Tag Archives: 2 Kings 3-4

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2023 Bible Study — God Will Provide In Unexpected Ways And At Unexpected Times

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 3-4.

Each of the accounts in today’s passage illustrate ways in which God provides for needs.  In the first account, King Joram got himself and others into a bad situation, and even then he only sought God’s aid at the nstigation of Jehoshaphat.  Nevertheless, God delivered him, and those with him, from the mess of his own making.  In the second account, a widow seeks God’s aid to escape debt and provide for her sons and herself.  Through Elisha, God provides her the means to  earn the funds needs to do so.  In the third account, the woman provided Elisha with food and a place to stay and asked nothing in return.  Elisha asked God, and He gave her a son.  The woman had not asked for a son, had even asked Elisha to not raise her hopes.  When the child died, the woman was distraught and blamed Elisha for giving her the son in the first place, but did not ask for anything.  Elisha raised the boy back to life for her.  The final two accounts describe different ways in which God can provide food for the hungry..

In the first account, Joram did not have faith in God, but God rescued him because of his friend, Jehoshaphat.  Let us seek to be Jehoshaphat to our non-believing friends (although, perhaps we could work a little harder to convince them to turn to God than Jehoshaphat appears to have done).  In the second account, God provides the woman with a way to work her way out of her precarious position.  When we seek God’s aid, we need to recognize that He may provide us with a means to work towards solving our problems.  In the third account we learn that serving God may bring us joy we did not seek, and that God can overcome the inevitable sorrow.  The last two accounts show us that we need to be open to God using different solutions at different times for the same problem.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2022 Bible Study — God Will Provide

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 3-4.

When Joram became king of Israel, the writer tells us that while he did evil in the sight of God he was not as evil as his parents.  The writer praises Joram for getting rid of the sacred stone of Baal, but then condemns him for continuing the sins of Jeroboam.  This, combined with the other places where kings of Israel are condemned for following the sins of Jeroboam, suggests to me that the worship of the calves built by Jeroboam was closer to the worship of Yahweh than was the worship of Baal.  Along the same line of thinking, when Joram consulted Elisha during the invasion of Moab, Elisha told him to consult the prophets of his father and the prophets of his mother.  Elisha’s reference suggests that Joram had continued the worship of those gods, although he had reduced their prominence in the kingdom.

As I read the rest of the passage I was struck by how some of the miracles which Elisha performed were reminiscent of miracles recounted elsewhere in the Bible.  The account of providing for the widow with olive oil is reminiscent of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, and Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite woman is reminiscent of Elijah raising the widow’s son.  Finally, Elisha feeding one hundred with twenty loaves of barley foreshadows Jesus feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000.  The similarities between these accounts does not mean that they were copied from each other.  Rather, it suggests that there are certain themes which accompany the display of God’s power.  One of those themes is that God has the power of life and death.  And He will sometimes restore life to those who have lost it at our request.  Another theme is that God uses our existing resources to accomplish more than seems possible, and provides to the extent that we can handle.  The widow did not stop having more oil to pour out of her jar until she ran out of containers to put it into.  Despite the amount of food provided being inadequate, the one hundred had enough to eat with leftovers.  In the same way, we should trust God to provide, whether what we have on hand is sufficient to the need or not.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2021 Bible Study When All Seems Lost, Turn To God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 3-4.

I started out to write a summary of the events as described here, but realized my time would be better spent reviewing some of the meaning of these stories.  The stories in today’s passage feel like legends every time I read them.  I suspect that most of those who were present for when these stories happened would barely recognize them.  Not because the stories as told inaccurately reflect what happened, but because it would have felt much different to someone going through these experiences.  In each of these stories, tragedy seems to be about to strike when people turned to God.  In each case, God provided a seemingly miraculous deliverance (in some of the stories, the deliverance was truly a miracle, in others it may have just been revealing important information to Elisha that no one else present knew).

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2020 Bible Study Doing Something Good For Others Obligates Us To Follow Through

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 3-4.

The story about the woman from Shunem provides several interesting lessons.  Elisha wanted to do something for her to thank her for the care she provided him, but she was content with her life as it was.  So, Elisha did some research and found something she would like: he had God give her a son.  The woman chastised Elisha for giving her such hope.  When a few years later her son took sick and died, she felt justified in her castigation.  She had been content with her life and would have preferred to continue in that contentment rather than risk the grief which was the possible companion to the joy of having a son.  This is a normal human reaction.  Many times we pass up opportunities for joy in order to avoid the risk of grief, failure, or some other form of suffering.

But there is more to it than that.  By providing the woman with the joy of a son, Elisha obligated himself to offsetting the risk of grief.  Elisha accepted this obligation.  When the boy became sick and died, he went to great lengths to restore the boy to his mother.  This lesson is an important one to keep in mind.  When we choose to do something good for others we need to measure our ability to follow through.

