Scripture: 2 Kings 2:19-25; 4:1-7 (NKJV)
2:19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please notice, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground
barren.” 20 And he said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they
brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in
the salt there, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed this water; from
it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’” 22 So the water remains healed
to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some
youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you
baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 So he turned around and looked at them, and
pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came
out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 25 Then he went from there
to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
4:1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to
Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your
servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be
his slaves.” 2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what
do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the
house but a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere,
from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you
have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it
into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought
the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the
vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he
said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came
and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and
you and your sons live on the rest.”
Devotion
In our reading for today we see just how compassionate our Lord is concerning
the welfare of those who confess His saving Name. In the first case, we see how
God overcomes death through water and a clarifying agent of salt, which is a
most beautiful picture of how God overcomes death through water and the
clarifying agent of His Holy Word, through which the Spirit of God creates
faith, life, hope and salvation. In 2 Kings 4:1-7 we see how God works through
His servant to provide daily bread and future existence.
As in our text, there are always those who despise whom God uses to show His
power and compassion, namely, His chosen servants. In our first text, people
mocked Elisha because of his baldness, which caused him to condemn the mockers
and two bears mauled his mockers.
Today, people use too many cookie-cutter concepts to determine who should be in
the Office of the Holy Ministry or who should not. (Such people should also be
wary of bears.) Often servants are not received or accepted based on color,
size, disabilities, wives, children, to the mockery of God Who calls these men
into the Holy Ministry based on their faithfulness to the Word of God. When
God’s will is accomplished, people are simply strengthened to rely on the gifts
that God gives, like daily bread in this life, just as He provided for the
woman and her two sons.
We pray: Lord, open Thou my heart to hear and through Thy Word to me draw near;
Let me Thy Word ever pure retain, let me Thy child and heir remain. Amen. (TLH
5:1)
Posted by The Reverend Jeffrey A. Ahonen on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran
Diocese of North America, publisher of the Lutheran Herald.
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