Article June 21, 1958 Issue

ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE

EILEEN DUNSTAN

The Bible story of the Shunammite woman, with all its spiritual and dramatic quality, stands out as one of the most unforgettable and beautiful of all Old Testament narratives. Here was a woman of tremendous moral courage. She also had the qualities of kindness and thoughtfulness, but her deep, unfaltering faith and unflinching courage permeated and dominated her character.

We find in the fourth chapter of II Kings an account of this woman's great need and how it was met through Elisha, the prophet. We are told of her hospitality and kindness to the prophet and also of her quick perception that he was "an holy man of God." She persuaded her husband to build a small room on their house so that the prophet could rest there as he journeyed to and from his home.

One can see, as the story unfolds, that during these short visits she must have learned much of God from Elisha. Her faith and trust in the omnipotent loving–kindness of God would have had its foundation in his teaching. For was he not, as she said, "an holy man of God"? When her little son expired in her arms, she refused to accept the suggestion that life can be extinguished, and she set forth to find "the man of God."

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"MY BROTHER'S KEEPER"
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