Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Kings 4:2

"And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me; what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil." — 2 Kings 4:2 (ASV)

And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house, save a pot of oil.

They used oil extensively in the preparation of their food as well as for lighting their dwellings. This woman was so poor that she had no meal in the house, but she had a little oil. When our Lord was about to feed the five thousand, he asked his disciples, How many loaves have you? So here the prophet asked the poor woman, what do you have in the house? and she told him she had only a pot of oil.

And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee?

Elisha was probably about as poor as she was, so what could he do for her?

Tell me, what hast thou in the house?

"Whatever there is in the house must go towards this debt, so tell me what hast thou in the house?"

And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

Her husband had been a God-fearing man, a true servant of Jehovah, yet he had died in such dire poverty that his widow had to say to Elisha, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. Those were indeed bad times for the sons of the prophets; for, in those days, men cared more for false prophets and for the priests of Baal than for the servants of the Most High God.