Two Stories Can Be Better Than One

Expository preaching presents some amazing challenges at times. In preaching through the lives of Elijah and Elisha some passages just flow, but some make you scratch your head. Recently I was working on the story of the floating ax head in 2 Kings 6. Understanding the story is easy enough. The prophets of God had outgrown their housing, so they asked Elisha if they could all pitch in and build a bigger place in which to live. As they work, an ax head works loose from its handle and flies into the water. The (poor) prophet is dismayed. It was borrowed. According to the law (Exodus 22:14), restitution must be made for things borrowed and damaged. Elisha retrieves the ax head by making it “swim.”

It is the significance of the story that is hard to grasp. Why is it there? What is its purpose? At first glance, we might think it is there to show the power of God upon Elisha, but that has already been accomplished in this book and in much more remarkable ways.

But when you step back and look at the context, something remarkable leaps off the page. The immediately preceding story is about the greed of Gehazi. Elisha had healed Naaman and then refused to take payment for his services. Gahazi, Elisha’s servant, sees a personal opportunity and secretly follows Naaman. Upon reaching Naaman he concocts a story about visiting prophets in order to get some loot for himself. When Gahazi gets home, Elisha asks him where he has been and Gehazi tells a lie (“nowhere”). Elisha tells him God showed him what happened and Gehazi is cursed with leprosy. When the stories are put together the contrast is stark. It is the greed and judgement on Gahazi versus the submission, hard work, and supernatural provision in the smallest way for the nameless prophet—God’s judgement on greed contrasted with his provision in times of need. God cares about the “small things” both good and evil.

Other passages work the same way. In 2 Kings 8 the story of God’s protection of the widow woman from the coming famine is contrasted with God’s clear judgment upon Ben Hadad for his many sins against Israel. In 2 Kings 2, God’s power brings blessing on the people of Jericho who beg for help with their failed water supply and then cursing on the gang of ruffians that threaten and mock Elisha.

Even in the New Testament, this principle can apply. Multiple parables told in series make a single point. In Luke 15, a shepherd loses one of his hundred sheep, and goes to look for the one though he still has 99 in the sheep fold. When he finds the one, he rejoices. A woman looks all over her home for a lost coin, even though she has ten others. When she finds it, she rejoices. A Father waits for a lost son to return, though he has one obedient son at home. When the son returns, the father rejoices, but the other brother complains. It is the sinful response of the other brother in being jealous that is the focal point of the story. Jesus uses these parables to condemn the religious rulers of the day who were being threatened by “publicans and sinners” and later by gentiles.

There is so much of Bible era history that is NOT included in the Bible. The revelation that IS in the scripture is chosen very carefully. It has a purpose. It does not include one extraneous word. The stories that are included in the biblical narratives are specially chosen and specially placed in order in scripture to accomplish a particular purpose. Good Bible students (and preachers) need to step back from the text at times and look at the bigger context to discern that purpose. If all I see is a string of unrelated stories, I am missing the point.