A Shunammite Woman who knew ‘it is well’.

Introduction

One of the most well-known – and well loved – Proverbs in the Hebrew Scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Taking the account of our Shunammite sister as a springboard into the realm of trust and trusting God, what follows seeks to be a brief reminder of the solid foundation we have in our wonderful Lord and Saviour, Yeshua the Messiah, through faith in these darkening days.  It may not venture far, but to the degree that it does, may the Holy Spirit guide you into His truth and cause to fall to the ground that which are merely my own thoughts unaided by the Lord.

Beginning at the point of the Shunammite woman’s statement – that “it is well’ (2 Kings 4:26) -let’s go back a bit to see what had happened to her, before going on into what followed next as we consider her “legacy” for us.  Along the way, may Almighty God grant that our trust in Him through His Son, Lord Yeshua be affirmed, confirmed – or be strengthened where it has become infirm – by the Holy Spirit.

Primary Reading:           2 Kings 4: 8-37;
                                       2 Kings 8:1-6 (famine, post famine land and property restored).

Secondary Reading:      1 Kings 17 – (compare the raising of a Gentile widow’s son back to life by God through Elijah and the similarities in the raising of Shunammite woman’s son through Elisha).

In the secondary reading, note carefully the widow’s words at 1 Kings 17:24: ‘Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”  The underlined is an important signpost throughout this study.  (You can read more of the connection of Elijah and Elisha in 1 Kings 19:15-21 and 2 Kings 2:1-18).

Overview on the Shunammite Woman

From our primary reading we can note the following:

• she was from Shunem of the land of Israel, possibly of the tribe of Issachar (note Joshua 19:18);
• she seems to have been an observant Jewess, among the obedient to the one true God, the God of Israel (note 2 Kings 4:23);
• she was a ‘notable’ woman who was also hospitable (2 Kings 4:8);
• she was a discerning woman (2 Kings 4:9) – able to discern through personal observation that Elisha was truly ‘a man of God’;
• she was a thoughtful woman, other minded towards Elisha (2 Kings 4:10);
• she was a woman who had access to financial substance – enabling her to organise the extension to her home for Elisha and his servant Gehazi (2 Kings 4:10);
• she was a woman of child-bearing age, but had no child and married to an older man, likely several years her senior(2 Kings 4:14-16);
• she seemed quite settled – even if she was not 100% content with her circumstances, she appears untroubled by it (2 Kings 4:13);
• she had the uncommon experience of a promise from God through His prophet of a child in what seemed like a hopeless situation – a child which she did indeed conceive and bore (2 Kings 4:14-17);
• she experienced the loss of that child, her only child, in traumatic circumstances (2 Kings 4:18-20);
• she experienced a measure of ‘Abrahamic faith’ in the very hour of her son’s death (2 Kings 4:18-26) – she, ‘…contrary to hope, in hope believed..’ (Romans 4:18);
• she received a miracle from God – the raising of her son from the dead (2 Kings 4:32-36);
• she later experienced the harshness of famine in her land, forcing her to leave her home and land to live in the land of Israel’s enemies for 7 years (2 Kings 8:1-2);
• she may have become a widow sometime before or during the famine (consider 2 Kings 8:1-6);
• she and her son were eventually able to return back to her land and, after a grace-aided successful appeal to the king, regained her former land and home (2 Kings 8:3-6, note verse 5);
• The LORD brought her through it all.

It could even be said that she was among those in the mind of the writer of Hebrews who wrote, ‘Women received their dead raised to life again’ (Hebrews 11:35a).

Let’s unpack the above a little more.

The Backdrop

Even from the little information we have on our Shunammite sister, there is a strong suggestion that hers was a contented heart, which had learned to accept that motherhood was a joy she would  most likely never know. A joy unlooked for.  It is probable that, by the time we are introduced to her this had become an impossibility– at least while her aged husband lived.  Nevertheless, it is clear that she did not pine away at this and in other respects, the life apportioned for her was a comfortable one, lacking no practical necessities.  She dwelt well among her people in their land and was a woman of standing among them – the reference to her as a ‘notable woman’ (2 Kings 4:8) means ‘great’.  Great in stature as well as in character for it is unlikely that a man of God would have received hospitality from her otherwise. This adds weight to a conclusion that she was an observant Jewess, of the people of God and one among the obedient of the Lord God of Israel.

