What a beautiful lesson of faith! We suppose if any of her neighbors had known that all these empty borrowed vessels were for the purpose of experimenting with a little pot of anointing oil, it would have created a sensation. Some, doubtless, would have said, the creditor, in threatening to take her sons, has driven that poor widow out of her mind. Why, such a thing as filling these pots, and firkins, and great casks of ten and fifteen gallon capacity, with a little pot of oil has never been heard of in Israel, and we can’t understand who could have put such an absurd idea into the poor woman’s head. Indeed, there was good reason for shutting the world out, for, if they had seen her take down the little pot of oil and attempted to pour into the vessels, they would have laughed her to scorn. But then, we Christian people should know that the things which are impossible with men, are perfectly possible with God. Yea, He loves to multiply the impossibilities of men, that no flesh may glory in His presence. Then also the number of vessels borrowed speak well for the faith of this woman. Our Lord tells us, over and over, according to our faith shall it be done unto us. If her faith had been small, and she had been content with a few vessels, the oil would have ceased to flow when the last vessel was filled. If our heavenly Father is ever pleased with the action of His earthly children, it must be over the audacious faith of a poor woman who, in her poverty and distress, borrows of her neighbors empty vessels for Him to fill out of His gracious benevolence. But not all women, in the time of the prophets, were widows and poor, but even the rich needed the consolations God only can give in times of trouble. And so our story runs on from the widow of Sarepta and the widow who, in her extremity, appealed to Elisha, to the rich woman of Shunem. Over against Jezreel, under the base of _Jebel Duhy_ (the so-called “Little Hermon”) amid luxuriant gardens of lemon, orange and fig trees, which cast their refreshing shades over the hot and sultry bridle-path, is the village of _Sulem_, in which we recognize the ancient Shunem, rendered so dear to every lover of the Bible by the beautiful, sweet story of the rich Shunammite woman who prepared a prophet’s chamber in her house, where Elisha often found a shelter from the oppressive heat of the noontide sun as he passed that way. The little city, in the division of the land, under Joshua, was allotted to the tribe of Issachar, and is three miles north of Jezreel, five miles from Mount Gilboa, about four miles from Nain, where our Lord raised the widow’s son, and is in full view of the sacred spot on Mount Carmel. In the southern section of the village, at the base of the hill Moreh, flows out a transparent stream of sparkling water, which renders the fields green and beautiful, said to be the finest in the world.