Besides the sons of the prophets, there was a testimony of individual faith in the midst of this people who were already judged and, in fact rejected. The Shunammite woman is an example of this. This woman was rich, in contrast to the widow of the man of the sons of the prophets who was absolutely destitute; but she was a woman of faith, and all her story proves this.
She exercises hospitality towards the stranger who passed by Shunem, and at the conclusion of several visits she takes account of the character of her guest. Perhaps his conversation, and doubtless the entire behavior of the prophet causes her to acknowledge his character. She does not judge by her first impression, but waits for outward evidences to enlighten her. She has the sober good sense of faith. “Behold now,” she says to her husband, “I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually.” She had begun by constraining him to stay, and the prophet had found there an atmosphere answering to his own character. Every time he passed by, he turned in there. Their natures were drawn one to the other. “This is a holy man of God,” she says; to her heart he has not only the official character of one bearing the Word, but she acknowledges him as “holy,” as really separated to God in his practical life. For having a gift from God is not everything; to properly accredit such a gift, there must also be the moral character corresponding to it. The old prophet of Bethel (1 Kings 13) had a gift without this character. How important it is for every one of the Lord’s laborers to take heed to this. One’s gift, however outstanding it may be, remains fruitless if it is not accompanied by moral authority; it is the moral authority that reaches the consciences of the hearers more than the words that accompany it. And moreover, the bearer of the gift himself loses his persuasive energy when his conscience is not right before God. “And I hope also,” says the apostle, “that we have been manifested in your consciences” (2 Cor. 5:1111Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. (2 Corinthians 5:11)). So it was with Elisha. “I perceive that this is a holy man of God,” the Shunammite said of him.
And see how she realizes what is suitable for a man of God. Her riches might have given rise to her preparing a retreat for him furnished with every possible comfort. No, she removes herself from any thoughts of her own position, only to think of what might be suitable for a man to whom riches have no value, or who might even despise them as a snare of the enemy. What is important to her is to receive Elisha not merely in passing, but to prepare him a dwelling in her house. The more we get acquainted with Christ, along with His Word which reveals Him (and which Elisha was the bearer of), the more we will desire that He be a part of our life, and that these words be inscribed on the door of our house: “Here dwells the Word of God.” The Word is no longer a passing enjoyment for us then, or the reading of it a duty attended to on occasion, but it will be a part of our life, of our family, of ourself. In the Christian most favored with this world’s goods, true faith will always manifest itself by this outward simplicity. “Let us make, I pray thee, a small upper chamber with walls, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp stand; and it shall be when he cometh to us, he shall turn in thither.” Only a lack of intelligence and an absence of communion with the Lord will act in an opposite way. Those who are part of the family of God and who possess this world’s goods often do not think enough of the danger of offering their brethren engaged in the work of the lord more than what they need, more than what they are accustomed to. If a brother is spiritual, even relative luxury will make him ill at ease and will be an obstacle to his freely opening his heart, ready to bring his hosts something from God. If his Christian life is weak, such prosperity will be a snare for him; and allowing himself to be won over by it, he will return to the place where it is offered, no more simply for the Lord alone, but to satisfy his own desires for a well-being which is but a catering to the wants of the flesh.
The devotion and intelligence of this woman win the prophet’s heart, as they also attract the heart of Christ; so they receive their reward, too. Elisha calls the Shunammite; he has something to give her. “She stood before him,” as he himself stood before the Lord. There is beautiful harmony in the reciprocal positions of this man of God and this woman of faith. He wishes to reward her care for him, but first he tests her to see whether their two hearts are beating together. “Wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?” Does she have a desire to increase her resources in the world? She refuses. We shall see later that these things were added to her at a time of need when they were no longer a snare to her. Here, she now answers, “I dwell among mine own people.” Beautiful answer, worthy of a pious woman! She recognized this nation over which judgment is already suspended as her people, and she does not disassociate herself from it. She sees in it that which God alone can distinguish, that which faith alone can realize in it. As long as God still recognizes something in it for Himself, this people is His people, and she has no other desire than to be part of it. In the midst of the ruin she cleaves to the people of God, just as Elijah with his altar of twelve stones when the twelve tribes no longer existed as an entity. She does not need anything else; she is satisfied with the rest, the fellowship, and the peace which this dwelling affords her amidst the existing disorder.
In our day today true faith does not differ from that of the Shunammite; she is not seeking the amelioration of a state of things far from the thoughts of God, but she sees what God has established in His counsels. While being conscious of the ruin of the Church as God’s house and people here below, she lives in peace, holding to that which the Lord has established from the beginning, to this church, built upon the resurrected Christ; she views the Church with the Lord’s thoughts and affections, even as He will present her one day in glory. Faith does not seek to rebuild ruins and say, “I dwell among mine own people,” as though all were in order, because to faith God’s thoughts concerning his people are reality.
