How did God save a widow's sons from slavery?

        The widow whose oil was multiplied (II Kings 4:1-8) appears early in the story of Elisha. It evinces the prophet's kindness for a poor widow. She had no claim to the compassion of the prophet, except that he had known her husband, who "did fear the Lord." Her husband had died with debts so heavy that his creditors had come and demanded that her two sons be given them as slaves, in payment of the debts.
       Unless she could pay her debts she would have to part with her sons. Without fear she approached the prophet Elisha, who asked, "What shall I do for thee?" And when she told him her trouble, he then asked, "Tell me, what hast thou in the house?" When she told him that she had nothing but a pot of oil, he told her, "Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full."
       The woman had to possess a childlike and trusting faith to carry out such orders. But it came to pass when the vessels were full that she said to her son, "Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed." When the widow came back to Elisha and told him what had happened, he directed her, "Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest." It was enough to give the poor widow permanent relief, and Elisha had provided for her future and given her the added blessing of keeping her sons by her side.