Hers was also a hospitable and giving heart.  Consideration and thoughtfulness surely was behind the act of kindness in organising a building extension to her home to accommodate Elisha and his servant whenever they passed through in their journeys. It seems her life was quite settled, perhaps with no expectation of change to her personal circumstances on the horizon. What came to pass in this sister’s life would surely remain with her, a reminder that what ever her future days held, she could know that in and through God, “it is well.”

An Unlooked-for Blessing – Snatched by Death.

The blessing of the Lord in the form of a son was clearly unexpected.  For an observant Jewish married woman, especially in that time, barrenness is in no way a blessing and even considered a matter for reproach.  The words of Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptiser, when the Lord God blessed her with the fruit of the womb in her aged years, comes to mind: “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people” (Luke 1:25).  What joy the birth of the child must have brought to our sister and her husband who must have particularly rejoiced to have a son in his old age! An only child in such circumstances – how sweet this precious blessing.

How grieving then, how devastatingly painful, the sudden and unexpecting loss as she held her dying child in her arms.  As one who has not directly suffered in this particular way, it is truly hard to comprehend such a loss! One morning he woke up to a new day and no doubt looked forward to hanging about with his dad in the fields as he worked with servants on the land. Suddenly, an attack of pain in his head, being taken back home to mother and upon her knees, under his mother’s watchful gaze, death came and took him away.

Mercifully, her inward deep distress did not rob her of a presence of mind to act – and to act quickly.  Whether she knew what she was doing and why at the time cannot be known. We do know that she was in deep distress when she carried the body of her son up to Elisha’s room; that she was in deep distress as she lay her son’s body upon his bed; that she was in deep distress as she left him there, shutting that bedroom door behind her; that she was in deep distress as she requested a donkey and servant from her husband; that she was in deep distress as she ordered her servant to go at speed when leading her on the donkey’s ride to the man of God; that she was in deep distress as she answered Gehazi’s solicitation with the now famous “it is well” reply; and that it was in deep distress that she finally fell at Elisha’s feet, clasping at them.  This was no Hollywood movie nor a British soap nor a scene in a theatre play.  This was real life – up close and personal!

The servant of the man of God does not get it – but Elisha, the representative of God’s present help does. 2 Kings 4:27 records this: ‘Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, ‘Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress….” (underlined for emphasis).  The distress did not end there at the feet of the man of God but she made the wisest decision perhaps thus far in her life.  She determined to stay close to the man of God – the representative and vessel of the present help of God (note 2 Kings 4:30). In deep distress she returned home with him – to the place and the very circumstance which occasioned that distress, where she had to wait upon the man of God for a time, in trust and in hope. 

Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

The Scriptures do not say what it was that the Shunammite woman expected to happen or if she believed that Elisha would be able to bring her son back to life.  It is probable however that it was widely known that his master before him, Elijah the prophet of God, had been used of God to raise the dead (see 1 Kings 17). There are remarkable similarities between Elijah’s actions in seeking the Lord’s mercies for the life of the widow’s son there and Elisha’s actions in seeking the Lord for the life of the Shunammite’s son in our present passage. Nevertheless, consider our Shunammite sister and that period of waiting in anticipation upon Elisha, the man of God when they arrived back to her home.  Waiting,  through being shut out of what Elisha was doing beyond her sight; waiting, while he walked through the house before returning to that upper room where her son’s body lay; waiting, until that moment of receiving Elisha’s call through Gehazi. Waiting, for her feet to lead her in what must have been heart-thudding footsteps to that upper room to Elisha.  And then the words,  ‘Pick up your son’ (2 Kings 4:29-37).

How much her trust and hope was probably stretched beyond her reason, throughout that journey through the valley of the shadow of death to seeing her child alive again.  At 2 Kings 4:37 we see her finally being enabled to exhale, as it were: ‘So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.’ Her faith – that “it is well” – in the midst of her distress bore out and was indeed turned into sight!

