You can see how Elisha’s care for the hurting and hungry reflects the gracious ministry of Christ.
Elisha’s home was a place of hospitality. So we read that “a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain” (2 Ki 4:42). Eusebius, an early Christian historian, identifies Baal Shalisha as being 15 miles north of Lydda (modern Lod). It was a fair journey to Gilgal, but the man wanted to share the Lord’s bounty with the man of God. Immediately, Elisha desired to share it with others. “Give it to the people, that they may eat” (v 42), he said. On this occasion, there were 100 mouths to feed! His servant responded, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” (v 43). A fifth of a roll each? Can you hear the echo in Andrew’s query, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” ( Jn 6:9). But to Elisha’s faith, the answer was obvious: If this is the Lord’s provision, there must be enough. “He said again, ‘Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord: “They shall eat and have some left over”’” (2 Ki 4:43). And so it was! The leftovers accentuate the overabundance of God’s blessing. Our cup runs over. Note the five “much mores” in Romans 5. As the Savior said, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Lk 6:38). This was His gentle rebuke to the disciples when they had forgotten to bring lunch: “‘Why do you reason because you have no bread?…When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?’ They said to Him, ‘Twelve.’…‘How is it you do not understand?’” (Mk 8:17-21). Do we understand? The message is this: If we take care of others for Him, the Lord takes care of us!