6<\/strong>. she said unto her son<\/em> ] Here the LXX., apparently only because ‘sons’ had been mentioned before, has here also ‘sons’ and later on in the verse ‘and they said’. The Hebrew is far more natural. Both sons had helped, but it would be to one that her request ‘Bring me another’ would be addressed.<\/p>\n And the oil stayed<\/em> ] i.e. ceased to flow any longer. The English verb is a little antiquated in this sense, being now more commonly used for ‘to cause to stand’. But cf. Jos 10:13<\/span> ‘The sun stood still and the moon stayed<\/em> ’, i.e. ceased to move.<\/p>\n 2Ki 4:6<\/span><\/p>\n And it came to pass when the vessels were full.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Gods way of giving<\/strong><\/p>\n This incident is rich in suggestiveness. It may be employed to illustrate the rapid changes of human fortune; the crushing weight of cumulative trials; or the practical sympathy of a true prophet who is never so faithful in his calling as when he visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and exerts his influence in their behalf. There are, however, considerations suggested by the particular method adopted in this case which throw light upon Gods way of giving, and indicate, not obscurely, the terms upon which we, who have no miraculous interpositions to expect, may become recipients of His continual bounty.<\/p>\n When the oil flows<\/strong><\/p>\n Now, if I may venture to be fanciful for once, let me tell you of three vessels that we have to bring if we would have the oil of the Divine Spirit poured into us.<\/p>\n The oil and the vessels<\/strong><\/p>\n So long as there were vessels to be filled the miraculous flow of the oil continued, and it only ceased when there were no more jars to contain it.<\/p>\n The Spirit of God supplying the need of the Church<\/strong><\/p>\n The multiplication of the oil ran parallel with the demand of each successive vessel. As the sons brought them they became full. Whatever their size or shape, they were carried back, and set down, filled to the brim. When all were quite full, she bitterly lamented that there was not a vessel more. It is so that the Spirit of God has been supplying the need of the Church from that moment in the upper room, when the risen Lord began to pour Him forth. Vessel after vessel has been brought; men like Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, John Knox have been filled, and still the stream of oil and grace of spiritual plenitude and anointing is being poured forth. (E. B. Meyer.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 6<\/span>. And the oil stayed.<\/B><\/I>] While there was a vessel to fill, there was oil sufficient; and it only ceased to flow when there was no vessel to receive it. This is a good emblem of the grace of God. While there is an empty, longing heart, there is a continual overflowing fountain of salvation. If we find in any place or at any time that the oil ceases to flow, it is because there are no empty vessels there, no souls hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We find fault with the dispensations of God’s mercy, and ask, Why were the former days better than these? Were we as much in earnest for our salvation as our forefathers<\/I> were for theirs, we should have equal supplies, and as much reason to sing aloud of Divine mercy.<\/P> <\/p>\n Unto her son; <\/B>to one of them, for she had two, 2Ki 4:1<\/span>. The oil stayed, to teach us, that we should not waste any of Gods good creatures, and that God would not work miracles unnecessarily. <\/P> <\/p>\n 6. the oil stayed<\/B>that is,ceased to multiply; the benevolent object for which the miracle hadbeen wrought having been accomplished. <\/P> 2Ki4:8-17<\/span>. PROMISES A SONTO THE SHUNAMMITE.<\/P><\/p>\n And it came to pass when the vessels were full<\/strong>,…. For the oil being miraculously increased as it was poured forth, there was enough to fill all the vessels; Ben Gersom and Abarbinel say, that when the pot was emptied, all the air that entered it was turned into oil:<\/p>\n that she said to her son, bring me yet a vessel<\/strong>; as she had two sons, one it is probable was employed in setting aside the full vessels, as she poured into them, and the other in bringing to her the empty vessels, and to whom she thus speaks:<\/p>\n and he said unto her, there is not a vessel more<\/strong>; not an empty one, they were all filled:<\/p>\n and the oil stayed<\/strong>; it ran no longer, it was no more multiplied; there was no necessity of continuing the miracle: this oil may be an emblem of the grace that flows from the fulness of it in Christ, to which it is compared, which will be always flowing, as long as there is a vessel of salvation, or faith in any to receive it; see Mt 25:3<\/span> 1Jo 2:20<\/span>.