2 Kgs 4:8-37 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets came to Elisha; she had “nothing in the house, except a pot of oil” (2 Kgs 4:2), and the oil did not stop until “There isn’t another container” (2 Kgs 4:6). This is in Lesson 1.
This lesson reads about a place Elisha often passed through, called Shunem.
8One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.
9She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually.
10Please, let’s make a little room on the roof. Let’s set a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand for him there. When he comes to us, he can stay there.”
11One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there.
12He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.
13He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
14He said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door.
16He said, “At this season next year, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
17The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.
18When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers.
19He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
21She went up and laid him on the man of God’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out.
22She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come again.”
23He said, “Why would you want to go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “It’s all right.”
24Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”
25So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.
26Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’” She answered, “It is well.”
27When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”
28Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
29Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”
30The child’s mother said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose, and followed her.
31Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
32When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed.
33He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD.
34He went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm.
35Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth, then went up and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this Shunammite!” So he called her. When she had come in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”
37Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.
A holy man of God. In Shunem there was “a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread” (v. 8). She said to her husband: “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually” (v. 9), and they made him “a little room on the roof” (v. 10).
Among my own people. Elisha wanted to do something for her: “Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?” (v. 13). She answered: “I dwell among my own people” (v. 13).
At this season next year. Gehazi said: “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old” (v. 14). Elisha said: “At this season next year, you will embrace a son” (v. 16). She said: “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant” (v. 16). “The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her” (v. 17).
Until noon. The child grew; one day he went out to his father among the reapers and said to his father, “My head! My head!” (v. 19); “he sat on her knees until noon, and then died” (v. 20). She laid him on the man of God’s bed, “and shut the door on him, and went out” (v. 21).
It is well. She told her husband she was going to the man of God; he asked why, and “She said, ‘It’s all right’” (v. 23). The man of God saw her afar off and sent Gehazi to ask: “Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?” “She answered, ‘It is well’” (v. 26).
Her soul is troubled. When she reached the man of God, “she caught hold of his feet”; Gehazi came to thrust her away, but the man of God said: “Leave her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me” (v. 27). She said: “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” (v. 28). She had said much the same in verse 16.
I will not leave you. Elisha told Gehazi to go ahead with his staff (v. 29). “The child’s mother said, ‘As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.’ So he arose, and followed her” (v. 30). Elisha had once said these same words to Elijah (2 Kgs 2:2, see Elijah, Lesson 7).
He opened his eyes. Gehazi laid the staff on the child’s face, “but there was no voice and no hearing” (v. 31). Elisha came; “He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to the LORD” (v. 33); “the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes” (v. 35). Elisha said: “Take up your son” (v. 36). “Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out” (v. 37).
Afterwards. Many years later this woman of Shunem appears in the passage again (2 Kgs 8:1-6); that is in the Life. The next lesson is about a captain of the army who came from Syria.
In Elijah’s day, the son of a widow of Zarephath died; Elijah cried to the LORD, and “The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 Kgs 17:22); Elijah “brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother” (1 Kgs 17:23). This is in Elijah, Lesson 2.
Readers can see this: in this lesson, the one the woman of Shunem went to was “a holy man of God” (v. 9).
Perhaps there is something very bitter in your heart right now, and yet to everyone you keep saying ‘it is well’. Perhaps, like her, you cannot say clearly what to ask for, and know only that you cannot let go.
This lesson does not say that if you only believe, what you have lost will all come back; nor does it say that saying ‘it is well’ is faith. What it shows you is this: “She answered, ‘It is well’” (v. 26), and the man of God saw that “her soul is troubled within her” (v. 27); even the man of God said, “the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me” (v. 27); she said, “I will not leave you”, and “he arose, and followed her” (v. 30). The New Testament says too: “casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7).
This week: Think of one thing about which you keep telling people ‘it is well’, though inside it is very bitter. This week, find a quiet time and tell it to God just as it is; if you want to, write it down.
Scripture: World English Bible.