A King Acts on a Widow S Behalf

July 22 • BIBLE STUDY GUIDE 8 A King Acts on a Widow’s Behalf Bible Background • 2 KINGS 4:1-37; 8:1-6 Printed Text • 2 KINGS 8:1-6 | Devotional Reading • LUKE 15:11-24

Aim for Change

By the end of the lesson, we will: IDENTIFY scriptural support that justice can restore people and communities; FEEL blessed and appreciate the wonderful things we have seen accomplished by God’s power; and PRAISE God for guiding us to pursue justice when we have been deprived of it.

In Focus

I wished I had not promised Grandma that I would go to church with her. Doesn’t she realize it’s time for me to feed my habit? But here I am because Grandma is the only one in my family who treats me like I’m someone. I know my grandma loves me because she cooks for me and even gives me money to support my habit. I have even heard Grandma praying for me, something like, “Save my grandbaby; put her back together again.”

What my grandma does not realize is that it is too late for me. Not even God can put me back together. Grandma does not know the things I have done. If the preacher knew, he would have me escorted out of the church. Plus, I’m not sure if God is still listening to me. But that preacher is still talking about how God can put you back together again. Maybe I should listen to what he is saying. Maybe if I ask God myself to restore me, He will. I sure am tired of living like this. Who knows? Maybe if I go back to God, God will help me.

Renewal begins by asking for God’s help to put back together what needs to be restored. In today’s lesson, we see how the Shunammite woman sought to have her house and land restored. God abundantly restored more than what the woman asked for.

Keep in Mind

“And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now” (2 Kings 8:6).

Focal Verses KJV 2 Kings 8:1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

3 And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.

4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

NLT 2 Kings 8:1 Elisha had told the woman whose son he had brought back to life, “Take your family and move to some other place, for the LORD has called for a famine on Israel that will last for seven years.”

2 So the woman did as the man of God instructed. She took her family and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

3 After the famine ended she returned to the land of Israel, and she went to see the king about getting back her house and land.

4 As she came in, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. The king had just said, “Tell me some stories about the great things Elisha has done.”

5 And Gehazi was telling the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy back to life. At that very moment, the mother of the boy walked in to make her appeal to the king. “Look, my lord!” Gehazi exclaimed. “Here is the woman now, and this is her son—the very one Elisha brought back to life!”

6 “Is this true?” the king asked her. And she told him that it was. So he directed one of his officials to see to it that everything she had lost was restored to her, including the value of any crops that had been harvested during her absence.

The People, Places, and Times Famine. A famine is an extreme shortage of food that God oftentimes used on the Israelites in response to their continued disobedience. One of the common forms of famine was a drought, which is the excessive dryness of the land. Famines and droughts are recorded throughout the Bible during the time of Abraham (Genesis 12:10), Isaac (Genesis 26:1), Joseph (Genesis 41:27), the Judges (Ruth 1:1), and the Israelites in the days of David (2 Samuel 21:1), Elijah (1 Kings 18:2), Elisha (2 Kings 4:38), Haggai (Haggai 1:11), and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:3). Some famines were predicted by prophets, as seen in 2 Kings 8:1 when Elisha tells the Shunammite woman to take her household and leave the land, because the Lord has called for a famine that will last seven years. Famines appeared also as a natural cause. Joel 1:2-4 states, “Hear this you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten” (NKJV).

Wind, hail, and mildew were other ways that famine appeared. Warfare as experienced by the Israelites was another example of famines. “Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land” (2 Kings 25:1-3, NKJV). Either because of disobedience to God or natural causes or war, families frequently migrated from one place to another seeking food and water because of the frequent famines on the land.

Background

The woman mentioned in 2 Kings 8 is the same Shunammite woman who earlier identified Elisha as a holy man and persuaded him to eat. The Bible records her as a woman of wealth (2 Kings 4:8) who said to her husband, “‘Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there’” (2 Kings 4:9-10, NKJV).

The Shunammite woman already has a relationship with Elisha from when he restored her son back to life (2 Kings 4:34-35). So it is not unusual for the Shunammite woman to be obedient to Elisha when he told her, “‘Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine’” (2 Kings 8:1, NKJV).

At-A-Glance

1. The Process of Seeking Restoration (2 Kings 8:3-4)

2. The Fulfillment of Restoration (vv. 5-6)

In Depth

1. The Process of Seeking Restoration (2 Kings 8:3-4) “It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land” (2 Kings 8:3, NKJV). The beginning of restoration is obedience to the will of God and obedience to the leaders God sends for us. The people of God have a history just as we do today of obeying God, disobeying God, following false teachings, worshiping false gods, only to eventually return back to God. Because of God’s continuous faithfulness for us, God provides leaders to help us to obey God’s will in our lives. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:11-13a, NKJV).

