Empty Vessels
We don’t know his name. He was a poor, young Bible school student, inspired by Elijah, instructed by Elisha, and called of the Lord. He studied, practiced preaching and served wherever he could.
Times were tough. Jezebel’s false prophets were well paid. The true prophets of the Lord lived a different kind of life. Too soon, his life was over! His family was left in a predicament.
Tersely, Scripture tells her story, “Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil” (II Kings 4:1-2).
How and when did this poor man receive his prophet’s call? Was he still single? Did his bride know he was called before they married? Did they clasp hands and covenant together to follow the call of the Lord at any cost? At any rate, they married and two children came along. Two sons! That was a kind of wealth. They were happy! Poor, but happy!
Scripture gives none of his family background. Later Jewish rabbis made up stories that this was the widow of Obadiah who had hidden and fed 100 prophets of the Lord in a cave, but there is no proof of this and very little likelihood.
So he remains a nameless prophet and she a nameless widow. We only know of his death, their desperation and their deliverance. Please let me use my imagination to fill in the gaps and flesh out the story.
This poor, young prophet — we don’t even know whether he had graduated or was still in school — but this impoverished husband and father of two boys had devoted himself to the ministry. He feared the Lord, yet he was in debt. In fact, he died in debt and left his family in a bind.
How did he come to be in debt? Was there persecution? Was there sickness? Were the children sick? It seems the wife was healthy and probably the boys.
Was it a case of poor management? Many people are poor because they don’t know how to manage. They buy more than they should. They don’t plan ahead so they are always paying top dollar for minimum quality. Some of them always buy on credit so that they are continually paying finance charges, high rates of interest! Well, Elisha never rebuked the widow for poor management. The Bible says the prophet had feared the Lord, so I think we can assume he had done his best to be financially responsible, even if he did make some financial mistakes.
No one scolded the family for not having a savings account. Life insurance had not been invented. Jezebel’s government did not subsidize prophets like him.
The husband died. Maybe it was disease that cut him off. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe Jezebel’s hit men got him.
There was a sad funeral, a sad burial. Perhaps there were other prophets and Bible school students at the funeral. How did the widow manage to pay for a grave? Or did someone kindly allow her to use theirs?
The family grieved the loss of husband and father. How would they ever make ends meet? They had debts to pay, but how…?
One day, not long after the funeral, there came a horrid knock at the door. The creditor had heard of the prophet’s death, and he realized he had better move soon or he would lose the entire account. All the way to answer the door the widow wept and prayed. No, Lord, It Can’t Be! It was the Knock she had dreaded in her nightmares!
The creditor insisted. He must have payment. The debts had to be settled. The widow sobbed helplessly.
“If you can’t pay, then I’ll be forced to take your sons. They’ll make decent slaves for someone!”
Hebrew law provided for an insolvent debtor to become a servant, until the next Jubilee year (every 50 years) and if the person was also an Israelite, the service was not to be severe labor, but the country was now under Ahab and Jezebel! What would happen to the boys? Who would take care of the widow?
For some reason, the creditor stalked away without taking the boys. He could always come back later to pick them up.
What kind of beast was this man? The price of a slave was only 30 pieces of silver. Two boys, sixty (60) silver coins about the size of a quarter! What good would that do a wealthy man? Two sons worth everything to a poor widow, pocket change to a rich man!
The widow sobbed and prayed desperately. Late into the night she begged God for an answer. Her sleep came in short naps, each punctuated by a nightmare of her boys being snatched away from her. It seemed like the sky was falling!
Early in the morning,
SHE FLED TO THE MAN OF GOD
Her husband had feared the Lord. He was known to be a servant of God. He was one of the 7,000 the Lord told Elijah had never bowed the knee to Baal. Elisha knew all of that. Others knew it (v.1).
She sobbed out her story to the Man of God, “Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.”
Elisha’s eyes took in the scene, a weeping widow, left destitute and in debt. Her deceased husband had been a prophet. He could remember the man. Every prophet of the Lord had taken on a heavy risk. Times were hard. Elisha himself had nothing extra. He lived just like all the other prophets. His heart was crushed.
