Day 165: Elisha and the Shunammite women

Defeat of the Moabites
2 Kings 3:21-27
The widow’s oil
2 Kings 4:1-7
The Shunammite woman
2 Kings 4:8-17
Her son restored
2 Kings 4:18-37
Elisha predicts famine
2 Kings 8:1-2
Jehoram
2 Kings 8:16-17
Jehoshaphat’s death
2 Chronicles 20:34, 1 Kings 22:45,50, 2 Chronicles 21:1-3
Jehoram’s evil life
2 Kings 8:18-19
Edom judged
Obadiah 1:1-9
Edom’s great sin
Obadiah 1:10-14

Today we read a collection of Elisha’s miracles, the times he helped and rescued people from need or distress. Clearly the man was a legend, held in great awe by people. There’s not much to indicate what ordinary people’s faith was like, presumably they quietly trusted God to an extent, but were not immune to hedging their bets and offering the odd sacrifice to someone else when the mood took them. What impressed them was the signs of power that were evident in Elisha’s life. Even to the extent of raising someone from the dead.
Meanwhile, Jehoshaphat’s days are numbered, and his successor is more after the spirit of Ahab. Israel was bigger and stronger than Judah, so Jehoram was tempted to follow their evil ways. But Jehoshaphat had established a network of judges, who were trained to maintain the law of the Lord, and who would keep Judah relatively faithful for some time longer.
We read the first book of prophecy today - Obadiah’s rant against Edom. Written presumably at a time when Judah was hard pressed, it condemns the descendants of Esau for not caring about the descendants of Jacob. There was no love lost between the brothers during their lives, and none lost now by their descendants.