We worked our way through two stories about Elisha which on first glance appear disconnected accounts of things he did. The first story was about a visit to the sons of the prophets during a famine. Elisha told his servant during the visit to prepare a large pot of stew for the men. One of the sons of the prophets was helping and ended up gathering a poisonous gourd and cutting it up in the stew. Some of the men recognized this poisonous gourd and cried out that death was in the pot. Elisha asked them for some flour and he tossed it in the pot and it made the stew safe to eat. The second story involved a man who brought his firstfruits offering to Elisha. He brought 20 barley loaves. Again they are with the sons of the prophets and Elisha commands his servant to feed the men. His servant objects stating there was simply not enough to feed the over 100 men present. But Elisha restates the command to feed them and says there will be enough and food left over. While these seem disconnected stories they both involve elements of flour and bread which is made from flour. We looked at how both these stories should really drive us to ponder the person and work of Jesus. The prophet Isaiah tells us in chapter 53 how is pleased the Lord to crush Jesus. He was crushed just like wheat is crushed to make flour. This is why the flour in the story is important. The stew is filled with death but the flour makes the stew life giving. Our lives without Jesus are filled with sin and death, but with Jesus substitutionary death applied to our lives we are granted freedom from death and given eternal life. The story of the loaves reminds us of the feeding of the 5000 and 4000. In all of these cases the peoples hunger is satisfied, and there is extra left over. This is a picture again of Jesus substitutionary death. It was sufficient to satisfy the needs of everyone who comes to Him, repents of their sin and follows him as Lord. His work is more than enough.

We explored the story of the rich woman in Shunem. This woman provided meals and a place to stay for Elisha when he was passing through the area. Elisha was grateful and asked the woman if there was anything he could do for her as he traveled about. She replied that she dwelt among her own people. She was basically saying she was secure and in need of nothing. After she left as Elisha was talking with Gehazi his servant they discussed the fact that her husband was old and she had no son. Elisha then called her back and told her she would have a son about this time next year. She found it hard to believe but in a years time she gave birth to a son. He grew and began to go to the fields with his father. One day in the field he declared his head hurt and his father had a servant carry him to his mother. He ended up dying in his mothers arms around noon that day. She hurried to Elisha because she was in great distress and needed God’s help. This is the real beauty of this story and sets it up as a comparison contrast with the story of the poor widow which precedes it. The widow came to Elisha because she was in need and about to lose her two sons to the creditors to satisfy a debt. The woman of Shunem had no need until God blessed her with the good gift of a son and then took it away. The loss of the gift drove her to seek God’s help. God worked through Elisha to raise her son from the dead. God is always working to bring His people into a state of greater dependence on Him and seeking after Him. Our God is a fundamentally relational God. He draws both the poor and the rich to Himself through a wide range of situations.

We worked through the first 7 verses of chapter 4. In this passage we have a clear example of God taking care of the needs of His children. In this story a widow of one of the sons of the prophets is going to lose her children to a creditor who is coming to get them. They will become his slaves to settle her debt. In this situation in that day she would not only lose her sons but would probably be left destitute because her sons probably produced an income to support her. The question Elisha asks the woman is almost the same question Jesus asks blind Bartimaeus as He was leaving Jericho. “What shall I do for you?” It is a good question when you are dealing with someone who doesn’t have a problem or has not expressed the problem. In the case of Bartimaeus he was blind and people were taking him to Jesus after Jesus stopped the crowd and invited him to come to Him. The widow in 2 Kings has already told the prophet what she needs. In both cases what they need is clearly seen. But in both cases the people coming for help are invited to express their need. God clearly takes care of His children but He often does it in a relational manner. He calls us to engage with Him and express our need. If He always simply did what we needed without our engagement it would be devoid of relationship. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God, it is essentially a call to engage in relationship with God. The widow in this story is called to take action. To gather containers from her neighbors and fill them in private out of the jar of oil she has. She does this until all of the containers are full and then Elisha tells her to sell them and pay her debts and live on what is left. This is a situation which points again to how God meets our needs but doesn’t give us more grace then is needed for the situation. If he wiped out our needs we would most likely stop depending on Him. He allows us to continue to experience need so we will not stop depending on Him. This is God at work constantly calling us into engagement in relationship with Him. In a sense this story being told to the Jews in exile is a reminder God is always there an ever present help in times of trouble.

