Elisha shows us how to remain faithful during challenging times.
Several years ago, the people at Motel 6 had this catchy tagline on their commercials: “We’ll leave the light on for you.” Tom Bodett was building houses in Homer, Alaska, and was contributing to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. A Dallas ad agency executive heard him and hired him for the Motel 6 commercials because he sounded like the kind of guy who stays at a Motel 6!1 For around 35 years, Bodett ended up concluding his commercials with the phrase, “I’m Tom Bodett for Motel 6, and we'll leave the light on for you.” And our God always leaves His light for us even in the most troubling of times. Elisha’s life is the story of God’s bright light in the darkest of skies.
For the second Sunday in a row, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 4.
Picture an aging high school quarterback if you will at his high school reunion. He’s in his sixties and gathered around him are all his former teammates and their wives. And he’s in his element, telling stories of former glory when he won the big game against their hated rivals with a last-minute touchdown pass. Now, if Elisha were to attend a high school reunion party, I think everyone would gather around him to relive THIS story. The time when the Lord used him to resurrect a much-loved son.
Second Kings 4 is a story of the resurrection of the son of the Shunammite woman by the prophet Elisha. Now, she is called the Shunammite woman because this is her town. It would be like me calling you the woman from Fort Worth.
Our story actually starts in 2 Kings 4:8, but we will pick up reading in verse 27. I’ll fill you in on what you missed along the way.
Today’s Scripture
“So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite. Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.” And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” He said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child.” Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. hen he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out” (2 Kings 4:27-37).
A week ago, we witnessed Elisha care for a widow and her two sons by miraculously caring for their needs.
If you remember, creditors were about to take her sons away. Now, our friend Elisha is faced with a woman whose son has been taken away. But this time, it isn’t creditors threatening but it’s the worst news of all, death itself. Keep your focus on this woman in our story because she has remarkable faith in God. She is the one who expects to see the light of God even in dark times.
Three facts about this woman:
1) She is nameless;
2) She is wealthy;
3) She is perfectly content.
We find this nameless woman clutching the feet of Elisha begging for her son’s life. But there’s more to our story: she offers Elisha food when the prophet passes by her house. Their relationship grew over time and over meals. In time, the woman asks her husband to add a room on the top of their house (2 Kings 4:10). So, Elisha stays there often as he travels, and he enjoys their hospitality.
The Bible says she is a wealthy woman who has everything she needs. There’s a lot to like about this woman as he uses her wealth for ministry and the things of God. Mrs. Shunammitte was the kind of person that you didn’t know what exactly to give her. What do you get for the person who has everything? Yet, Elisha does identify the one item that eludes her, a child.
To pay her back for all her trouble, the miracle worker announces that this time next year, “You will have a son.” As soon as Elisha says it, it is almost as if she says, “Don’t get my hopes up.” See, it was an impossible birth because of her husband’s advanced age (2 Kings 4:14). The Shunammitte woman follows a long line of barren women in the Bible: Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel. Knowing she didn’t ask for a son, you now know why the woman says to Elisha, “Did I ask my lord for a son?” while clinging to his ankles (2 Kings 4:28).
The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away. She was content before and she’s in bitter agony now.
Do you know someone who has lost a child? I wish I could say no. It’s one of the most heartbreaking events you’ll witness in your life. Right now, I can see in my mind’s eye those funerals of children who had passed. A motorcycle wreck only blocks from the house taking the life of their son. An accident with a gun claims the life of another son and all the years later, a sadness surrounds that whole event. The suicide of a bright teenager when left alone in the house and a small girl accidentally run over. Such grief marks everyone around these sad stories.
The Shunammitte woman may have wondered if he suffered a heat stroke while others have guessed it might have been cerebral malaria.2 The Bible doesn’t tell how this young boy dies, just that he dies.
Whatever killed the boy happened when he was out in the field with his father and the reapers (2 Kings 4:18). Yet, the father doesn’t think the incident is too serious because later on, he cannot figure out why his wife is in a hurry to see the prophet all of a sudden (2 Kings 4:23). The dad says, “It’s not the time for a religious festival. Why would you want to go see that guy?” She essentially says, “No matter. I have to go.”
We don’t really know why the husband isn’t told anything more. Maybe her faith in God to perform a miracle and her desire to save him from despair. We can only conjecture at this point. But perhaps he would have said that her plans to go see the prophet were silly at this point. Maybe the father would have said something like this, “I mean dead is dead, right?” “What could Elisha do with a dead boy?” “It’s time to mourn and bury the boy we love. Stay here and don’t bother the prophet.” Nevertheless, the father is left in suspense and likely returns back to work. But keep your eye on her again.
The boy dies on her lap around noon (2 Kings 4:20). Seemingly, she doesn’t weep, nor does she mourn. As soon as the last breath has left his body, she leaps to her feet to ask for an animal to ride. She literally says the word “Shalom” in reply to her husband’s question of where’s she going. The Hebrew word “Shalom” is the word for peace. Isn’t that interesting? Pause to consider this for a moment. Your beloved son dies in your lap and when your husband asks you, “What are you doing,” immediately afterwards, you reply, “Shalom.” How can there be “Shalom” where your only son has died? This woman had lost her child, but she evidently had not lost her faith.