The Scriptures record glimpses of further difficulties that lay ahead for our sister during the famine years and after this the Lord’s marvellous mercies, once again, intervening on her behalf as recorded at 2 Kings 8:1-6.

The above account presents an opportunity to consider a little more deeply the grace of God the Father, which enables us to trust Him and in Him so that we can know – no matter what may come – in Lord Yeshua the Messiah, it is well. Glory to God!

A Shunammite sister’s Legacy

I too once looked for the  ‘ABCs…steps to/how to..’ of trusting in God. This study is not it!  It is not seeking to be one of those “12-step” or “6-step” or even “2-step” “programmes” to this issue.  It is not seeking to be as “a magic wand” in holding out that as you read this, bingo – suddenly all that is not well becomes well!  It is hoped rather to be an encouragement – a cup of cool water as it were – in your journey along the path marked ‘trusting’ which the Holy Spirit leads us all on.  As Spirit-born children of the Living God in the faith of our Lord Yeshua, we will all experience situations through which there is no other way except via that path.  Especially through those valleys of the shadow of suffering. The following therefore are but brief pointers on some ‘gems’ our Shunammite’s sister leaves to us from her experience and a few little treasures gleaned through my own.  May the Lord add to His collections of gems being worked out for you, in the course set out for you in the race of faith.

What you know – and how – is important.

It may indeed be that Elisha’s reputation as God’s man had proceeded him, however I suggest to you that what she personally observed during times Elisha stayed in her home helped cement his repute in her mind.   It is not unreasonable to suppose that this was where the seeds of that which enabled her to state so emphatically, “it is well” were sown.  In the mercy of God, Elisha coming to lodge in her home so often was part of the forming of trust in this man of God which, even after her traumatic loss, enabled her to bear up under that tragedy.  The only way something like that can be made sense of is in and through living knowledge of the one true God.

Taking the view that Elisha the man of God was God’s representative, vessel, spokesman to Israel in his day, he points to God, that trust in faith may be rooted in Him.  We know for sure that it was not in himself to help her – remember his master before him, Elijah, was ‘..a man with a nature like ours’ (James 5:17), so the same must be true for Elisha.  What she knew about Elisha was important. It could not have been through blind faith – solely based on what she had heard of him through others, but also what she came to know of him personally.  This knowing was not mere intellectual reasoning and head knowledge – it was true knowledge, beyond the senses and intellectual conclusions.  A knowing.

This being so, in the same manner, we have been given access to God through faith in His Son, Yeshua the Messiah that we might know Him. In Him and through Him, by the Holy Spirit, we are being grown in this living knowledge – knowing of God – and the more we grow to know Him, the deeper our trust in Him is becoming.  It is a living work of the Holy Spirit continuing in us while here in our lives on Earth (consider e.g. 2 Corinthians 3:18).   The Scripture teaches us that there are things in God and of God we are enabled to realise, to lay hold of, through the knowledge of Him.  2 Peter 1:2-4, for example, teaches this:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,  as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (underline added for emphasis).

Moreover, we have direct assurances from our heavenly Father throughout the Scriptures, that in Lord Yeshua, “it is well”.  Consider; ponder; meditate; think through that which is set out at Romans 8:8-39 for example:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.  Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly wating for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows that the mind of the Spirit is, because He make intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The word of God stands true and powerful through any trouble, any trial, any trauma – even the death of a dearly beloved one.  As it is written, ‘the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever’ (Isaiah 40:8/1 Peter 1:24-25).  It is important we know this truth too of our great and awesome God.

A “Bridge” From Head-Knowledge To Living Heart Knowledge.

I cannot be the only person who has ever thought, in response to such statements as above, ‘Great – but how do I trust God?’  ‘How do I experience trust in ‘the eye of the storm’ of this pain?’  ‘What does it mean to trust the Lord when everything looks so bad?’  ‘What about when I come against death – especially a death from which there is no come back, even in the next life – when what you hoped in God for will now never come to pass?’  ‘What does ‘trust’ even look like and when will I recognise that I’m truly trusting in God?’  Praise God for His patient teachings and “trainings” along the way, which leads us to answers in ever deepening degrees to these legitimate questions.

