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.