Off she goes some 18 miles to Mt. Carmel where Elisha was, and this is where we picked the story in our reading earlier (2 Kings 4:27). We have to say at this point in the story, it just feels as if the urgency is ratcheted up. The pace of the story quickens. She makes the 18 miles with a servant and a donkey. Someone reading this story has commented, “The woman shows no signs of grief; in fact, her actions are characterized by a degree of cold, efficient control.”3
The urgency of all this is felt when she says in effect, “Don’t slow the animal down for me. I will keep up.” When she arrives, she meets Elisha’s personal assistant, Gehazi. Gehazi comes out and says, “Is it all right with your son? Is everything okay with you? How can I help you” (2 Kings 4:25-26). She pushes past the assistant – doesn’t even slow down to address him. She pushes right past him like you might bypass a secretary to push your way into someone’s office. Every indication is she just basically wouldn’t even stop. She wouldn’t talk to him. She will not stop until she falls at the feet of the prophet Elisha and grabs hold of his ankles.
“And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me” (2 Kings 4:27). If she is anything, she is decisive.
Now, Elisha knows the real trouble – the boy is dead. Elisha’s command to Gehazi to greet no one on the way underscores the urgency of the situation. His mission must not be slowed down with idle greetings or compromised with common business (2 Kings 4:29). Again, the mother is resolute in her determination. She says to Elisha, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you” (2 Kings 4:30b). The final outcome of this isn’t going to be entrusted to an assistant. She wanted only God’s representative on earth for her beloved son. The good news is that Elisha was trailing his assistant the whole 18 miles back to the Shunammitte’s home. Elisha gives specific instructions to his assistant: “Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child” (2 Kings 4:29). But none of this worked. As Elisha is still on his way, Gehazi says to him, “The child has not awakened” (2 Kings 4:31). Even though Gehazi follows his mentor’s instructions to a “T,” his attempts to revive the boy fail.
Isn’t it interesting that God’s power is never completely under any one person’s control?4 Not even Elisha has a remote control for God’s power. Earlier he admits that the Lord has hidden from him (2 Kings 4:27). As good as Elisha is, this is beyond him.
Now Elisha arrives and he sees the boy lying in the very bed the Shunammitte woman had prepared for him. Immediately, he shuts the door behind his assistant and him so they can pray. I have a feeling they prayed something a little more than, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” I think had you been a fly on the wall of that room, you would have heard these two pray with a passion and fervency that left few in doubt. We are not told how long the two prayed, but we are told that Elisha does something highly unusual in verse. “Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm” (2 Kings 4:35).
This isn’t merely mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Elisha can check your pulse as well as the next prophet. Twice we are told that the boy is dead—not half-dead, or nearly dead, but actually dead (2 Kings 4:20, 32). It does not require sophisticated medical equipment to figure out that someone is dead, especially when time has passed, and the body is cold. No, this isn’t merely mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This was mouth-to-mouth resurrection.5 Only the boy was warm with little other signs of life at that point. So, Elisha “…got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes” (2 Kings 4:36b). Sneezes had never sounded so healthy!6 The door is opened, and mother and child are reunited again (2 Kings 4:37)!
What do we gain from this story?
1. A Remarkable Display of Faith
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
1.1 The Woman and Boy Saved from Famine
What’s fascinating about our story of the Shunammitte woman is that she shows back up in Scripture a couple of chapters later. “Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years” (2 Kings 8:1). No one is surprised to read the very next verse: “So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years” (2 Kings 8:2).
She did exactly what the prophet told her to do. Wouldn’t you do exactly what he tells you to do? If the prophet says he has a “famine warning system” and he tells you how to feed your child and you during this awful, I bet you would be telling Siri, “Directions to Philistia.” Long before this, she displayed this remarkable faith in God. Every time we see this lady, she is displaying this extraordinary faith.
1.2 Where Did Her Faith Come From?
No doubt she had her stories to build her condolence in the Lord. The Shunammite mother had probably been told about the story of Elisha’s predecessor, Elijah, and his resurrection of the widow’s son in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17–24). Death did not have the final word on that occasion as God used the prophet, Elijah to raise the boy from the dead.7 I imagine she hears about the widow’s miracle of how her two boys were nearly taken away from her had it not been for the miraculous and merciful hand of God (2 Kings 4:1–7). These stories and more gave her increased confidence in God and His servant, Elisha.
1.3 What is Faith?
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
The death of her son was such a severe trial that the Shunammite might have been tempted to give up her faith. Who would have blamed her for saying something like, “What’s the use? I have lived for the Lord, and this is what I get in return.” But that’s not her at all. She has this remarkable poise, does she not? She displays this unusual balance that few have. Every time we see this lady, she is showing us what outstanding faith in God looks like.
