Gilgal was the last place to look for a dearth. It was near the city of palm trees. There the Israelites had first celebrated the passover and eaten the old corn of the land. However, it was a time of dearth and they were using the smaller pots. Is it at all surprising that in a time of dearth there was a lack of faith and expectancy? Elisha called for ‘the great pot’ – with God there is no lack of supply, and faith, bringing God in, calls for the big receptacle. Reason might have suggested that in the present dearth a wise economy demanded the little pot, but heaven’s plenty is met only by ‘the great pot’. We must expect great things from a great God. One person, not content to leave it to Elisha’s servant, went out into the fields unbidden, not being ready to sit quietly before Elisha, and he sought to meet the common need by adding his contribution to the pot. If we are to partake of heaven’s provisions we must first wait, in quiet, in the presence of Christ; cf. Luke 10. 38ff. The man’s intention was good, but he had received no commission from Elisha. Intentions, however good, do not warrant us to act unless we have a definite word from God. He had no difficulty in finding gourds – he gathered ‘his lap full’. There may have been a dearth of wholesome, life-sustaining food, but there was no dearth of wild gourds. So it is in the spiritual realm. Satan sees to it that there is never any shortage of spurious food when there is a famine of hearing the word of God. Through the fleshly zeal of one person death is brought into the pot.
It was those who had been sitting at Elisha’s feet who now discovered the poisonous nature of the gourds, vv. 38, 40. It is those who have been instructed at the feet of the Master who have better spiritual discernment and judgment. The remedy was at hand – the ‘meal’. The meal speaks of Christ, perfectly good food for the hearts of His people. The meal was put into the poisonous pot. So the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bread which came down from heaven, descended into death, and by the sacrifice of Himself destroyed death, and in His death sinners find life. The ‘meal’ was the answer to the death in the pot; it always is. All errors are corrected by the faithful presentation of Christ.
