Transcript

A young minister was once asked by a funeral director to conduct a graveside service for a homeless man, who had no family or friends. The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country.

He started out early in the morning and was not familiar with the backwoods area. He became seriously lost but being a man, he did not stop for directions.

He finally arrived an hour late. He saw the backhoe and the crew, who were eating lunch. But the hearse was nowhere in sight.

He apologized to the workers for his tardiness, and then stepped to the side of the open hole, where he saw a vault lid already in place.

The minister assured the workers that he would not hold them up for long, but that this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch.

The young minister then poured out his heart and soul. As he preached the workers even began saying, “Amen,” and “Praise the Lord.” With this encouraging response he preached and preached like he’d never preached before.

He then closed the service with a prayer and walked to the car and drove off.

Watching him drive away, one of the workers said to another, “I have never seen anything like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

In this episode, we’ll be examining another death and resurrection, the resurrection of the Shunammite woman’s son.

2 Kings 4:8-17: “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

“And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

“And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.

“And he said unto him, Say now unto her, 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? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

“And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

“And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

“And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.”

Shunem was a village in the north of Israel, situated in the Jezreel Valley. As the prophet Elisha moved about Israel and traveled to different parts of the northern kingdom, he once stopped by Shunem.

Living there was “a great woman,” or a woman of substance, a well-to-do woman of great influence who was a prominent lady in the community. She was also a great woman because she was full of hospitality, good works, and faith, as we’ll see.

As Elisha was passing through Shunem, this woman “constrained him to eat bread,” or she invited him to eat at her home, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Following this initial invitation and meal, it became Elisha’s habit to stop by this woman’s house for food when he was in the area.

As Elisha kept stopping by, this woman consulted her husband and came up with an idea.

She told him she perceived that Elisha was a “holy man of God.” She understood that he was a prophet doing the work of God and teaching His truth. And she wanted to help him as he was serving the Lord and thus, to aid in the promotion of the truth of God in Israel.

She had been continually providing meals for him, but she wanted to do more. Thus, she talked with her husband about making him “a little chamber…on the wall” of their house, and to put a bed, table, chair, and lampstand in it, as a private, comfortable place for Elisha to stay on his frequent travels through the area.

In other words, she wanted an addition put on to the house. And wives often want to do that kind of thing. And this woman’s husband agreed to do it.

In those days, there were no Bob Evans or Holiday Inns. Those who traveled were dependent upon the gracious hospitality of the people in the land, and especially the prophets in their itinerant ministries as they traveled about from place to place.

And this thoughtful woman was very gracious and hospitable to the prophet Elisha and his servant Gehazi, providing them with food and then a place to stay.

She used her blessings for the blessing of others. And this home became like an oasis in the desert for Elisha and Gehazi.

During one visit, Elisha was laying on the bed in this room, and he told Gehazi to “Call this Shunammite” woman. She immediately came and stood before him.

Elisha realized that this woman had only shown him kindness and had done all these things by her own initiative, never asking for anything in return.

Thus, through Gehazi, he asked her, “What is to be done for thee?” He spoke through Gehazi feeling that she would likely express herself more freely to his servant than to him.

Elisha wanted to do something special for her. And he offered for her to make any request or ask any favor that he would then relay to the king of Israel, or the captain of the host, which is the second-in-command next to the king.

Her response was “I dwell among mine own people,” which meant she was content, she was at peace, and had no special needs. She wanted nothing from the king or his court.

This woman had no ulterior motive for what she did for Elisha and his servant. She only wanted to honor God by providing for His prophet.

After the woman replied, she left. Then Elisha sought his servant’s help because perhaps he had heard her express some wish or need. So, he asked Gehazi, “What then is to be done for her?”

Gehazi had noticed that she was without a child and that her husband was old, so he called this to Elisha’s attention. The stigma associated with barrenness at that time was harsh and a heavy burden for a woman. And her husband being old also meant that he would likely precede her in death, and without a family, she would be left alone.

Elisha immediately acted on Gehazi’s words, and said, “Call her.” As the woman returned “she stood in the door,” or the doorway, not advancing beyond the entrance to the room.

Then Elisha, not through Gehazi this time, told her directly and personally, “About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son.” He told her that about this time next year, she would give birth to a son.

To the Shunammite woman, this promise seemed too good to be true and she found it hard to believe. She said, “Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.” In other words, do not tease me. Don’t get my hopes up.

But true to his word, exactly as predicted, “the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her.” The woman who so generously and kindly provided material things for the prophet of God was now blessed by the God of the prophet.

2 Kings 4:18-21: “And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

“And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.”

