2 Kings 4:8

Elisha at Shunem

8 It happened one day that Elisha passed through to Shunem where there [was] a wealthy woman, and she urged him to eat bread; so it happened each time he passed through, he would stop there to eat.

2 Kings 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:8

And it fell on a day
Or so it was at a certain time:

that Elisha passed to Shunem;
a city in the tribe of Issachar; of which see ( Joshua 19:18 ) ,

where was a great woman;
of great wealth and riches, of great benevolence and hospitality, and of great grace and piety; that feared sin, as the Targum paraphrases it; a woman of great credit and reputation on all accounts. The Jews say F21 she was the sister of Abishag the Shunammite, and the mother of Iddo the prophet:

and she constrained him to eat bread;
she had observed him at all times pass that way, and guessed by his habit and deportment that he was a religious man, and therefore took an opportunity to invite him into her house, and take a dinner with her; but he being modest and shy, she was obliged to use some pressing language, and be importunate with him, that he would accept of her invitation, which he did:

and so it was, that, as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to
eat bread;
being made very welcome, and encouraged by the free and kind entertainment he met with, as often as he had occasion to come that way, he called and took a meal with her; and this it seems was pretty often, for Shunem was not far from Carmel, which he frequented, and lay in the way to Samaria, Bethel, and Jericho, places he often visited, the schools of the prophets being there.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 57. 2.

2 Kings 4:8 In-Context

6 It happened that when the containers were full, she said to her son, "Bring near me another container," but he said to her, "There is not another container." Then the olive oil stopped flowing.
7 So she came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the olive oil and repay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left over."
8 It happened one day that Elisha passed through to Shunem where there [was] a wealthy woman, and she urged him to eat bread; so it happened each time he passed through, he would stop there to eat.
9 She said to her husband, "Please now, I know that he [is] a holy man of God who is passing {our way} regularly;
10 let us make a small enclosed room [upstairs] and put a bed, table, chair, and lampstand there for him, so that when he comes to us, he can turn and stay there.
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