2 Kings 4 "Elisha and the Resurrection of Israel" Our passage tonight is pervaded with death. It starts with a widow crying out, "Your servant my husband is dead." The Shunammite woman is barren (lifeless), and when God gives her a son, the son dies. The sons of the prophets nearly die of eating poisonous gourds, and a famine threatens death. (Indeed, next time we will see the living death leprosy that afflicts Naaman). Elisha is a prophet who brings life out of death by the Word of the LORD. We have seen that 2 Kings 2 is at the very center of the book of Kings. The book of Kings starts with the establishment of the house of David; then tells of the division of Israel and the establishment of the northern kingdom; then we hear of the establishment of the house of Omri in Israel (and Elijah) 2 Kings 2 is the transition from Elijah to Elisha Now we are going to hear of the death of the house of Omri (and Elisha); then we are going to hear of the death of the northern kingdom of Israel and finally we will hear of the death of the house of David except unlike the rest of the death and destruction in the book of Kings, the house of David will not be utterly destroyed. Kings will end with hope. The Temple will be destroyed. The Kingship obliterated. The People exiled. The Land overrun by foreigners. Everything that Israel had trusted will fail. And yet the gospel according to Kings proclaims a message of hope that beyond the grave beyond the destruction of all their false hopes lies a resurrection from the dead. Last time we heard of the rebellion of Mesha, king of Moab. While Israel destroyed much of Moab, in the end, they were not able to regain control of the region. The territory of Israel is diminishing. Chapter 4 now turns away from the macro-political/military side of Israel's life, to tell some micro-history individual stories of small things that God continued to do. Even though Israel has failed, and Israel will die, yet Kings tells us to have hope. Because God does not forget his people. Even in the middle of Israel's apostasy, God has mercy and brings life out of death for his people. He will use Elisha to save the remnant of Israel. There are lots of parallels between Elijah and Elisha in this passage. Elijah had helped a widow in 1 Kings 17 and a jar of oil played a significant role in that episode as well. Likewise, Elisha raises a child from the dead, like Elijah had in 1 Kings 17. But Elisha is not just a repetition of Elijah. Elijah is portrayed as a solitary figure. But what Elijah does alone, Elisha does in a community called "the sons of the prophets." Elijah was to call the house of Ahab to repentance. But now it is too late. Elisha is not calling kings to repentance; rather, Elisha is building up the remnant an alternative Israel within Israel. 1. The Protector of Widows (4:1-7) We see this in the widow of verses 1-7. She comes to Elisha and says, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. My husband was faithful to Yahweh but what will happen to us now? The creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. This was a legitimate way of paying debts in Israel (Lev 25:39ff). But while acting according to the letter of the law, the creditor is breaking the spirit of the law. Yahweh is the protector of widows and orphans, and Israel was supposed to imitate him (Exodus 22:22; Dt 10:18-19; 27:19). But instead the creditor is about to seize her sons. Is this what happens to those who fear the LORD? Is death and slavery the result of trusting God? We are reminded of the Psalmist's words, I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children beg for bread. (Psalm 37:25) (Cf Psalm 34:10) Is it true that God always cares for his people? We can all think of examples where the righteous are forsaken the most obvious example is Jesus on the cross! Sometimes their children are reduced to begging or even slavery. The point of 2 Kings 4:1-7 is not that nothing bad will ever happen to those who trust in God. Rather, the widow of this son of the prophets is held up as an example of what will be true for all of us in the end. What happens to her is what will happen to Israel. We often look at these sorts of stories and wish that such remarkable things would happen to us. Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house? And she said, Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And as her sons kept bringing her the vessels, the oil kept pouring until there were no more vessels. In amazement she went to Elisha, the "man of God," and told him what had happened. Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest. The Law said that a widow in need should go to her kinsman-redeemer. Ruth of course is the most famous example of this. But this widow comes to the prophet and Elisha plays the role of kinsman-redeemer, delivering her from debt (and her children from slavery) by the word of the LORD. What do we learn from this? Think about the symbolism of the passage. The woman has nothing in the house but a jar of oil. Oil is regularly used throughout scripture as a picture of the Holy Spirit. She is told to collect vessels and fill them with oil. (This is the same word used earlier in Kings to refer to the vessels in the temple). Vessels are frequently used in scripture to represent the people of God. Unclean vessels represent human defilement uncleanness. The temple vessels symbolized the people of God gathered in the temple (when the vessels in the temple are captured by Nebuchadnezzar that is a sign of the exile of the people vessels taken into captivity) Jeremiah speaks of Yahweh as a potter making and breaking vessels. Paul uses this language to speak of "vessels of wrath" and "vessels of mercy." Elisha tells the widow to take these Israelite vessels and fill them with oil and as long as the vessels keep coming, the oil keeps flowing. God has a never-ending supply of his Holy Spirit, which he keeps pouring out on his people (so long as they keep coming to him!). God has the resources to fill you. Do you have the faith to come to him? As James puts it, You do not have because you do not ask, you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions (James 4:2-3). The only limitations to God's work in us are on our side. As Peter Leithart puts it, "Keep the empty vessels coming. He will not deny His Spirit to those who ask." 2. Gives the Barren Woman a Child and Raises Him from the Dead (4:8-37) The central story of the chapter is the story of the Shunammite woman. The story has three parts organized around the recurring phrase "one day." Verse 8 one day Elisha met this wealthy woman. Verse 11 one day he came to visit and promised the birth of a child. Verse 20 one day this child died. Verses 8-10 introduce the story and demonstrates the "holiness" of Elisha. Shunem is in Issachar in the north of Israel not far from Mt Carmel. The Shunammite woman is described as "wealthy"-- unlike the poor widow whom Elisha has just delivered. She demonstrates her faith in Yahweh by feeding Elisha whenever he is in town. She also demonstrates her faith by showing that she understands who Elisha is: Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there. These are fairly standard furnishings for us, so we probably don't think