Unit 12: Elijah and Elisha OT12.10 Elisha and the Widow’s Oil · Elisha was a prophet that God...

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OT12.10 Elisha and the Widow’s Oil ©Beverly Wilson 2019

Unit 12: Elijah and Elisha OT12.10 Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

Scripture: 2 Kings 4:1-7

Lesson Goal: Elisha was a prophet that God had chosen to take over the ministry of Elijah. In this lesson we will learn how God used Elisha to help a poor widow by providing oil in jars.

Introduction: This lesson is found in the book of 2 Kings. This book tells the history of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. It is in the second group of Old Testament books called the historical books. These books begin with Joshua and go through Esther. Let's say these books--Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther

Attention Getter: “Problems” Has your family ever had a very difficult problem that they needed help in solving? Perhaps your father or mother had lost their job and they needed help in finding a new one. Maybe you have had someone in your family that was very sick and needed some very expensive medical treatment. These kinds of things can happen to any family. Sometimes we wonder if God really knows and cares about our needs. But we can be sure that He does! In this lesson we will learn how a widow woman in the Bible discovered that God not only knew her needs but that He could supply her needs too!.

Opening Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, Thank you for loving and caring for us. Thank you for the miracle of providing unending oil to help the widow and her two sons. You also desire that we too can know your love and compassion. Thank you for helping us with every need and problem that we face. Thank you for offering to give us the forgiveness of our sin and the gift of eternal life in heaven. Help us to trust in You for everything! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Memory Verse: The memory verse is Philippians 4:19 ”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Lesson Video: https://youtu.be/3Z4qFC7aybI Elisha was a prophet in the land of Israel during the reign of the kings. Elisha followed in Elijah’s footsteps and demonstrated the power of God to perform many miracles. He often showed great compassion for those who were around him. People who trusted in God soon learned that if they had a problem they could go to the prophet Elisha for help. Everyone had heard how Elisha had helped the people of Jericho by providing them with fresh water and fertile land. God had told Elisha to pour a bowl of salt into the water spring and that He would heal the water. Never again did it cause death or make the land not grow crops! When the people tasted the water it was fresh and clean. This miracle helped people know that God was the only One who could help them with their needs. One day, a woman, the wife of one of the prophets of God, came to see Elisha. She was clearly upset and needed help.

https://youtu.be/3Z4qFC7aybI

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“My husband is dead,” she cried out. “As you know, my husband was a believer in the one true God. He was very poor and when he died he had many debts. One of the men he owed money to wants his money back. He came to my house and said, “Open up! If you don’t pay the money you owe me, I will come back and take your sons to be my slaves!” “What shall I do?” sobbed the widow. “You know that my husband is dead. He loved and served God. I cannot let this man take my sons as slaves but I cannot pay this debt! What am I to do? Elisha, please help me!” Elisha asked the Lord for guidance. How could God help this poor woman? God loved this poor lady and her sons and he wanted to help her. So He showed Elisha what the woman must do. “Tell me, what do you have in your house?” Elisha asked. “Only one small pot of oil,” the tearful woman replied. “Here’s what you must do,” Elisha said. “Go home and gather all the empty vessels you can find. Borrow empty jars from your neighbors too. You need to gather as many jars as you can find.” “Why? What for?” the woman asked. Elisha then told her what to do once the jars had been collected. “Take them to your home. Close the door so you and your sons will be alone. Then take your pot of oil and begin to pour the oil into all the borrowed jars until they are all full.” The excited widow went home. She and her two sons gathered as many empty jars as they could find in their own house. Then they borrowed bowls and jars from their neighbors and friends. It made quite a collection! Then the woman went into her house and closed the door, just as Elisha had told her. Then she started pouring the oil from her one small jar of olive oil into the first large bowl. She poured and poured and the little jar did not get empty! The oil kept flowing and flowing until the big bowl was filled. Then she began pouring the small jar of oil into a big bucket. Wow! The whole bucket filled up, right to the top. The woman looked into her small jar of oil and it still wasn’t empty. So she poured it into another large jar. Both boys watched as their mother poured oil from the little pot. Their eyes grew wide with wonder as she poured…. and poured…. and poured into the big jar until it was full. And when the jar filled, she kept pouring the olive oil into basins, bowls, jugs, and pots. All of them filled right up to the top. Surely they thought, “The God of our father and the God of Elisha is a great God! Only He could do this wonderful miracle!” “Are there any containers left to fill?” the woman asked her sons. “No, they replied. “You have filled them all.” As soon as the woman heard that all the jars were full, the oil in her pot stopped coming out. It was totally empty. The happy woman hurried to find Elisha. “I have done just what you said. I borrowed the jars, and now they are all full of the oil that flowed from my one little pot of oil! What shall I do now?” Elisha was pleased. “Now go and sell the oil and use the money to pay your husband’s debts. There should be enough money left for you and your sons to buy the food, clothes, and the things you need.” The woman did just as Elisha had told her to do. She sold the cooking oil at the market and gave all the bowls and jars back to her neighbors. Then she paid all the money her husband had owed.

