Elisha and The Shunammite Woman - 2 Kings 4

Our study today is summed up by giving personal examples of how if you want God to intervene in your life then you must ask! God knows your need you say, well so He does; but the Word of God in various places that we must ask before we receive good at the hand of God! There are some standard blessings that apply in most scenarios like life, and health and so on. This life is about trust and honor and we do live in a cursed world so circumstances arise giving birth to sorrow, and pain, maybe even hopelessness; but we must ask, and if God blesses us by turning our affliction away then we are blessed, if God blesses us by making us stronger of faith by taking us on a real journey of mountains and valleys then we are blessed. We could be blessed by God giving us wisdom where we lacked it.

Numbers 27:21 (Ask Counsel)
2 Chronicles 20:4-30 (Ask help from God) 2 Chronicles 20:4,17
Zechariah 10:1 (Ask for rain, even when there has been a season of dryness - Spiritual and physical)
Matthew 7:7-12 Luke 11:11-13 (Ask, Seek, Knock - Good gifts)
James 1:5 (Ask Wisdom)

The woman in our study today had no ulterior motives when offering Elisha the extra room she and her husband had made for him. She apparently had been moved by God to prepare first a meal for him and then a room for him to spend the night. When Elisha offered to speak well of her to the higher authorities, she indicated she was content to live among her people.

The village of Shunem was located on a piece of land that had been designated for the Tribe of Issachar. Joshua 19:17-23 It was located about three miles from Jezreel which was known as the city of the kings. It was here that the saga of Naboth’s Vineyard played out resulting in his death.

This woman for whom we have no name recorded, was barren and could have no children. Elisha, as a thank you had his servant keep his eyes on some way he could help her to thank her for her kindness. Through this a special son/child was born as a miracle for her husband was old. God honored Elisha's request to give her a son.

The Shunammite woman's son, who was promised by Elisha as a spokesman/prophet for God did on a hot morning while he was helping his father with the harvest. He had complained of a severe headache and his father had sent him home to be cared for there. He died about noon and his mother took his body up to Elisha's room and laid it on Elisha's bed. She then went to get Elisha.

There was no panic, no deep distress after the death of her child. She didn’t even tell her husband that their child was dead. He had known the son wasn’t feeling well, and had taken him home to be taken care of there.

She told her husband that she was going to the prophet and “it would be well”. She had faith that God’s servant would be able to raise her son. She uttered no angry words to the prophet of God, she didn’t say “What kind of God would do that”.

The Shunammite woman sought, and knocked physically when she went after the prophet. There are three steps to asking: just plain asking “May I have this situation reversed”, Seeking is a more intense type of asking and then there is beating on the gates of Heaven (metaphorically of course they are not shut by day nor by night).

The words she used, “It is well” is the same word used for peace and safety. The Strong’s Concordance says, “safe - for example, well, happy, friendly, also as an abstract meaning it means welfare, such as health prosperity and peace, to do or ask a favor.

The definition of Shalom is quite varied and to determine what exactly she meant could be difficult, but there are several things we can take away from this: First of all, there was peace, not panic; Secondly, she was seeking for someone’s welfare Thirdly, She was asking a favour of both her husband and Elisha.

There are a couple of questions that arise from this account. What was Elisha doing at Mt. Carmel? How great was the distance between Shunem and Mt. Carmel?

Mt. Carmel had been the site of a great spiritual victory for Elijah and there had been built a school for the prophets instructing them in the ways of God. Elisha was an itinerant prophet who made his way round to the various schools that had been set up for the prophets. The distance between Shunem and Mt. Carmel is roughly 30 Miles. That would equate to about a 9 Hour Trek on foot.

She was considered a “great woman” socially. Her standing in the community was that of respect, and wealth. People would have looked up to her, and even though she could have sent her servant to get Elisha she went humbly to plead at his feet. She actually pressed the servant she was traveling with to travel fast and not to worry about whether she can keep up. She said, “I will tell you when to slow down”.

Elisha seeing her approach him and kneeling at his feet clutching his ankles as a means of displaying the desperation she was in.

Though she wasn't panicked she wanted God to come through for her. Elisha recognized the agony in her spirit and though God hadn't revealed to him ahead of time about the family, he was ready to help.

God could have revealed this to him, but for some reason this time He didn't. We don't know the why behind God choosing to not reveal this especially when God usually did reveal things ahead of time to alert him as to what issues he was going to be facing.

What can we learn from it though? Sometimes things happen to us that make us wonder how that will work out for our good. In this case she lost her only son/child. Consider with me what would have been the end result if she had not appealed with God to intervene. She was probably praying before that her son would be healed, but now that he was dead, she was not going to give up. Sometimes our situations seem to be hopeless, but if we give up we will not see the work of God!

Matthew 7:7,8

When you have placed your life, all of your life under God’s control; whether it is the emotional part of your life, the Spiritual part of your life or the physical part of your life, then you will understand that God as your Sovereign King will work things out in your story. Romans 8:28

I do not want to leave a false impression that everything will always work out the way we want them to, but it will ultimately be up to God then to bless us in the way He sees fit. A lost job, A death in the family, A broken down vehicle, etc…, is not a blessing; but God’s blessing can come out of it whether it is for the purification of the saint, or some other blessing. Sometimes we become so materialistic that we believe that God is not blessing us unless it is a material blessing!

‪#‎blessing‬ ‪#‎shunammitewoman‬ ‪#‎askseekknock‬ ‪#‎2Kings4‬ ‪#‎2Kings‬