about them. But why does the text mention them? If she wanted to give him a room, why not just say "room." Every room would have a bed. But the rest is the important stuff. A chair, a table, and a lamp. Remember what we saw about Elijah? That Elijah was a walking temple? Wherever he went the presence of God went with him. He offered sacrifices on Mt Carmel (when God had said only to offer sacrifices in Jerusalem)-- because Elijah was a walking temple. So is Elisha. And so this woman makes a little "holy place" for Elisha complete with a table (for bread) a chair (a place for the holy one to sit like the ark) and a lamp (a menorah) Do think this is far-fetched? Well, then why does the Shunammite visit the prophet on Sabbaths and new moons? (4:23) The Law said that the tabernacle/temple was the place to go on the Sabbath and new moons. Even more clear is the fact that the sons of the prophets bring him their firstfruits something that was supposed to be brought to the temple. In the days of Samuel the servant of Saul mentioned that they had no present to bring the prophet. But this is not merely a present, these are the LORD's firstfruits which are only to be brought to the holy place. (Leviticus 23:9-14) Elisha is leading a counter-temple movement which is precisely what Jesus will do 800 years later. He is the temple the place where God meets with his people. In return for her kindness, Elisha promises that the woman will have a son in spite of her husband's age. The setting of this promise must remind us of Abraham a barren women with an aged husband, hospitality being provided for the holy man of God, the woman standing at the doorway, and the promise itself: At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son. Like Sarah, this Shunammite is a sign of barren Israel, who can bear seed only through the gracious intervention of God. And like Isaac, the boy is raised from the dead. The child went out one day (that phrase signals the third section of our text) to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, "Oh, my head, my head!" We don't know what his affliction was all that we know is that it had to do with his head. If the Shunammite is a sign of barren Israel, then her son is a picture of the people of Israel afflicted in head and members. And so the child was brought to his mother, who held him in her lap until noon and then he died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. Her husband does not seem to have been too concerned about the boy, because when his wife asks for a donkey to go see the man of God, he only wonders why because it is neither new moon nor Sabbath (suggesting that she made it a practice to go to him for worship). But she simply replied, All is well. (In modern parlance don't worry, I'll be back soon) And so she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel the place where Elijah had won his great victory over the prophets of Baal. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, 'Look, there is the Shunammite. Run at once to meet her and say to her, Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child? And she answered, All is well. But when she came to the mountain to the man of God remember that we saw that the temple in Jerusalem was built like a mountain? Elisha is the walking temple the Shunammite comes to him like Hannah had come to the tabernacle in Eli's day. And she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me. Then she said, Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me'? Like a bolt of lightning from heaven, the whole situation is laid bare to Elisha. So he sends Gehazi with his staff, running ahead to the child. But the mother comes with Elisha. Gehazi got there first, and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. The disciples also were unable to cast out certain demons in Jesus' day. Only the Master is able to win the great victory. When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the LORD. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. This is a rather strange procedure. It helps when you remember that Elisha is a walking temple. He is a holy man of God in whom the Spirit of God dwells. His Spirit-filled body communicates life to the dead. (After the death of Elisha, when a corpse touches his bones, it will spring back to life!) It is also worth pointing out that the word for "stretched himself" when he "stretched himself on the child" is used only one other place in the whole Hebrew Bible, It is in 1 Kings 18:42, when Elijah stretched himself out upon the ground on the top of Mt Carmel and prayed for rain. As Elijah had prayed for rain, reviving Israel from the dust of death, so now Elisha prays that God would raise this picture of Israel from the dead. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, Pick up your son. She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out. We have seen repeated in Kings that Israel is going to die. But Elisha demonstrates that Israel has hope because God is able to raise the dead. This is the point that the NT makes repeatedly when it speaks of how we have died and been raised with Christ. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In his death and resurrection you have been brought from death to life. 4. Brings Life Out of Death (4:38-44) Verses 38-44 then conclude the chapter with two brief stories about food. Elisha is the one who cures the poisoned pot (like Moses and the bitter spring); Elisha is the one who feeds the people of God with bread from heaven (like Moses). Once again the imagery in these "micro-histories" is all about Israel. There is a famine in the land, so Elisha tells the sons of the prophets to boil a stew for the sons of the prophets. One of the sons of the prophets finds a wild vine (the vine is one of the most common images for Israel Psalm 80/Isaiah 5) and gathers poisoned gourds from it. Gourds are mentioned in the OT only in the description of the temple the gourds in 1 Kings 6-7. Israel's gourds are poisonous and will bring death unless the man of God should bring life out of death! Those who eat from this table of death will find life to sustain them through famine! Likewise in the second episode, a man brings twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain as a firstfruits offering to Elisha. Leviticus 23 had said to bring the firstfruits to the temple. The faithful in Israel bring their firstfruits to Elisha, who is a walking temple. The word for "fresh ears" is the word "carmel"-- as in Mt Carmel. Think about it. The feast of firstfruits is also known as what? Pentecost. Pentecost was supposed to be the celebration of God's provision. But now there is a famine, and this feast of firstfruits is looking like a paltry affair. Because God has abandoned the land to judgment. There are a hundred men, and only 20 loaves of bread and some "carmel" some fresh ears of grain. We have already seen that the Spirit of God dwells in Elisha. And on this Pentecost, Elisha will feed the sons of the prophets with bread from heaven. For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.' Our passage began with a miraculous supply of oil. Our passage ends with a miraculous supply of bread. If you then, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!