Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

[Diplomat]

Re: Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

gracie: I agree with you in principle but for the part that she believed Matthew 10:41 to be true. Bear in mind she would not have heard the words of Jesus. Now that you have provoked my thinking, it is quite possible that having studied the life of the prophets, Jesus made that statement recorded in Matthew because of His knowledge of the story of the Shunammite and Elisha. Very intriguing.

[Queen]

Re: Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

Originally posted by CEW:
[qb]

Originally posted by Queen:
[qb] A sub-plot in Chapter 4? or 8? [/qb]

The part about Elisha's first "failure" as recorded in Chapter 4. [/qb]

Elijah is a great example of the outcomes of being persistent in Prayer. In 1Kings 18 - he prayed that it would rain, he prayed earnestly, sitting on the earth, head between his knees and did not give up until God sent rain. As a matter of fact, Elijah sent his servant to go look for rain 5 times and each time, the servant came back with a report of no sign of rain. RAhter than being discouraged, Elijah persisted. On the 7th look the servant came back with a report that he saw rain clouds, and before any further instructions from Elijah was executed, the rain came pouring down.

Elijah's life exemplified the importance of persistence in prayer, God honors and rewards persistency...I'm thinking of the verse that says, "Men ought always to pray and not faint" i.e. not get tired and give up, persist until God acts on our behalf.

[Diplomat]

Re: Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

The rest of her story as recorded in 2 Kings 8:1-6. I think this demonstrates how God takes care of those who are faithful, regardless of circumstances.

1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
2  And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3  And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.
4  And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.
5  And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.
6  And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

[Dailybread]

Re: Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

I was having a discussion with someone a few minutes ago and another point that was brought out in this woman is that she knew where to go with her problem. Although she was questioned if all was well by the servant she had no issue with him so she said yes. She then went directly to the source and hashed out her anger at him.

Something we can learn from this is instead of going to one, two or even three people when someone has done us wrong/harm go directly to the source and mend it. She did and her son was revived. We also learn that it was not Elisha's desire to cause her this pain and when he was made aware of it he did is part in mending the problem.

[Diplomat]

Re: Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

DB: Very interesting take on it, though I do think that when she went to Elisha, she just wanted to give him a piece of her mind for deceving her, or so she thought. Now that I am thinking about it, I do not think she had any expectation that her son would have been brought back to life.

I like the additional lesson you gleaned from the story. If I am not mistaken, that is how Paul encouraged us to deal with our differences with each other.

BTW, WOTB will be back on Monday. As I am sure you can appreciate, it has been a tough week mentally and emotionally.

[Dailybread]

Re: Women Of The Bible (WOTB) - The Shunammite

Originally posted by CEW:

BTW, WOTB will be back on Monday. As I am sure you can appreciate, it has been a tough week mentally and emotionally.

Oh definitely! I just wanted to share what came to mind.