Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Kings 4:7

"Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest." — 2 Kings 4:7 (ASV)

And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, (2 Kings 4:7).

"That is your first duty; pay your debt,."

Then she came and told the man of God.

She must have understood that the oil was to be used for the payment of her debt; but she was a woman of delicate sensitivity, with a tender conscience, as honest people usually are, so she wanted full permission from Elisha before she would dispose of the oil.

She regarded it, in some sense, as his oil: for it was by using the means he had directed that her little store of oil had been so miraculously multiplied. Therefore, she came and told the man of God.

And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

What a merciful deliverance that was for the poor widow and her sons! And there have been many other deliverances, in the experiences of God's people, which, if they have not been quite so miraculous as this one, have nevertheless been very remarkable, although God has appeared to bring them about in the common way in which he is constantly working. Yet they have been uncommon mercies all the while. Now let us read Paul's letter to the Christians at Philippi who had been the means of supplying his necessities, though not in the miraculous manner in which the prophet Elisha had supplied the needs of that poor widow.