Latest / Scripture Central / 2 Kings 2-7 I Old Testament Women Miracles I Handmaidens, Harems & Heroines I Lynne Wilson

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2 Kings 2-7 I Old Testament Women Miracles I Handmaidens, Harems & Heroines I Lynne Wilson · Scripture Central

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  The creditors have threatened to enslave her two sons.
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  And that's just the way things were done.
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  If you couldn't pay your bills, you sold family members to pay
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  back the debt. She's the only woman in
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  Scripture who's introduced as a great woman.
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  She was best known repeatedly for seeking a personal audience
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  with the prophet. Elisha just demonstrates to her
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  remarkable spiritual confidence in him.
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  Elijah says, what would you like?
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  She said no, no, no, no, I'm fine.
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  And he says, no, I'd like to give you a child.
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  And in verse 16, she says, do not lie unto thy handmaid.
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  Elijah's servant gets covetous. He becomes greedy and he goes
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  and he asks. They have.
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  Oh, excuse me. Excuse me.
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  The prophet has changed his mind.
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  I'm just like a few of your of your gifts here.
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  Can we just have a few, please? Well, she's furious.
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  You know, the text says she she tears her clothing.
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  Treason. Treason.
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  You know, these women become the tragic symbols of the society
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  that is so spiritually bankrupt that not even motherhood
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  remained sacred. Welcome back to Scripture
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  Central. I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, and we
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  get to talk about Second Kings chapter 2 through 7.
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  I'm part of the team that tries to build enduring faith in Jesus
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  Christ. And as we look at these
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  chapters, at the handmaidens and the harems and the heroines, I
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  hope you can see with some of them how they find their
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  Messiah. And we've got people who are in
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  each of those 3 categories today.
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  We've got the mother of Jehoram. We've got the widow with her two
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  sons. We've got the Shumanite woman,
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  we've got Nahum's wife, we've got the Hebrew handmaiden and
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  which is another word for us, a slave girl.
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  You know, it's, it's a very jaunty word, but it, it, it's
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  hard. And as we look at these women, I
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  hope you can have the scriptures come to life that they can be
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  more meaningful for you. So let's start out in second
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  Kings with chapter 3 is the first reference to a female, and
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  it's the mother of the new king. Now, Jehoram's mother is the
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  infamous Queen Jezebel. You know, she's not necessarily
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  named every time, but she is with Elisha's biting rebuke
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  against her idolatry. It was recorded.
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  Get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets of
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  thy mother. You know this is referring to
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  Jezebel's 850 prophets of Baal that we talked about last week,
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  and Ashraf as well. We talked a lot about Jezebel
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  last week, but we still have her influence because the Queen
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  Mother holds a mighty strong power in ancient Israel.
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  But the first heroine in our group is this unnamed widow with
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  two young sons. This is second Kings chapter 4
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  and the 1st 7 verses talk about this widow whose husband was
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  killed even though he was following Elijah.
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  He had been part of the group that were destroyed by the
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  wicked leadership. And so this widow comes to
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  Elijah and says, you know, my deceased husband was one of the
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  sons of the prophets, meaning he was one of the groups of the
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  prophets and prophets is a general term for those who are
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  seeking Jehovah. So he was a disciple, not
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  necessarily the prophet is how the word it was used in the
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  ancient world. And we don't think there's a
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  familiar relationship there. But Elijah himself had been a
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  growing disciple of Elijah, and he was well aware of all that
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  group that were disciples of Elijah.
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  And the books of first and Second Kings mentioned this
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  group 11 times. They're always in connection
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  with Elijah, Elijah. But whether her husband was one
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  of those that Jezebel killed or Obadiah hid, we don't know.
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  But her faith in Elisha as God's leader drew her to him in this
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  time of crisis. And the crisis is that creditors
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  have threatened to enslave her two sons.
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  And that's just the way things were done.
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  If you couldn't pay your bills, you sold family members to pay
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  back the debt. So in desperation, she seeks out
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  Elisha and likely her. Elisha was her husband's former
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  mentor. They likely knew each other a
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  little bit. Elisha's solution required a
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  joint effort between the widow and her sons and God.
