262. How do we know this? We know this from the wife of Ovadyahu, to whom Elisha said, "Tell me, what have you in the house" (II Melachim 4:2). He asked this because blessings from above do not rest on an empty table, AS WILL BE EXPLAINED ABOUT THE SHEWBREAD, or in an empty place, AS IS TOLD OF THE WIFE OF OVADYAHU. "And she said, 'Your handmaid has nothing in the house but a pot of oil'"(Ibid.). AND HE ASKS, What is a pot? AND HE SAYS, There is only enough oil IN THE POT to smear the little finger.

267. Come and behold, just as the table of the shewbread, from where all the blessings and replenishment of the world come, should not remain empty even for a moment, so that the blessings may not be removed from there, one should never recite blessings over an empty table. The blessings from above will not rest upon an empty table.