instance one of their number was sent to gather "green esculents"183 to be seethed for pottage in the great pot in which

their common meals we re prepared. By some misadventure the person so sent brought among other herbage a very

noxious fruit - probably the wild, or so-called "squirting" cucumber,  184 which he had mistaken for the ordinary

cucumber, one of the most common and favorite articles o f food in the East.

The dangerous error was discovered after the meal had begun. An appeal to Elisha as the "man of God" brought speedy

help. The symbolic meaning of casting "meal" into the pot was, that this was the ordinary and healthy food by which

that which had been bitter and dangerous was now to be changed into palatable and nourishing diet. While the help

Divinely brought by the prophet as the "man of God" was miraculous, it had, as we readily perceive, also a symbolic

significance, the more so, t hat "the sons of the prophets" had, as disciples, been learning from Elisha. And thus did it

become true in every sense: "Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot."

Closely connected with this is the next event recorded. If the former showed how easily God could remove from the

provision of His people that which was hurtful by the addition of that which in itself is nutritious and wholesome, the

next event affords another instance how readily He can send unexpected provision to supply the wants of His servants.

The lesson which it teaches is as old as that of Isaac's reaping an hundredfold of what he had sowed in Gerar at a time

of famine (Genesis 26:12), and as true to all time, and to all God's servants, as it had been to the patriarch. In the

present case, much needed help in their straits came to Elisha and to his companions from Baal-Shalisha, or Beth-

Shalisha. We remember the district as connected with the history of Saul (1 Samuel 9:4): "the land of Shalisha,"

perh aps the "three valleys" land. It lay north of Lydda, in the plain of Sharon, and was not far distant from that Gilgal

which we have described, and the location of which it confirms.185

We know that the Lord directed the first-fruits to be given to the Prie sts and Levites (Numbers 18:13; Deuteronomy

18:4). This ordinance could not any longer be obeyed in the kingdom of Israel, since the Aaronic priesthood, for whose

support it was destined, was not in office there. But the pious in Israel, to whom such contributions were not merely

matter of obligation nor only of law, but who willingly offered to Jehovah, in acknowledgment of His sovereignty and

proprietary over the land, knew to observe the spirit, if they could no longer obey the letter, of the law. Accord ingly

this unnamed man from Baal-Shalisha brought, as is expressly stated, to the "man of God" "bread of the first-fruits,

twenty loaves of barley and bruised ears of corn186 in his sack."  187

The provision supplied by the piety of this unnamed giver Elisha would, in the same spirit of devotion, have shared

with those around him. But such conduct ill accorded with the spirit of Elisha's servant. Indeed, it may have been that

this history was recorded to mark the character of Gehazi. In any case it was not in him at a time of dearth to dismiss

the cares of the morrow by unselfish care for others. He would scarcely venture to state his views explicitly, but,

adopting the more prudent course, contented himself with pointing out the apparent insufficiency of such provision for

so large a company. It might, according to the pious intention of the donor, have supplied for some time the wants of

the prophet, but to set it "before an hundred men" - probably a round number for the whole community - was to lose the

real good that might be obtained, without an equivalent benefit to others. It needed the direct command of Elisha to

secure his obedience. But Elisha did more. For the teaching not only of Gehazi, but of all, he added the promise, of

which, indeed, this unexpected provision was an earnest, that, scanty as it might seem, this provision would not only

suffice, but that there should be left over from it. And this, as we understand it, in the widest sense of constant and

sufficient supply for all the wants of God's servants. For although this narrative is generally, and in a sense correctly,

regarded as prefiguring the miraculous multiplication of the scanty provision with which our Lord fed the multitude

(Matthew 14:19-21; John 6:9-13), yet the text does not here in dicate any such miraculous increase of the food. But it

does most emphatically indicate that Elisha was truly the prophet and servant of Jehovah; that his trust in his God was

absolute and unwavering; and that, true to His promise, the Lord will always pro vide for His servants who look up unto

Him. And this is the final lesson of this history to all time and to all men.