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  And it's beautiful. So Elisha began by assessing her
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  resources. He says, what has thou in the
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  house? And she offers him that all she
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  has is this little flask of oil. So then the prophet directs her
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  and her family to borrow as many jars as they can possibly borrow
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  from neighbors. He doesn't specify a number.
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  He doesn't specify size or or if there has to be stone, just
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  anything. And through this God taught the
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  law of the harvest. You know, their efforts in
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  gathering these vessels determined the abundance that
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  God granted and magnified. So the prophet, after they have
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  the room filled with jars, closes the door, and the widow
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  begins pouring out of her little flask into all these borrowed
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  jars. And miraculously the oil flows
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  beyond the capacity, filling every vessel and completely to
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  the brim. Nothing is empty, and the
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  miracle does not stop until there are no more jars to be
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  found. You know, the miracle was
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  limited solely by their diligence and preparation and
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  the Son's obedience to secure their freedom.
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  And their mother's provision comes because they're able to
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  sell all this oil. You know, as I look at this
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  story, I hope you can glean some principles.
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  The first one that I see is that God's blessings for his
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  disciples require effort. And the second one is that God
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  can only fill what we prepare to receive, and our preparation
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  will allow us to be filled by God.
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  The next woman that we come in contact with is in the same
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  chapter, Second Kings chapter 4, but it doesn't start until verse
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  8 and then throughout the rest of this chapter.
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  And then we reintroduce to her again in Chapter 8, But there's
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  an unnamed woman from an area of Schumann, and she's the only
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  woman in Scripture who's introduced as a great woman.
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  You know, the text illustrates her greatness through her faith,
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  her generosity, her wealth, her tenacity.
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  And interestingly, the narrator uses the same word just a few
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  chapters. The next chapter for a man named
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  Naham. He's the captain of the Syrian
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  Army. However, Naham lacks many of the
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  spiritual qualities of this wonderful Shumanite woman.
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  You know, unlike most women in the Old Testament, she is not
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  introduced by her father or husband or her son.
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  The Schumannite woman stands uniquely independent.
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  This is very rare. Even her family members remain
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  unnamed. Her husband respects her
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  opinions. He gives her autonomy and the
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  decisions. You know, it's an extraordinary
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  relationship for that era. She possesses considerable
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  wealth. She has servants.
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  Usually you live among your husband's people, but she lives
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  among her own people. This is verse 13.
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  And she was best known repeatedly for seeking a
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  personal audience with the prophet Elisha.
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  It just demonstrates to her remarkable spiritual confidence
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  in him. So this Shumanite woman not only
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  shares traits with other great biblical women.
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  Do you remember back in the New Testament, Mary Magdalene and
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  Joanna and Susanna are all named women who financed Jesus's
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  ministry. And this Shumanite woman also
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  uses her resources to support God's prophet.
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  But she's also remembered for her deeds, even more so than her
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  name, which we don't know. She's filled with faith, and she
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  hosts not only this holy man, but she also seeks other ways to
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  help as well. We also see her, like many
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  biblical women, as someone who's barren.
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  Look at Abraham and Sarah and Rebecca and Isaac and and Rachel
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  and Jacob. You know, she fits into that
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  pattern. But she hosts the prophet
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  Elijah, and he comes through, she recognizes as a man of God,
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  and she repeatedly invites him to lodge in her home.
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  And he's there often enough that she wants to do more for him.
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  And she proposes to her husband, Can we please make a small room
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  upstairs just for him so he can come and go a little bit easier?
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  And her husband agrees. And archaeologists have found
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  hundreds of standard 4 room homes from this era in this
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  location. And they measure for the
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  wealthier people. They measure, you know, 33 to 40
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  feet long and by about 26 to 33 feet wide.
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  And they have these 4 enclosed room around a central courtyard
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  and then a flat roof on the top. Now, the nicer homes include an
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  upstairs access to a ladder or stairs to get up there to do
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  your summer cooking or something.