“God, things like this should not be!” A helpless widow with two sons headed for slavery – unless God intervened. What could be done?
Maybe stalling for time, he asked her, “What do you have in the house?” He might as well get an inventory of what she had to start with.
Her reply must have broken his heart, “Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house,
save a pot of oil.”
One ’asôk of oil! An anointing flask, a small vessel for the oil needed to anoint the body! Not much to start with! We don’t even know that she owned the house. She probably did not. If she had owned the house, the creditor would have tried to take that from her. Joseph Sutcliffe comments, “No silver plate, no redundant furniture, nor any empty jars for oil. Truly, great poverty, and illustrious piety dwelt in that house.”
Elisha sighed and raised his eyes to heaven, looked down at her trembling frame, and instructed her, “Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.”
SHE OBEYED
The request boggled her mind. What kind of project was this? How would this help? What would happen? She had a lot of unanswered questions, but she did know the next step. She dried her tears, thanked the man of God, rose to her feet, looked quizzically at him, then turned and began walking toward home. He smiled as she left.
Plans began forming in her mind. Then came more questions. “Will the neighbors trust to loan me their jars? Whom will I ask first? What size jars did Elisha specify? He didn’t actually say. Should I go for big ones? No, that would be foolish. It would only take one small jar to contain everything I already have.”
“Will there be a miracle? Well, it will take just as much of a miracle to fill a bunch of small jars as a room full of big ones! If there’s going to be a miracle, I might as well prepare in a big way! Would that be selfish? No, we have a desperate need. Better get big ones!”
“Will it be okay to put oil in just any vessel? We will have to wash them to be sure the oil is not contaminated. If we are borrowing, we’ll have to label every jar to be sure we can return the jars to their owners.”
“What if my boys break one? I can’t think about that. We’ll just have to be careful.”
“What will I tell the neighbors? This sounds dumb! I have no way to pay my bills, so I am borrowing all these jars… empty jars. I guess I’ll have to tell them Elisha told me to do this. Should I tell them the whole story? No, for some reason Elisha told me to shut the door when I pour the oil.”
Her heart raced in anticipation! Then her head told her she was completely stupid! Her feet were flying. Little poofs of dust followed her.
She stopped at the front of her house, straightened her robe, adjusted her veil, and cautiously opened the door. Inside there were two very tearful, terrified boys! They were praying for God to do something! Her aching heart cried out, “God, You have to do something! Please!”
Excitedly, she told the boys what Elisha had ordered. Their eyes grew large as dinner plates. They had a hundred questions, but she cut them short. Let’s get started.
They began going house to house. She and her boys soon had their arms full so they walked back to the house. They started out again, and again, and again. Each trip was farther and took longer. They lugged jars of all sizes and descriptions. No, they could only take empty jars. No, thank you, they were not asking for anything, just empty jars. (Their neighbors must have been running low on stuff too because they had empty jars available.)
Now the room looked like a flea market. Jars everywhere! Empty jars! The longer they carried, the more the question pestered her. “What if nothing happens? What if I have to take all these jars back and tell the neighbors…?” She shook her head vigorously. She pushed it out of her mind. “The prophet gave me these instructions. It is enough to obey!”
The boys grew tired. “Do we have to keep carrying jars?”
“Yes, Elisha said to borrow lots of jars, ‘not a few!’”
They walked and borrowed and walked and borrowed. Then came the cleaning. Every jar had to be clean. (Or maybe they had already cleaned each one as they brought it into the room.)
With each trip, they had carefully shut the door when they left and when they returned. Now they went inside with the last jars they had been able to find. Carefully they shut the door! No prying eyes! By now the neighbors were talking. Everyone wanted to know what was going on.
SHE SHUT THE DOOR
J. Orr remarked, “This was too sacred a work to be made a vulgar wonder. To receive the full benefit of the blessing, the inmates of the house were to be alone, in privacy, their thoughts and spirits undisturbed…. The parading of religious experiences takes the bloom off them.” This was no side show! It was not a religious exhibit! If the creditor knew how much oil she had, he might try to take more from her.
