1.

Put yourself in the shoes of the wife of the man described in verse 1.  How must she have felt about: 1) herself; 2) her two sons; 3) her husband; 4) Elisha; and 5) the Lord?  What do you think she might have meant when she said to Elisha: 1) “Your servant, my husband is dead;” 2) “you know that he revered the Lord;” 3) “But now his creditor is coming to take my two sons as his slaves”?  Why do you think the Lord allowed this to happen even to a man who served Him wholeheartedly? 

** She might have felt unlucky to have been the wife of a man of faith.

** She might have felt sorry for her two kids born of a believing family.

** She might have loved him, but she might have at the same time complained about her husband for he did not fulfill his responsibility to feed the family. 

** Elisha could have paid a salary or at least provide him with ‘relief funds’ or some sort of subsidy or stipend, but he did not. Apparently Elisha himself lived off of other peoples sweat, seeming to goof around, doing nothing to improve the financial conditions of his “discipleship” ministry.

** The Lord taught that if one seeks first his kingdom and his righteousness, all “these” things would be added, but that did not seem to be happening in her life, at least in her own opinion. So she might have complained to the Lord as well.

** You are a man of God who is alive. Yet why is it that my husband, who is your servant, died? What is wrong with you, you ‘so-called’ servant of God?

** Is this the way the Lord treats a man and his family who serve the Lord? 

** If you obey the Lord you will lend to many and borrow from none. Deut. 28:11. Then how come a creditor is coming down on us? Plus, God’s servants are meant to be free. How come my two sons are to be sold as slaves? 

** This happens in order for the Lord to teach a man (or a woman) a real lesson, that is, genuine faith in the Lord. Sometimes the Lord creates a situation of need in order to give us what is better, that is, faith in the Lord. We see the Lord doing the same thing with Lazarus (and his two sisters Martha and Mary) intentionally not addressing Lazarus’ sickness, so that it grew worse, in order to teach them a lesson, that is, resurrection faith.

2.

 Consider Elisha’s reply in verse 2a.  It seems like he could have stopped after saying, “How can I help you?”  So why do you think Elisha added, “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” (Mark 6:38)  What wisdom can we learn about how to overcome the dire circumstances of our lives?

** He said this in order to help her to live by faith in the Lord, for it is when one has faith that one can go and find what one has in the Lord or what one has already blessed her with as a seed for further blessings to come!

** Just as Jesus challenged the disciples to go and see by “faith”, so also Elisha wanted to teach her what she already has in the Lord, as the foundation for further blessings to come. 

** Before complaining, we must first go and see what we have, and then bring it to the Lord by faith in Him, for His blessings. 

3.

Consider what the woman said in verse 2b.  What do the following tell about her: 1) “Your servant has nothing there at all;” 2) “except a little oil.” 

** She had a lot more than just a little oil, that is, her life that comes with strength, a mouth to even complain with, and most importantly her two powerful sons who can live as powerfully, if not more so  than Elijah and Elisha combined.

But she said, “your servant has nothing at all…”

** She, however, is a little better than the disciples of Jesus in Mark’s gospel 6:37, because while she could have said, “I have nothing at all period,” she truthfully said, “except a little oil.”  

4.

Elisha issued the woman some very unusual instructions.  What can we learn from the orders he gave her: 1) “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars;” 2) “Don’t ask for just a few;” 3) “Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons;” 4) “Pour the oil in the jars;” and 5) “as each is filled, put it to one side.”

** Three things: 1) “go around” indicates the need for us to be broad minded, proactive, and outgoing; 2) “all your neighbors” especially the word “all” indicates the need to be absolute in looking “everywhere” for  the” vessels” to hold the blessings the Lord God to come; and 3) empty jars refer to the vessels. The word “empty” is the key, for what the Lord needs is a humble man, humble like an empty jar, not a man filled with one’s own ego, ideas, preoccupations, etc. 

Similar exhortations are found in such words as: 1) Titus 1:5 where the Apostle Paul says, “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint [Or ordain] elders in every town, as I directed you; or 2) Isaiah 54:2, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes,” or 3) Mark 16:15 saying, “"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation,” or 4) Psalm 81:10 saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” 

** “Don’t ask for just a few” holds a message that says, “Don’t limit what God can do for you.” The Apostle Paul says in Eph 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Similarly, Jesus rebuked a father saying, “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes.” 

** Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. This statement teaches us the God who blesses his children through not letting his left hand know what his right hand is doing. This reminds us of what Jesus said in Matthew 6:5-6,"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

** Pour the oil in the jars

This is the call to “exercise” one’s real faith. Pouring is an act of faith, for it requires action which is prompted by faith that believes that the oil will “continue to flow” as God’s servant says. 

 ** It requires “continued” exercise of faith, not stopping with one or two.   

5.

Verse 5 says, “She kept pouring.”  What do her actions teach us?

** She was a woman of faith. 

6. 

Consider the conversation between the woman and her son in verse 6.  When did the oil stop flowing?  What message can we learn here?

** When she stopped “pouring”. 

** God’s blessing is as limited as our faith is limited; it is as unlimited as our faith (which is expressed in action) is unlimited.

7.

When the woman reported back to Elisha, he instructed her further.  What do these instructions tell us about how to meet the needs we have in life? 1) “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts”;  2) “you and your sons can live on what is left.”

** God wants us to work hard based on what he is going to bless us with, with the express purpose that we would not be debtors but creditors. 

In addition, the expression “can live on” means she was yet to work on what she has, for example using it as a capital and making it well up by continually exercising the faith she learned. 

The end.