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  And likely what they built on was this upper story.
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  Now, it doesn't sound too lavish when we read Second Kings
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  chapter 4, but she actually is furnishing this private chamber
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  with a bed, a table, a chair, a lampstand.
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  These are lavish furnishings for the time.
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  And in fact, the word for chair here is described as a throne of
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  honor. You know, just demonstrate some
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  of her attention that she is giving to the prophet's dignity.
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  And Elisha wanted to reciprocate her kindness.
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  And she dismisses it. No, I have everything I need.
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  I'm completely content. It's not until Elisha's servant,
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  Gahasia identifies her obvious deficit is no children.
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  Now, perhaps her barrenness was too painful to discuss.
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  I don't know. Some interpret her response as a
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  disinterest in children. Not, not not.
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  We see that as the story unravels.
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  I don't think that is the case. You know, her service to the
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  prophet and her later trust in his healing power demonstrates
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  her phenomenal faith. It's not a matter of faith.
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  And also in Israelite culture, you've got to remember that
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  motherhood was a supreme honor, that bearing children is God's
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  first commandment in Eden, that nothing overshadowed this in
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  ancient Israelite for women. So childishness was among the
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  worst fates of a married woman, and commonly it was
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  misinterpreted as a divine punishment.
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  So her response when Elijah says, what would you like?
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  She said, no, no, no, no, I'm fine.
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  And he says, no, I'd like to give you a child.
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  And in verse 16, she says, do not lie unto thy handmaiden, you
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  know, she begs him not to give her any vain hope.
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  And even though she's a great woman, she calls herself the
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  prophets maidservant in verse 8 and in verse 16, you know she's
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  willing to serve him. This phrase is very common about
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  biblical women. It reflects not only their
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  ability to serve others, but I think it reflects that they are
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  types of Christ. It reflects their spiritual
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  greatness. It demonstrates their her
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  profound faith that the needs of the prophet are going to be
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  greater than than any self-centered desires that she
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  had. You know, she plays a vital role
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  in helping support God's will. So her response to the prophet
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  does not reflect faithfulness. If it's just her painful
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  transparency, I think and she supports God prophet and later
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  we see her, her faith grow. But the prophet promises her at
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  this time next year you will hold a son in your arms.
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  Chapter 4, verse 16. That's the BSB translation.
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  And God's miracle comes after the trial of her faith, and she
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  is able to bear a son. And years later, we're told that
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  the son is working beside the father out in the field with the
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  reapers or something. And the boy suffers a sudden
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  trauma. We aren't told what it was.
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  You know, I don't know if it was heat stroke or a snake bite or
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  an injury to his head, but he cries out my head, my head.
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  And a servant immediately picks up the child and takes him into
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  the mother. And she holds him on her lap
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  until he dies at noon. Now, procuredly, she lays this
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  body up on Elisha's bed without telling anyone, not even her
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  husband. She she asked her husband, I'm
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  going to take a donkey and go visit Elisha.
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  But her husband says, well, why are you going to visit Elisha
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  now? It's not the time.
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  It's not a Sabbath. It's not the time.
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  She ignores her husband's questions.
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  She quickly departs. She doesn't have a servant.
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  Go get the message. She herself leaves.
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  This is very, very unusual for this this time.
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  But she had such focused faith. She wanted to see it completed.
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  She wanted healing from Elisha. And Elisha lives clear over on
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  Mount Carmel. They think it's about 40 miles
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  away as not as the crow flies, but as the roads went thin.
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  And you know, and donkeys are great and endurance, but they're
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  not that great in speed. You know, by carrying an adult,
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  they can probably travel about 20 miles a day, and it's about 3
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  miles an hour. So if she's not leaving until
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  noon, this journey may have lasted 2 days.
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  Usually Pimple didn't travel at night, it was too dangerous.
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  But however she got there, whenever she got there, it's
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  daylight, it's light night, it's not night.
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  And Elisha recognizes her from his hilltop, and he sends down
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  his servant, Gazia. He says, look, there's the
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  Shumanite run to meet her. Ask her, are you all right?