1.4 Chasing a Resurrection
I think the Shunammitte woman chased down the prophet, Elisha with resurrection on her mind. Remember how she was first greeted by Elisha’s assistant: “Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” (2 Kings 4:25a). And look how she answers him, “All is well” (2 Kings 4:25b). Now you can think she’s trying to get past him with whatever it takes to get to Elisha. And you might be right.
But I go back to something she said earlier to her husband. Remember the boy dies on her lap around noon (2 Kings 4:20). Seemingly, she doesn’t weep, nor does she mourn. As soon as the last breath has left his body, she leaps to her feet to ask for an animal to ride. She literally says the word “Shalom” in reply to her husband’s question of where’s she going. The Hebrew word “Shalom” is the word for peace. Isn’t that interesting?
Pause to consider this for a moment. Your beloved son dies in your lap and when your husband asks you, “What are you doing?,” you say, “Shalom.” How can there be “Shalom” where your only son has died? This woman had lost her child but she evidently had not lost her faith. She is relentless. She is just knocking the men aside in our story who stand in her way.
If you are in Christ, ask the Holy Spirit to give you this kind of faith. Put a mental poster of this woman on your wall to inspire you to have greater faith.
1. A Remarkable Display of Faith
2. God’s Best Work Is for the Powerless
“Women received back their dead by resurrection” (Hebrews 11:35a).
2.1 Women Receive Back Their Dead
There are not that many people who are resurrected in the pages of the Bible. You can trace down every one of them in an afternoon’s sitting. When you take the time to examine each of them, it is the women who receive back the dead. You’d think, “Men and women receive back the dead about equally,” but that’s not the case. It’s nearly exclusively the women who have this privilege.
There’s the widow of Zarephath who gets her little boy back (1 Kings 17:17-24). You have the Shunammite woman here in our story. When you flip over to the New Testament, Jesus gives back Lazarus to Mary and Martha (John 11). Then there’s the story of Jesus raising the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7). Lastly, Dorcas is raised from the dead for the benefit of the widows in Joppa (Acts 9). If you’re keeping score at home, that’s woman, woman, woman, woman, and woman.
1.2 An Airlifted Daughter
I had said earlier that in my years, I have encountered too many deaths of children. No doubt you have a story or two to reflect on even as we witness this miracle of a resurrected boy. Each of them is heartbreaking.
But one stood out to me. It was the story of a young lady not even 25 years of age. She had an astonishing talent for the fashion industry. But she grew deathly sick, and her mother and father had placed her in an airlift to get her the best emergency medical treatment possible. They followed along in their car much slower than the helicopter. When they arrived nearly an hour later, their beautiful daughter was dead. If you’ve witnessed such a scene, then you can well imagine the heartbreak and the tremendous agony. Years later, when the mother was telling my wife and me this story, she relayed something remarkable. And I remember it to this day. She said she entered the hospital room where the medical staff had declared her daughter dead. A lot of time had gone by now. And she told us that she entered that room in the ER with the intent of not leaving until the Lord granted her prayers of resurrection. Again, she entered the room with the intent of praying for a resurrection. I remember thinking to myself, “I don’t know that I would have that kind of faith.”
2.3 Jesus’ Resurrection
Back to the Bible, the biggest resurrection of all is Jesus’ resurrection – the one resurrection that will power all of our resurrections one day. Do you remember who was there to first-hand witness His resurrection? In every single gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the first people Jesus appears to are all women! Of the 10 times in the history of the world, God raised somebody from the dead, 9 of them were to women.8
2.4 Is This an Accident?
Do you think that’s just an accident? Do you think that woman show up on the scene of a resurrection 9 out of 10 times by accident? I don’t think it is an accident even for a minute. You see, God has this affinity for working for the powerless. I think it’s because women were often walked all over in ancient societies. Historically, they have been kept from power even as far as a century ago when they were just given the right to vote. God has an affinity to work on behalf of the powerless.
Sometimes, God puts things into your life that you can’t conquer:
? The death of a child you are unable to prevent;
? A divorce you go through;
? A health scare;
? Or, an addiction you can’t overcome.
I hurt with you in all these situations, but perhaps God is positioning you strategically. God often sends hurts into our lives so we cry out to Him in desperation just as the Shunammite woman did. God does His best work for those who are powerless.
Endnotes
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bodett; accessed October 3, 2023.
2 Donald J. Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 217.
3 T. R. Hobbs, 2 Kings, Word Biblical Commentary. (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1985), 47.
4 Timothy J. Keller, “The Dead Are Raised,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
5 Philip Graham Ryken, 2 Kings, eds. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Iain M. Duguid, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2019), 79.
6 Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Kings: The Power and the Fury, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2005), 67.
7 Roger Ellsworth, Apostasy, Destruction and Hope: 2 Kings Simply Explained, Welwyn Commentary Series (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2002), 63.
8 Timothy J. Keller, “The Dead Are Raised,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
