'And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto
her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a
vessel more. And the oil stayed.'--2 KINGS iv. 6.
The series of miracles ascribed to Elisha are very unlike most of the
wonderful works of even the Old Testament, and still more unlike those
of the New. For about a great many of them there seems to have been no
special purpose, either doctrinal or otherwise, but simply the relief
of trivial and transient distresses. This story, from which my text is
taken, is one of that sort. One of the sons of the prophets had died in
Shunem. He left a widow and two little children. The creditor,
according to the Mosaic law, had the right, which he was about to put
in practice, of taking the children to be bondmen. And so the
penniless, helpless woman comes to Elisha, as a kind of
deliverer-general from all sorts of distresses, and tells him her
pitiful tale. He asks her what she wants him to do, and she has no
counsel to give. Then the thing to do strikes _him._ He asks what she
has in the house. It was a poor, bare hovel of a place. There was not
anything in it save a pot of oil, which was all her property. He sends
her to borrow vessels, of all sorts and sizes. He takes the pot of oil,
and shuts the door. Then she sets the two boys fetching and carrying;
and herself taking up the one possession that she has, in faith she
pours; and dish after dish is filled, and still she pours; and they
were all filled, and she kept on pouring. Then she said, 'Bring some
more'; and the boys answered, 'There are not any more,' so then the oil
stopped.
There was no very special reason for all this. It is not at all like
most Biblical miracles. I do not suppose it had any symbolical
intention; but I venture to do a little gentle violence to the
incident, and to see in the staying of the oil when no more vessels
were brought to be filled, a lesson addressed to us all, and it is
this: God keeps giving Himself as long as we bring that into which He
can pour Himself. And when we stop bringing, He stops giving.
Now, if I may venture to be fanciful for once, let me tell you of three
vessels that we have to bring if we would have the oil of the Divine
Spirit poured into us.