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The widow and her sons must have thanked God for being faithful. They never forgot that God did a miracle, a great and good work, to give them what they needed. The woman returned home very happy. She was so pleased at the way God had provided for her. Most of all she could keep her two sons and they could all look after each other. God had given her a miracle! Why had God looked after the widow and her sons? It was because the woman had trusted and obeyed God. She could have borrowed only a few pots but she didn’t! She was told to borrow many pots and she did! Faith and obedience always go together like that. God’s provision is as large as our faith and obedience. God knows everything you need. He knows when you are hungry. He knows when you are sick. He knows when you are afraid. God loves you very much and cares for you. God was delighted to work a miracle for the widow woman, and still today, He delights to help those who trust in Him! Did you notice that Elisha told the widow to shut the door? God wanted to perform the miracle in private. Every day we need to have a private quiet time alone with God. This is a time when we read His Word and talk with Him about His greatness and our many needs. It is during these private times of prayer that God gives us the power to live for Him, and then we can ask Him for things—for health when we are sick, for friends when we are lonely, and for wisdom when we need to know what to do. In this lesson God took what the widow woman had and multiplied it. This is how God often works. He takes what we have and multiplies it to meet our physical or spiritual needs; and His provision is always "exceeding abundant." God delights in turning little things into great blessings. We need to ask Him to take our lives and to make them a blessing to others. Oil in the Scriptures is always a picture of the Holy Spirit. If we have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then we have the Holy Spirit living within us. The Lord wants His Holy Spirit to overflow in our lives so that everyone we meet is blessed and senses God's presence in our lives. God wants to use us to bring others to Jesus Christ as their Savior. Just as the widow and her sons were to find all the empty pots they could find, so we are to find all kinds of people who aren't Christians and bring them to Christ so He can fill their lives with His precious Holy Spirit. Our memory verse is Philippians 4:19 ”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” This verse tells us that God loves us and desires to help us. He is able to take care of all our needs. Nothing is too hard for him to accomplish. We do not need to worry or fret. Let’s say our verse again together. Philippians 4:19 ”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Let’s pray. Dear Father in heaven, Thank you for loving and caring for us. Thank you for the miracle of providing unending oil to help the widow and her two sons. You also desire that we too can know your love and compassion. Thank you for helping us with every need and problem that we face. Thank you for offering to give us the forgiveness of our sin and the gift of eternal life in heaven. Help us to trust in You for everything! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Remember God provides for us!

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Review Questions: “Checker Game” Preparation: Place at least twenty red and twenty black checkers or plastic game pieces in a small paper bag. Procedure: Divide the children into two teams and have them take turns answering questions. As a child answers the question correctly, he can reach into the bag and pull out a checker for his team. If the checker is red, he gets to keep the checker and draw again. If he draws a black checker he keeps it but his turn is finished. At the end of the game the team with the most checkers (red and black) wins the game.

1. Who was Elisha? (Elisha was a prophet that God had chosen to take over the ministry of Elijah. God gave Elisha the power of the Holy Spirit to perform many miracles. These miracles proved that Elisha was God’s prophet.

2. What problem did Elisha solve for the city of Jericho? (The city had dry land and bitter water and God used Elisha to miraculously change the bitter water to sweet so the land would be productive.)

