2 Kings 8:1-6--The Shunammite's Land Restored

2 Kings 8:1-6
English Standard Version

The Shunammite's Land Restored
8 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.”

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Elisha had given the Shunammite woman warning of the coming famine before it came and how long it would last--it would last for seven years.  So, during the time of the famine in Israel, she and her household sojourned in the land of the Philistines (they lived as long-term residents with no citizenship status).  At the designated time after the seven-year famine had ended, she returned home and appealed to the King of Israel to give her back her land (it never should have been given to anyone outside her family, but it wouldn't surprise us if Israel was not keeping the Law of the LORD in this matter).

Apparently Gehazi has been healed of his leprosy at this point because he is standing before the king of Israel telling him all the things the LORD had done through Elisha the prophet and the Shunammite woman came in just as he was talking about how the LORD had used Elisha to bring this woman's son back from the dead.

Then the king got to hear the story from the woman herself.  After hearing her story, the king appointed an official for her to take care of the matter of getting her land and everything else that was hers that was lost restored to her, along with the produce of all of her fields since the day that she left (as if she had never left).  The LORD cared for this woman who cared for Elisha, and it seems that the LORD had mercy on Gehazi too.