XXII. ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMITE WOMAN

Not long after this period, the history of Elisha furnishes us with a coincidence characteristic, I think, of truth. It appears that “a great woman” of Shechem had befriended the prophet, finding him and his servant, from time to time, as they passed by that place, food and lodging. In return for this he sends her a message: “Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?” [2 Kings 4:13.] Now we should have gathered from previous passages in Elisha’s history, that Jehoram, who was then king of Israel, was not one with whom he was upon such terms as this proposition to the Shunammite implies. Jehoram was the son of Ahab, his old master Elijah’s enemy, and apparently no friend of his own; for when the three kings, the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, in their distress for water, in their expedition against Moab, wished to inquire of the Lord through Elisha, his answer to the king of Israel was, “As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.” [2 Kings 3:14.] What, then, had occurred in the interval betwixt this avowal, and his proposal to the Shunammite to use his influence in her favour at court, which had changed his position with respect to the king of Israel? It may be supposed that it was the sudden supply of water, which he had furnished these kings with, by God’s permission, thus saving the expedition; and the defeat of the enemy, to which it had been instrumental [2 Kings 3:16, 17.] . This would naturally make Elisha feel that the king of Israel was under obligations to him and that he could ask a slight favour of him without seeming to sanction the character of the man by doing so. And this solution of the case appears to be the more probable, from Elisha coupling the “captain of the host” with the king; as though his interest was equally good with him too, which he might reasonably consider it to be, when he had done the army such signal service; and it is further confirmed by another incident related of this same Shunammite in a subsequent chapter. For having fled from the seven years’ famine into another country, she lost her house and land in her own, on which she appealed to king Jehoram. Accordingly, “the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things Elisha hath done;” [2 Kings 8:4.] Elisha having now, no doubt, actually recommended her case to the king. And when Gehazi had named some of these miracles, “the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers;” so that the event shows that Elisha on the former occasion had not miscalculated his powers, or the grounds on which he might challenge the king’s favours.