2 Kings 4:18-37

C. RESURRECTION OF THE SHUNAMMITE'S Song of Solomon 4:18-37

TRANSLATION

(18) And the child grew, and it came to pass one day that he went unto his father to the reapers. (19) And he said unto his father, My head, my head! And he said unto the lad, Carry him unto his mother. (20) And he carried him, and brought him unto his mother, and he sat upon her knees unto noon and died. (21) And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. (22) And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray you, one of the servants, and one of the donkeys that I may hasten unto the man of God, and come again. (23) And he said, Why are you going unto him? Today is not the new moon or sabbath. And she said, it will be well. (24) And she saddled the donkey and said unto her servant, Drive, and go forward, Do not slacken for my sake the riding unless I command you. (25) And she went, and came unto the man of God unto Mt. Carmel. And it came to pass when the man of God saw her from afar, that he said unto Gehazi his servant, Behold that is the Shunammite! (26) Now run, I pray you, to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with you, Is it well with your husband, Is it well with the child? And she said, It is well. (27) And she came unto the man of God unto the mount and grasped his feet. And Gehazi drew near to thrust her away, but the man of God said, Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled, and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not declared it to me. (28) And she said, Did I ask a son from my lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me? (29) And he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you find a man, do not bless him, and if he bless you do not answer him, and you shall place my staff upon the face of the lad. (30) And the mother of the lad said, As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I surely will not leave you. And he arose, and went after her. (31) And Gehazi passed over before them, and put the staff upon the face of the lad, but there was no voice nor hearing. And he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The lad was not aroused. (32) And Elisha came to the house, and behold the lad was dead, and laid upon his bed. (33) And he came and shut the door upon the two of them, and prayed unto the LORD. (34) And he got up, and lay upon the child, and put his face upon his face, his eyes upon his eyes, his hands upon his hands, and he stretched himself upon him; and he warmed the flesh of the child. (35) Then he turned and walked in the house once to and fro; and he went up and stretched himself upon him, and the lad sneezed seven times; and the lad opened his eyes. (36) And he called unto Gehazi and said, Call unto this Shunammite. And he called her and she came unto him. And he said, Take up your son. (37) And she came and fell upon his feet, and bowed to the ground. And she took up her son and went out.

COMMENTS

A four or five year time gap exists between 2 Kings 4:17-18, and the Shunammite's infant has become a young lad. The child delighted in accompanying his father to the grain fields to watch the harvest operation. On one such day (2 Kings 4:18), tragedy struck. In the heat of the morning sun, the lad became the victim of a sunstroke. The father ordered a servant boy to take the child to his mother, indoors and out of the heat (2 Kings 4:19). The mother held the boy on her lap doing what she could for him until noon when he finally expired (2 Kings 4:20).

The Shunammite took the limp body of her son up into the apartment of Elisha and laid it on the prophet's bed, and shut the door behind her (2 Kings 4:21). It seems that the woman wished to conceal the death of the child until she had seen what Elisha could do for her. She was not ignorant of the story of how Elijah had once resurrected a lad from the dead, and she had hope that a similar miracle might be performed on her behalf. But fearing that her husband might not share her faith, and that he might refuse to supply her with an animal for transportation, the Shunammite did not tell her husband what had become of the lad.

The woman called to her husband from the house, without calling him into the house. She expressed her desire to visit Elisha, but did not state the object of her visit. The nearest part of Mt. Carmel being some fifteen miles away, she asked for the necessary riding animal and escort. She needed the donkey so that she might hasten to the prophet and come again, i.e., return home before nightfall (2 Kings 4:22). The husband demurred; he could see no reason to divert a work animal from the harvest work so that his wife might make such a trip. After all, it was not new moon or sabbath, occasions when the pious in the Northern Kingdom assembled to study the word of God at the feet of a prophet. The husband had no idea that his son was dead. He probably had not even realized that the child was in danger, and now in the light of his wife's somewhat unexpected request he must have assumed that the child had recovered. The Shunammite responded to her husband's reluctance with a single word in the originalthe word shalom, literally, peace (2 Kings 4:23). Shalom would be equivalent in English to saying, all right and indicates a refusal to argue a point. Not wishing to offend his wife, the husband did not press her for an explanation. The donkey and the servant were placed at her disposal without further comment. The Shunammite saddled the donkey and ordered the servant to get the animal moving, and not to slacken the pace except at her instruction (2 Kings 4:24).

As the woman approached Mt. Carmel, Elisha spotted her from afar (lit., over against him). Since it would appear that the Shunammite was a regular attender at the special prophetic holy day gatherings (cf. 2 Kings 4:23), Elisha had probably seen this stately woman approaching his residence at Carmel on numerous occasions (2 Kings 4:25). He sensed something must be wrong, both from the unexpected nature of the visit and from the obvious haste in which the woman was making her way in his direction. His anxiety aroused, Elisha ordered Gehazi to run forward to meet the woman and to inquire as to her well-being and that of her household. To Gehazi's urgent queries the Shunammite gave the same ambiguous and non-committal answer she had earlier given to her husband.[526] She could not unburden her heart to any save Elisha himself.

