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The narrative in 2 Kings 4:8-37 is about "the great things that Elisha has done (see also 2 Kings 8:4). Specifically, Elisha had responsibilities toward an anonymous woman of Shunem who - as Elisha predicted - had given birth to a son. When the son died, Elisha restored him to life (2 Kings 8:5). In the past, scholars have understood 2 Kings 4:8-37 as celebrating Elisha, but since the early 1990s, a number of scholars have focused on the woman of Shunem while interpreting the narrative (a) as praising her as well as praising Elisha and (b) as exhibiting the dynamic of the politics of gender and power. This approach has also led to criticism of Elisha and to the reduction of his status as a prophet.
This recent interpretation is a welcome development and a needed correction, but in their enthusiasm to do justice to the Shunammite woman, some scholars have overinterpreted the text and have given a questionable picture of her and Elisha. The following exposition is an effort to see clearly the portrait drawn by 2 Kings 4:8-37 and 2 Kings 8:1-6 and to consider die contributions the Shunammite would make to contemporary society.
How Elisha Became a Regular Guest of a Woman in Shunem (2 Kings 4:8-10)
In this narrative, Elisha is pictured as an itinerant prophet who regularly passed through Shunem, "the tell near the village of Sulem,"1 at the foot of the hill of Moreh on the northeastern edge of the Jezreel valley. Although the purpose of Elisha's travels is not mentioned, most likely he was about the business of overseeing communities of the "Sons of the Prophets," such as those at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho (2 Kings 2:1- 5).2 The goal of Elisha's travels from his home at Abelmeholeh (1 Kings 19:16) or Samaria (2 Kings 5:9) seems to have been Mt. Carmel, the site of Elijah's great victory over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). The existence of a company of prophets at Mt. Carmel is attested in 2 Kings 2:25, and it was at Mt. Carmel that Elisha was in residence to receive anyone desiring to consult a prophet (2 Kings 4:22-23).
Silently observing the prophet during his journeys through Shunem, "one day"3 an...