SUMMARY
Elisha ministers to a serious situation inadvertently caused.
ANALYSIS
When Elisha visits the company of the prophets in Gilgal, the problem of feeding the group in the midst of a famine is compounded by the unwitting addition of poisonous gourds, gathered earlier, to the stewpot. Elisha comes to the rescue with a simple solution that purifies the stew and allows the festivities to proceed, covering the mistakes that necessarily occur in our service to God. The story may have an echo in Matthew 17:24-27 where Jesus miraculously provides the templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged... tax Peter foolishly told the tax collectors Jesus would pay.
