There came a time when food was scarce in the land of Israel and the poor people had little to eat. During this time Elisha came to visit the young prophets who lived at Bethel. And while he was there one of the young men went out to the field to gather some vegetables and green things to cook for dinner. By mistake he picked some poisonous gourds, which grew on a vine in the field, and he threw the gourds into the cooking-vessel with the other food.
When the men sat down to eat they discovered that their food was poisoned. Some had already eaten, and they cried to Elisha and said, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” But Elisha did not seem to be alarmed. He called for some meal and threw it into the cooking-vessel that held the poisoned food. Then he commanded them to dish up the pottage and feed it to the hungry people. And the people ate, and they did not suffer any harm from the poisoned gourds.
While Elisha was staying with the poor people at this place, one day a man brought him a present of twenty loaves of barley bread and some ears of new corn in the husks. Elisha knew that the young prophets would enjoy eating this food, so he commanded a servant to prepare the loaves and the corn to serve to the prophets for their dinner. The servant was amazed. He knew there were one hundred hungry men to be fed, and he knew the barley loaves were very small. He knew the gift of food had been intended for only one man, and now Elisha was asking that it be given to one hundred men.
Elisha saw how astonished the servant was to hear his request. But he said again, “Give this food to the hungry people, that they may eat.” Then he told the servant that God Would bless the food, and that it would increase until there would be enough for all, and some left over. And the servant obeyed “Elisha’s command, and set the food before the hungry men. He saw that every man had as much as he wished to eat, and afterwards he picked up the scraps that they had left. And he knew that God, at Elisha’s word, had increased the food in a wonderful way.
At another time a company of the young prophets went down to the Jordan River to build new homes for themselves. And Elisha was with them again. They cut down the trees along the River’s bank to use in building their new homes. While they were busy at work an ax-head flew off from one man’s ax and dropped into the River. At this place the River was deep or muddy, and the poor man could not see where the ax-head had fallen. He did not know what to do, for he had borrowed the ax and he was too poor to buy a new one, for the owner. So he came to Elisha and told what had happened.
Elisha listened to the poor man’s story, and then said, “Show me the place where the ax-head sank into the water.” The man led him to the spot where the accident had happened, and Elisha cut down a stick and threw it into the water at the same place. Then as the men watched they saw the ax-head rise from the bottom of the river and float like a piece of wood. And Elisha told the man to reach out and pick it out of the water, before it should float down the stream.
This was another miracle that Elisha performed, for he made iron to swim. And the young men who saw the miracle wondered at the mighty power of God which Was shown by this faithful prophet.