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Elisha Brings
8Once, while Elisha was in the town of Shunem, he met a rich woman who invited him to her home for dinner. After that, whenever he was in Shunem, he would have a meal there with her and her husband.
9Some time later the woman said to her husband, “I'm sure the man who comes here so often is a prophet of God. 10Why don't we build him a small room on the flat roof of our house? We can put a bed, a table and chair, and an oil lamp in it. Then whenever he comes, he can stay with us.”
11The next time Elisha was in Shunem, he stopped at their house and went up to his room to rest. 12-13He said to his servant Gehazi, “This woman has been very helpful. Have her come up here to the roof for a moment.” She came, and Elisha told Gehazi to say to her, “You've gone to a lot of trouble for us, and we want to help you. Is there something we can request the king or army commander to do?”
The woman answered, “With my relatives nearby, I have everything I need.”
14“Then what can we do for her?” Elisha asked Gehazi.
Gehazi replied, “I do know that her husband is old, and that she doesn't have a son.”
15“Ask her to come here again,” Elisha told his servant. He called for her, and she came and stood in the doorway of Elisha's room.
16 Elisha said to her, “Next year at this time, you'll be holding your own baby son in your arms.”
“You're a man of God,” the woman replied. “Please don't lie to me.”
17But a few months later, the woman got pregnant. She gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had promised.
18One day while the boy was still young, he was out in the fields with his father, where the workers were harvesting the crops. 19Suddenly he shouted, “My head hurts. It hurts a lot!”
“Carry him back to his mother,” the father said to his servant. 20The servant picked up the boy and carried him to his mother. The boy lay on her lap all morning, and by noon he was dead. 21She carried him upstairs to Elisha's room and laid him across the bed. Then she walked out and shut the door behind her.
22The woman called to her husband, “I need to see the prophet. Let me use one of the donkeys. Send a servant along with me, and let me leave now, so I can get back quickly.”
23“Why do you need to see him today?” her husband asked. “It's not the Sabbath or time for the New Moon Festival.”
“That's all right,” she answered. 24She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Let's go. And don't slow down unless I tell you to.” 25She left at once for Mount Carmel to talk with Elisha.
When Elisha saw her coming, he said, “Gehazi, look! It's the woman from Shunem. 26Run and meet her. And ask her if everything is all right with her and her family.”
“Everything is fine,” she answered Gehazi. 27But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet.
Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, “Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the Lord hasn't told me why.”
28The woman said, “Sir, I begged you not to get my hopes up, and I didn't even ask you for a son.”
29“Gehazi, get ready and go to her house,” Elisha said. “Take along my walking stick, and when you get there, lay it on the boy's face. Don't stop to talk to anyone, even if they try to talk to you.”
30But the boy's mother said to Elisha, “I swear by the living Lord and by your own life that I won't leave without you.” So Elisha got up and went with them.
31Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha's walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy didn't move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, “The boy didn't wake up.”
32Elisha arrived at the woman's house and went straight to his room, where he saw the boy's body on his bed. 33He walked in, shut the door, and prayed to the Lord. 34 Then he got on the bed and stretched out over the dead body, with his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hand on his hands. As he lay there, the boy's body became warm. 35Elisha got up and walked back and forth in the room, then he went back and leaned over the boy's body. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
36Elisha called out to Gehazi, “Ask the boy's mother to come here.” Gehazi did, and when she was at the door, Elisha said, “You can take your son.”
37She came in and bowed down at Elisha's feet. Then she picked up her son and left.
Reflect
Today’s story is meant to be read with yesterday’s. A destitute woman and a wealthy woman. A widow with two sons and a married woman with no son. Elisha, anticipating Jesus, provides for their deepest needs.
Shunem is near Mount Carmel, and obviously a place that Elisha visited frequently.
Perhaps, like Samuel, his ministry took him on a “circuit” of towns in Israel. Be that as it may, the Shunamite woman saw that he had need of a place to stay. She persuaded her husband to build a room and furnish it with a “bed and a table, a chair and a lamp.” Built on to the roof of her house, it would provide him with all he needed, including privacy. There would have been access without going through the house.
There is a big difference between the way this woman provided for Elisha and what we often think of as “hospitality.” We often think about how we can impress our guests with our house and with our food. This woman thought about what Elisha needed.
Elisha wondered how he could repay her. But she was wealthy. She had everything. Everything, that is, except what she had probably given up hoping for. A son. And so that is what Elisha promised her. Some years later, even that miraculous gift seemed to be cruelly taken away when the boy died. But Elisha, anticipating Jesus’ miracle at Nain, touched the boy and breathed new life into him
“What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:36). Jesus asks us the same question. Our immediate answer, like that of James and John, may be presumptuous, but Jesus invites the dialogue. He will teach us as we grow in learning how to pray.
Respond
What do you want Jesus to do for you? Make a list if you like. Don’t doctor it up by taking back requests that you may think are too big or too difficult. Take it to the Lord in prayer, and begin the dialogue.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.