Nevertheless, the Shunammite’s heart nurtures a secret desire, a great desire. So lofty, so unattainable a desire, she had never revealed to anyone; but the prophet’s servant was able to discern that she lacked something with which her happiness would forever remain incomplete. “She has no son, and her husband is old.” We continually find this barrenness, modified according to the individual circumstances, among the pious women of Israel, and we have spoken of this more than once in the course of these meditations. For their faithful hearts this was the greatest trial possible. Their holy ambition was, not merely to have posterity, but to be introduced by childbearing, whether in a direct or indirect way, to the person or lineage of the Messiah. To these women a son was the supreme good. The Shunammite did not express this need herself, accepting the circumstances in which God’s providence had placed her; only the emptiness was there, deeply felt in her heart.
It is the same for us Christians. Every spiritual blessing cannot suffice us if we have not found an object in the personal possession of Christ. To have Him, to know Him, to love Him, to hold Him in our arms like Simeon, to rest upon His bosom like the beloved disciple, to sit at His feet like Mary, to contemplate His glory like the disciples on the holy mountain, to have interest in the smallest detail of His circumstances because He has ravished our hearts, to behold His divine beauty like Moses’ parents did in their son —all this and much more constitutes the inestimable happiness of those who belong to Him. The Lord through Elisha grants a son to this woman just as the Holy Spirit through the Word brings us Jesus and makes Him to abide in us-Christ, the hope of glory.
Elisha calls the Shunammite a second time. The prophet’s first question had been a test of her faith, and the test had shown that this woman was not pursuing the advantages this world could offer her any more than was her guest. She had learned in the school of the holy men of God what the true interests of a witness in the midst of the ruin of Israel were. He speaks the same words to her that the angel of the Lord had in former days announced as to Sarah: “At this appointed time, thy term is come, thou shalt embrace a son.” (cf. Gen. 18:1010And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. (Genesis 18:10)) Ah! This child is also a promised son, of the same lineage as Isaac, who himself was a type of the true seed, of Christ! How her heart thrilled at this word! “No, my lord, man of God, do not lie to thy handmaid.” It is true then! Her joy is complete. She has found in this gift the satisfaction of all her desires.
Alas, a few hours are enough to occasion the loss of this joy; at harvest time all the Shunammite’s hopes vanish. The child dies at noon. So it was with the disciples hopes in the time of Jesus. “But we had hoped,” said the two Emmaus disciples, “that He was the one who is about to redeem Israel.”
The man of God is this woman’s only resource. She lays the child there where the bearer of the Word had lain. She had received the child from him; dead, she confided the child to him. It is an act of faith. Had the disciples of whom we have just spoken trusted in the Scriptures, they would not have needed the Lord to open these to themselves in order to know that they announced the very events that had just taken place before their eyes.
The Shunammite calls her husband, asking him for an ass and a servant. What anguish filled her poor heart! But she shows forth the same faith which had characterized her in receiving the prophet and then in laying hold of the hope set before her. Death had come in, had seemed to overthrow everything, but the Shunammite’s faith and hope remain the same in the midst of that which seemed to destroy them. “It is well,” she says, when death was before her soul. What a word! Her son is dead, but it is well! Why? Because she, this worthy daughter of Abraham, is sustained by that same hope as he whose faith reckoned that God was able to raise up Isaac from among the dead. God who had given her this child and who had taken him back through death, could restore him in resurrection. She expects no less of the man of God, but how she hastens! “Drive and go forward; slack not the riding for me,” she bids her servant. Having lost the object of her heart, she can know no rest until she had recovered it. Mary of Magdala affords us a similar example. Ignorant and doubtless but little enlightened, she desires to have Jesus, cost what it may: “Tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away”: and at this very moment, she finds Him risen.
Any stopping is critical; a moment lost may compromise everything; this woman can find no rest until she has “caught” the man of God “by the feet.” The Lord had not revealed the child’s sickness to the prophet, and this for more than one reason. If he would have known the danger, he would have run there, and the child would not have died. Thus his dependence upon God would have been put to the test. The Lord Himself knew of the death of Lazarus, for God knows all things, but for the same reason, as a dependent Man, He did not hasten to Bethany, for He has no word from His Father to do so. And then, if Elisha had known the danger, the Shunammite would not “have seen the glory of God” who raises the dead. A third reason for hiding this event from the prophet was that the Shunammite’s faith might thoroughly be put to the test. There would not have been opportunity for her to be manifested completely even if the man sent by God had presented himself at her home at the very moment her son had expired; in this way her faith had its perfect work. She said, “Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, do not deceive me?” She counts upon Him whose promises are without repentance and dependent solely upon the grace of Him who gives them when they are not sought for, so that absolutely nothing in them might come from her. She believes that even if men are deceivers, God does not deceive. Had Elisha been a man like other men, he might have been mistaken, making a promise without fulfilling it; but he represented God, and a man of God could not act thus. She has but one resource then—the faithfulness of her lord—and she does naught else, knows no other way than to address herself to him. She is truly a woman who does but “one thing.” No doubt her soul is grieved within her, but she has confidence in the only resource open to her, and also finds full sympathy in the heart of the one to whom she addresses herself.