“Training” along the way.

Does the Lord God want us to know and believe that whatever that “it” is, it is well?  Yes, yes and yes! He teaches us this through His many mercies, kindness and goodness shown to us in His love. We can see this so clearly even from the few Scriptures shared above. For any who will seek Him in truth, and especially for those who are His, trusting and obeying Lord Yeshua, God tells us so repeatedly throughout His word.  One example which readily comes  to mind just now is Jeremiah 17:7-8.

‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD,
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.’

As in most things in life, not much else teaches you as deeply as when the matter at hand is tested.  Some people know this as “the stress test”.  You may be familiar with sayings such as, for example,  ‘strength untried is no real strength at all’ – i.e. strength is revealed most clearly when tested. We will never really know we have faith in and towards Almighty God our Heavenly Father as deeply as when that faith is tested. Over the course of our walk in the Lord, we can observe that this is so.  At times this has been in small ways – small matters such as biting your tongue in obedience to the Lord when you really want to give someone a much-deserved blast of it. Or perhaps in bigger ways such as continually choosing to walk in God’s love towards someone who crushes you inwardly but whom God has called you to walk in love towards.  Perhaps as this Shunammite woman, trusting in God in the face of death but, unlike her, not seeing life restored in this life – or even, without hope in the situation of a later heavenly reunion.

There are times when we ought reasonably to consider a trial, a difficulty even those relatively minor annoyances and irritations an opportunity to learn deeper trust in God, waiting patiently for God, bringing the matter to God, seeking His word for counsel.  Such “lessons” through the hands of God, if we will wait upon God, can become “a lesson well learned” and transformed into habitual practice/conduct, in growing us in the grace of God.  How will we recognise this is so?  Our heart attitude in our conduct, inside and out, weighed upon the many examples in the word of God will reveal to our spirit whether we are really trusting in God – or not. And if not, the Holy Spirit leading us into all truth in the Holy Scriptures will help us out with that too, in pointing us to the only One who can help us.

‘It’s Not Well!’ ‘It’s Not Okay’ – The Screech Of The Flesh!

 So, let’s deal with those times when everything screams – and then some – that it is not well, this [fill in the blank] is not well.  If there is anyone who cruises through this life, with all the hardships that comes with it, without ever having passed through such times (even the briefest of moments)  – please, contact me IMMEDIATELY and tell me, tell us all, how! For the rest of us, how do we get from “those moments” when we forget Whose we are and are overcome by the evil, the crisis, the pain, the horror, the wickedness perpetrated against us, to that spoken of above? How can we really know, beyond the “dutiful lip service” before well-meaning fellow believers, triumphing in present “clement weather” and clearly expectant that you should confess the same – regardless of obvious acute distress? How does it become real?

As so many others who have gone before us came to know and have pointed out to us so powerfully, the answer is in two words.  Yeshua HaMashiach. Lord Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ), Lord, Saviour, Redeemer, High Priest, Advocate, King, Son of the living God and more, who loved us and gave Himself for us.

A heart that has been trained and learned to lay hold of the sovereignty of God, who gave His only begotten Son to rescue us from the penalty and power of our sin and reconciled us to Himself, will become surrendered to Him and obtain precious faith from Him and in Him.  That is the faith that does not depend on what God will do, but what He HAS done in Messiah, by which His character and nature is revealed.  It will learn from the Master Himself, that which He exemplified in Gethsemane – ‘not My will, but Yours be done.’ God in His grace, if we seek Him, will continually teach our souls precious truths of His Son Yeshua at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-44/Luke 22:39-45), Gabbatha (John 19:13, noting John 18:28-19:13) and Golgotha (John 19:17, noting John 19:14-18).  It may take time – a very long time in some cases – but it is worth it. In the course of our “training” if we will persevere and press through resistance, the Holy Spirit will cause His word to gain entrance where needed within, bringing His light which enables us to “see” Lord Yeshua through eyes of faith.  He will enable us to see ‘that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God’ and to ‘hold fast our confession’; He will enable us to see that ‘we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin’; and He will enable us to ‘come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Hebrews 4:14-16).  And when God does it, it will not be head-knowledge, nor “religio-psychobabble” nor as a sticky plaster on a broken leg!  When God works, it’s is sure and certain.  The faith which comes from God will stand (1 John 5:4). That’s how we know it’s real.

