03.29. The Man from Baal-Shalisha: 2Ki_4:42-44

Chapter 8 The Man from Baal-Shalisha
2 Kings 4:42-44

Martin Luther remarked to a person who called upon him with melancholy intelligence, "The gospel is good news, and is certainly true; but I know of little or no good news in the world besides." The first and chief announcement of it is the love of God; and it is cheering and consoling to observe the workings of this love among his children, as we shall now have an opportunity of perceiving. Its ways are, indeed, often wonderful, and shrouded in darkness; but let us remember the words of the prophet, "There shall be a covering over all that is glorious"—(German version of Isaiah 6:5).

"And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people that they may eat. And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord." As our history advances, the character of Elisha’s life and times exhibits more and more typically the features of the New Testament. The event now to be considered, forcibly reminds us of similar ones recorded by the evangelists; not that it equals those in grandeur, for it is in comparison but as a single stalk to the full sheaf: still, if we carefully and devoutly attend to it, we shall find much to reward and edify us. Let us notice, I. The man with the loaves;

II. Elisha’s command; and III. The confusion of Gehazi.