Jesus is the greatest prophet that ever lived. But His value is infinitely more than 100 times that of Elisha. For unlike Elisha who could but point people to the Lord, Jesus Christ the prophet is the Lord Himself.
Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack. And he said, “Give it to the people, that they may eat.” But his servant said, “What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?” He said again, “Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the LORD: ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’ ” So he set it before them; and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.
II Kings 4:42-44 NKJV
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Depending on whether or not Elisha’s dividing of the Jordan River (2:14) and the raising of the Shunammite’s son (4:36) were public in nature, the text today is Elisha’s 4th, 5th, or 6th public miracle since taking up the mantle of Elijah. It is last in the series of miracles demonstrating to all Israel and especially the sons of the prophets that Elisha was God’s called prophet to succeed Elijah. Even with all these great miracles a greater than Elisha would come and it was to that greater prophet, God the Son Himself, that Elisha’s ministry and miracles pointed.
