2 Kings Chapter 4

“Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, etc.] This, according to the Targum, was the wife of Obadiah, who had hid the prophets by fifty in a cave in the times of Ahab; and so Josephus f40, and it is the commonly received notion of the Jewish writers; though it does not appear that he was a prophet, or the son of a prophet, but the governor or steward of Ahab’s house; she was more likely to be the wife of a meaner person; and from hence it is clear that the prophets and their disciples married: saying, thy servant my husband is dead; which is the lot of prophets, as…”

“ELISHA AUGMENTS THE WIDOW'S OIL. (Kg2 4:1-7) there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets--They were allowed to marry as well as the priests and Levites. Her husband, not enjoying the lucrative profits of business, had nothing but a professional income, which, in that irreligious age, would be precarious and very scanty, so that he was not in a condition to provide for his family. the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen--By the enactment of the law, a creditor was entitled to claim the person and children of the insolvent debtor, and compel them to serve him as…”

“The creditor is come ... - The Law of Moses, like the Athenian and the Roman law, recognized servitude for debt, and allowed that pledging of the debtor’s person, which, in a rude state of society, is regarded as the safest and the most natural security (see the marginal reference). In the present case it would seem that, so long as the debtor lived, the creditor had not enforced his right over his sons, but now on his death he claimed their services, to which he was by law entitled. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Prophets - Who, though they were wholly devoted to sacred employment, were not excluded from marriage, any more than the priests and Levites. Fear the Lord - His poverty therefore was not procured by his idleness, or prodigality; but by his piety, because he would not comply with the king's way of worship, and therefore lost all worldly advantages. Bondmen - Either, to use them as his slaves, or to sell them to others, according to the law. 4 Kings (2 Kings) 4:2”

“4:1 The widow’s husband had been a member of the group of prophets . . . who served Elisha (2:3-18). • take my two sons as slaves: The law of Moses allowed a creditor to place a debtor and his children into slavery to work off a debt (Exod 21:2-4; Lev 25:10).”

“am 3110, bc 894 sons: Kg2 4:38, Kg2 2:3, Kg2 2:5; Kg1 20:35 thy servant did fear: Gen 22:12; Kg1 18:3; Neh 7:2; Psa 103:11, Psa 103:17, Psa 112:1, Psa 112:2, Psa 115:13, Psa 147:11; Ecc 8:12, Ecc 12:13; Mal 3:16, Mal 4:2; Act 13:26; Rev 15:4, Rev 19:5 the creditor: Lev 25:39, Lev 25:40, Lev 25:48; Neh 5:2-5, Neh 10:31; Jer 34:14; Mat 18:25, Mat 18:30, Mat 18:35; Jam 2:13 4 Kings (2 Kings) 4:2”

“From 2 Kings 4 through 2 Kings 8:6 there follows a series of miracles on the part of Elisha, which both proved this prophet to be the continuer of the work which Elijah had begun, of converting Israel from the service of Baal to the service of the living God, and also manifested the beneficent fruits of the zeal of Elijah for the honour of the Lord of Sabaoth in the midst of the idolatrous generation of his time, partly in the view which we obtain from several of these accounts of the continuance and prosperity of the schools of the prophets, and partly in the attitude of Elisha towards the godly in the land as…”