<\/p>\n (6) Her son.<\/strong>Probably the eldest. The LXX. has plural here and in the verb that follows.<\/p>\n Stayed.<\/strong>Heb., stood<\/em>i.e.<\/em>, halted, stopped. (Comp. Luk. 8:44<\/span>, .) Bhr makes the word mean continued<\/em>i.e.<\/em>, to flow (!).<\/p>\n 6<\/strong>. <\/strong> The oil stayed <\/strong> “It only ceased to flow when there was no vessel to receive it. This is a good emblem of the grace of God. While there is an empty, longing heart, there is a continual overflowing fountain of salvation. If we find in any place, or at any time, that the oil ceases to flow, it is because there are no empty vessels there, no souls hungering and thirsting for righteousness.” Clarke. <\/em> Compare 2Co 6:11-12<\/span>.<\/p>\n DISCOURSE: 362 2Ki 4:6<\/span>. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.<\/em><\/p>\n FROM every event recorded in the Old Testament, there is much useful instruction to be derived. For instance, it is impossible to read with attention the account of the miracle before us, and not to see, that, in our deepest extremity, God is able and willing to relieve those who trust in him. But there are often minute incidents, which a superficial reader is apt to overlook, but which, to a considerate mind, suggest very important reflections. Of this kind is the incident mentioned in my text: the increase of oil continued as long as there was a vessel left to contain it; but when there remained no more a vessel to receive the oil, the supply ceased. So remarkable a circumstance as this cannot have occurred without a special design on the part of God that we should make a suitable improvement of it: and, that we may draw from it the instruction which it is well calculated to convey, I shall mark,<\/p>\n I.<\/p>\n The bounty of God towards this insolvent widow<\/p>\n Certainly her distress was great Under this heavy calamity she applied to the Prophet Elisha; who, though not able to relieve her himself, might possibly obtain relief for her from God.] II.<\/p>\n Whence it is that we also are not more enriched by it<\/p>\n Our state accords in a measure with that of the insolvent widow, inasmuch as we are loaded with a debt which we can never discharge, and are threatened with everlasting bonds as the just consequence of our insolvency. But from God do I declare,<\/p>\n 1.<\/p>\n That relief shall be afforded you<\/p>\n [God is both able<\/em> and willing<\/em> to relieve all who call upon him. He is able;<\/em> as the Apostle has said: God is able to make all<\/em> grace abound<\/em> toward you; that ye, always<\/em> having all-sufficiency<\/em> in all<\/em> things, may abound<\/em> unto every good work [Note: 2Co 9:8<\/span>.]. And to God he ascribes all glory, in that precise view: Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end, Amen [Note: Eph 3:20<\/span>.]. And He is as willing<\/em> as he is able. It is for this very end that he has treasured up in Christ all fulness for us, that out of it we may receive to the utmost extent of our necessities [Note: Col 1:19<\/span>; Joh 1:16<\/span>.]. In Christ is the residue of the Spirit [Note: Mal 2:15<\/span>.]; whom he has received without measure [Note: Joh 3:34<\/span>.], on purpose that he may impart of it unto us, even to the most rebellious amongst us [Note: Psa 68:18<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n That if we receive not to the fullest possible extent of our necessities, it is not in God that we are straitened, but in ourselves [Note: 2Co 6:12<\/span>.]<\/p>\n [Most free are the invitations given us to come and receive Gods blessings without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1<\/span>.]. And so largely is our Saviour willing to bestow them, that they should be in us a well of water springing up unto everlasting life [Note: Joh 4:14<\/span>.]. Yea, to all, without exception, does he make an offer, that, if they come unto him for the waters of life, out of their belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive [Note: Joh 7:37-39<\/span>.]. He is represented by the Prophet Zechariah as an inexhaustible fountain, even as that golden bowl which by golden pipes supplies with golden oil every lamp in Gods sanctuary [Note: Zec 4:1-6<\/span>; Zec 4:11-14<\/span>.]. He bids us open our mouth wide, that he may fill it [Note: Psa 81:10<\/span>.]. He assures us that we may ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us [Note: Joh 15:7<\/span>.]: and that according to our faith it shall be done unto us [Note: Mat 9:29<\/span>.]