“And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. So he said, “Then bring some flour.” And he put it into the pot, and said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.”
II Kings 4:38-41 NKJV
a. There was a famine in the land: “The famine mentioned in verse 38 may be the seven-year famine alluded to in 2 Kings 8:1-3.” (Dilday)
b. Man of God, there is death in the pot: Elisha felt a special responsibility to help in this situation because he told the men to gather ingredients for the stew, and they gathered the wild vine that poisoned the pot.
i. “The gourds were probably colocynth. Popularly called ‘wild cucumber,’ the vine still grows near the Dead Sea. When the gourds are cut open the pulp dries rapidly and forms a powder, which in that part of the world is still used as a cathartic medicine. It has a very bitter taste. If eaten in enough quantity, it induces colic and can be fatal.” (Dilday)
ii. “You have been trying to find pleasure in the world, and you have found wild vines… you have gathered wild gourds, a lap full, almost a heart full. You have been shredding death into the pot, and now you cannot feel as you used to feel, the poison is stupefying your soul. While we were singing just now, you said, ‘I want to sing as saints do, but there is no praise in me’… If you are a worldling, and not God’s child, you can live on that which would poison a Christian, but if you are a child of God, you will cry out, ‘O thou man of God, there is death in the pot!’” (Spurgeon)
c. And there was nothing harmful in the pot: There was nothing inherently purifying in the flour Elisha put in the pot. The real purification was a miraculous work of God.
i. “There is death in the pot; how is the Church to meet it? I believe it is to imitate Elisha. We need not attempt to get the wild gourds out of the pot; they are cut too small, and are too cunningly mixed up; they have entered too closely into the whole mass of teaching to be removed. Who shall extract the leaven from the leavened loaf? What then? We must look to God for help, and use the means indicated here. ‘Bring meal.’ Good wholesome food was cast into the poisonous stuff, and by God’s gracious working it killed the poison; and the Church must cast the blessed gospel of the grace of God into the poisoned pottage, and false doctrine will not be able to destroy men’s souls as it now does.” (Spurgeon)
(Guzik)
Child of God!
Spurgeon has a way with words and scripture that are even relevant today!
ii. “You have been trying to find pleasure in the world, and you have found wild vines… you have gathered wild gourds, a lap full, almost a heart full. You have been shredding death into the pot, and now you cannot feel as you used to feel, the poison is stupefying your soul. While we were singing just now, you said, ‘I want to sing as saints do, but there is no praise in me’… If you are a worldling, and not God’s child, you can live on that which would poison a Christian, but if you are a child of God, you will cry out, ‘O thou man of God, there is death in the pot!’” (Spurgeon)
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:” John 1:12 NKJV
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26 NKJV
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
I John 3:1 NKJV
Are you a worldling or a child of God?
Blessings
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