Elisha’s Miracles: The Moabite affair has further established Elisha’s credentials as a prophet in the line of Elijah. Both are now firmly associated with the God who provides water at will (cf. 1 Kgs. 18), whether by orthodox means (wind and rain, 1 Kgs. 18:45) or not (neither wind nor rain, 2 Kgs. 3:17). In this chapter we shall read of a number of further miracles, both of provision and healing, that remind us of Elijah in the same way.

4:1–7  The first of these is occasioned by a crisis facing the widow of a member of the prophetic groups under Elisha’s leadership (cf. 2 Kgs. 2:1ff; 4:38ff.; 6:1ff.). Her sons are to be taken as slaves in payment of debt (cf. Isa. 50:1; Neh. 5:4–5). Like the widow of Zarephath (1 Kgs. 17:7–16), she possesses only a small amount of oil (Hb. šemen, 17:12 a…