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  Is your husband OK? Is the child all right?
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  This is versus 25 and 26 in the NIV.
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  And this is interesting. The Shumanite woman brushes past
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  the servant and goes straight up to Elijah.
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  She dismounts the donkey. She falls at his feet.
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  And then she does something that is socially very unacceptable at
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  that time. She grabs him and Gehazia tries
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  to restrain her, but Elisha sees her anguish and says let her,
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  let her stay, let her stay. And as she's holding on his
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  feet, she she calls the prophet. Did I ask you for a son?
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  My Lord? Didn't I tell you not to raise
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  my hopes? This is verse 28.
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  And the prophet offers to send his staff with the Gehasia and
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  she refuses. Gehasia, she demands the prophet
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  himself come and minister to her son.
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  Now, initially I thought, boy, that's not very sensitive to the
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  prophet's time and energy and age and everything else.
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  But when we see what Gehesia does in a few chapters, I don't
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  think that she was wrong and not trusting her.
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  Sometimes there's an intuition that says, you know what?
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  That's not someone that I'm going to trust.
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  And she doesn't. And we'll understand that next
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  and the next story. But her faith in God was
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  absolute. And she says in verse 30, I just
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  love this. I'm still in chapter 4.
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  As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave.
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  You know, she's got such tenacity.
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  You know, it springs from her maternal love.
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  It springs from her faith in God's prophet.
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  And even though the servant runs ahead with Elisha's staff, the
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  woman's faith required the prophet himself, and Elisha
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  arrives, he isn't able to immediately produce the healing.
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  He goes up into the room where she's laid him on the bed.
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  He's now been there for at least three days, if not 4 if the
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  distances are accurate, And he enters the room and pleads with
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  the Lord. He's inspired, he says.
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  He finally lays on the boy mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to
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  hand, restoring warmth. And he repeats this process.
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  And then the boy sneezes 7 times.
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  He opens his eyes and is alive again.
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  The sun is miraculously restored.
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  He's an answer to her faith and living God.
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  And Elisha continues on. The next time we hear about the
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  shumanite woman is not until chapter 8.
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  And this is interesting because now she's she had been following
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  Elisha's warnings because there was a wicked king and there was
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  another ceiling of the heavens by Elisha.
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  She then relocates from Jezreel valley all the way over to the
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  Mediterranean coast during this next seven-year famine that
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  Elisha has has foretold. So God sent these families
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  outside and and King Jehoram has stayed and it's Ahab's reign
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  ended, but his son is still there and he's nearly just as
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  disobedient. He reigns for 12 more years.
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  Now we're into second Kings chapter 1 when we read about
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  that. But during these years of
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  absence, some squatters came and claimed her property.
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  So the text clearly gives her ownership, which is very rare in
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  the Old Testament, you know, but she travels down to talk to the
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  King and she is asking for her property back.
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  Her timing was absolutely miraculous, or I should say
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  God's timing was miraculous because at the same time she is
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  there to ask this servant Gehazia is recounting Elisha's
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  raising her son from the dead. And then he recognizes her and
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  said, oh, here she is. And she gives a second witness
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  to God's power. Well, the king is so astonished
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  at all this that he accepts her appeal.
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  He gives her back the property. And in fact, he says anything
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  that you earned on this property as squatters belongs to her as
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  well. So he assigns her an officer to
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  carry out his the King's order. This is very unprecedented
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  treatment for women, you know, let alone to claim the property.
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  But this is this is very unusual that she's the one doing this
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  bidding instead of her husband. But the Lord rewarded her great
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  faith and service and restores the property.
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  At during the same time, we learn that the Syrians have come
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  down and captured some of the northern Israelites and taken
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  them captive. And one of those is working now
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  for Nahum's wife, a little Hebrew girl servant.
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  But Nahum's wife is introduced in chapter 5 of Second Kings in
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  verses 2 through 4. Now remember, Nahum is this
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  commander of the Syrian Army, and it sounds like he can track
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  some form of a skin disease, which is referred to as leprosy.