. Why, then, have we for the most part so scanty a supply of Gods Holy Spirit? The reason may be seen in the conduct of king Joash. Elisha had told him that he should destroy the Syrians who had oppressed him: and he bade the king to strike the ground with the arrows which he had in his hand. The king, being deficient both in faith and zeal, struck the ground only three times, and thereby greatly incensed the prophet against him; and was told, that the mercy promised should be reduced to the scale which he himself, by his want of zeal, had dictated: for he should smite the Syrians only thrice; whereas, if he had struck the ground five or six times, he should have utterly consumed them [Note: 2Ki 13:15-19<\/span>.]. Thus, if we were more urgent in our prayers, and more enlarged in our expectations, who can tell what supplies of the Holy Spirit we might obtain? Verily I speak not too strongly, if I say, that God would pour him out so abundantly upon us [Note: Tit 3:6<\/span>.], that we should be filled with all the fulness of God [Note: Eph 3:19<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n This, then, I would desire of you, my Brethren:<\/p>\n 1.<\/p>\n Beg of God to make you sensible of your wants<\/p>\n [You are not a whit less indigent than that insolvent widow. But the testimony of faith is weak in comparison of that of sense. You see how bent she was on obtaining relief: let me entreat you to follow her steps in this respect; and to ask of God himself, who has promised to supply all your wants according to his riches in glory<\/em> by Christ Jesus [Note: Php 4:19<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n Assign no limits to the supplies which he will afford you<\/p>\n [See what God did on the day of Pentecost: three thousand were converted in one hour! And why should not his grace abound in like manner towards us?<\/em> He has said, that a nation shall be born in a day [Note: Isa 66:8<\/span>.]: and that when he shall breathe upon the dry bones, the dead shall arise a whole army [Note: Eze 37:9-10<\/span>.]. Enlarge, then, your expectations, to the utmost extent of Gods power and grace. And, if a doubt arise whether your insignificance or unworthiness shall not divert his attention from you, or arrest his arm, know, and be assured, that no father upon earth would so readily supply the wants of his first-born child, as God would fulfil your desires in the gift of his Holy Spirit to your souls [Note: Luk 11:13<\/span>.]. Ask, and ye shall receive; and your joy shall be full [Note: Joh 16:24<\/span>.].]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n 2Ki 4:6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, [There is] not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.<\/p>\n Ver. 6. There is not a vessel more.<\/strong> ] The cruse never ceased running, till there was no room; so elsewhere God never ceased abating, till Abraham stopped begging.<\/p>\n 2 Kings<\/p>\n WHEN THE OIL FLOWS<\/p>\n 2Ki 4:6 <\/strong> .<\/p>\n The series of miracles ascribed to Elisha are very unlike most of the wonderful works of even the Old Testament, and still more unlike those of the New. For about a great many of them there seems to have been no special purpose, either doctrinal or otherwise, but simply the relief of trivial and transient distresses. This story, from which my text is taken, is one of that sort. One of the sons of the prophets had died in Shunem. He left a widow and two little children. The creditor, according to the Mosaic law, had the right, which he was about to put in practice, of taking the children to be bondmen. And so the penniless, helpless woman comes to Elisha, as a kind of deliverer-general from all sorts of distresses, and tells him her pitiful tale. He asks her what she wants him to do, and she has no counsel to give. Then the thing to do strikes him.<\/em> He asks what she has in the house. It was a poor, bare hovel of a place. There was not anything in it save a pot of oil, which was all her property. He sends her to borrow vessels, of all sorts and sizes. He takes the pot of oil, and shuts the door. Then she sets the two boys fetching and carrying; and herself taking up the one possession that she has, in faith she pours; and dish after dish is filled, and still she pours; and they were all filled, and she kept on pouring. Then she said, ‘Bring some more’; and the boys answered, ‘There are not any more,’ so then the oil stopped.<\/p>\n There was no very special reason for all this. It is not at all like most Biblical miracles. I do not suppose it had any symbolical intention; but I venture to do a little gentle violence to the incident, and to see in the staying of the oil when no more vessels were brought to be filled, a lesson addressed to us all, and it is this: God keeps giving Himself as long as we bring that into which He can pour Himself. And when we stop bringing, He stops giving.