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Introduction: What do you think of when you’re pondering a Thanksgiving Day meal? For many years, it’s a more or less American tradition to have a roasted or baked turkey or ham, along with mashed potatoes, gravy, other vegetables such as green beans, dressing or stuffing, and just about anything you can think of, right? In other words, it’s a feast!
But for this group of men, not only did Thanksgiving come way early—it may have been their last meal ever if not for Elisha and one of our Lord’s miracles! There were two miracles, that day, almost as if the LORD was giving a double blessing that day. Let’s take a look:
1 The miracle of the bad stew made good
Text: 2 Kings 4:38-41, KJV: 38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not. 40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. 41 But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
Elisha was the foremost prophet of the True God, the LORD, in these days. Elijah, whom Elisha had served before, had been taken up to heaven at an earlier time (2:1-14) and now Elisha was the leader, so to speak. Now he’s at Gilgal, where there was a school or, maybe, seminary, for various groups of men who wanted to be true to the LORD. They did this even though they were living in a land or country which had basically abandoned the God of their ancestry. God bless these sons of the prophets: we know little if anything about them or even any success they may have had, but they remained true. So can we. Let’ s put the LORD first in all things.
But even though these men remained true to the LORD, they were suffering from the famine (“dearth”, KJV) in that time. Oddly enough, Israel—the northern kingdom—had already suffered from a famine and drought, also of seven years, during Elijah’s days. And now it’s happening again. Each time I read this, I find myself shaking my head: why didn’t they figure it out? Baal, one of the “gods” Israel had begun to worship, was supposed to be the “god” of a lot of things including fertility, weather, and maybe even breakfast in bed but—nothing good was taking place. Again, I wonder, why couldn’t these Israelites figure out the problem.
Elisha was no stranger to famine, either. He had lived during the famine of Elijah’s day and would suffer along with others in Samaria sometime later when the Syrians/Arameans would lay siege to the city (2 Kings 6). Notice he identified with these students, 100 strong at this time (see verse 43), and didn’t eat when they had nothing to eat. It’s easy to miss this, but there was a famine going on, and there may not be much to find or even be affordable. So they’re sitting down, probably after a lesson about the Law (there wasn’t much written Scripture in those days), and wondering, “Sir, what’s for supper?”
If that question was asked, Elisha said nothing. Maybe he was praying. At any rate, he told his servant, whoever this man was (opinions vary), and told him to “set on the great pot and seethe pottage” for the students. Although it’s not said, this would mean getting a fire started—I don’t know anybody who’s ever liked cold soup or gravy!—and prepping any stuff they could find for the meal. Did any of the students have veggies with him? Or was this preparation a sign of faith that the LORD would provide? We don’t know, but Elisha was making ready for supper.
And that’s why one of the sons of the prophets went to “gather herbs” or whatever vegetables or produce they could find. This man, like any number of others, had a desire to help but he may not have known what was good and what was not. He found a “wild vine” and “wild gourds” out there and grabbed what he could, then cut them up and added them to whatever Elisha had boiling inside the “great pot”.
A word about the term “lap full”: this could mean that student used his outer garment as a sack or bag of some kind to hold the gourds till he got back to the “campus”. Much the same thing took place during the days of Ruth when Boaz told Ruth to use her veil to carry a good amount of barley back to Naomi (Ruth 3:14-18).
Commentators have different interpretations as to just what these “wild gourds” really were and maybe we’ll never know for sure. Some think they were something like wild cucumbers, or something else that had an orange color (“bitter apples”, as one called them). There is one thing that several did agree on, and that was not only the very bitter taste but also the effects on the body. John Gill and others of the 1700-1800’s called these “wild gourds” a “purgative” or very powerful laxative (https://www.thefreedictionary.com/purgative)
Once some of the students got a taste of this “stew”, it was no wonder one or more of them “cried out” to warn Elisha: “Death in the pot!’ None of them, praise to the LORD, seemed to suffer because they had only taken a taste of it. Aren’t we glad that the LORD puts warnings on various things that are or could be harmful to us? He had made sure that this bitter taste was a warning to “DON’T EAT THIS!”
Elisha, though, was unruffled, never losing his composure. He said, “Then bring meal,” and I’ve wondered from the first time I read this story to this time how he knew there was any meal to bring! This word “meal”, by the way, comes from the same word translated “flour” in other places (such as Genesis 18) but I still wonder how anybody had any flour at all during these days of famine. Whoever had it, brought it, and offered it to Elisha—if I read this correctly, Elisha didn’t have any flour or meal, either, and that’s why he had to ask for it!