[526] The Shunammite's greeting to Gehazi might have been an expression of her faithall is going to be well.

When she reached the prophet she embraced his feet in a posture of supplication. For the moment she said nothing. Regarding this action as one unduly familiar or unduly importunate, Gehazi stepped forward to thrust the woman away from his master. Elisha saw that the woman was deeply distressed and would not permit his servant to disturb her even though her action may have violated the etiquette of that time. The Lord had not seen fit to reveal to the mind of the prophet the circumstances which would cause such obvious agony on the part of his dear friend, and so Elisha simply had to wait until the woman gained enough composure to relate the matter to him (2 Kings 4:27).

Through her sobs the woman was finally able to begin her story. Two rhetorical questions are all she needs to speak (2 Kings 4:28). She had not complained of her childlessness, nor had she requested that the prophet give her a son. At the initial announcement to her, the Shunammite had begged that the prophet not deceive her, not make her the victim of a cruel joke. Her words suggested that something worse than that had now happened. It is greater misery to have a child and lose him than not to have had one at all.

The woman needed say no more. Elisha issued orders for Gehazi to hasten immediately to the Shunammite's home. He should take no time out for lengthy greetings or pleasantries en route. When he reached the child, Gehazi was to lay Elisha's staff [527] upon the lad's face (2 Kings 4:29). This action was designed to comfort and cheer the mother and to raise in her a firm expectation of the resurrection which the prophet anticipated being allowed to perform. The Shunammite misinterpreted Elisha's instructions to Gehazi. She thought that Elisha intended to do nothing more than trust the child's recovery to such power as might reside in his walking staff. She was not about to return to her home without the prophet, and so Elisha arose and went with her as, no doubt, he had intended to do from the first (2 Kings 4:30).

[527] Cf. Luke 10:4. The staff was the symbol of a man's power and prestige (Genesis 38:18). In the case of Moses, the staff was the external vehicle through which miracles were wrought (cf. Exodus 4:1-4; Exodus 17:8-13).

Gehazi carried out his master's orders, but the staff produced no results as far as the child was concerned. The boy remained still and silent. Gehazi then retraced his steps to meet Elisha who by this time was well on his way to Shunem, and reported to his master that the child had not revived (2 Kings 4:31). From this it is clear that Gehazi had expected the staff to effect an awakening; but there is nothing to show that Elisha himself had so expected. While on occasion in Bible history God condescended to allow miracles to be wrought by the instrumentality of inanimate objects,[528] yet such instances are comparatively rare, and form exceptions to what may be called the usual divine economy of miracles. Miracles are, as a rule, attached in Scripture to intense unwavering faithfaith, sometimes within those that are the objects of them, almost always in those who are the workers of them. Elisha had a benevolent objective in sending Gehazi ahead with the staff, but that objective was not the resurrection of the lad.

[528] Elisha's bones once revived a dead man (2 Kings 13:21); an infirm woman once was healed by touching the hem of Jesus garment (Mark 5:25-34); handkerchiefs or aprons from the body of Paul were brought to the sick and their diseases left them (Acts 19:12).

Elisha came to the house and found the dead child lying on the bed in his private apartment (2 Kings 4:32). The prophet shut the door of the chamber in order that he might not be disturbed during his efforts to revive the boy. Falling to his knees, the inarticulate prayer that had been upon his heart from the moment he left Carmel was verbalized (2 Kings 4:33). Following the example of his master Elijah (cf. 1 Kings 17:21), Elisha stretched himself upon the lad and brought his flesh as close as he could to the flesh of the child. The idea in this seems to have been to prepare the body for rein-habitation of the soul or spirit by restoring warmth to it. Aside from this practical purpose, the act would also demonstrate the faith of the prophet that God would permit this great miracle to take place. Elisha's efforts accomplished their purpose; the child's body was actually warmed (2 Kings 4:34). Yet no signs of life appeared. The prophet, somewhat perplexed, got up from his prone position and paced in the room, doubtlessly analyzing the situation and praying as he did so.[529] Then he again stretched himself upon the child, and shortly the child sneezed seven timesshowing the recovery of his suspended respirationand opened his eyes (2 Kings 4:35). The Shunammite was summoned, no doubt from the lower story of the house, and bidden to take up her restored child (2 Kings 4:36). As anxious as the woman was to once again embrace her son, she first bowed before the prophet in humble gratitude; then she took up her son and went out to spend those precious first moments alone with the lad (2 Kings 4:37).

[529] Perhaps the walking about was an act of relaxation after the intense physical and spiritual concentration.