1 Oct. Elisha feeds a hundred people with twenty loaves
“When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a shortage of food in the land. While the groups of prophets were sitting in front of him, he said to his servant, ‘Put the large pot on the fire, and boil some stew for these men.’”
“One of them went out into the field to gather plants. Finding a wild vine, he picked fruit from the vine and filled his robe with it. Then he came and cut up the fruit into the pot. But they didn’t know what kind of fruit it was.”
“They poured out the stew for the others to eat. When they began to eat it, they shouted. ‘Man of God, there’s death in the pot!’ And they could not eat it.”
“Elisha told them to bring some flour. He threw it into the pot and said, ‘Pour it out for the people to eat.’ This time there was nothing harmful in the pot.”
(2 Kings 4:38-41)
“A man from Baal Shalishah came to Elisha, bringing him 20 loaves of barley bread from the first harvest. He also brought fresh grain in his sack. Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people to eat.’”
“Elisha’s servant asked, ‘How can I feed 100 people with so little?’ ‘Give the bread to the people to eat,’ Elisha said. This is what the LORD says: “They will eat and will have food left over.”’”
“After he gave it to them, the people ate and had food left over, as the LORD had said.”
(2 Kings 4:42-44)
Today, we have a couple of short readings which tell us about two more miracles performed by Elisha.
Elisha returned to Gilgal during a famine. He purified a poisonous pot of stew that no-one would eat, and then he miraculously fed a hundred men with twenty small loaves of barley bread.
Nearly nine hundred years later, these miracles of Elisha would have been well known to his Jewish audience when Jesus performed miracles such as feeding the five thousand with five small loaves of barley bread (Matthew 14:13-21), curing the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), and raising Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:21-43).
The people were amazed, and remembering the miraculous deeds of Elisha and Elijah asked, 'Who is he?' Is he "Elijah or one of the prophets"? (Mark 8:28)
The site of Gilgal was close to Jericho in the Jordan valley. The photo (by Daniel Case) shows the view across modern-day Jericho from the ruins of ancient Jericho on Tell-es-Sultan.
You can read more about Elisha @ https://thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/32-the-divided-kingdom-amp-journey-into-exile/elisha-performs-miracles-and-healings/