Passage: 2 Kings 2:15-22
The Big Idea
The young prophets wanted to search for Elijah instead of accepting God’s new way, just as people sometimes wish Jesus were still physically here instead of trusting His Spirit in His church. Then the men of Jericho brought Elisha their problem: the city was pleasant, but the water was bad and the land barren. Jericho had been under a curse since Joshua’s day, and so are we, ever since Eden. Elisha put salt in a new bowl and threw it into the source, and God healed the water permanently. The salt pictures the risen life of Jesus, thrown into the source of our lives, our hearts. Jesus became a curse for us so that we could receive the blessing.
Where We’ve Been
Elisha pictures the servant of Jesus: the church. His master has gone up to heaven, and now he carries on God’s work on earth.
Before Elisha was used this way, he walked with his master for ten years. He needed a real, deep relationship, tested by God. We go through the same tests of love and faithfulness.
Last time we saw Elisha’s first miracle: victory over death. He parted the Jordan. God overcomes death wherever He can to prove His power and willingness to save.
Now we look at his second miracle: the water of Jericho healed with salt. It teaches us how God miraculously heals our hearts from the curse.
Looking for the Old Master (2:15-18)
When the prophets from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha,” and they came and bowed before him.
- They seem to accept that Elisha has replaced Elijah.
- But part of them wishes Elijah were still around.
- Have you ever gotten a new boss and missed the old one?
They said, “Look, there are fifty strong men here. Let them go search for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has carried him off and dropped him on some mountain or in some valley.” Elisha said, “Don’t send anyone.” But they kept pressing until he was embarrassed to refuse, so he said, “Send them.” Fifty men searched for three days and didn’t find him. When they returned, Elisha said, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
- Elisha tried to keep them from wasting their time. But they insisted.
- They wanted things to go back to the way they were.
- “Wouldn’t it be nice if Jesus were still here physically?” But He’s not.
- “Let’s send fifty guys to go find Him!” It’s no use.
- This is the way God, in His infinite wisdom, decided it should work. Jesus ascended to heaven, and He said it was better for us. “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don’t go away, the Helper won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).
- People love to criticize the church. But God has stood by His bride every day. He has chosen to build His kingdom on earth through His people, because they have His Spirit.
- The church is everyone who follows Jesus.
The church isn’t perfect. It’s made of sinners. But it’s God’s garden, His bride. He’s producing fruit only He knows how to produce.
Some farmers are proud of land that looks pretty unimpressive. That’s because they know what they can do with it!
The Problem: Bad Water (2:19)
The men of the city said to Elisha, “Please notice, this city is in a pleasant location, as my lord can see, but the water is bad and the land is barren.”
- Some had doubted Elisha could replace Elijah. But now the people of Jericho bring their problem to him.
- The water is bad. Something is seriously wrong with it.
- The land is “barren.” The Hebrew word suggests miscarriage: things start to grow but never come to fruition. Crops fail; livestock lose their young.
- The men of the city know there’s a problem, but they don’t know how to fix it.
- And they probably don’t know why it’s there. Why is the city cursed?
Why Jericho Was Cursed
- Jericho was the first city to resist God’s plan to bring His people into the Promised Land. It shut its gates and refused to surrender to the God of Israel. So it was placed under a curse, devoted to destruction (Joshua 6:17-18).
- Anyone who rebuilt it would be cursed too. Joshua declared that whoever rebuilt Jericho would lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest (Joshua 6:26). Centuries later, that word came true when Hiel of Bethel rebuilt the city and lost his oldest and youngest sons (1 Kings 16:34).
So the city was cursed. The curse was that it couldn’t produce life. It needed a miracle.
They were alive, but their life was cursed.
- It wasn’t that there was no water. The water was bad. It didn’t produce the life it should.
- It wasn’t that nothing grew. Things grew, but never came to fruit.
So many believers can’t figure out why they don’t have the joy, peace, love or other fruit they long for.
“Why am I still such a mess? Why am I such a disappointment? Why do I keep thinking this time I’ll finally change?”
The curse! Left to itself, our life doesn’t produce the life it should. And it’s so frustrating.
We Were Cursed Too
Look back to the garden of Eden. Same story.
- We resisted God’s plan.
– We took the forbidden fruit and chose our own way instead of submitting to the perfect, loving God who made us.
– God’s plan was to live with us and walk among us. Look how far the world is from that now! Sometimes God feels a million miles away.
– God’s plan was for us to live on His gifts. He wanted to provide everything.
– Instead we chose toil and labor.
– And God said the result would be death (Genesis 2:17; 3:17-19).
– Yes, we’ve been cursed. - Everything we build apart from God is cursed too.
– Look at the Tower of Babel. We tried, on our own, to reach up to God, and it never works.
– God is too high and holy to reach by our own efforts.
– He scattered them and confused their languages.
– No matter what you build, family, career, hobbies or community, apart from God it’s subject to the curse.
– Even the most driven achievers, who say life is about always being hungry, climbing higher and conquering more, find that every achievement is touched by the curse.
The curse runs deep in our veins. It pumps through our hearts. We can hardly imagine a life without rebellion and toil.
But every once in a while, someone looks around and says, “Why is everything cursed?” Sometimes someone even cries out: “Can anyone heal these waters? Does anyone know where real life comes from? Does anyone know what to do about this curse?”
The Cure: A New Bowl with Salt (2:20)
Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
Elisha knows what to do!
- A new bowl. Not a used one, not a recycled tool, not a worn-out idea.
- Salt in it.
- Salt is the cure for the curse here.
- As servants of God, we’re to bring “salt” to a dead and cursed world (Matthew 5:13).
- And we can apply that salt to our own hearts and the curses we struggle with daily.
So what is the salt? How do we get it and use it?
It’s the risen life of Jesus Christ, given to us!
Thrown into the Source (2:21-22)
Elisha went out to the source of the water, threw in the salt and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. From now on it will never again cause death or barrenness.'” And the water has remained healed to this day, just as Elisha said.
- The servant of God threw the salt into the source of the water.
- That’s the heart of the problem: the heart.
- The heart is the source of everything. Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
- Elisha went to the heart of the problem and applied God’s cure there. And it healed the curse!
We were born under the curse, inherited from Adam. But Jesus frees us from it.
How? Jesus became the curse for us!
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, since Scripture says everyone hung on a tree is cursed, so that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:13-14).
What’s the opposite of a curse? A blessing.
- Jesus became the curse so we could receive the blessing.
- That changes us. That’s the miracle.
- Our hearts carried the curse like a disease. Jesus cures it.
- Now our hearts can actually produce life again, and be fruitful again.
The water remains healed to this day.
The result of this miracle is complete, lasting healing!
Jesus promises to take our bitter, selfish hearts and give us His pure, servant heart (Ezekiel 36:26). It’s guaranteed.
As we spend time with Him, read His Word, believe it and give Him more control, He replaces the cursed heart of darkness with His heart of light.
It’s almost like a holy blood transfusion, replacing our poisoned blood with His own.
Hope doesn’t disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5). The word “poured out” pictures something lavishly, generously spilled out.
Grace Takeaway
This isn’t a flashy miracle. It’s completely internal, invisible. The only way to tell it’s happened is that the words and actions flowing from the heart begin to change. But it’s a miracle all the same: a new heart, new desires, new passions, a heart for God’s glory, poured into you by God Himself. If your life feels pleasant on the outside but barren within, bring Him the source. Let Him throw the salt of His risen life into your heart. He became the curse so you could have the blessing, and what He heals stays healed.
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