Advanced Commentary

Texts -- 2 Kings 4:1-11 (NET)

Context
Elisha Helps a Widow and Her Sons
4:1 Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help , saying , “Your servant , my husband is dead . You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord . Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants .” 4:2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house ?” She answered , “Your servant has nothing in the house except a small jar of olive oil .” 4:3 He said , “Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers . Get as many as you can. 4:4 Go and close the door behind you and your sons . Pour the olive oil into all the containers ; set aside each one when you have filled it.” 4:5 So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons . As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil. 4:6 When the containers were full , she said to one of her sons , “Bring me another container .” But he answered her, “There are no more .” Then the olive oil stopped flowing . 4:7 She went and told the prophet . He said , “Go , sell the olive oil . Repay your creditor , and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit.”
Elisha Gives Life to a Boy
4:8 One day Elisha traveled to Shunem , where a prominent woman lived. She insisted that he stop for a meal . So whenever he was passing through , he would stop in there for a meal . 4:9 She said to her husband , “Look , I’m sure that the man who regularly passes through here is a very special prophet . 4:10 Let’s make a small private upper room and furnish it with a bed , table , chair , and lamp . When he visits us, he can stay there .” 4:11 One day Elisha came for a visit; he went into the upper room and rested .

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

more

Arts

Hymns

(Note: In "active" or "on" condition, the hymns music will be played automatically when mouse hover on a hymns title)
  • [2Ki 4:3] Bring Your Vessels, Not A Few

Sermon Illustrations

Ten Biblical & Practical Reasons to Give to the Lord’s Work; Why Give 10% or More of Your Income to the Lord's Work

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • (Continued from notes on 1 Kings)3. Ahaziah's evil reign in Israel -1 Kings 22:51-2 Kings 1:184. Jehoram's evil reign in Israel 2:1-8:155. Jehoram's evil reign in Judah 8:16-246. Ahaziah's evil reign in Judah 8:25-9:29C. The ...
  • The Gilgal in view may have been the one between Jericho and the Jordan, or it may have been one about seven miles north of Bethel since Elijah and Elisha went down to Bethel (v. 2).10This account presupposes previous revelat...
  • In contrast to the incident above, this one shows God's blessing on a wealthy woman. She was not the marriage partner of a prophet but a simple faithful believer in Yahweh (cf. vv. 8-10, 16, 21-22, 24-25, 27, 30, 37). She was...
  • Hazael was the governor of Damascus.50The Gentile King of Aram had more interest in inquiring of Yahweh than Jehoram's predecessor did (v. 8; cf. 1:2). It was customary in the Near East to make a great show of giving gifts. I...
  • Jehoash (Joash) had respect and affection for Elisha. He anticipated the loss that the death of God's spiritual warrior would be to Israel (v. 14). He recognized that Israel's real defense lay in Yahweh's angelic army and in ...
  • Having given His essential response to the people's repentance, the Lord now explained what He would do in more detail. This section is chiastic with the focus of emphasis on verses 21-24. Verses 19 and 26-27 promise a restor...
  • Not all the sins that Amos identified appear in verses 6-8; two more appear in verse 12. Amos named seven sins of Israel all together rather than just one, as in the previous oracles, though he continued to use the "for three...
  • 7:10 Amaziah, who was one of the apostate priests who served at the Bethel sanctuary (cf. 1 Kings 12:26-33), felt that Amos was being unpatriotic in what he was prophesying. So Amaziah sent a message to King Jeroboam II charg...
  • 7:14 Amos replied that he was not a prophet by his own choosing; he did not decide to pursue prophesying as a career. Neither had he become a prophet because his father had been one. In Amos' culture it was common and expecte...
  • The title of the book is the name of its writer.All we know for sure about Habakkuk was that he was a prophet who lived during the pre-exilic period of Israel's history.1The meaning of his name is questionable. It may come fr...
  • Jesus had previously fed 5,000 men, but that was near the northeast coast of Galilee, where the people were Jews (14:13-21). Now He fed 4,000 men on the east coast of Galilee, where the people were mainly Gentiles.15:32-33 Ma...
  • This is one of the sections of Mark's Gospel that has a chiastic structure (cf. 3:22-30; 6:14-29; 11:15-19).A The appeal of Jairus for his daughter 5:21-24B The healing of the woman with the hemorrhage 5:25-34A' The raising o...
  • Paul continued the emphasis he began in the previous section (vv. 3-10) by appealing to Timothy to pursue spiritual rather than physical goals in his life. He seems to have intended his instructions for all the faithful Ephes...
Back to Commentary Page


TIP #07: Click the Audio icon (NT only) to listen to the NET Bible Audio New Testament. [ALL]
created in 0.04 seconds
powered by
bible.org - YLSA