A Family's Hospitality Is Rewarded
The kindly spirit that enabled Elisha to exert a powerful influence over many in Israel is revealed in the story of his friendly relations with a family at Shunem. In his journeyings to and fro, “one day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food.” 2 Kings 4:8, RSV. The mistress of the house perceived that Elisha was a “holy man of God,” and she said to her husband, “Let us make a little chamber ... on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.” To this retreat Elisha often came. Nor was God unmindful of the woman's kindness. Her home had been childless, and now the Lord rewarded her hospitality by the gift of a son.SS 128.2
Years passed. The child was old enough to be out in the field with the reapers. One day he was stricken by the heat, “and he said unto his father, My head, my head.” A lad carried the child to his mother, “and when he had ... brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.”SS 128.3
In her distress, the woman determined to go to Elisha for help. Accompanied by her servant, she set forth immediately. “When the man of God saw her afar off, ... he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: run now ... to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?” But not till she reached Elisha did the stricken mother reveal the cause of her sorrow. Upon hearing of her loss, Elisha told Gehazi: “Take my staff in thine hand, and go ... and lay my staff upon the face of the child.”SS 128.4
But the mother would not be satisfied till Elisha himself came with her. “I will not leave thee,” she declared. So “he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.”SS 129.1
When they reached the house, Elisha went into the room where the dead child lay, “and shut the door upon the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again, and walked once to and fro in the house, and went up, and stretched himself upon him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.” RSV. So was the faith of this woman rewarded. Christ, the great Life-giver, restored her son to her.SS 129.2
In like manner will His faithful ones be rewarded when, at His coming, the grave is robbed of the victory it has claimed. Then will He restore to His servants the children that have been taken from them by death.SS 129.3
Jesus comforts our sorrow for the dead with a message of infinite hope: “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, ... and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.SS 129.4
In his ministry Elisha combined the work of healing with teaching. Throughout his long and effective labors, Elisha fostered the educational work of the schools of the prophets. His instruction to the earnest groups of young men were confirmed by the deep movings of the Holy Spirit.SS 130.1