us make a
little chamber, I pray you, on the wall; and let us set for him there a
bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it will be that
whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there. And it happened one day
that he came there andhe said to Gehazi, his servant, Call this
Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. Andhe
said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, You have been careful for us
with all this care. What can I do for you?Do you want me to speak on
your behalf to the king or to the captain of the army?God's servants
must not be ungrateful for any kindness that is shown to them. If they
receive hospitality, they must be ready to give a return of such things
as they have. Elisha was willing to do anything in his power for this
hospitable Shunammite, so he said to her, "Do you want me to speak on
your behalf to the king, or to the captain of the army?"

13. And she answered, I dwell among my own people. She had no desire
for earthly greatness and she was very wise, for, usually, happiness is
to be found in that middle state which Agur desired when he said, "Give
me neither poverty nor riches." This Shunammite had no wish to be moved
to the trying and perilous atmosphere of the court or the army–so she
answered, "I dwell among my own people."

14-19. Andhe said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi
answered, Verily she has no child and her husband is old. And he said,
Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he
said, About this season, according to the time of life, you shall
embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to
your handmaiden. And the woman conceived, and bore a son at that season
that Elisha had said unto her according to the time of life. And the
childgrew, and one day he went out to his father to the reapers. Andhe
said unto his father, My head, myhead/The sun had been too hot for the
child. Sunstroke had seized him.

19, 20. Andhe 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.How transient are all our earthly treasures! The child
was well, and ill and dead in the course of a few hours! Hold with a
loose hand all things earthly! Make not your gourds into gods, for they
will soon wither and die. Very often we destroy our own comforts by
thinking too much of them. As soon as we make anything that we have
into an idol, it will be broken in pieces, or taken from us, or in some
way turned into a curse to us! See how this good woman acted when she
had suffered this great sorrow.

21, 22. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the Man of God, and
shut the door upon him, and went out. And she called unto her husband,
and said, Send me, I pray you, one of the young men, and one of the
donkeys, that I may run to the Man of God, and come again. She did not
tell him her errand. She wished to keep the trouble to herself for a
while.

23. Andhe said, Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon,
nor Sabbath. "It is not the ordinary time for going to the Prophet."

23. And she said, (Salem, that is, Peace, as we read it), It shall be
well She must have been a woman of great faith. She checked her natural
emotions and believed in God that all would be for the best. "It shall
be well."

24-26. Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, Drive, and go
forward; slack not your riding for me, except I bid you. So she went
and came unto the Man of God at mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when
the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi, his servant,
Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: run now, I pray you, to meet her,
and say unto her, Is it well with you, is it well with your husband? Is
it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. It is heroic
faith when we can feel that if the child shall die, it is well. If this
husband shall die, it is well. And if we ourselves shall die, all is
well, for He who has the arranging of all that concerns us cannot
arrange otherwise than well! Alas, that often our rebellious spirit
says, with poor old Jacob, "All these things are against me," but true
faith sits humbly down at the feet of the great Disposer of all events
and says, "He has done all things well."

27. And when she came to the Man of God at the hill, she caught him by
the feet. As if she feared lest he should go away before she had poured
into his ears the story of her grief.

27. But Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said,
Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD has hid
it from me, and has not told me. Those ancient Prophets of God had only
limited knowledge.

The Spirit of God taught them some things, but not all things, so
Elisha was made to feel that he was but man, even though the Spirit of
God often spoke through him.

28. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, Do not
deceive me?Then he learned what her trouble was, and understood that
the child was dead. Before she had said as much as that, he read the
news in the tones of her voice.

29, 30. Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff
in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, salute him not; and
if any salute you, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face
of the child. And the mother of the child said, As the LORD lives, and
as your soul lives, I will not leave you. She did not believe in
Gehazi, nor yet in the staff, and herein she was a wise woman. God
would not bless the Prophet's staff to the child's restoration, lest
relic worship should spring up among the Israelites, or lest they
should begin to attach some value to outward signs!

30-34. And he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them
and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither
voice, nor hearing. Therefore he went again to meet him, and told him,
saying, The child is not awaked. And when Elisha was come into the
house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in,
therefore, and shut the door upon them and prayed unto the LORD. And he
went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and
his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched
himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. See the
power of prayer? The very gates of death are made to open when Elisha,
a man of like passions with ourselves, bows before the Lord in prayer!
Learn a lesson also from Elisha's attitude toward the dead child, for
often God is pleased to give spiritual life through the power of human
sympathy. When we put ourselves into the condition of the sinner–hope
for him, pray for him, agonize for him in broken-hearted sympathy on
his account, putting ourselves as far as we can into his place–God
often makes us the instruments by which His Spirit quickens the dead in
sin!

30-37. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro and went
up, and stretched himself upon him: and the

child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called
Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she
was come in unto him, he said, Take up your son. Then she went in, and
fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son,
and went out Her heart was too full for speech just then, so she took
up her son and went out.