3. What strange thing did Elisha do when God performed the miracle of changing the bitter water to sweet? (Elisha used a bowl of salt to pour into the local water spring.)

4. What kind of man was the widow’s husband? (He was a believer in the one true God. He was very poor and when he died he had many debts.)

5. What problem did the widow tell Elisha about? (Her husband owed a man lots of money and now the man was demanding that she pay the debt or he would take her two sons and make them slaves.)

6. What question did Elisha ask the widow? (He said, “Tell me, what do you have in your house?”) 7. What one thing did the widow have? (She had one small jar of oil.) 8. What strange thing did Elisha tell the widow to do? (He told her to borrow from her neighbors and

gather as many pots as she could.) 9. What did Elisha tell her to do with all the pots and jars? (She was to take all the pots and jars into

her house and shut the door and then begin filling each one with the oil that was in her one small jar.”)

10. When she finished what did the widow do? (She ran to tell Elisha that she had done all that he had commanded and wanted to know what to do next.)

11. What did Elisha tell the widow to do with all the pots and jugs of oil? (She was to sell the oil in the pots, and pay her husband’s debt. She was to use the rest of the money on the needs that she and the two boys had.)

12. Why had God looked after the widow and her sons? (The widow woman trusted and obeyed God. She had faith that God would provide and she was willing to obey the commands that Elisha gave to her from God.)

13. Why did Elisha tell the widow to shut the door before she began pouring the oil in her one small bottle? (God wanted to perform the miracle in private. Every day we need to have a private quiet time alone with God. This is a time when we read His Word and talk with Him about His greatness and our many needs. It is during these private times of prayer that God gives us the power to live for Him.)

14. Why do you think that Elisha asked the widow what she had in her house? (This is how God often works. He takes what we have and multiplies it to meet our physical or spiritual needs; and His provision is always "exceeding abundant." God delights in turning little things into great blessings. We need to ask Him to take our lives and to make them a blessing to others.)

15. What significance does the oil have in this lesson and in our lives? (Oil in the Scriptures is always a picture of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was the way God was going to use to perform this miracle. If we have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior, then we have the Holy Spirit living within us. The Lord wants His Holy Spirit to overflow in our lives so that everyone we meet is

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blessed and senses God's presence in our lives. God wants to use us to bring others to Jesus Christ as their Savior.)

16. What important lesson can we learn today from this lesson? (God is our Provider. God knows everything we need. He knows when we are hungry. He knows when we are sick. He knows when we are afraid. God loves us very much and cares for us. God is delighted to work a miracle for the widow woman and for those who trust in Him!)

17. What is the memory verse? (Our memory verse is Philippians 4:19 ”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Bible Memory Verse Activity: “Mason Jar Magnets” The memory verse is Philippians 4:19 ”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Have students locate the verse in scripture and read it aloud together several times.

Say: “This verse tells us that God loves us and desires to help us. He is able to take care of all our needs. Nothing is too hard for him to accomplish. We do not need to worry or fret. Today we are going to make a magnet reminder of God’s promise to us in this verse.” Preparation: You will need a major jar lid band and jar lid for each student, white cardstock paper, scissors, markers, Pencils, self adhesive magnetic strips, and liquid glue. You can also use wide mouthed plastic lids for this activity. Procedure: Help students trace the lid of the Mason jar onto the white cardstock. Cut out the circle. Have students write the memory verse on the white cardstock using colored markers. Students may also decorate the circle with the markers. Have students apply the liquid glue to the inside of the Mason jar lid band. Glue the white cardstock circle to cover the lid and place inside the band with the lid on the back. Have students apply a strip of the adhesive magnet to the back of the lid. Encourage students to place the magnet somewhere they will see it throughout the week.

