Bob Deffinbaugh comments on 2 Kings 8:1-6-
Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”
Have you ever noticed how God delights to achieve His purposes through the most unlikely (and sometimes the most unwilling) instruments? In Elisha’s absence, God cared for this widow (as I suppose her to be here) and her son through Gehazi, and through an ungodly king who does not seek to serve God. The more unwilling and unworthy the instrument, the more the glory goes to God—just where it belongs. Once again, God works in the most amazing ways, His wonders to perform.
What a picture of God’s grace we have in our text! God not only cares for a godly widow and her son, He also prompts an ungodly king to do the right thing. We should not overlook that fact that by means of this famine, God was reminding Israel of their sins, and calling them to repentance.
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