<\/p>\n Now, if I may venture to be fanciful for once, let me tell you of three vessels that we have to bring if we would have the oil of the Divine Spirit poured into us.<\/p>\n I. The vessel of desire.<\/p>\n <\/strong> God can give us a great many things that we do not wish, but He cannot give us His best gift, and that is Himself, unless we desire it. He never forces His company on any man, and if we do not wish for Him He cannot give us Himself, His Spirit, or the gifts of His Spirit. For instance, He cannot make a man wise if he does not wish to be instructed. He cannot make a man holy if he has no aspiration after holiness. He cannot save a man from his sins if the man holds on to his sin with both hands, like some shellfish with its claws when you try to drag it out of its cleft in the rock. He cannot give the oil unless we bring the vessels of our hearts opened by our desires.<\/p>\n If God could He would. ‘Ye have not because ye ask not.’ But we are never to forget that God is not led to begin His giving because we petition Him, but that the infinitude of His stores, and the endless, changeless, unmotived, perfect love of His heart, make self-communication-I was going to use a very strong word, and I do not know that it is too strong-necessary to the blessedness of the blessed God, and, long before we ever thought of Him, or sought anything from Him, there was pouring out from Him all the fulness of His love: just as we may conceive of the sunshine raying out before the orbs that were to circle round it had been completely shaped, but were still diffused and nebulous.<\/p>\n But, while God is always giving, our capacity to receive determines the degree of our individual possession of Him. Or, to put it in the plainest words-we have as much of God as we can take in; and the principal factor in settling how much we can take is-how much we wish. Measure the reality and intensity of desire, and you measure capacity. As the atmosphere rushes into every vacuum, or as the sea runs up into and fills every sinuosity of the shore, so wherever a heart opens, and the unbroken coast-line is indented, as it were, by desire, in rushes the tide of the divine gifts. You have God in the measure in which you desire Him.<\/p>\n Only remember that that desire which brings God must be more than a feeble, fleeting wish. Wishing is one thing; willing<\/em> is quite another. Lazily wishing and strenuously desiring are two entirely different postures of mind; the former gets nothing and the latter gets everything, gets God, and with God all that God can bring.<\/p>\n But the wish must not only rise to intensity and earnestness, but it must be steadfast. Suppose these two little boys of the widow had held their vessels below the spout of the oil-pot with tremulous hands, while they looked away at something else, sometimes keeping the vessels right under, and sometimes shifting them on one side, it would have been slow work filling the unsteadily held vessels. So it is in regard to receiving God’s best gift. Our desires must be unwavering. A cup held by a shaking hand will spill its contents, or will never receive them. ‘Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.’ The steadfast wish is the wish that is answered.<\/p>\n Is it not a strange indifference to our true good that we who have learned, as most of us have learned only too well, that in this world to wish is not to have, should turn away from the possibility that lies before us each, of passing from this disappointing world of vain longings into a region where we cannot wish anything that we do not get? There is only one thing about which it is true that, if you want, and as much as you want, you will have; and that thing is found when we turn away our wishes from the false, fleeting, and surface satisfactions of earth, and fasten them upon God, ‘Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we . . . think.’ Wish for Him, and you have what you have wished. Wish for anything else, and you may have it or you may not, but depend upon it the fish is never half as big when it is out of the water as it felt to be when it was tugging at the hook.<\/p>\n II. Another vessel that we have to bring is the vessel of our expectancy.<\/p>\n <\/strong> Desire is one thing; confident anticipation that the desire will be fulfilled is quite another. And the two do not certainly go together anywhere except in this one region, and there they do go, linked arm in arm. For whatsoever, in the highest of all regions, we wish, we have the right without presumption to believe that we shall receive. Expectation, like desire, opens the heart.