They shut the door so they would know the oil did not come from anyone else. They shut the door so they could praise the Lord.
“Bring me a jar!”
The widow began pouring the oil. The first container must have been the most remarkable. I think she probably started with a medium size jar. A small one would indicate no faith. A large one might seem like presumption. But Elisha had said, “[Thou] shalt pour out into all those vessels.”
Carefully she filled the first container. Her son moved it to the other side of the room and set it down gently. The younger son placed the next empty jar before her. She continued pouring.
The oil was multiplied in the pouring. She never had a big tank to pour from. It was a little like “our daily bread.”
The Lord had her pour it herself to emphasize that she had a part to play. This was an unforgettable miracle for her sons to see. The God of their father was demonstrating His Almighty Power.
The boys handled those pots themselves. The younger son brought the empties, the older one carried and organized the full ones. Forever they would remember how they had borrowed and carried empty jars. Then mother had poured and they arranged the full containers. This was no dream that someone could explain away! They had a full multi-sensory experience. They felt the weight. They lugged the jugs. They felt the smoothness of the olive oil. They heard the glug of the jug discharging its contents. They watched the flow, always wondering when it would run out. Maybe they saw the last drop and thought it was gone, then watched as more began coming out of the little jug.
They had heard their mother weeping in hopeless despair before the miracle. Now they heard their mother weeping while pouring the oil, carefully brushing the tears aside to keep them out of the oil. They heard her say, “Bring me another jar!” They would never forget scrambling to find one more and finally responding, “That’s the last one!”
They heard their mother sobbing, “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!” No one could ever talk those boys out of their miracle!
SHE WENT BACK FOR MORE INSTRUCTIONS
The widow recited the instructions of Elisha again, “Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.”
“Hmm. He never said what to do after the jugs were full. I could imagine, but God is doing something so special here, I’m going back to the Man of God for further directions.”
She must have run all the way back to Elisha. She sputtered out the story with thanksgiving and praise and relief.
Elisha smiled at her, raised his eyes to heaven to thank the Lord and gently instructed her, “Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.”
He set her up in business! She would have to check the going prices for oil. She and her boys would carry the oil to market. They would set up a stand and begin selling oil.
People always brought their own containers to market, but she would have to keep the borrowed jugs organized so they could return each container to the rightful owner. They would clean and deliver the containers. “And don’t forget to say ‘Thank you.’”
Every sale would be an occasion to testify. Every returned container would be an occasion to re-tell the story.
Elisha had instructed her that she was to pay her debts first, then manage what was left for the future. This was more than she had ever imagined.
Was the creditor surprised when she showed up with the money? Was he angry because he would rather have ruined her? Probably not, because this way he got the full balance repaid!
The Lord turned this miracle into a lifelong education and testimony. The boys grew up with a heritage above the price of rubies. They knew that the God of their father answers prayer.
They learned business and management. The Lord improved what she had by a miracle, but then had her learn business by selling the oil and taught her to plan for the future. They sold enough to make a small fortune, but then they also learned to invest and not to waste.
Did the other prophets learn from her miracle? Did others learn from her lesson? Did she keep that one small jug to remember the miracle? Was it a holy vessel? Did the neighbors remember which vessels they had loaned to help contain the miracle?
Notice that The Blessing waited on her asking. God knew her need, but He waited for her to ask. He wants our attention and dependence on Him. Interestingly, God asked for empty vessels. There has to be room for His miracle. Don’t be full of the wrong stuff. The emptier you are the more you may be ripe for a miracle.
The Blessing was measured by her preparation. Did it ever dawn on the woman that if she had borrowed more vessels the miracle would have been bigger?
The Blessing incorporated her managing. The God of their father had demonstrated His Almighty Power in delivering, ransoming them from slavery! These boys could never forget it! But He also taught them to manage their resources.
Whatever your situation, confess your emptiness! Come to Jesus! Lift up your jug! Pray, “God, I have got to be filled!”
I pray God will fill everything you have!