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2019 Bible Study — Things Go Wrong When We Do Not Seek God’s Guidance

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 3-4.

After King Ahaziah’s death, his brother Joram took the throne of the Northern Kingdom. As king Joram got rid of Baal worship in Israel, but continued to worship the golden calves set up by Jeroboam. Which leads us to the scene where King Joram has led his army combined with that of Jehoshaphat of Judah and that of the king of Edom into a situation where they had insufficient water. Despite this situation being the result of his own poor plannning, King Joram concluded that God had led them into this disaster in order for them to be defeated. Note that Joram had not consulted God before making his plans, but now concludes that it was God who led him to make bad decisions. He does not seem to be so much blaming God as concluding the situation is hopeless because God decreed this result. At this point, Jehoshaphat suggests that they try asking God what they should do. A bit late, but never too late, as the passage points out. This is a situation we all too often find ourselves in. We make plans without consulting God. Then when things go bad, we throw up our hands in frustration thinking that nothing can be done because this is where God wanted us to be. Hopefully at that point we are like Jehoshaphat and seek God’s guidance, or have a friend like Jehoshaphat who gives us such advice. But wouldn’t it be better to consult God before we made our plans?

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2018 Bible Study — Worship In Ancient Israel

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 3-4.

    When Ahaziah’s brother took the throne, he stopped the worship of Baal which his father Ahab had instituted, but he continued to encourage the people of Israel to worship the golden calves. Having read through this time and again, it seems clear to me that many of the people of ancient Israel and Judah did not see a conflict between worshiping God, Jeroboam’s golden calves, and Baal. In fact, it appears that a significant number viewed them as worshiping the same god. It looks to me like there was a kind of progression.

    There were those who worshiped God and either studied the Law of Moses or followed the spiritual direction of those who studied the Law of Moses. These knew that God had forbidden the worship of physical representations of Himself. These for the most part made regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship. Just as today, not all of those who claimed to believe that the Law of Moses was the correct way to follow God were godly people who truly did so. There were certainly those who attempted to use it as a means to look down on others, or overlooked those commands which told them not to commit the sins which they desired to commit.

    Then there were those who had been raised to follow the basic laws and worship practice laid out in the Law of Moses but had never actually read it nor had those from whom they received spiritual guidance. These created idols, or used idols created by others, to focus their attention towards God. If we look at people today, I probably overstated it to say that none of them had read the Law of Moses. Just as today, there were probably those who had read God’s commands and felt that they were too limiting and that there was no need to be that legalistic. Again, just as today there were probably some among them who lived godly lives, who were faithful in the less ceremonial, but more important, of God’s commands.It seems likely to me that not all of those who worshiped Jeroboam’s golden calves were rejected by God. However, the lack of knowledge or arrogance which led them to do so made it likely they placed more emphasis on ceremonial worship than on truly obeying God.

    Then there were those who found Baal worship more emotionally satisfying. They felt that all religions taught more or less the same thing. Thus there was no reason not to follow the teachings of Baal worship which gave them a greater sense of spirituality. They did not see any reason to follow specific rules and regulations. What was important to them was “being a good person.” While it is possible that a few of such people were godly, it is unlikely, not impossible, just unlikely, that any of them had a sufficient understanding of what God truly desired to faithfully follow His will.

    Finally, there were those who took this even further and worshiped Asherah and other gods of the region. These last thought that the important thing was to follow some sort of religion, but that it did not matter what. The important thing was the communal practices and ceremonies.

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2017 Bible Study — Examples Of How God Works Through Us

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 3-4.

    When Joram succeeded his father Ahab as king of Israel, he moved away from Baal worship, but continued to worship at the golden calves which Jeroboam had erected. During his invasion of Moab things went badly. So, he had Elisha called before him (it is interesting to note that Elisha was among the soldiers in King Joram’s army). Elisha asked Joram why he was not consulting the gods of his parents. The point being made here is that King Joram could not be bothered to call on God until he found himself in trouble of his own making. It was Joram who chose the route which the army marched. A route which had insufficient water for the armies he was leading. How often do we do something similar? We march out on a path of our own choosing without seeking God first. Then, when things go badly wrong, we call out to God to rescue us from our bad decisions. The key is that we should call on God before we undertake the campaign, not just after things go wrong.

    The rest of the stories are a series of vignettes about Elisha. They each have a “moral to the story”, a lesson we can learn from how God worked in each case. The first story is about a widow of one of Elisha’s fellow prophets. She desperately needed money. Elisha did not provide her directly with money. Instead he directed her to use a resource which she had and asked her to apply some effort. God then multiplied that resource so that she could use it to obtain the money she needed to survive. The amount of aid she received was limited by the amount of effort she put into the project. This is how God generally meets our needs, we will need to expend the effort to get started, but God will expand the results of our efforts beyond what we could have possibly accomplished on our own.