<\/p>\n There are some expectations, even in lower regions, that fulfil themselves. Doctors will tell you that a very large part of the curative power of their medicine depends upon the patient’s anticipation of recovery. If a man expects to die when he takes to his bed, the chances are that he will die; and if a man expects to get better, Death will have a fight before it conquers him. There are hundreds of cases, in all departments of life, where he who sets himself to a task with assured persuasion that he is going to do such and such a thing will do it. ‘Screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail,’ said the heroine in the tragedy; and there is a great truth in her fierce encouragement.<\/p>\n All these illustrations fall far beneath the Christian aspect of the thought that what we expect from God we receive. That is only another way of putting ‘According to thy faith be it unto thee.’ It is exactly what Jesus Christ said when He promised, ‘Whatsoever things ye ask when ye stand praying believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’<\/p>\n I am afraid that a great many of us often have expectations fainter than desires; and that we should be very much surprised if the thing that we ask for, in the prayers that we so often repeat by rote, were granted to us. You will hear men praying for holiness, for clean hearts, for progress in the Christian life, for a hundred other such blessings. They do not expect that anything is going to come in consequence, and they would be mightily at a loss what to do with the gift if it did come. The absence of expectancy in our public petitions is to me one of the saddest features in the Christian life of this day. If you expect little, you will get little; and we do expect far less than we ought. We cannot raise our confident expectations too high; for ‘He is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask’ as well as ‘think.’ The Apostle has set the limit of our expectations, in the same context, and here it is: ‘That we may be filled with all the fulness of God.’ There are two limits: one is the boundless illimitableness of God’s perfection, and the possibilities of our possession of Him are not exhausted until we have reached that infinite completeness. But then, there is a practical, working limit for each of us; and that is-what do you desire? and what do you expect? God can give more than we can ask or think, but He cannot at the moment give more than we expect or desire.<\/p>\n True, the vessels that we bring to be filled with the oil are not like the vessels that the fatherless boys brought. These were of a definite capacity; and the little cup when it was filled was filled, and there was an end of it. But the vessels that we bring are elastic, and widen out. The more that is put into them the more they can hold, so that there is no bound to the capacity of a heart for the reception and inrush of God; and there will not be a bound through all the ages of a growing possession of Him in eternity. But for to-day, desire and expectancy determine the measure of the gift.<\/p>\n III. Lastly, one more vessel that we have to bring is obedience.<\/p>\n <\/strong>‘If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.’ There<\/em> is one case of the general principle that wishes and anticipations are all right and well, but unless they are backed up and verified by conduct, even wishes and anticipations will not bring God’s gift. For it is possible for a man who, in his better moments of devotion, has some desires after a loftier range of goodness and a completer conformity to God than he ordinarily has, to rise from his knees and rush into the world, and there live in some lust, or uncleanness, or vice, or indulgence, or absorption in the cares of this life, in such a way as that desires and anticipations shall vanish. If we fill our vessels full, before we take them to the source of supply, with all manner of baser liquids, there will be no room for the oil. We may contradict and stifle our desires by our conduct, and by it make our expectations perfectly impossible to be fulfilled. Are our daily doings of such a nature as that the Spirit of God, which is symbolised by the oil, can come into our hearts; or are we quenching and grieving Him so that He<\/p>\n ‘Can but listen at the gate<\/p>\n And hear the household jar within’?<\/p>\n <\/em> Desire, Expectancy, and Obedience-these three must never be separated if we are to receive the gift of Himself, which God delights and waits to give. All spiritual possessions and powers grow by use, even as exercised muscles are strengthened, and unused ones tend to be atrophied. It is possible, by neglect of God and of the gift given to us, to incur the stern sentence passed on the slothful servant-’Take it from him.’ By disobedience and negligence we choke the channel through which God’s gifts can flow to us. So, brethren, bring these three vessels, and you will not go away with them empty. ‘Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.’<\/p>\n when the vessels: 2Ki 4:43, 2Ki 4:44, Mat 9:29, Mat 13:58, Mat 14:20, Mat 15:37, Luk 6:19, 2Ch 6:12, 2Ch 6:13 <\/p>\n And the oil: 2Ki 13:19, Jos 5:12, 1Ki 17:14, Joh 6:12 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Sa 25:26 – as the Lord liveth 2Ki 13:18 – he smote thrice<\/p>\n SUPPLY PROPORTIONED TO FAITH<\/p>\n And the oil stayed.<\/p>\n 2Ki 4:6<\/p>\n What a sorrowful confession! There was no reason why it should stay. There was as much oil as ever, and the power which had made so much could have gone on without limit or exhaustion. The only reason for the ceasing of the oil was in the failure of the vessels. The widow and her sons had secured only a limited number of vessels, and therefore there was only a scanty supply of the precious oil.<\/p>\n I. This is why so many of Gods promises are unfulfilled in your experience.In former days you kept claiming their fulfilment; frequently you brought Gods promises to Him and said, Do as Thou hast said. Vessel after vessel of need was brought empty and taken away full. But of late years you have refrained, you have rested on your oars, you have ceased to bring your need. Hence the dwindling supply.<\/p>\n II. This is why your life is not so productive of blessing as it might be.You do not bring vessels enough. You think that God has wrought as much through you as He can or will. You do not expect Him to fill the latter years of your life as He did the former.<\/p>\n III. This is why the blessing of a Mission stays in its course.As long as the Missioner remains with us we can look for the continuance of blessing. But after a while we say Let the services stop, they have run their course and fulfilled their end. And forthwith the blessing stops in mid-flow. Let us bring the empty vessels of our poor effort for God to fill them up to the full measure of their capacity.<\/p>\n Illustration<\/p>\n It is the lesson of this storya homely and familiar lesson, but one which is for ever true and blessedthat the Lord will provide. The firm conviction that He will keep His word, and will take care that His labourers have whatever is essential to their maintenance and to the fulfilment of their righteous obligations: is it not much to be desired? I require the easy mind, the calm tranquillity, the restful and victorious spirit, if His tasks are to be well done and His battles well fought. He who wars for the Heavenly King must not entangle himself with the affairs of this life, and must not hamper his movements by forebodings and misgivings and doubts. He must walk at liberty. He must rejoice always. He must believe and be sure that he repairs to a full fountain, and that his glorious Lord will supply all his need. If you seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, writes Matthew Henry, you shall have food and raiment by way of overplus, as he that buys goods hath paper and packthread given him over and above into the bargain. <\/p>\n 4:6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, [There is] not a vessel more. And the oil {f} stayed.<\/p>\n (f) Or ceased to increase.<\/p>\n And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, [There is] not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 6. she said unto her son ] Here the LXX., apparently only because ‘sons’ had been mentioned before, has … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 4:6”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>In the communication of his grace the most high makes the confession of our helplessness the condition of his help. The sense of need must be awakened before He will bestow the required aid. Tell me what hast thou in the house? was <\/strong>a question intended to fathom the depth of the womans poverty. Until this insufficiency of all human resource has been felt and acknowledged, the Divine assistance will not be sought and cannot be given. The Saviour in His miracles of mercy made it apparent that He did not interpose until all human help had failed. When He was about to feed the multitudes He asked the disciples, How many loaves have ye? and measured the limits of ordinary means before drawing on the infinite capabilities of Omnipotence. The trembling sufferer who sought to touch His robe had tried all other measures before resorting to Him. The disappointed fishermen were obliged to admit that they had taken nothing ere they could be gladdened by a great success. So is it still. The choice gifts of God are withholden from the self-complacent and lavished on the needy–He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich He hath sent empty away.