Another day...a couple more miracles
Did I mention Elisha traveled? Yeah! At the beginning of the next story, Elisha has moved down to Gilgal. Funny, lots of maps do not even show Gilgal...one I checked even put a question mark by where it showed Gilgal ~ as if to say, 'even we, the map makers, are not sure this is where Gilgal was." The maps where I did find it, show it to be a city about 4 miles or so just north/west of Jericho. It is about 60 miles south/east of Shunem, and maybe 90 or so miles from Mount Carmel. Elisha got around! The story says he was there to meet with the company of the prophet. So...there were lots of places where there were 'companies of prophets' ... in Israel! I don't know...I just like that. In this country where the king and the people are totally GIVEN to idol worship, all over the place there are these communities of prophets. Hmm!
The beginning of this story notes that there was a famine in the land. That fact figures into the story. Elisha comes to meet with the company of the prophets. He tells someone to make some stew. I guess with Elisha as a special guest, the cook wanted to make dinner a bit more special. Lean times though, famine and all. So the cook goes out to get some herbs likely to add some zing to dinner. Unfortunately the man finds a 'wild vine' that had some 'goards' growing on it. It seems he thought he could 'stretch' the food. Very unfortunately when he cut the gourds up and added them to the stew, inadvertently, he poisoned the stew. The men cry out, "there is death in the pot." Elisha tells the cooks to get some flour and Elisha puts it into the stew. Really -- Elisha, really?? Flour is NOT a common neutralizer for poisoned gourds. . . . but . . .it works! See, this is what I meant about the miracles of Elisha. He does . . . well . . . crazy things. I know, I know ~ some will say that this was a primitive culture and Elisha was an uneducated farmer, and perhaps he thought that flour would neutralize the poison from the gourds. I'm not buying it. First of all he did not just erroneously think that if you put in flour it would neutralize the poison...it DID neutralize the poison. And then, especially because he was a farmer, he would have known that mere flour would only make the poison stew thicker...not safer. Why didn't he just say "throw it out and start again." ? (But we wouldn't have known cuz that is kind of a boring, non-miracley, unscripture-worthy story, right?) OH, yeah...there was a famine in the land. You do not throw out food during a famine. But, if it was going to be a miracle, why didn't he just pray that God would change the stew ~ wave his hand over it or something dramatic like that.? Elisha isn't dramatic, as you will see as the stories go on. All he said was, "add flour". It doesn't even make a good metaphor. He used salt, remember, to heal the waters back in 2 Kings 2:21ff. Not that that made sense, scientifically and all...but it is great as a metaphor. Salt is a healing agent...we are salt of the world -- you know: it preaches. But flour?? Not so much. And while we are at it ~ it does NOT say that he prayed about it and/or heard from God. But it worked! Put flour in the stew and -- ta da!! -- there was nothing harmful in the pot. One of the things about Elisha ~ one of the many things ~ that I like is that he just did miracles ... crazy, don't-make-sense-scientifically, effective miracles.
The next little story is also cool. A man from somewhere called Baal Shalishah brings some bread -- 20 loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain. That sounds like this guy brought a tithe -- hmmm -- just a guess. Anyway ~ Elisha says, "Give it to the people to eat." OK, so it looks like Elisha didn't know science. Now it looks like you should NOT have considered him when choosing a caterer. Or...should you? He suggests 20 barley loaves to feed 100 people. These loaves would not have been big huge, fat round loaves of bread. More likely, they were like pita bread...small, flat round loaves about the size of a man's hand. You might feed 10 people, 5 to 6 if they were hungry. . .but 100? No way! His attendant (it doesn't say Gahezi, but that is who his attendant was) thinks he is like 3 bricks short of a load. But Elisha has been chatting with GOD. He tells him that God has told him that not only will they all eat, but there will be some left over. And yes, Jesus does this later with some fish and bread to give dinner to 5000 people. Foreshadowing? Well, in any case, C. S. Lewis would call this a miracle of the OLD creation: bread multiplies all the time ~ add yeast and a small loaf becomes a big loaf. What I love is how casual Elisha is, kind of nonchalant. "Here, let me throw flour in the pot. Here take these little loaves and feed those 100 hungry people. Yeah, I was talking with God, and He said..."
