As I sat by my table this afternoon, I cast my mind
to a spectacular occurrence in the Bible. There are stories of many characters
in the bible; some brave and daring people, people who exhibited unrelenting
faith, some named, many unnamed; People who made a difference in their world.
One of such is the Shunammite woman. Seriously, I can’t get her off my mind and
each time I read about her, she infuses strength into my innermost being. This
is going to be a long one but be rest assured you will enjoy it. It’s a story
about a woman and it is for women; young and old, single and married. It
teaches tenacity, courage, the benefits of benevolence and the rewards of a never-give-up
attitude. It should interest men who
would want to encourage their wives to learn from this beautiful story as well.
Besides, I am working on a project along this line and this is more like a
sneak peek into it.
Oh how I love the story of this shunammite woman.
Her character depicts that of bravery, generosity, warmness and submission. She
is a typical example of the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31. She was an
all-rounder who even though her story was summed up in only thirty (30) verses
in the scriptures, there is so much to learn from her. A woman of influence; rich, classy, strong, respectful, charming and
honourable. She had good control of her life, her mind and above all, she
feared God!
The bible in 2nd Kings 4:8-16 tells us how her
generosity led to her having a child after many years of infertility and her
husband being an old man already. The man of God would usually pass through her
house and she would always constrain him to eat bread. However she went a step
further to make a small apartment for him after obtaining permission from her
husband, such that whenever he passed by, he could sleep over (with his
servant). This gesture touched the man of God and one day he wondered and asked
what he could do for her.
2nd Kings 4: 15And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in
the door.16And 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.17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son
at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
She got the child even though she contravened a law
of Faith by her great act of unbelief. Yet mercy spoke for her.
2nd Kings 4: 18One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father,
who was working with the harvesters. 19Suddenly he cried out, “My
head hurts! My head hurts!” His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him
home to his mother.” (NLT)
Is it not interesting to note
that the woman, despite the fact that it took a while to conceive, did not fail
to teach her child good morals? Being the only child and one that was conceived
after many years of infertility, one would have imagined that she would pamper
the child immeasurably. But from what we can see from the scriptures, that the boy
often went out to help his father on the field or at least watch what he was
doing. That couldn’t have been the first time he was doing so. He was well brought up, by a strong woman,
who had good values!
All of a sudden, the boy fell
sick and his father, ordered his servant to take him home. Home to who? Home to his wife, the mother of his child. He
knew the strength of his wife as a mother, he knew her good values, he knew the
good relationship she had with the man of God and there was no need to be
jealous. He knew how prayerful and worded his wife was and he relied on the
fact that his wife would take care of the issue! This story wasn’t included in
the bible for the fun of it, for me, it is one of the most important yet subtle
lessons of the scriptures.
20When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her
knees till noon, and then died. 21And she went up
and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon
him, and went out. 22Then she called to her husband, and said,
“Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to
the man of God and come back.”23So he said, “Why are you going to him
today? It is neither the New Moon nor the
Sabbath.”
And she said, “It is well.”
Now we go to the most intriguing part of this
story. The child died after she had carried him on her laps from when he was
brought to her till noon time. She must have been praying, feeding, and mopping
his face, talking to God in her mind about this precious child, yet the child
died. What if she was not home? Her only child died. Without much ado, she laid
him on the bed of Elisha the prophet who had given her the prophecy about the
child anyway. You will recollect that the child was grown and the bible did not
specify his age, yet she still had a room for Elisha the prophet in her house.
She continued her act of hospitality many years after she had gotten the
miracle she most desired from God. She didn't stop going to church neither did
she lower her spiritual values for anything!
She laid the child and went to meet her husband.
Did you notice that she did not tell her husband that the child had died? There
was no negativity about her. No such words were going to come from her mouth.
Even if the doctors had given a medical verdict for which there was no cure,
she wasn't going to utter such pronouncement over her child. In her mind, he wasn't dead, why would she then utter negativity. Alas, she had an appointment
with destiny. She knew Him who had given her this gift and only He could bring
him back to life. She was not ready for a No! She had tasted the power of the
supernatural and around her that was going to be the order of the day! Let’s take a cue from this indefatigable and
unstoppable shunammite.
She courteously requested for a donkey from her
husband. She wasn't offended at the fact that he had sent the boy back to her,
she wasn't going to lash out at him for that reason. She didn't break down
crying before the husband or the reapers about the loss that has just befallen
her; she just needed a donkey, to honour her appointment with destiny! When the husband asked why she was going to
see the prophet since it wasn't a holy or Sabbath day (when he would usually
see people). Her response was a loaded IT IS WELL! Many of us as Christians are
known to say that phrase always but do we really mean it? In the face of the
hardest of circumstances, can we look straight into the eye of the challenge
and declare that it is well?
24Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go
forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25And
so she departed, and went to the man of Godat Mount Carmel. So it was, when the
man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the
Shunammite woman! 26Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well
with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well
with the child?’ ”And she answered, “It is well.
Against all odds, she was going
to confront the law of nature, death must be consumed! Her seed must live and
her disposition was positivity; IT IS WELL. Urgency was required for the issue
on ground. She didn’t want to risk any chance of not meeting the prophet. She
needed to act fast before the town gets to know and start to sympathise with
her.
27Now 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, and the Lord has hidden it from
me, and has not told me.”28 So she said, “Did I ask a son of my
lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”29 Then he said to
Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on
your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do
not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.”30 And
the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your
soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.
I still cannot get over the courage of this woman.
Her determination was extraordinary. She wasn't going to let go of the man of
God until her child, her seed, God’s heritage committed into her hands came
back to life. And yes she got the
result, the man of God followed her back and her son was raised from death.
32When Elisha came into the
house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. 33He went in therefore, shut the
door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. 34 And he went up and lay on the
child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on
his hands; and he stretched himself out on
the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. 35 He returned and walked back
and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on
him; then the child sneezed seven
times, and the child opened his eyes. 36And he called Gehazi and
said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to
him, he said, “Pick up your son.” 37So she went in, fell at his
feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went
out.
Her husband must have heard about the incident after Elisha
raised the child and it must have been the talk of the town. She cared less
what the odds were. No angel appeared to her when she was pregnant with the
child but she knew the child had a great destiny and she was going to do
anything to help him achieve it. After the man of God prayed over the child and
he came back to life, she went in, fell at the feet of the man of God, bowed to
the ground, picked up her son and went out with him INTO DESTINY!
What a proud mum she must have been, what a sense of fulfillment she must have had. What a day of glory it must have been in the
town. Her name was not mentioned yet she is a role model for women and mothers!
How would she have acted so boldly if she did not know God, His servant the
prophet, what the scriptures say?
Four chapters after this event, in 2nd Kings 8, she
was still reaping from her benevolent acts. There was going to be a famine in
the land and Elisha had knowledge of this by the spirit. He instructed her to
move and she did, with her family. God saved her household from famine and even
restored all she had lost during that period. She had audience with the king
too.
You can’t shun this Shunammite Dynamite!
The Pen……
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