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>He enriches us by the multiplication and increase of previous gifts. It would be equally easy for Him to work without means, but He chooses rather to work by them. What hast thou in the house? is something more than a gauge of poverty; it is a wholesome reminder that in the poorest lot there is some remnant of former possessions, some basis for present hope. The multitudes whom our Lord miraculously fed might have been relieved by the creation of an altogether new and strange provision; but He used such common food as was available, and then multiplied the stock till every need was met. The persuasion of our helplessness does not warrant our neglect of such opportunities and the use of such talent as we have. Too often we covet fresh interpositions of Divine power when we have at our command previous gifts whose energy is unexhausted, and former experiences which may fitly stimulate activity and encourage hope. Moses held in his own hand the simple instrument whereby with Gods blessing he would compel attention to his words (Exo 4:2<\/span>); and if not in our hands, we may have in our house that which, like the widows oil, shall be multiplied by the bounty of Him.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>He measures his bestowments by our capacity to receive. While there is an empty vessel to hold it, His grace continues to flow. He entrusts talents to every man according to his several ability. A preoccupied heart has no room for the Saviour. He is gladly received when He is eagerly waited for (Luk 8:40<\/span>). In the dispensation of spiritual gifts the same rule obtains–He giveth more grace, and again more, according to the ardour of our wishes and the measure of our preparedness to receive His favours. Still as of old–He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness (Psa 107:9<\/span>), drawing out our desires, and at the same time enlarging our capacity.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>He delights to exceed the requirements of present need. Not content to give enough to satisfy the clamorous creditor, He supplied a store for the maintenance of the widow and her sons for some time to come. The fragments left after each feast in the wilderness far exceeded the original provision. This generosity is a conspicuous feature in all the communications of grace. David was overwhelmed at the bounty of which he was the recipient, yet what he held in possession was small compared with future blessings secured to him by promise (2Sa 7:19<\/span>). Jacob, in like manner, after giving up all hope that he should ever see Joseph again, was constrained to acknowledge that God had far exceeded his most sanguine expectation. I had not thought to see thy face; and lo, God hath showed me also thy seed (Gen 48:11<\/span>). (Robert Lewis.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The vessel of desire. God can give us a great many things that we do not wish, but He cannot give us His best gift, and that is Himself, unless we desire it. He never forces His company on anybody, and if we do not wish for Him He cannot give us Himself, His Spirit, or the gifts of His Spirit. For instance, He cannot make a man wise if he does not wish to be instructed. He cannot make a man holy if he has no aspiration after holiness. Measure the reality and intensity of desire, and you measure capacity. As the atmosphere rushes into every vacuum, or as the sea runs up into, and fills, every sinuosity of the coast, so wherever a heart opens, and the unbroken coast-line is indented, as it were, by desire, in rushes the tide of the Divine gifts. You have God in the measure in which you desire Him.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Another vessel that we have to bring is the vessel of out expectancy. Desire is one thing; confident anticipation that the desire will be fulfilled is quite another. And the two do not certainly go together anywhere except in this one region, and there they do go, linked arm-in-arm. For whatsoever, in the highest of all regions, we wish we have the right without presumption to believe that we shall receive. Expectation, like desire, opens the heart. There are some expectations, even in lower regions, that fulfil themselves. Doctors will tell you that a very large part of the curative power of their medicine depends upon the patients anticipation of recovery. If a man expects to die when he takes to Iris bed, the chances are that he will die; and if a man expects to get better, death will have a fight before it conquers him. All these illustrations fall far beneath the Christian aspect of the thought that what we expect from God we get. That is only another way of putting, According to thy faith be it unto thee. It is exactly what Jesus Christ said when He promised: Whatsoever things ye ask when ye stand praying, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Lastly, one more vessel that we have to bring is obedience. