2 Kings 4:18-37--Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son

2 Kings 4:18-37
English Standard Version

Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son
18 When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. 19 And he said to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20 And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. 21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. 22 Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.” 23 And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.” 24 Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite. 26 Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.” 27 And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” 28 Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me?’” 29 He said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child.” 30 Then the mother of the child said, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. 31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”

32 When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. 33 So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the LORD. 34 Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. 35 Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 36 Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” 37 She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.

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Last time we saw Elisha leave the Shunammite woman with a promise of a son, and that promise was fulfilled that by that same time (spring time) the year after the promise was made, she had given birth to her firstborn son (and only child that we know of).  The text today jumps many years into the future when this child is grown up and able to work in the fields alongside his father, but not old enough to be out in the fields alone or to have his own fields to tend to.  The exact age of the child is not the issue here, only that it has been many years and they have watched him grow up and now his life is taken from him at such an early age when he is still referred to as a "child" by the text.  He was out in the field with his father and the child's head started to hurt so that he repeated it three times (a form of the superlative in Hebrew).  This is no regular headache.  The boy's father realized it was serious and had a servant carry the boy back to his mother (he's young enough to be carried and to sit/lay on his mother's lap) and she held him in her lap until noon when he died (probably for several hours).

After the boy died she put took him up to Elisha's apartment and laid him on Elisha's bed and shut the door behind him.  She then sent for servants and a donkey so that she could go out and find Elisha that very day and bring him back with her so that he might be able to raise her son from the dead.  Resurrections were rare, but not completely unheard of because we saw one in the ministry of Elijah in 1 Kings 17 when he raises the son of the Widow of Zarephath--the one who took care of him during the famine.  While these situations are different that the Widow of Zarephath was poor but was made rich when she gave what little she had and put it in the hands of the LORD and the Shunammite woman was wealthy and well-connected, these stories feel similar enough that we already have an expectation and hope reading 2 Kings 4 based off of what we've read in 1 Kings 17 (remember that the people of that day may not have known the story of 1 Kings 17 though as it happened in a Gentile area and it probably wasn't a story that they wanted to tell as it was offensive to the Jews that the LORD would take care of His prophet by the hand of a poor, Gentile woman).

The servants of the house inquired why the Shunammite woman wanted to go to Elisha today when it wasn't any of the times for feasts or festivals or ritual sacrifices.  She told them that everything was well, but that they needed to make haste and needed to drive the animals and not let them rest or slow down unless she told them to do so.  So they set out for Mount Carmel which apparently was where Elisha had been known to stay (this is also where Ahaziah went to look for Elijah in 2 Kings 1, so probably Elisha has taken over Elijah's dwelling place there).

​Elisha saw her coming and recognized her and sent his servant Gehazi to meet her along the way and ask if everything was well with her, her husband and her son.  She would not speak the truth to Gehazi--she only wanted to speak to Elisha, so she told Gehazi that "all is well."  When she got to where Elisha was on Mount Carmel, she fell at his feet and clung to them (probably weeping).  Gehazi tried to come to take her away, but Elisha stopped him saying it was obvious she was in bitter distress, and on top of that, the LORD had not told him about why she was coming, so he needed to hear it from her.

She then tells him that it is about her son.  It's not immediately clear whether he is sick or dead, but Elisha knows the he must act quickly, so he tells Gehazi to gird up his loins (tuck his garment into his belt so he can run) and to take Elisha's staff and run as fast as he can, stopping for no one, and go to the place where the Shunammite woman had laid her son on Elisha's bed.  Perhaps at this moment the LORD had revealed to Elisha what was going on, or perhaps he simply heard it in the Shunammite woman's voice.  When Gehazi got got to the boy, he was supposed to lay Elisha's staff on the boys face.  The Shunammite woman did not want Elisha to leave her, so the two of them followed behind.  As much as Elisha wanted to empower Gehazi to be his agent and work the miracle in his place, it was the LORD's purpose here to make the Shunammite woman wait so that there would be no question that the boy did not simply get better.  He had not fallen asleep to have the body heal itself and then wake back up again.  No, the Shunammite woman will see his resurrection for herself.

Elisha went up to the room where the boy had been placed on his bed and closed the door behind him.  He prayed to the LORD and he breathed his breath into the boy's lungs (I don't think we're supposed to get the idea of mouth-to-mouth necessitation here so much as the word for "breath" and "Spirit" are much the same word in Hebrew and I believe that Elijah is acting in a way to say that he wants the "breath" of the Sprit to go into this boy who was dead and make him alive--much like we see in Ezekiel with the Valley of Dry Bones).  He then stretched himself out over the child to warm him up for his body was cold from being dead for so long.  The text tells us that the child sneezed seven times before opening his eyes.

Once the boy had woken up, Elisha called for Gehazi his servant and told him to call for the Shunammite woman.  When she came to Elisha he told her, "Pick up your son."  She once again fell at the feet of Elisha though this time not in grief, but in worship (not of the prophet, but of the LORD who worked through His prophet), and the door was shut to Elisha's apartment, and we aren't going to see or hear from the Shunammite woman again until chapter 8.