Chapter 7 has just presented truths to us which may be applied in the gospel; the verses now before our eyes bring us, together with the Shunammite, back to the ground of the faithful in Israel. It is necessary that we use the types of Scripture soberly in order to avoid forcing their interpretation, but on the other hand, it must not be forgotten that we have here prophetic writings, which only in part are historical in bearing, revealing to us through types, principles as to the events in the end times.
Here we find again, as in this entire history, the character of grace of the prophet Elisha. As in 2 Kings 7, he, a true minister of the good news for all, announced the good news to all the people without respect of persons, so here he is occupied in grace with a faithful remnant, the Shunammite, to whom his heart was attached by so many bonds according to God. This upright woman had been the object of the special care of God who preserved her at a time when His judgment fell upon all the land. The prophet knew of the years of famine beforehand and had informed the Shunammite, just as he had known ahead of time the end of the famine at Samaria and had announced it to all the people, small and great. He communicates his secret to this soul, chosen by him, and whom together with her house he wanted to shelter. The preceding chapter and this one mention two famines. The first, that at Samaria, was local and partial; it was a judgment of God, but the enemy served Him as instrument to produce it. The second which now occupies us, much more severe, was a direct judgment of God extending to all the land of Israel. These same facts are seen in the Revelation, where the judgments at first have a providential character, and then acquire an extreme intensity when they are applied directly by the Lord.
“Rise up,” says the prophet to the Shunammite, “and go, thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn.” This woman, whose joy was to dwell in the midst of her people, must abandon her goods and her inheritance and flee before imminent judgment, accepting the first shelter that might present itself. A complete cycle, a week of years, was assigned to her as a time of refuge among strangers. It was not a matter for her of remaining, like Abraham, in Canaan, in the midst of the famine, nor like Isaac of making a short sojourn in Philistia, for neither of these patriarchs was to go down to Egypt. No, she must sojourn where she could, the only condition being that it be not in Canaan. Judgment was to reach to all the land of Canaan, just as to all Egypt in the time of Joseph; only for Canaan now, there was no providential provision to remedy the evil. The Shunammite must remain outside the place of this tribulation which was to come upon all Israel. This is in figure the history of the faithful remnant at the time of the end, whereas the Church, in contrast to the remnant, will be kept from the hour of trial.
We may affirm that at that time the Shunammite was a widow. During her husband’s lifetime the prophet could never have said to her, “Thou and thy household.” She then had lost her protector; she is obliged to leave her goods, once considerable, and these pass into the hands of strangers. Fallen into want, she departs to be nourished by the Lord in whatever refuge she might be able to reach. But she takes with her her son whom the prophet had raised from the dead.
All these details prefigure the history of the remnant of Israel at the time of the end. They shall have experienced the power of resurrection before fleeing far from their land. They will be the true Israel according to the counsels of God, the woman of the Revelation who gives birth to a male child, and who flees to the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God where she is fed (Rev. 12). This people’s portion will be exactly like that of the Shunammite; then they will be brought back, like her, into their own portion at the end of days when God’s judgments upon the land of Israel shall have come to an end.
It is within these parameters that we may lay hold of the typical meaning of our account. That which is not a part of the type is that the day comes when Jehoram takes an interest in the miracles of Elisha. His conscience is in no way engaged. He had proven this above measure throughout all his career, but one may be very far from God while yet showing an interest in Him — both in Him personally, and in His work. This is even a prominent characteristic of the last times. Never have people inquired into miracles and into the Word of God more than in our days. These things are of great interest even to hearts where they are not mingled with faith. We may therefore understand that the king desired to inform himself about the main facts concerning the prophet. Gehazi, the unfaithful servant, to whom Naaman’s leprosy was attached forever, this Gehazi was now at the king’s court. A leper, under God’s judgment, has the ear of the unbelieving monarch! Formerly, sharing the prophet’s poverty, he had been his blessed intermediary to the faithful, and the intermediary of these faithful in Israel to Elisha. He is still able to recount to the world, whose servant he had become, miracles of the past, being well enough instructed in these things to present them truthfully, but he can go no further.
A similar position can easily be found today in Christendom. People who, like Gehazi, prefer the advantages that the world offers them, may be accredited to expound the things of God. They speak the truth, but without the power to apply it to consciences; their own conscience being bad, they cannot reach the consciences of others. There were, no doubt, subjects that a Gehazi would avoid treating of, subjects necessarily prohibited him. How could he speak of Naaman’s healing when he himself was covered with leprosy? and what indiscrete questions might his account have awakened in the king’s mind? Nevertheless, God uses all — the king’s curiosity, the presence of Gehazi at his court—to accomplish His plans of grace toward His beloved ones. The woman appears with her son at the very moment they are speaking of her. Who is it who brings her to this point? God Himself, for she must receive at the mouth of an eyewitness the testimony of her identity. Gehazi’s role finishes there. The king has no more need of him; “And the king asked the woman, and she told him” (2 Kings 8:6). God, who had brought her there, also touches the king’s heart. He restores everything to her who had lost everything.
With her the prophetic history ends. Israel’s judgment being exhausted, she and her house fully enter into their portion at the end of days. The king says, “Restore all that was hers, and all the revenue of the land since the day that she left the country even until now” “Even until now!” The days of tribulation are past for the faithful remnant who again find all the blessings of which they had been deprived during their exodus among the nations, along with all the lost interest, with nothing wanting.