Group Learning Activity: “How Many Jars?” (Grades 2-5) Preparation: Bring from home as many different and unique containers as you can find. These will represent the different jars that the widow collected. You will want to pick out about five or six (probably small ones) and use glass or metal containers to get a musical tone when tapped. Procedure: Show the class the different kinds of containers that you have. Next put different amounts of water in each “vessel.” Then using a pencil or something similar, tap the different vessels. Each vessel will make a different sound. With the different tones, you will come up with a tune. If you would like, allow the children to take turns playing your vessel instruments.” Say: “In this lesson we learned that Elisha told the widow to gather as many vessels as she could find. God would use them to perform a miracle of providing for her needs. The miracle that God performed through Elisha was quite different than any God had performed through Elijah.” “Elijah and Elisha were both powerfully anointed by God for His service; yet, their ministries were different in direction and purpose. We are vessels of the Lord. Each one of us is different in the body of Christ. But when we use the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us we can make something wonderful (like music) that can honor the Lord.”

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Group Learning Activity: Scripture: “God is our Provider” (Grades 3-5) Preparation: Each student will need a Bible. Procedure: Distribute Bibles to every student. Say: "In this lesson we learned that God provided for the widow’s needs because she trusted in Him. We are going to look at some scriptures to see what God says in His Word about providing for our needs.” Have students locate and read aloud the following scriptures. Discuss the biblical principle being taught in the scripture. Ask students to think of applications of the scripture to their life.

Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” God promises to supply our needs not our wants! God differentiates between our needs and our wants because He knows that where our treasure is our heart is also (Matthew 6:21). He wants us to know that this world is not our home and that part of what we need is to shift our focus to the eternal life while still living this one. Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” God wants to provide for us beyond anything that we can ask or imagine. We can trust His goodness, guidance, and shepherding to more for us that we could ever achieve ourselves. Matthew 6:11 “Give us today our daily bread.” In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches His disciples to ask for provision, and our dependence on God is affirmed each time we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:24-25 ““No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” Jesus tells His disciples not to worry about food or clothing. The Father knows our needs. He wants us to trust him to meet our daily needs. He does not want us to trust in our own resources of money to meet our needs. Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” God wants to show His love to us by providing our needs. He loves us and desires only what is best for us.

Have students record what they have learned from these verses in their spiritual journals.

Craft Learning Activity: “Oil Painting” (Grades K-5) Preparation: You will need white drawing paper or print copies of the drawing below for each child. You will also need black permanent markers, crayons, newspaper, baby or cooking oil, pie tins or jar lids, and cotton balls. Cover the tables with newsprint. Pour a small amount of oil into the pie tins or jar lids. Procedure: Distribute the printed copies of the drawing below or the plain white paper. If using the white paper, have students write “God Supplies Our Needs in big outline letters. OR use the pattern below. Using bright colored crayons have students color in the spaces. (Some spaces may be left white.)

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Place the white papers with the pictures facedown on the newspaper and use cotton balls to rub oil over the back of the picture. Let the papers absorb oil for a few minutes, then have students hold papers up to the light to see how the scenes have become transparent. NOTE: Do not use construction paper for this project. It absorbs too much oil. Use plain white copy paper.

Craft Learning Activity: “Paper Jar” (Grades K-5) Preparation: You will need copies of the outline of the jar pattern below printed on white drawing paper for each child. You will also need 1 inch squares of assorted colors of tissue paper and white craft glue. Say: “In this lesson we learned that the jars of oil that the woman in our lesson kept filling were very valuable to her because they were going to allow her to pay off the money her husband had owed to other people. Today we are going to decorate jars with tissue paper so that when you look at them you will think about how God provided valuable oil to the woman.” Procedure: Distribute the copies of the outline of the jar printed on white drawing paper, small squares of colored tissue paper and white glue. Have students glue the squares of colored tissue to the outline of the jar to make it beautiful. They can make stripes or other designs on the jar if they like using the tissue paper. Encourage students to glue over the lines. Allow the tissue paper jars to dry. When dry, cut out the shape of the vessel. Have students write their name on the back or the memory verse: Philippians 4:19 ”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” You can put magnetic strips on the back to allow the vessel to hang on a metal surface. Encourage the children to take the vessel home as a reminder of the widow’s faith in our story today. Optional: Instead of the picture drawing of a jar, you can use small mason jars and glue the tissue paper squares to the jar itself. Have students glue directly onto the glass itself.

