Context No. 3291 of 4322 · 2 Kings

2 Kings 4:37-44: in context

37Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out. 38Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” 39One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognize them. 40So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. 41But he said, “Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot. 42A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give to the people, that they may eat.” 43His servant said, “What, should I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for the LORD says, ‘They will eat, and will have some left over.’” 44So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to the LORD’s word.

Two small miracles of provision follow one another. During a famine, a poisonous stew is served to the sons of the prophets, and they cry out, man of God, there is death in the pot. Elisha throws in meal, and it becomes wholesome again. Then a man brings twenty barley loaves, and Elisha says to set them before a hundred men. His servant objects that it is far too little, but Elisha insists, for the LORD says they shall eat and have some left over. And they do.

God can heal what has been spoiled and make it life-giving again, turning death in the pot back into food. And he can take what seems far too small and make it more than enough. The servant's objection, how can I set this before a hundred men?, is answered by God's abundance, with food to spare. This is a clear foreshadowing of Christ feeding the multitudes with a few loaves. God delights to take the little we have and multiply it, feeding many from what seems hopelessly small.

When what I have seems far too little for the need before me, do I trust God to multiply it, as he fed a hundred from a few loaves?

Sources

2 Kings 4:43: "His servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give it to the people... for the LORD says, They will eat, and will have some left over."
2 Kings 4:44: "So he set it before them and they ate and had some left over, according to the LORD's word."
John 6:9: "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?"