Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 4
Elisha would be very joyful to see the farmer’s gift from the first new grain of his harvest. It was evidence that God would provide for him, and the people with him during the next few years. God had told him that, for 7 years, there would not be enough food in Israel (8:1). In those years, the harvests would be poor or would fail completely.
Elisha was joyful – but the servant who prepared the food was not. That servant was struggling to provide food for all the people. They had already had a dangerous incident with food that was not good to eat (4:38-41). The man’s gift was good and special – however, it was not enough food for all the people to eat.
The servant was only thinking about the quantity of food. He was not thinking about the greatness of God, who provides all our food. So he could not see how generously God was providing for his people. He did not understand that God would continue to provide for them (Matthew 6:25-34).
So, to increase the servant’s faith (belief and trust in God), Elisha declared God’s word to him. God had declared that all the people would eat from this small amount of bread. In a wonderful way, God would increase it until it satisfied them all. In fact, they would not even be able to eat it all at that meal. Some bread would remain for the next meal, as evidence that God would continue to provide for them.
So, the servant served them. They all ate until they had enough. As God had promised, some bread remained for their next meal.
Next part: Naaman, commander of Aram's army (2 Kings 5:1)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2025, Keith Simons.