Verse 18 says, “And when the child was grown.” This does not mean he was grown up. What this phrase means is that “And the child grew.” He was still a child at this time.

The child was still young enough to sit on his mother’s knees according to verse 20, and by herself, she was able to carry his body upstairs to Elisha’s room in verse 21.

One morning, years later, while the child was still quite young, he was out in the field with his father and the reapers. The father was superintending the reaping of his harvest, and the boy joined him there, as he had probably done before.

Standing out in the fields, the boy told his father, “My head, my head.” Violent head pain suddenly overtook him, and he cried out to his father. This possibly was due to the heat of the harvest season to which he was exposed in the fields. In that area of the world, at that time of year, the sun often becomes intensely hot by ten o’clock.

The father instructed a servant to “Carry him to his mother.” The servant obeyed and rushed him back to the Shunammite mother for her to see after him.

She then cradled him and rocked him on her knees for the rest of that morning until noon. But he failed to improve, and then suddenly and tragically he became still in his mother’s arms, “and he died,” likely from sunstroke.

At this point, we see an urgency in his mother with no words spoken. The first thing she did was to carry him upstairs to Elisha’s room, and she “laid him on the bed of the man of God,” placing the boy’s body on the bed of the prophet who had first announced his life. Then she closed the door, where she had been told that she would have a son.

The prophet Elijah had placed the child whom he restored to life on his own bed, and that fact may have been known to this Shunammite woman. But it is also obvious that she did not expect mere contact with the bed to raise her child from the dead.

Closing the door was done because she did not want his death to be known. She wanted to conceal the death of her son until she could see what Elisha could do for him.

One commentator put it well, “The Shunammite’s action speaks strongly of her faith.

Despite her overwhelming sorrow, she placed the fate of her child close to Elisha, through whose word, and by means of God’s mercy, she had gained her son in the first place.

“Placing the body on the bed of the man of God also kept his death a secret until she could reach Elisha, from whom she had once seen the impossible accomplished.”

2 Kings 4:22-28: “And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

“Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:

“Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

“And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

“Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?”

The mother went out of the house to the fields, where her husband was still watching over the reapers. She called out to him, but she doesn’t tell him that their son had died.

She probably feared that her husband would order an instant burial, because having a corpse in the house in the hot harvest season would not have been a good thing.

She just requested a donkey to ride and a servant, or someone to accompany her, so she could “run to the man of God,” and have a quick visit with Elisha, and then return home.

Elisha was in the Mount Carmel range, and the nearest part of it was at least 15 miles from Shunem. So she needed a donkey to get there and back quicker.

The woman’s husband questioned her why she would seek him today when “it is neither new moon, nor sabbath.” In other words, there was no religious celebration or holy day to occasion a visit with him (v. 23).

This teaches that Israel was accustomed to seeing the prophets around the holy days under the law and were likely taught God’s Word by them at these special times.

The Shunammite woman does not answer her husband’s question or tell him why, but just says, “It shall be well,” which is the Hebrew word, “Shalom,” meaning peace.

The husband did not press her for an explanation and agreed to his wife’s request. A donkey was then saddled.

After getting on the donkey, she told the servant, “Drive, and go forward,” or literally “Punch it!” And I’ve noticed that my wife likes to punch it at times too when she’s driving.

The way this worked was that the woman rode on the donkey, accompanied by a servant who walked behind it, who drove the donkey with a stick and made it go at the speed she required. And this woman required that the servant drive the animal FAST.

And she told him to not slacken the pace unless she said so. That poor servant got a workout on that day, running behind that donkey for 15 miles.

Interestingly, she knew where to find Elisha and that he was on Mount Carmel. Either this was common knowledge in Israel or she knew from her conversations with him when he stayed in her home.

From the heights of Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her coming in the distance. And he told Gehazi, “Behold, yonder is that Shunammite.” He then sent Gehazi to meet her as she was coming and ask if everything was okay with her, with her husband and her son.

Gehazi did so. When he questioned her, she just said, “It is well,” or like she said to her husband, “Shalom,” peace. And then she kept going past Gehazi and toward Elisha.

The Shunammite woman didn’t want Elisha to learn of her grief through his assistant. She wanted the man of God to hear it from her own lips.

Finally, she reached Elisha and when she did, in her heartbreak, she dropped to the ground and grabbed him by the feet.

Gehazi was about to push her off the prophet, but Elisha stopped him, seeing her deep distress. And Elisha further stated that God had not informed him, by inward miraculous illumination, of what had happened or what caused her to make this journey to him.

The woman’s words in verse 28, do not directly reveal her grief. But she sufficiently indicated the nature of her trouble by speaking of her son.