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. Desire, Anticipation, and Obedience. These three must never be separated if we are to receive the gift of Himself, which God delights and waits to give. All spiritual possessions and powers grow by use, even as exercised muscles are strengthened, and unused ones tend to be atrophied. (A. Maclaren,<\/em> D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>This is true in reference to our providential circumstances. So long as we have needs we shall have supplies, and we shall find our necessities exhausted far sooner than the Divine bounty.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The same principle holds good with regard to the bestowal of saving grace. In a congregation the Gospel is as the pot of <\/strong>oil, and those who receive from it are needy souls, desirous of the grace of God. Of these we have always too few in our assemblies.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The like is true with regard to other spiritual blessings. All fulness dwells in our Lord Jesus, and, as He needs not grace for Himself, it is stored up in Him, that He may give it out to believers. The saints with one voice confess Of His fulness have all we received.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>The same truth will be proved in reference to the purposes of grace in the world. The fulness of Divine grace will be equal to every demand upon it till the end of time. Men will never be saved apart from the atonement of our Lord Jesus, but never will that ransom price be found insufficient to redeem the souls that trust in the Redeemer. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
THE WIDOWS OIL INCREASED<\/strong><\/p>\n
[She was the widow of a pious minister. Her late husband was one of the sons of the prophets: and so decided had been his piety, that she could appeal to the prophet himself, Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. He had died in debt; not through any extravagance of his: for a man that will run into debt for the purpose of indulging his pride and vanity, has no pretensions to real piety. Piety would teach him to owe no man any thing, and to deny himself any gratification rather than obtain it at the expense of common honesty. But in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, when a hundred prophets were hid by fifties in a cave, and fed with bread and water, at the expense of a single individual, to prevent their falling into the hands of their blood-thirsty persecutor, we wonder not that a pious minister should be involved in debt. And, indeed, at any time a man may be so oppressed with misfortunes or with sickness, as to preclude a possibility of avoiding debt, especially if he have, like this man, a wife and family to maintain.
But, to add to her affliction, she was warned by her creditors, that they would take her two sons, and sell them for bond-men. This<\/em> the law enabled them to do [Note: Lev 25:39-40<\/span>; Mat 18:25<\/span>.]: and this would exceedingly augment her trouble, since to her widowhood and poverty would be added the loss of her sons, who were her only hope and support.<\/p>\n
The relief afforded her, through the instrumentality of Elisha, was fully adequate to her necessities
[The prophet interrogated her as to the means which were yet left her of discharging her debts: and being informed that nothing remained to her but a pot of oil, he directed her to borrow as many vessels as she could of her neighbours, and, with her doors closed in order to avoid the distraction which might be occasioned by impertinent curiosity, to pour out the oil into the vessels, under a full assurance that it should be so multiplied as to prove a supply for all her wants. The event fully answered her expectations: and in one hour she had enough to pay all her creditors, and to support herself and family for the future. Thus, in the hour of her necessity, did she experience the truth of that proverb, In the mount the Lord shall be seen.]
But the point to which we wish more particularly to draw your attention is, the stopping of the supply, when there were no more vessels to be filled. And this, whilst it shews how large Gods bounty is, shews also,<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nFuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"