Feeding of a Hundred Pupils of the Prophets with Twenty Barley Loaves. - A man of Baal-Shalisha (a place in the land of Shalisha, the country to the west of Gilgal, Jiljilia; see at 1 Samuel 9:4) brought the prophet as first-fruits twenty barley loaves and כּרמל equals כּרמל גּרשׂ, i.e., roasted ears of corn (see the Comm. on Leviticus 2:14), in his sack (צקלון, ἁπ. λεγ., sack or pocket). Elisha ordered this present to be given to the people, i.e., to the pupils of the prophets who dwelt in one common home, for them to eat; and when his servant made this objection: "How shall I set this (this little) before a hundred men?" he repeated his command, "Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus hath the Lord spoken: They will eat and leave" (והותר אכול, infin. absol.; see Ewald, 328, a.); which actually was the case. That twenty barley loaves and a portion of roasted grains of corn were not a sufficient quantity to satisfy a hundred men, is evident from the fact that one man was able to carry the whole of this gift in a sack, and still more so from the remark of the servant, which shows that there was no proportion between the whole of this quantity and the food required by a hundred persons. In this respect the food, which was so blessed by the word of the Lord that a hundred men were satisfied by so small a quantity and left some over, forms a type of the miraculous feeding of the people by Christ (Matthew 14:16., 2 Kings 15:36-37; John 6:11-12); though there was this distinction between them, that the prophet Elisha did not produce the miraculous increase of the food, but merely predicted it. The object, therefore, in communicating this account is not to relate another miracle of Elisha, but to show how the Lord cared for His servants, and assigned to them that which had been appropriated in the law to the Levitical priests, who were to receive, according to Deuteronomy 18:4-5, and Numbers 18:13, the first-fruits of corn, new wine, and oil. This account therefore furnishes fresh evidence that the godly men in Israel did not regard the worship introduced by Jeroboam (his state-church) as legitimate worship, but sought and found in the schools of the prophets a substitute for the lawful worship of God (vid., Hengstenberg, Beitrr. ii. S. 136f.).

2 Kings 5:5 Parallel Commentaries

Go to, go

Genesis 11:3,7 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone...

Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

Isaiah 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up...

James 4:13 Go to now, you that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

James 5:1 Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

and took

2 Kings 8:8,9 And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in your hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying...

Numbers 22:7,17,18 And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam...

Numbers 24:11-13 Therefore now flee you to your place: I thought to promote you to great honor; but, see, the LORD has kept you back from honor...

1 Samuel 9:8 And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver...

1 Kings 13:7 And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

Acts 8:18-20 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money...

with him [heb] in his hand
ten talents of silver This, at

353l.

11s.

2 Kings 10:5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu...

d. the talent, would amount to

3535 l.

18s.

9d.

six thousand If shekels are meant, as the Arabic reads, then this, at

1l.

16s.

5d. each, will amount to

10:925l; and the whole to

14,464l.

18s.

9d.: besides the value of the ten changes of raiment.

ten changes

Genesis 45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver...

Judges 14:12 And Samson said to them, I will now put forth a riddle to you: if you can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast...

James 5:2,3 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten...