2 Kings 4:38-44

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Poisoned Stew and the Prophet’s Bread

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. More of Christ is the solution to false teaching.

  2. More of Christ is the solution to spiritual famine.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let’s watch out for wild vines.

  2. Let’s be more like the man from Baal Shalisha.

QUESTIONS

  1. In the first miracle (the purifying of the poisoned stew), what does meal or flour picture?

  2. In the second miracle (the relief from famine), what does the bread or grain picture?

  3. What was the dire situation in Gilgal?

  4. What did the wild gourds picture?

  5. What are the two warnings to us today from these two miracles?

  6. What is the solution to false teaching? What is the solution to spiritual famine?

  7. “Let’s watch out for wild vines.” What does this mean? Give an example.

  8. “Let’s be more like the man from Baal Shalisha.” What does this mean?

  9. Where in Scripture do you find the miracle of the feeding of the: a) 5,000, b) 4,000, and c) 100?

ANSWERS

  1. Meal or flour, throughout Scripture, is a picture representing Christ or the word of God. The fine flour or meal offering in the Old Testament pictures the Lord Jesus in His moral perfections, as the sinless Son of God.

  2. Bread or grain pictures Christ Himself as the Bread of Life. Read John Chapter 6.

  3. There was famine in the land.

  4. They pictured false teaching.

  5. Beware of mixing wild gourds (false teaching), into Christian doctrines and principles. Beware of making excuses to withhold what you can give to help others.

  6. More of Christ. More of Christ.

  7. Wild vines represent the false teaching of Satan and the world system. Any view that is not the Christian world-view is a wild vine. For example, do not mix evolution into creation. It does not fit into the biblical account.

  8. Even during the famine, this man gave from what he had to do the Lord’s work and to meet the needs of the Lord’s servants.

  9. a) Matthew 14:15-21, Mark 8:1-9, John 6:5-13, b) Matthew 15:32-38, and c) 2 Kings 4:42-44.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Can you identify false teachings in your church? How can you counter them or keep them from infiltrating sound doctrine?

  2. Is there a famine in the land today? If so, what can you do about it in your little corner?

CHALLENGE

  1. How can you be more like the man from Baal Shalisha? Give some practical examples.

KEY VERSES

  • ”...there was a famine in the land.” 2 Kings 4:38

  • “A man from Baal Shalisha brought twenty loaves of barley bread…’Give it to the people that they may eat…one hundred men ate and had some left over.” 2 Kings 4:42-44

2 Kings, Old Testament, TalksRon Reid2 KINGS 4:38-44