She said that she had not asked for a son from Elisha and she had made no complaint about being childless. She reminded him that she had said, “Do not deceive me.” Now she felt deceived by being given a son and then having him taken away from her.

It was more painful to have a child and lose him than never to have had one at all. And the prophet fully understood the meaning of the woman’s words. Her son had died.

2 Kings 4:32-37: “And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD.

“And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

“Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

“And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.”

In verses 29-31, we learn that Elisha immediately sent Gehazi on ahead with Elisha’s staff, which was symbolic of the authority of the prophet.

Elisha wanted Gehazi to get to the house as quickly as he could, thus he commanded him to not even spend any time greeting anyone along the way.

Gehazi was then told to lay the staff on the face of the young boy, in an attempt to raise him. Hearing these words, the woman was determined to bring the prophet face to face with her dead child.

She would not leave him till he consented to accompany her to her home. Then Elisha “arose, and followed her.”

Arriving at the home ahead of them, Gehazi did as he was instructed. But he was not able to raise the child with the staff. He returned and met Elisha and the Shunnamite woman as they were still making their way to the home, and told them, “The child is not awaked.”

Arriving at the home, Elisha went straight to the room where the dead boy was. That the boy really was dead is reinforced and stated a second time in verse 32, as it had been first stated in verse 20. Elisha then shut the door, leaving the mother and Gehazi outside of it.

Elisha was following the example set by his master and predecessor, Elijah. As Elijah had done, Elisha also, in faith and dependence, “prayed unto the Lord,” praying for the boy’s life to return. He fervently sought the only true help for the situation.

And then he laid “upon the child, so that his mouth, eyes, and hands correspondingly met those of the boy’s. And verse 34 states that “the flesh of the child waxed warm.” The body began to grow warm with returning life. But he didn’t awake.

Most miracles in the Scripture were done in an instant, but there were some that were done by degrees as we find here.

Elisha then got up, and “walked in the house to and fro,” or he paced up and down and around the room in continued prayer.

Following this, he then repeated the same action, prostrating himself on the dead boy’s body, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hand to hand.

This time the lad sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. The number seven in the Scriptures communicates completion and fulness. And so this boy was completely healed, fully alive. And that number seven also indicates that this was the work of God, that He restored his life through the prophet.

Air returned to his lungs, he sneezed, and he opened his eyes. He was alive. And for only the second time in the Old Testament a person was raised from the dead.

At this point, Elisha called out to Gehazi. And Elisha had Gehazi summon the boy’s mother and bring her into the room.

When she entered the room, Elisha pointed to her son who was alive again, and said, “Take up your son,” or “Pick up your son.”

Before she did that, however, in gratitude and joy, she entered the room and humbly fell at Elisha’s feet again and bowed herself to the ground without saying a word, overcome and unable to express her gladness and relief.

After this, then she picked up her young son and went out of the room.

I believe that God is teaching three things by the posture and manner by which Elisha raised this boy from the dead: identification, grace, and the Person of Jesus Christ. First, identification: Elisha fully identified himself with death by lying on that boy face to face.

Second, it teaches about grace. According to the law, Elisha became ceremonially unclean by this act of touching a dead body. Therefore, this supernatural raising from the dead could not be counted as a work of the law.

But there is grace in every dispensation, and Elisha did this in grace, apart from the law, to give life to this dead boy. And by grace, the boy was raised to life and the unclean became clean when he was brought to life.

The dead staff, a picture of the staff of Moses and therefore the law, that Gehazi put on the boy’s dead face effected no change. He stayed dead.

Likewise, Israel was being shown by this symbolism that the law, with its ritualism and religious ceremonies, cannot give life to those who are dead spiritually; rather, grace and life is found through a Person.

This brings us to the third thing being taught, the Person of Jesus Christ. God’s life through a person, Elisha, raised this boy, first bringing the warmth of life to the body, and then breath and consciousness.

To sum up and tie it all together, Israel was being taught that spiritual life came through identification, grace, and a person—the direct ministry of a prophet, a prophet being someone who brings Word from God.

Later, THE Prophet, Jesus Christ the Messiah, came to Israel. And it is by Him, a Person, and direct ministry by Him that Israel was to find life and resurrection.

This three-point lesson taught to Israel reminds us also, today, in the dispensation of the grace of God, that we who are dead in our sins are raised and find spiritual life “in Christ” by our identification and oneness with Christ and His life, which is made available to us entirely by the grace of God.

Christ identified with our sin, which is death, and His life is imparted to us when we believe the gospel of grace, that Christ died for our sins and rose again.