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  And she occupies his wife, actually occupies a very pivotal
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  and understated role in her husband's miraculous healing
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  because she listens to this young Hebrew servant that claims
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  there's a prophet. Now, the wife could have just
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  dismissed this council of a foreign captive, you know, but
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  instead she relays this testimony to her husband.
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  Now it either demonstrates her desperate hope or her genuine
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  respect for her servants faith, or perhaps a combination of
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  both. We don't know.
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  But this wife's willingness to advocate for this little Hebrew
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  slave religious council I think reveals a real openness to
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  truth. Because without the wife's
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  intervention as an intermediary and the servant's testimony,
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  this, this miracle never could have come to pass.
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  And it's a, it's a beautiful miracle, which by the way, is
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  repeated by Christ and then by his prophets afterward as well.
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  But in verses one through 4, we also get more information on
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  this wonderful Hebrew captive servant, this this young girl.
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  And even though she's unnamed, it sounds as if she's learned
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  the local dialect. She's probably learned Aramaic
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  and the Damascus language here. And she was old enough to have
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  already developed faith in God when she was taking captive.
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  I I think she already knew who the prophet Elijah was when she
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  was taking captive, but she was young enough to also learn this
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  language quickly. And the West Semitic dialect to
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  is somewhat related to Hebrew. So it wouldn't be wouldn't be
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  too hard, but she uses this new language to testify of God even
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  while she is enslaved. You know, as soon as she
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  overhears or learns somehow that Naham has contracted leprosy,
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  she takes the opportunity and she says in verse three, if only
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  my master would go to the prophet who's in Samaria, he
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  would cure him of his leprosy. Well, Nahum's wife relays that
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  information from her little servant and that trustworthy I,
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  I think she had to be trustworthy and responsible or
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  they wouldn't have trusted her with it.
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  But this young woman is able to rise to the occasion.
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  Now, the king of the Assyria at that time was either Ben had or
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  Hazel, and they agreed to allow Nahem to go.
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  He writes a letter of recommendation to present to the
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  king of Israel. Now, this is a horrific
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  political mistake. You know, he's writing a letter
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  to either Joram or Jehub. I don't know which one.
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  But unfortunately the king and Nahum don't understand that
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  there's a difference between a prophet and the king.
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  You know, they make a huge blunder and if they had just
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  asked the young servant, she could have clarified their
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  mistake, but they never asked her.
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  They don't ever consult her. Nevertheless, her faith was the
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  catalyst. The Lord works it all out and
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  the miracle does occur where he is healed.
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  But I still think that she likely served and saw Nahum come
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  home as a healed and very humbled man.
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  It's, it's a great story. The story of Naman also includes
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  other maid servants. Do you remember after the
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  healing of Naman as he is trying to thank Elisha with many gifts,
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  he has gold and silver and beautiful wonderful clothing and
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  things. And Elisha says I'm not taking
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  any money for this and and he leaves.
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  But Elisha's servant gets covetous.
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  He becomes greedy and he goes and he asks they have oh, excuse
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  me, excuse me. The prophet has changed his
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  mind. I'm just like a few of your of
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  your gifts here. Can we just to have a few,
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  please? Well, Elijah is told about it
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  and then Elijah denounces his servant.
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  This is in verse 26. Is this a time to take money or
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  to accept clothes or olive Groves or vineyards or flocks or
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  herds or male and female servants?
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  That's in the NIV translation. You know, I see Elijah's words
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  representing the tragic commodification of women.
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  They're in the same category as money and clothes and herds.
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  You know, these women would have been bought and sold alongside
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  the livestock. You know, they're they're
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  they're equated here in this monetary dehumiliation.
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  They're reduced to an economic value.
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  And the profits rebuke implicitly condemns the
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  mercenary view of human beings. And I'm grateful that Elisha
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  denounces that the next woman is in chapter 6, and we read about
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  these two mothers who agree to eat their sons.
