2 Kings 4:1-7 - Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? 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. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 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 children of the rest.
The bible doesn’t tell us who got this family into debt, but we can surmise that this godly man would have obeyed the law enough to properly take care of his family.
1 Timothy 5:8 - But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Many times God provides what we need and we squander it on things we desire instead of learning how to save or budget for "emergencies". We should remember that stuff happens, and put aside some money for when those instances occur so that we aren't caught off guard and hastily go into debt to take care of them.
Elisha tells her to pay “thy” debts. After her husband dies, it seems that she’s made some awful financial decisions that have put her so far into debt that her kids are now in jeopardy of being made bondsmen to pay it back.
Proverbs 22:7 - The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Due to a series of unfortunate events, this woman who has lost her husband is about to lose her sons because of poor money management.
Elisha doesn’t give her the money to pay the debt. She wouldn’t have learned anything and would probably have ended up in the same position again in the future.
He first asks what she has in her house (I think he was seeing what she could sell). When he finds out that all she has is a pot of oil, he remembers what Elijah did for the widow woman of Zarephath. He wants her to use resources available to her. He has her borrow from neighbors and then go into her home with her sons and fill the vessels she had borrowed.
Psalms 37:21 - The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.
Her neighbors showed themselves merciful by allowing her to borrow their vessels. We can assume that she returned the vessels to her neighbors. God doesn’t want us to borrow and not repay.
Elisha has her follow specific instructions, perhaps to teach her to work to solve her problems and not go into debt by financing what she cannot afford.
Luke 16:10 - He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
She has to not only follow the instructions precisely, but make certain that her sons also obey.
He tells her to sell the oil and pay off her debt. And then to live off the remainder of the money.
She may not have made enough money to live off for the rest of their lives, but now she has the knowledge of how not to handle her finances, how to work with her children to make ends meet, and an understanding how important it is to obey godly guidance in material matters.
1 Corinthians 4:2 - Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
There is a debt we all owe. Unlike this woman it is not one that came about through poor choices. It is the sin debt. But someone has paid the debt for us.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,
You cannot work to pay off your sin debt. The only thing you can do is follow the instructions given in the Bible.
Romans 10:9-10 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
There is only one thing you can do to eliminate this debt, and it is a choice that only you can make.
