2 Kings 4:8-37

The Shunammite Woman

8 Now there came a day when Elisha passed over to ¹Shunem, where there was a prominent woman, and she persuaded him to eat food. And so it was, as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat food.

9 She said to her husband, "Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy ²man of God passing by us continually.

10 "Please, let us ³make a little walled upper chamber and let us set a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he can turn in there."

11 One day he came there and turned in to the upper chamber and rested *.

12 Then he said to ⁴Gehazi his servant, "Call this Shunammite." And when he had called her, she stood before him.

13 He said to him, "Say now to her, 'Behold, you have been careful for us with all this care; what can I do for you? Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?' " And she answered, "I live among my own people."

14 So he said, "What then is to be done for her?" And Gehazi answered, "Truly she has no son and her husband is old."

15 He said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood in the doorway.

16 Then he said, "⁵At this season next year you will embrace a son." And she said, "No, my lord, O man of God, ⁶do not lie to your maidservant."

17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that season the next year, as Elisha had said to her.

The Shunammite's Son

18 When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.

19 He said to his father, "My head, my head." And he said to his servant, "Carry him to his mother."

20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died.

21 She went up and ⁷laid him on the bed of ⁸the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out.

22 Then she called to her husband and said, "Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return."

23 He said, "Why will you go to him today? It is neither ⁹new moon nor sabbath." And she said, "It will be well."

24 Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, "Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless * I tell you."

25 So she went and came to the man of God to ¹⁰Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance *, he said to Gehazi his servant, "Behold, there is the Shunammite.

26 "Please run now 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 answered, "It is well."

27 When she came to the man of God ¹¹to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, "Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me."

28 Then she said, "Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, '¹²Do not deceive me'?"

29 Then he said to Gehazi, "¹³Gird up your loins and ¹⁴take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not ¹⁵salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and ¹⁶lay my staff on the lad's face."

30 The mother of the lad said, "¹⁷As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." And he arose and followed * her.

31 Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad's face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, "The lad ¹⁸has not awakened."

32 When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed.

33 So he entered and ¹⁹shut the door behind them both and prayed to the LORD.

34 And ²⁰he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm.

35 Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and ²¹stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.

36 He called Gehazi and said, "Call this Shunammite." So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, "Take up your son."

37 Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and ²²she took up her son and went out.

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2 Kings 4:8-37 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 4

This chapter treats of the miracles of Elisha, of his multiplying a poor widow's pot of oil for the payment of her husband's debts, 2Ki 4:1-7 of obtaining a son for a Shunamitish woman, who had been very hospitable to him, 2Ki 4:8-17, of his raising up her son to life when dead, 2Ki 4:18-37, of his curing the deadly pottage made of wild gourds, 2Ki 4:38-41, and of his feeding one hundred men with twenty barley loaves, 2Ki 4:42-44.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 22

1. Joshua 19:18
2. 2 Kings 4:7
3. Matthew 10:41, 42; Matthew 25:40; Romans 12:13
4. 2 Kings 4:29-31; 2 Kings 5:20-27; 2 Kings 8:4, 5
5. Genesis 18:14
6. 2 Kings 4:28
7. 2 Kings 4:32
8. 2 Kings 4:7
9. Numbers 10:10; Numbers 28:11; 1 Chronicles 23:31
10. 2 Kings 2:25
11. 2 Kings 4:25
12. 2 Kings 4:16
13. 1 Kings 18:46; 2 Kings 9:1
14. Exodus 4:17; 2 Kings 2:14
15. Luke 10:4
16. Exodus 7:19, 20; Exodus 14:16
17. 2 Kings 2:2, 4
18. John 11:11
19. 2 Kings 4:4; Matthew 6:6; Luke 8:51
20. 1 Kings 17:21-23
21. 1 Kings 17:21
22. Hebrews 11:35

Footnotes 18

[a]. Lit "great"
[b]. Lit "bread"
[c]. Lit "bread"
[d]. Lit "Now a day came that"
[e]. Lit "lay there"
[f]. Lit "fearful"
[g]. Lit "fear"
[h]. Lit "said"
[i]. Lit "said"
[j]. Lit "when the time revives"
[k]. Lit "when the time revived"
[l]. Lit "knees"
[m]. Lit "riding"
[n]. Lit "this Shunammite"
[o]. Lit "said"
[p]. Lit "bitter"
[q]. Lit "attentiveness"
[r]. Lit "him, saying"