The Shunammite woman accepted Elisha as a holy man because of the relationship she had built with him. With our verbal confession of faith in Jesus Christ and belief in our heart of His resurrection, we begin to participate in a life of faith, which is our faith walk. Our faith walk is based on a life of obedience to God’s purpose for our lives. Our faith walk matures as we actively begin a prayer life and daily renewal of our minds from reading the Word of God. As our faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, grows, we can learn to accept and desire restoration.

After the famine, which lasted seven years, the Shunammite woman returns to her land to discover that her property has been taken. There is no recording of how her property was taken. Despite no record of Elisha’s presence or of Elisha directing the woman to go to the king to petition for her property, the woman goes to the king to appeal to him to have her property restored to her.

The king says to Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, “‘Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done’” (2 Kings 8:4, NKJV). As Gehazi tells the king how Elisha restored the woman’s son from the dead to life, the woman appears to ask the king for her property.

2. The Fulfillment of Restoration (vv. 5-6)

Gehazi says, “‘My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life’” (2 Kings 8:5, NKJV). After the king asks the woman if she is indeed that woman whose son was restored back to life by Elisha, the king appoints a certain man and says, “‘Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now’” (2 Kings 8:6, NKJV).

Restoration is based on faith and trust. For the believer, trust involves faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, trusting that Jesus Christ can and will renew us. This point is illustrated by the woman with an issue of blood: “Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well’” (Mark 5:25-28, NKJV).

Therefore, faith is believing. The Shunammite woman, because of her faith in Elisha, believed the king would give back her land. All she had to do was ask. Jesus Christ assures those who believe in Him, “‘If you have faith and do not doubt, . . . whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive’” (Matthew 21:21-22, NJKV). Faith in Jesus Christ is the desire to become whole. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away” (2 Corinithians 5:17, NKJV).

Search the Scriptures

1. Why did the woman go to the king (2 Kings 8:3)?

2. How did the king know of the woman (v. 5)?

Discuss the Meaning

While God offers restoration and demonstrates examples in the Bible of how He does restore, why do so many Christians seek to be renewed elsewhere?

Lesson in Our Society

For many years, the Black community has been under siege: Black on Black crime is destroying our nuclear family unit; a large percentage of our children are being raised in single parent homes; we as a people seem to have lost hope as evidenced by those who self-medicate and engage in substance abuse. Yet Jesus Christ is still saying, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29, NKJV). We need to turn to God rather than give in to desperation.

Make It Happen

Many people are seeking to be restored. The obstacle they encounter is they are unable to forgive themselves for actions they have committed. Instead of seeking help, they find themselves drawn to self-destructive behavior. They have lost their hope in God, and they are no longer able to trust God. As believers in God, our challenge must show them the love of God. We are to show them it is God who “blots out your transgressions. . . and . . . will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25, NKJV). It is God who can and does restore you. God used Elisha to restore the woman’s son from death to life. God will also restore us. “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds, says the LORD” (Jeremiah 30:17, NKJV).

Follow the Spirit

What God wants me to do:

Remember Your Thoughts

Special insights I have learned:

More Light on the Text

2 Kings 8:1-6

Introduction The author of 2 Kings focuses on the history of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. One of the main prophetic characters in the early part of the book was Elisha, the servant of Elijah, and he was endowed with a “double portion” of His spirit (see 2 Kings 2:8-9). Some suggest that Elisha’s ministry continued where Elijah’s left off, but with a greater anointing and effect, especially during the apostasy that was prevalent in Israel. Elisha’s ministry seems to have centered on Gilgal and Shunem. The Gilgal mentioned in the earlier part of 2 Kings indicates that this was in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Bethel. Shunem was a town in the territory of Issachar near Jezreel on the slopes of Mount Moriah, overlooking the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley.

It was here that Elisha had a divine contact with the Shunammite woman, a woman of great wealth and social prominence. The prophet, and his servant Gehazi, stayed in her home and, through the power of God, caused the woman to conceive a child, though her husband was old.

1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

The text says that Elisha warned the Shunammite woman, “Leave immediately with your family and go sojourn somewhere else; for the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine upon the land, and it has already begun” (v. 1, The Jewish Study Bible).

In Hebrew, the phrase “hath called” is qara (kaw-RAW) and it has the idea of giving a specific message for a particular purpose. Thus, God made it clear through the prophet that He would pronounce a curse in the form of a famine on the land, because of Israel’s constant disobedience of the Mosaic covenant.

Famines happened as a matter of course in the ancient Near East (see Genesis 47:13-20; 1 Kings 17:1-13; 2 Kings 4:38), and sometimes people migrated to escape them (see Genesis 12:10; 26:1). A woman of such influence and wealth as the one in 2 Kings 8 and 9 could have survived the famine by selling her olive oil, for instance; Elisha suggested this in 2 Kings 4:1-4. Perhaps the real reason behind the warning from Elisha for her to leave was the impending bloodbath that Jehu was to bring upon the land (see 2 Kings 9:1-37). However, John MacArthur and others hint that 2 Kings 8:1-6 is out of chronological order from the preceding events of the Syrian famine and occurred earlier in the reign of King Jehoram of Israel, before the events of 2 Kings 5:1-7:20 (MacArthur Study Bible, 518-519).