Does that mean present pain/grief/hardship will go away completely this side of Heaven? Not necessarily, but we can be sure that the heaviness of these will be lifted in God’s time and the reality of the sufficiency of God’s grace for us, in whichever form this is given, will really help.

One final point but a really important point on the above: in everything be real with God, reverently real.  Be open and honest before the Father in Heaven – we all have to learn this, one way or the other, the easy way or the hard way!

The things mentioned above are usually not worked out in an instant but through the process of time, during which, if carefully observed, much treasure can be gleaned in and from the Lord. During the course of ‘all things being worked together for good’ in times of deep, devastating, disorientating distress, it is okay to admit we are not doing okay.  Just don’t forget the “but” at the end.  In other words, it’s okay to say or feel,  “I’m not okay – but I will be”.

Consider, our Shunammite sister again. In the acutest moment of grievous distress, she does the unthinkable in normal circumstances when she finally gets to Elisha, gripping hold of the ankles of the man of God!  Under different circumstances it’s likely she would have been rebuked and Gehazi would not have been restrained from pushing her away.  However, Elisha, the man of God knew this was no ordinary moment for her – this was not just another stressful trial or difficulty but a deep  unprecedented anguish of a mother who had just lost her longed for only child.  Hear the anguish in her words to Elisha, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?’ (2 Kings 4:28).  Nevertheless, it is important for us to note that she did not remain in that moment nor allow the bitterness of her distress to overwhelm her – but rather stayed with the man of God (2 Kings 4:30), the holy man who represented the present help of God.

When we reconsider her words before – ‘it is well’ – particularly at 2 Kings 4:26, note what she could not have possibly be saying by this.  Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, was sent to meet her as she approached with the questions ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ And she answered, ‘It is well’.  She didn’t specify what was well and she certainly didn’t “confess” it was well with her son – lying dead at home!  I don’t believe that this was some delusional statement brought on by shock and grief; I don’t believe this was an attempt at “super-spirituality” – you know, making and declaring stuff you have no basis, no right, no ground and quite likely no faith to claim.  What was it?  Was it a throw away comment?  I put it to you that it was the words of one with eyes fixed firmly upon where her help lay, upon Elisha the man of God – the God of whom it is written, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1).

We do not know what it is that she saw.  We can know however that as we learn to trust in God through faith in Lord Yeshua, He enables us to see beyond the difficulties, the pain, the disappointments of this life, to the better day which God has for us and that will last for eternity (consider e.g. Ephesians 2:4-7, Revelation 21:1-7).  We will never understand all the whys and wherefores in trials unless revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Scriptures and we will never understand all of God’s ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).  We can however learn from God to trust in Him with all our heart and follow where and how He leads us, knowing that to the degree we do this, whatever comes, it is and will be well.  Our flesh need not have the last word!

Conclusion

Further hardships did come for our Shunammite sister, as we read further along in 2 Kings 8:1-6.  The Scriptures records that she went on to endure famine, possibly the loss of her husband, losing her land and property and, through the mercies of God having this restored for her and her son.  Despite the very real challenges that came with all these issues, the God of Israel, the one true God was faithful to this daughter of Abraham.  There is no reason for me to doubt that He did not continue to be. Praise be unto God, through Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Our Shunammite sister was a woman who through faith knew “it is well” and leaves us with a definite sense that this was because she believed well.  She believed in the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the one true God, the God of Israel.

In a nutshell therefore, the “legacy” of our Shunammite sister is this: through the knowledge of God,  faith hopes in Him, faith believes Him and faith acts/obeys/follows Him – faith trusts Him.  It is through this faith which comes from God that we too are being enabled to say with ever deepening certainty, with the Apostle Paul, ‘..I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that Day’ (2 Timothy 1:12).  May His grace therefore enable us to face the coming days, trusting in Him with all our hearts, not leaning on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledging Him and trusting in Him to direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).  In Lord Yeshua, it IS well.
Amen.