Say: “God can provide more than we need. We may not think sometimes that God cares about what we need, but He does care and it is important to pray to God to tell Him about our needs. When you see your jar, remember that God can provide more than we need.”

Craft Learning Activity: “Bulletin Board: “Pouring Promises” (Grades K-5) Preparation: You will need a large sheet of red butcher or poster paper, and printed copy of the Bible, the spout, and handle templates below. Students will need marking pens and scissors. Say: “In this lesson we learned that the widow obeyed the commands that Elisha gave her because she knew that Elisha spoke the word of the Lord. She had faith in the promise that God loved and cared for her. She knew that God was her Provider. Today we are going to make a craft that will help us remember the promises of God for us.” Procedure: Using red butcher or poster paper cut out a large red heart approximately 2 feet X 2 feet. Print out the picture of the Bible below and the spout and the handle. On the heart draw lines, one for each child in your class. Ask each child to tell what promise in the Bible is hidden in his or her heart. If they have a hard time thinking of one, help them. Write down their names and their promises on the heart.

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Examples of Promises that children could write include: “God loves me. God is our provider. God answers prayer. God will keep us from harm if we trust in Him. God forgives our sin. God is always with us. God desires only good for His children, etc.” You can split the class into teams. Some can work on cutting, others on coloring the spout, handle and Bible, and others who can write on the heart. Staple the heart to the class bulletin board and then staple the handle and spout to either side of the Bible. Next staple the Bible over the heart to represent God’s Word being poured into our hearts. Explain to the children that we need to hide God’s promises in our hearts.

Craft Learning Activity: “Clay Water Jars” (Grades K-5) Purpose: You will use play dough as clay for students to form water jars to remind them of how Elisha told the widow to gather jars for oil. Preparation: You will need clay or make the dough recipe below, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 2/3 cup water, bowl for mixing, measuring cup and wax paper for each student. Procedure: Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl first. Then add in water slowly. Squeeze the dough in your hands until it is smooth. If the play dough is crumbly add more water. If the play dough is wet, sprinkle it with flour. Pass out a small piece of wax paper and a small lump of play dough to each student. Instruct them to roll it out into a long snake. Have students coil the “snake” into circles. Using their fingers students should press together any parts that aren’t touching. Play dough will air dry over time. (Two weeks or more are need depending on the thickness of the water jar.) Say: “God provided for the needs of the widow and her sons through performing a miracle. The little bit of oil kept pouring until there were enough jars of oil to sell to meet the needs of the widow. As our memory verse states “God will meet our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. We can take comfort in know that God knows our needs and takes care of them.”

Life Application Challenge: “Prayer Jar” Preparation: You will need a large wide mouth jar. Place a label saying “Prayer Jar” on the outside of the jar. Display in a prominent place before the group. You will also need pieces of paper and pencils for each child. Say: “In Bible times, vessels were used for many different things. Most were made out of clay. The widow woman used her jars for oil. Today we use many different types of containers: plastic, metal, clay. The Bible says that we should be vessels of honor. We should be filled with the Holy Spirit and carry the Word of God to those who do not know Jesus. We should also be a blessing to one another. One of the ways that we can bless one another is by praying for one another. We can bring each other’s needs to the Lord.” Procedure: On a small piece of paper, have the children write one or two prayer needs. For the younger children, you can write the requests down for them. Tell the children not to write their names. Place all of the pieces of paper into the prayer jar. Mix up the papers and have everyone pull one out of the container. Then gather in a circle and pray for one another’s needs. Lead the children in a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord in providing for our every need. If there are any children who have not yet responded to the Gospel, give them opportunity.

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Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

Philippians 4:19

”And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

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Elisha and the Widow’s Oil

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Elisha and the Widow’s Oil Follow the dots and numbers. Color the spaces marked with X inside this object.

This will tell you what God gave the woman to pay her bills.

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Spout and Handle for Bible

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Unit 12: Elijah and Elisha OT12.10 Elisha and the Widow’s Oil · Elisha was a prophet that God...

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Transcript of Unit 12: Elijah and Elisha OT12.10 Elisha and the Widow’s Oil · Elisha was a prophet that God...