Here her faith is tested anew. Elisha says to Gehazi, “Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again; and lay my staff upon the face of the lad.” Will the Shunammite accept as remedy for her distress that which is the emblem of the prophet’s walk borne by one other than himself? No, her faith accepts no intermediate agent, for it is not Gehazi who will save or who can save. She has learned in the prophet’s school that the way to obtain blessing is to abide in constant relationship with the One who is its source. “As Jehovah liveth,” she says, “and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” These were the very words of Elisha to Elijah. How could the man of God resist this faith which took himself for its model? How could he not go along? No, “he rose up and followed her.” Gehazi goes before them, but the staff of the prophet is not enough to bring the child back to life. To have power in one’s hands is not everything: the disciples who were with the Lord had received from Him “power and authority over all demons, and to heal diseases”(Luke 9:11Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. (Luke 9:1)), but when a demon-possessed boy needed to be healed, they could not heal him. The power to do that depended upon their personal communion. Had they had faith like a grain of mustard seed, they would have moved mountains; but these spirits “can go out by nothing but by prayer and fasting.” A state of personal dependence and of separation from evil was needful in order to use the power given them. Gehazi lacked this condition of heart, as we shall see later.
Meanwhile, the child was lying upon the prophet’s bed, the door closed upon him. Elisha enters and closes the door upon the two of them. He desires to identify himself completely with the child in death. And what grief, what anguish, what labor of soul! He has no rest until he has finished his work, taking the place of the dead child in order to communicate life to him. The child opens his eyes to the light.
Besides the many precious instructions that this scene affords us, I do not doubt that we find in type here the death and resurrection of Israel. At the time of the need, the godly and faithful among the people, who like the Shunammite, regard their people as the child of the sure promises of God, will not lose hope even when Israel is dead, morally speaking; their faith is active with regard to Israel. Their faith will realize that only the Spirit of God can raise up Israel again, and will identify its condition with the cross and the grave where the Messiah, the Savior of the people, had suffered death and been laid in burial for it. Their faith seeks the Lord upon Mount Carmel, where He is found rejoicing in the heavenly sphere of His kingdom before He introduces its earthly part. Through the Spirit they then learn and realize that the labor of Christ’s soul had in view the resurrection of His people, and they receive at His hand, as in Ezekiel 37, a new people, the fruit of this labor, born of the Holy Spirit. They will have realized death at the time of the labors of harvest; these labors will not be interrupted, and Israel will revive before the wheat is gathered in the granary. The remnant at last will obtain all that their heart has desired. So it is that through these scenes filled with practical instruction for our souls, the whole cycle of God’s thoughts concerning His ancient people will be unrolled.
“And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. And he called her; and she came to him. And he said, Take up thy son. And she came and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; and she took up her son, and went out” (2 Kings 4:36-3736And 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. 37Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out. (2 Kings 4:36‑37)).
“Call her” —How the Shunammite must have been moved at this new call! The first time (2 Kings 4:1212And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. (2 Kings 4:12)) the prophet had called her to prove the precious faith that she possessed; the second time (2 Kings 4:1515And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. (2 Kings 4:15)) to give her the child of promise, an object for her heart. The third time —what would he give her when mourning was filling her soul? Ah! She does not doubt; he would give her her son, clothed in an entirely new character: her resurrected son. Oh, joy that cannot be expressed in words! Her heart is too full to express itself; she bows herself silently; she worships!
Dear Christian readers, have you made these experiences? Have you first of all learned to know Christ as having passed through death for you, as having borne all its anguish? surely the joy that you have known in this deliverance has been great, but have you remained there? Have you found yourself before a risen Christ? If this has not been so, you still have but the half of Christianity, a half-joy, half an object for your faith. If on the other hand you have come to know Him in this character, you may, like the Shunammite, bow down, take your son, and go out. Your portion is complete, there is nothing remaining for you but to enter into the possession of your inheritance with Him, and this what we will later find prefigured in the last scene of this woman’s history.