Elisha and the Shunammite Woman. 2 Kings 4:8-24
The Decline and Fall of Israel and Judah
INTRODUCTION
The Second Book of Kings is a continuation of the First. It records the reigns of fifteen kings in Judah and of eleven kings in Israel. In Judah the dynasty of David continued to the end, while in Israel there were nine changes of dynasty.
The northern kingdom maintained an unbroken course of idolatry, until the nation was ripe for destruction. The end came in 722 B.C., when Samaria was taken by the Assyrians. Judah continued her course for nearly 150 years longer. But in spite of the efforts of prophets and good kings, the tide of idolatry could not be stayed, and Jerusalem fell before the Babylonians, 586 B.C. Nothing but the Exile could avail to purify the nation and restore the spirit of true worship.
I. FROM THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH TO THE FALL OF SAMARIA, 1Ki_22:51 – 2Ki_17:1-41; 2Ki_18:9-12
3. The Work of Elisha, II Kings 3:1-9:11
(3) The Son of the Shunammite Restored to Life, 2Ki_4:8-37
8. What were Elisha’s relations with the Shunammite family?
ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN
Now there came a day when Elisha went over to Shunem, where there was a prominent and influential woman, and she persuaded him to eat a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal.
She said to her husband, “Behold, I sense that this is a holy man of God who frequently passes our way.
Please, let us make a small, fully-walled upper room [on the housetop] and put a bed there for him, with a table, a chair, and a lampstand. Then whenever he comes to visit us, he can turn in there.”
One day he came there and turned in to the upper room and lay down to rest.
And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her and she stood before him.
Now he said to Gehazi, “Say to her now, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us; what can I do for you? Would you like to be mentioned to the king or to the captain of the army?'” She answered, “I live among my own people [in peace and security and need no special favors].”
Later Elisha said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son and her husband is old.”
He said, “Call her.” So Gehazi called her, and she [came and] stood in the doorway.
Elisha said, “At this season next year, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord. O man of God, do not lie to your maidservant.”
But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son at that season the next year, just as Elisha had said to her.
ELISHA RAISES THE SHUNAMMITE’S SON
When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers.
But he said to his father, “My head, my head.” The man said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
When he had carried and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door [of the small upper room] behind him and left.
Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may run to the man of God and return.”
He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It will be all right.”
Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Drive [the animal] fast; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.”
ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN
ENTERTAINING A PROPHET
The real man needs a very small supply of outward comfort, because his life is hid in God. It does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses, but in faith, love, and hope. What a noble testimony it would be to our character, if people who saw us going to and fro became convinced that “this is an holy man of God,” 2Ki_4:9!
Sunstroke in the tropics is a frequent cause of death, Psa_121:6. When a child is taken sick, it is the mother who is the best comforter; but there are limits to a mother’s power to help. This woman of Shunem must be referred to in Heb_11:35. She was so sure of the life-restoring prayers of the great prophet that she did not feel it necessary to tell her husband what had befallen. Why should she grieve him, when the child would soon be given back to them! In noble confidence she dared to say that all would be well, and God did not disappoint nor fail. Shunem was fifteen miles from Carmel, and there was not an inch of the road which was not covered by the mother’s splendid faith that God would make all-grace abound toward her.
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