Well, once this truly unsung hero brought the meal or flour to Elisha, Elisha “cast it into the pot” and, probably, stirred it into the rest of the “pottage” or stew (one recent commentary calls it vegetable soup). That’s when the miracle happened: the LORD took this act of faith and an unknown amount of flour and then healed the food. The writer adds a note: “there was no harm in the pot”—because the LORD had worked this miracle! The men may not have had a lot, but they had something, and most of all, they had the LORD. And for them, that was enough.
But the LORD wasn’t quite done with this supper just yet.
2 The miracle of the barley loaves and grain
Text, 2 Kings 4:42-44, KJV:42 And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43 And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44 So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.
We’re not told when this other unsung hero brought a gift of barley loaves and ears of grain to Elisha except that it was in the spring. Barley harvest, according to several sources, was near Passover or about the first of April in our calendar. The “corn” mentioned here was grain of some kind, and probably barley, too, as the man had brought loaves made of barley. The corn grown here in the USA was known as maize or Indian corn but was unknown to the Middle East in those days.
Some folks wonder why this man of Baal-shalisha brought Elisha this grain or first-fruits offering. Commentators have various thoughts but one theme is that there were few if any Levites, let alone priests of the God of Israel left in the north. Additionally, the northern kings may have made travel to and from Judah difficult if not impossible—after all, the one united nation had split into two after Solomon’s death and Rehoboam’s folly (1 Kings 12) and there was hardly any peace between these two nations after that time. So, the man was convinced that if he couldn’t bring his offering to the Temple, and he couldn’t find a Levite, he would bring it to the prophet of the LORD. That man could have kept it for himself but he chose to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit (not mentioned here but implied) and find Elisha.
To Elisha’s credit, he didn’t keep any of this bread and grain for himself. We’ll never know what he was thinking at this time, but I can’t help but believe he was grateful for another believer in the LORD who wanted to observe the Law as best he could. It’s anybody’s guess as to the distance the man had to walk and whether he had been stopped at checkpoints, if any existed.
The man did take some extra precautions, too. It wouldn’t, and I think couldn’t, be very easy to hold 20 barley loaves in one hand or even two. Estimates vary but a good guess might be that a barley “loaf” was maybe about the size of a biscuit or cinnamon roll. Besides the loaves, the man from Baal-shalisha also brought “ears of (grain)”. Again, there’s some debate as to what this actually meant but the general idea is that he brought not only barley loaves but also some grain.
And, apparently, he went back home, known only for this one particular deed.
Or, maybe he stayed—did Elisha invite him to stay for dinner with the students? We’ll never know, but we do know what happened next. Elisha told his servant, “Give these to the people so they can have something to eat (paraphrased)”. Doesn’t this remind us of what our Lord Jesus Christ did, also with a few barley loaves, and also around Passover (John 6)?
My guess is that the servant was flummoxed or, maybe, stunned at such a request. He said in so many words, “You want me to feed 100 men with this—only this?” And Elisha’s reply was, “Yes, that’s exactly right and besides, the LORD says they’ll have enough to eat and they’ll leave some of it behind!”
Obediently, the servant did exactly this and, sure enough, the 100 people ate and had some left over, “according to the word of the LORD.”
Let’s try to wrap it up here. We have two separate events but they may have happened at the same time. In both cases we have hungry people with little if anything to eat. One well-intentioned student went and found something that looked like good food—I guess if you’re hungry enough, almost anything looks good—and sliced and diced the “wild gourds” into the pot of “pottage” Elisha was preparing. Some, at least, tasted the stuff and found out the stew or pottage was literally poisonous but Elisha asked for some meal or flour, threw it in, and the LORD healed the food.
Then, another unsung hero brought 20 barley loaves and some fresh (recently harvested?) grain. Elisha, with God’s help, fed 100 people with 20 loaves about the size of some biscuits or hamburger buns—and there were some leftovers, too.
You and I may not be called to perform miracles like this. But we can first look for ways to help meet various needs, even as the two unsung heroes did here. And most of all, we can be, and should be, responsive to the Holy Spirit as He leads us to do various things.
When we follow the LORD and obey Him, we too can have a fantastic Thanksgiving meal, just as these men did, any day of the year! I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. God bless.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