The idea of resurrection is seen throughout our world in how God made it. Even in the things that men do/create we see ideas of resurrection pop up. If the resurrection didn't happen then Christians of all people are the most to be pitied. Our sins were paid for in their totality by Jesus. Our flesh has been put to death in Christ and now the life we live we live by faith in the Son of God who died on our behalf for His glory.

The Jews of Jesus' days on earth would see Jesus entering Jerusalem as another picture of a King entering their city. This was part of the reason it was so troubling to the Pharisees since this was something familiar to them from the Scriptures. Solomon foreshadows the coming into Jerusalem of Jesus who was not simply just a King, but also a prophet and priest. Solomon was the shadow of a greater King who would reign forever over His people.

We explored the section where Jehoram decides he is tired of Moab not paying the tribute they were supposed to send to Israel. Jehoram enlist the help of Jehoshaphat to join him in going to battle against Moab. They decide to march south and come into the territory of Moab from the south. During this journey they enlist the help of the army of the Edomites. The march is long and so after 7 days they are literally dying of thirst and can’t really proceed. Jehoshaphat asks if there is a man of Yahweh who they can seek to get direction from God. Elisha is found and Jehoram proceeds to blame Yahweh for bringing the three armies out here into the wilderness to deliver them into the hands of the Moabites. Elisha dismisses Jehoram by simply stating if it were not for the presence of Jehoshaphat he would not be here at all. Basically he tells Jehoram there is nothing in him which merits God’s blessing and attention. Elisha proceeds to tell Jehoshaphat God is going to supply water in abundance for him and the army and He is also going to grant them victory over the Moabites. In the end they almost completely wipe out the Moabites. All they are left with is one city, everything else is destroyed. They cease their attack when it results in human sacrifice. The key takeaway which stood out to me was the fact of how Jehoram receives the blessing of God, not because he deserves it but because he is in close proximity to a descendant of king David who is intent on serving and glorifying God. Because we are very much like Jehoram. We receive the blessing of God not because we deserve it but because we stand before God in Jesus the eternal descendant of king David.

We wrapped up the short section which introduces us to Elisha as the prophet to the 10 northern tribes. What we saw was Jericho coming to Elisha in order to seek help from God. It was a relatively young city. While it was a beautiful location it had been cursed at its founding. The city had come to realize the water was causing their animals and wives to miscarry. The Bible describes the city as bereaved. Elisha asks for a new bowl. This is important because a new bowl would not have been used for anything so it would not be contaminated in any way and would be ceremonially clean. Elisha also told them to put salt in the bowl. Salt is symbolic of God’s cleansing and preserving power. But the thing to keep in mind is Elisha could not just handle the salt. Elisha was not a pure enough vessel. The bowl foreshadows the greater and better vessel of Jesus. He would enter into time and He would be able to contain the preserving and purifying power of God. Elisha uses the bowl to cast the salt into the water source for the city and the water is healed by the power of God. Elisha left there and journeyed back toward the region of Samaria. As he was passing by Bethel a bunch of adolescent boys came out of the city and started to mock him. Telling him to keep on going up you baldy. The idea behind the text is very much a don’t stop here, we don’t want you, just keep moving old man. Bethel was the center of idolatry for the 10 northern tribes. The golden calves had been established here. They were proud of their idolatry and wanted nothing to do with God’s man. These young boys were no doubt repeating the sentiment they heard at home. Elisha then curses them and God sends two she bears out of the forest and they maul 42 of them. In Leviticus God had declared a warning that if the people would walk contrary to Him and refuse to listen He would send wild beast which would bereave them of their children. This is the same Hebrew word used in Jericho of the trauma they felt in their loss. It is a striking contrast which emphasizes the importance of the centrality of God through Jesus. A cursed city which is bereaved of its children comes to God’s man and receives grace symbolically through the pure vessel. The self-satisfied city rejects God’s man and is cursed and bereaved of it’s children. It is a dramatic story which illustrates to the people in exile and to us today the importance of the centrality of God to all things.

