God’s lesson of going from empty to full
2 Kings 4:1-7
The widow’s oil in our reading, along with Elijah’s similar miracle involving a Gentile widow (1 Kings 17:8-16) are much loved by Christians. Who does not feel uplifted and encouraged by seeing God’s provision in these stories? Yet they also leave us with some uncomfortable questions because our life experience tells us that not all misery can or will be averted. God’s people living in exile and looking back on their history faced the same issues because they were in bondage to a foreign power (Babylon). They lost their land, their king, their identity, and were powerless and vulnerable. Where was God for them? What is the message of the story for them, for us, when we live with pain and suffering?
The widow’s plight
Elisha’s ministry begins and ends on incidents from the life of Israel’s faithless kings who do not trust God enough and fail to secure victory (2 Kings 3:1-27; 13:14-19). Enveloped by such faithlessness are the stories of the faithful few. Among them is the widow of a prophet who feared the LORD (2 Kings 4:1),[1] an Old Testament shorthand for godliness and a faithful life. Yet despite his faithfulness, his widow was left with debts! Behind the woman’s plight (v.1) is the law that allows the debt to be paid by selling one’s land or, as a last resort, one’s person as a slave (Lev 25:25-8, 39-40). The widow probably had no land to sell, hence the prospective enslavement of her children. While Israelite slaves were meant to be released at the Jubilee (every 50th year), it is doubtful whether the practice was observed in pagan Israel. In any case, the Jubilee could have been 20-30-40 years away! Women in a patriarchal society were dependent on male relatives to look after them financially, so the enslaving of the widow’s sons meant financial ruin and starvation for her.
God’s provision and how it comes
Unlike Jehoram (2 Kings 3:6-8), the widow seeks out God through Elisha as leader of the prophetic groups (2 Kings 2:15), who seemed to have settled in communities, (e.g. at Bethel, Jericho, etc.; 2 Kings 2:3, 5). Elisha cannot controvert the law around debt, but he starts with what the woman already has. Oil was a staple in any Israelite household. It was used for cooking, burning lamps (Exod 25:6), as a moisturiser for dry skin (Ps 104:15; Amos 6:6), and medication for wounds (Isa 1:6). A little oil and a lot of empty vessels may seem like a poor proposition, but trust in God’s power is going to make the difference in the empty becoming full (2 Kings 4:3-4). One can imagine the widow’s trepidation mixed with excitement as she starts pouring. Nevertheless, God’s provision matches her trust in the Lord exactly: the oil only stops when she runs out of vessels (2 Kings 3:6). Moreover, in God’s grace, however many containers she was able to get, the oil in them is enough to pay off the debt and give her a livelihood (2 Kings 3:7).[2]
God’s lesson of going from empty to full
This story challenges us not to give up on faithfulness and trust in the Lord, no matter how discouraging our circumstances. Faithfulness matters because God does not forget those who are His even if our suffering, loneliness and emptiness is not resolved as quickly as the widow’s here. We are encouraged though to be active participants for change. Looking to the Lord with faith is an essential part of that process. For some, asking for help from others towards a resolution is the hard part. For others, it is sitting with a lot of unfilled containers and wondering how their little jar of oil can stretch to fill it all. There is also added symbolism in the imagery of the oil (shemen). As an adjective, it is used to describe rich food (e.g. Isa 25:6) and fertile soil (e.g. Num 13:20). Thus, it is associated with plenty, wellbeing and joy (Ps 45:7; Isa 61:3). We may feel that we have precious little of ‘the staple’ of life essential for living and even less to make it contribute to wellbeing and joy. Yet, what is required of us is to keep pouring out what we have been given and trusting that the Lord will keep the oil flowing and gradually fill our emptiness.
[1] Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, and some other Jewish traditions identify the widow’s husband as Obadiah who feared God and hid a hundred prophets in caves from Ahab and Jezebel’s persecution (1 Kings 18:3-4). They argue that he may have landed in debt because he had to borrow money to feed them. While Scripture does not identify the man and the above is purely speculative, it can help us envisage what faithfulness to God meant in that pagan context.
[2] As in the previous incident, the moral of the story is not to affirm a prosperity gospel (i.e. ‘if you have faith, you can have all the riches and luxuries of the world’). The woman does not become mega-rich. What she gains is no more and no less than what is sufficient for her needs.
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