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  You know, there's a devastating siege by now in Samaria by the
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  Armians. And two desperate mothers made
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  an unspeakable decision that they would eat their son to
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  survive. 1 Mother cries out to King Jehoram on the city wall,
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  and she describes this horrific agreement, says in verse 28, We
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  boiled my son and did eat him. And I said to her on the next
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  day, give me thy son, that we may eat him, but she has hid her
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  son. You know.
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  The first mother's ghastly act of compliance demonstrates the
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  absolute extreme horror of this famine.
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  But the narrative also fulfills Moses prophetic warning.
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  This comes out of Deuteronomy that those who break their
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  covenants will suffer depravity as as awful as cannibalism.
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  You know, the story of these two mothers driven beyond sanity by
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  starvation really epitomizes the complete moral collapse of
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  Israel. The king responds by rending his
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  clothes. He puts on sackcloth, but he
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  does not repent. You know, these women become the
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  tragic symbols of the society that is so spiritually bankrupt
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  that not even motherhood remained sacred.
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  It's just tragic. Now, there's a few other stories
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  that are not included in our reading, but they just skip over
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  these chapters. We've got pregnant mothers who
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  are murdered in war. We've got Athalia, the daughter
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  of Ahab, who becomes the wife of Judas, King Jehovah.
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  And the Queen Mother was an official court position, and she
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  held more power than the King's wives.
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  You know it made her and her family legitimate targets when
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  Jehu wants to come through and destroy Ahab's dynasty.
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  This is in King's chapter 10. She she wielded significant
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  political influence in that northern Kingdom.
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  The only one I just feel like we can't skip over is in chapter 8.
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  This is Queen Athelia. She's she just as her her mother
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  Jezebel introduced by all worship in the northern Kingdom.
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  She has a political marriage and alliance with the king in the
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  southern Kingdom and she introduces worship about all in
• 26:47
  the southern Kingdom. You know, she raises her son to
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  do wickedly, we're told in Chapter 11, and he becomes the
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  king of Jerusalem at 22. Now King James has 44.
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  But go back and look at the Hebrew.
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  Look at all the other translations.
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  Even the JST corrects that this Queen Mother has great political
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  desires and it LED her to plot many murders.
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  And as soon as her son is is dies she destroys all of the
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  seed royal. She kills everyone else that she
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  can find. But she is the only biblical
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  female to commit familial side and she had a sister-in-law who
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  knew of a nursing baby and saves this one heir of King Ahasia.
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  And with the wet nurse, the sister-in-law takes the babe and
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  the wet nurse into the temple and hides them for six years.
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  This is Chapter 11, verse 3. And so this woman comes to the
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  throne and begins raising in complete horror for seven years
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  as the queen of Jerusalem. But one day she hears this crowd
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  gathering over the temple. She goes outside to investigate
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  and the priest Jehoiad called to the leaders of the people in the
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  temple to witness the crowning and anointing of this young,
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  young 7 year old king Jehoiach of Judea.
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  Well, she's furious. You know, the text says she she
• 28:13
  tears her clothing. Treason, treason.
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  You know, this is verse 14 of Chapter 11.
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  And she tries to flee back to the palace for safety, but the
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  guards capture a killer and the people rejoice at the news.
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  And the city is then calm and and quiet.
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  So she's she's when we need to talk about a little bit.
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  But I also want to honor this nurse who is the wet nurse and
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  the sister-in-law who realizes that there is one babe left.
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  And it reminds me of the Mulakites as well in the Book of
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  Mormon. You know, she's an unnamed
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  nurse, but she changes the dynamics of the nation of
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  history. And she is the guardian of the
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  Davidic covenant. I think she had divine help with
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  her because this is the line from which the Messiah will
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  come. And we're very grateful that she
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  is able to be a rescuer. And I believe many of you can be
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  rescuers, many of you can be nurturers and set in motion the
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  things that will allow God's plan to go further.
• 29:15
  Whether you're known or unknown, your faithfulness, your
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  faithfulness can promote God's work.
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  And I believe that with all my heart, in the name of Jesus
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  Christ, Amen.