We walked through the calling of Elijah to heaven and the transfer of spiritual leadership from Elijah to Elisha. There are many layers to this story and the parallels are important to pick up. In this last story of Elijah’s life there is a strong parallel with Moses. He journeyed from Israel and their captivity to the world and idolatry to the Jordan. On the way they stopped at places where the schools of prophets had been established and some of them even join them on the last leg of their journey. Elijah then leads Elisha through the Jordan on dry ground like Moses led Israel through the Red sea. They went into the desert Moses ascended Mount Sinai to meet with God and receive the law. Elijah is carried by a whirlwind up to meet God. Moses dies and enters God’s presence and never enters the promised land. Elijah is carried into heaven and does not enter back into the promised land. Both of their bodies are never found. Joshua then journeys through the Jordan on dry ground back into the promised land after their sojourn in the desert. Elisha receives a doubles portion of the Spirit of God which is like him receiving an inheritance, he even cries out my father, my father when Elijah is taken away. He then journeys back through the Jordan on dry ground into the promised land. And while these parallels are interesting the reality is when something like this happens and is reinforced we should be asking ourselves what this foreshadows. Paul in the New Testament compares the journey of Israel through the Red sea to Baptism. Baptism is the symbol we use to symbolize someone coming to be identified with Christ as their Lord through salvation. The symbol of water in the Bible is almost always a symbol of judgement and death. Jesus when he was on this earth entered into God’s judgement and death for us. When Jesus entered the river of death He did not stay there but came out on the other side through resurrection. Moses and Elijah were seeking to rescue the people from slavery and idolatry. Jesus however rescues us from all sin and death. He makes all those who trust Him as Lord, His children and He gives us His Spirit. These Old Testament stories are about God working to bring physical deliverance. This simply points forward to the greater and eternal deliverance Jesus worked to bring us.

We continued our study in prayer by examining how the Psalmist and other writers expressed joy in the midst of difficulty. How did they get to joy and what are some common traits of the journey to joy in a not so joyful situation. This is one of those areas where the Biblical writers give us a variety of examples for doing this. It is also something do not naturally  do and so it becomes something we need to practice and work on. We see this type of expression again and again throughout the Bible. We see it in the Psalms and wisdom books as well as commands by Paul to rejoice in the Lord always. David even appointed a whole section of the priests to do nothing but give thanks to God. This priority of giving thanks and praise to God in the Old Testament should certainly inform our own thoughts as we consider how we approach God and what the content of our prayers should include. We are not saying it should only be joy and thanksgiving but if we don’t find this theme being a part of our prayer life we should consider how it can become a part of our engagement with God.

We explored the first chapter of 2 Kings and the last days of Ahaziah. In this section we have Elijah coming back into focus. The passage tells us Ahaziah is injured pretty badly in a fall. He is concerned he will not recover and he sends servants to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of the Philistines about his recovery. God sends Elijah to meet the servants and tell them Ahaziah is pursuing false gods and will certainly die. When the servants return so quickly with bad news Ahaziah deduces, by their descriptions of the messenger, it was Elijah. Ahaziah sends a captain of 50 men and his men to go get Elijah. This must have been a life threatening situation and when the men demand Elijah come down Elijah declares if he is a man of God may fire come down and consume them. Just as he says this fire comes down and consumes them all. Somehow Ahaziah hears of this and send another captain with fifty men. This captain demands Elijah come down quickly and again God sends fire from heaven to consume them. Ahaziah sends yet another 50 and this captain falls to his knees and asks Elijah to spare his life and the lives of his men. God tells Elijah to go with this man and so he does. Elijah then delivers the same message he had previously given to Ahaziah himself. After this Ahaziah died, and his son Jehoram reigned in his place.