Elisha, the Widow, and the Oil
There was a man who was a member of the company of the prophets, who had a wife and two children. When he died, he left his widow destitute. Her creditors threatened to sell her children into slavery to reconcile her debts. In desperation, she sought help from Elisha. The prophet asked fi she had anything at all with which to pay what she owed.
"Your servant had nothing in the house," she said, "except a jar of oil."
Elisha told her to borrow every clay vessel she could lay her hands on. Then she and her children should close themselves in the house, and begin pouring the oil from the jar into each of the vessels.
She ran home and did as he had told her. Her children brought her one vessel at a time, and she poured and poured. As each jar was filled, she shouted, "Bring me another vessel!" Finally, her son said to her, "There are no more." And immediately the oil stopped flowing.
She reterned to Elisha and told him taht all the clay vessels had been filled from her single jar. He said to her, "Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest."
Calderhead, C. (2004). One Hundred Miracles. Singapore: Welcome Books. p. 48.
