THE WOMAN OF SHUNEM
A Woman of Faith
ANY PARENT who has ever rushed a critically-ill child to an emergency room can relate to the woman of Shunem. A child gasps for breath, seizes with convulsions, or screams out in pain and parents race into action, grabbing car keys, medicines or portable oxygen, and praying without ceasing until an ER physician finally utters those beautiful words: “Your child is going to be okay.”
These learned behaviors of faith in action grow over time, becoming second nature for many parents whose children struggle with challenging health issues and disability. For the woman of Shunem, the events leading up to her son’s healing began years before, when she and her husband offered their hospitality to the prophet Elisha (4:8). They not only provided meals for him but also built a room so he could stay at their house whenever he was in town (4:9-10). Elisha received their kindness with gratefulness and wanted to do something for them in return (4:13).
Your child is going to be okay
Upon discovering that the woman was childless, he immediately recognized the shameful stigma she faced in that society and promised her a son. Though she was afraid even to hope for such a thing, within the year she gave birth to the promised child (4:16-17). As he grew older, he worked with his father in the fields.
One day he took ill and died in his mother’s lap (4:18-20). This woman of faith took swift action. She placed the dead child in Elisha’s room and prepared to travel to Mount Carmel, assuring her husband of a good outcome. On finding Elisha, she threw herself down before him, insisting he go to the boy (4:27-30). After Elisha spent some time in prayer with the child, the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes (4:35-36). All was well, just as the woman had believed (4:22-23). In her time of testing and trouble, she found extraordinary strength to trust the Lord.