2 Kings 4:38

38 When Elisha went back to Gilgal, there was a famine in the country. [One day,] while the disciples of the prophets were meeting with him, he told his servant, "Put a large pot on the fire, and cook some stew for the disciples of the prophets."

2 Kings 4:38 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:38

And Elisha came again to Gilgal
Where he was with Elijah a little before his assumption to heaven, ( 2 Kings 2:1 ) and whither he went, there being a school of the prophets, as he did to all places where there were any, and where he had been before with Elijah; partly to instruct, encourage, and strengthen them, and partly to confirm his office as a prophet by miracles, which he did in several places he came to:

and there was a dearth in the land;
a famine through drought:

and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him:
as disciples before their master, see ( Acts 22:3 )

and he said unto his servant;
very probably Gehazi:

set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets;
who seemed to have lived together in one house or college, and to be to the number of one hundred, see ( 2 Kings 4:43 ) and therefore required to have a large pot set on to boil pottage for them all.

2 Kings 4:38 In-Context

36 Elisha called Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunem woman." Gehazi called her. When she came to him, he said, "Take your son."

37 Then she immediately bowed at his feet. She took her son and left.

38 When Elisha went back to Gilgal, there was a famine in the country. [One day,] while the disciples of the prophets were meeting with him, he told his servant, "Put a large pot on the fire, and cook some stew for the disciples of the prophets."

39 One of them went into the field to gather vegetables and found a wild vine. He filled his clothes with wild gourds. Then he cut them into the pot of stew without knowing what they were.

40 They dished out the food for the men to eat. As they were eating the stew, they cried out, "There's death in the pot, man of God!" So they couldn't eat it.