Don't you love it? I do!
The beginning of this story notes that there was a famine in the land. That fact figures into the story. Elisha comes to meet with the company of the prophets. He tells someone to make some stew. I guess with Elisha as a special guest, the cook wanted to make dinner a bit more special. Lean times though, famine and all. So the cook goes out to get some herbs likely to add some zing to dinner. Unfortunately the man finds a 'wild vine' that had some 'goards' growing on it. It seems he thought he could 'stretch' the food. Very unfortunately when he cut the gourds up and added them to the stew, inadvertently, he poisoned the stew. The men cry out, "there is death in the pot." Elisha tells the cooks to get some flour and Elisha puts it into the stew. Really -- Elisha, really?? Flour is NOT a common neutralizer for poisoned gourds. . . . but . . .it works! See, this is what I meant about the miracles of Elisha. He does . . . well . . . crazy things. I know, I know ~ some will say that this was a primitive culture and Elisha was an uneducated farmer, and perhaps he thought that flour would neutralize the poison from the gourds. I'm not buying it. First of all he did not just erroneously think that if you put in flour it would neutralize the poison...it DID neutralize the poison. And then, especially because he was a farmer, he would have known that mere flour would only make the poison stew thicker...not safer. Why didn't he just say "throw it out and start again." ? (But we wouldn't have known cuz that is kind of a boring, non-miracley, unscripture-worthy story, right?) OH, yeah...there was a famine in the land. You do not throw out food during a famine. But, if it was going to be a miracle, why didn't he just pray that God would change the stew ~ wave his hand over it or something dramatic like that.? Elisha isn't dramatic, as you will see as the stories go on. All he said was, "add flour". It doesn't even make a good metaphor. He used salt, remember, to heal the waters back in 2 Kings 2:21ff. Not that that made sense, scientifically and all...but it is great as a metaphor. Salt is a healing agent...we are salt of the world -- you know: it preaches. But flour?? Not so much. And while we are at it ~ it does NOT say that he prayed about it and/or heard from God. But it worked! Put flour in the stew and -- ta da!! -- there was nothing harmful in the pot. One of the things about Elisha ~ one of the many things ~ that I like is that he just did miracles ... crazy, don't-make-sense-scientifically, effective miracles.
The next little story is also cool. A man from somewhere called Baal Shalishah brings some bread -- 20 loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain. That sounds like this guy brought a tithe -- hmmm -- just a guess. Anyway ~ Elisha says, "Give it to the people to eat." OK, so it looks like Elisha didn't know science. Now it looks like you should NOT have considered him when choosing a caterer. Or...should you? He suggests 20 barley loaves to feed 100 people. These loaves would not have been big huge, fat round loaves of bread. More likely, they were like pita bread...small, flat round loaves about the size of a man's hand. You might feed 10 people, 5 to 6 if they were hungry. . .but 100? No way! His attendant (it doesn't say Gahezi, but that is who his attendant was) thinks he is like 3 bricks short of a load. But Elisha has been chatting with GOD. He tells him that God has told him that not only will they all eat, but there will be some left over. And yes, Jesus does this later with some fish and bread to give dinner to 5000 people. Foreshadowing? Well, in any case, C. S. Lewis would call this a miracle of the OLD creation: bread multiplies all the time ~ add yeast and a small loaf becomes a big loaf. What I love is how casual Elisha is, kind of nonchalant. "Here, let me throw flour in the pot. Here take these little loaves and feed those 100 hungry people. Yeah, I was talking with God, and He said..."
Don't you love it? I do!
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