2 Kings 4:32-44
As we are reminded in Hebrews 11, the chapter of faith: "women received their dead raised to life again" (Hebrews 11:35). That was the case with the widow of Sarepta, and now again with the happy Shunamite. But what a contrast with the scene at the grave of Lazarus, where a simple call from the Lord of life is sufficient to bring back to life a man who has been dead four days! Soon all the sleeping saints will hear "the assembling shout" of One who has vanquished death, and they will be raised in power (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
The incident of the wild gourds in the pot reminds us how man, sometimes with the best of intentions, only spoils what God wants to give him. Let us be on our guard, then, not to add anything to the Word, the food for our souls (Galatians 1:7-8). How many religious writings there are in which a little poison is to be found mixed in with divine truth!
The man of Baal-shalisha, whose sack of loaves and corn becomes the means for Elisha to feed a hundred men, brings to our mind again the Gospel scenes (Matthew 14:15-21; Matthew 15:32-38). But, there too, what a difference we see between the prophet and the One who makes the multitude sit down to be nourished in thousands by virtue of His own power (Psalms 132:15).