2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

How important it is for us to heed God’s Word. The woman did just as Elisha commanded, and left Shunem. She settled for seven years in the “land of the Philistines,” an area located southwest of Israel along the Mediterranean Sea coastal plain between the Jarkon River in the North and the Besor Brook in the South. Wayne Meeks and John MacArthur point to the fact that the famine was not as widespread as one might think, specifically because God had called for it to be a localized punishment upon His people (The Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV, 571; MacArthur Study Bible, 519). 3 And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.

The author says that once the seven-year famine ended, the woman returned “from the land of the ‘Philistines’” (Heb. Pelishtiy, puh-lish-TEE) “and went to lodge a claim with the king for her house and lands” (v. 3, Old Testament of the Jewish Bible).

While the woman was away, it appeared that her land and home were confiscated, although the specific cause of the seizure is unclear. MacArthur says that because the woman was “only a resident alien in a foreign land,” her return within the seven-year time frame may have helped her reclaim legal right to her property (519; see also Exodus 21:2; 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:1-7; Deuteronomy 15:1-6). Meeks thinks that her property may have been taken by the kingdom, or a neighbor who expanded his borders to include her land (571).

The text is clear that, as soon as the seven years ended, the woman returned to her homeland and went directly to the king to make a legal appeal to support her ownership claim of her land, property, and home—what rightfully belonged to her.

4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. 5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

The Bible says that Gehazi was Elisha’s personal servant, in much the same manner that Elisha served Elijah, and Joshua served Moses. The Hebrew word for “servant” is `ebed (EH-bed), and part of its meaning includes “minister,” a courtier of the king, ambassador, and a worshiper of God. Gehazi knew well of Elisha’s ministry, especially with the Shunammite woman. He was there when the woman invited them to her home, when Elisha prophesied that she would receive a son, and when the prophet raised the son from death. Gehazi was also in the presence of Elisha when he healed Naaman of leprosy. Because of Gehazi’s greed and lack of ability to believe that God could provide for them, the prophet pronounced leprosy on him (see 2 Kings 5:20-27).

The text does not say how, as a leper, Gehazi was able to stand before the king, when the law specifically states that a leper must not come in contact with others because of his uncleanness (see Leviticus 13-14). Some commentators advocate that at the time of this event, Elisha was already dead and had become a national legend among the people, and the king was intrigued at the stories of the prophet’s work. Other scholars affirm that the king idolized Elisha and wanted to know details about the prophet. Who better to give the king an account of Elisha than Gehazi?

As Gehazi told about Elisha’s exploits, providentially the woman arrived to appeal to the king about her “property.” Gehazi turned and proclaimed, “My lord, . . . this is the woman and this is her son whom Elisha revived” (2 Kings 8:5b-c, JSB).

As Gehazi shared how Elisha raised the young boy from the dead, the same woman, who cried out for Elisha to help her (see 2 Kings 4:30-37), now had the attention of the king who wanted to hear her story and had the power to restore her farm and other property. Although the text does not say, we can assume that the king was “floored” at the providential nature of all that took place. In similar manner, we are often stunned when God works in our lives in ways that seem impossible. But we must always remember that what is impossible with people, is possible with God (see Luke 1:37).

6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the days that she left the land, even unto now.

Certainly, the woman had a personal testimony to share with the king. Not only was she intimately involved in the ministry of Elisha, but she also received specific instructions from the prophet to leave her home and property and spend seven years in the land of the Philistines to escape the famine. God’s hand was upon this woman in a powerful manner, because of her obedience and trust in the ministry of Elisha.

The king was overjoyed at the news of the work of the prophet in the life of the Shunammite and appointed “a certain officer for her” (2 Kings 8:6a). The Hebrew word for “officer” is cariyc (saw-REECE), and the meaning is “to castrate.” Therefore, the noun means “a man in the royal court who is a eunuch, a castrated male.” Kings of the ancient Near East usually assigned castrated males over the care of their affairs of the court (see Esther 1:10, 12; Daniel 1:3) to ensure loyalty to them.

The king commanded the eunuch to act on his behalf; everything the woman had lost—her home, farm, and personal possession—was to be restored in the same quantity that it was taken from her during the seven-year famine.

The Hebrew word for “restore” is shuwb (shoob) and means “to turn back, to repeal, to cause to return, give back, or to return to the point of departure.” In this manner, the woman received the blessing of the Lord in the form of her property, because of her faithfulness to the man of God and the king.

The Shunammite woman’s testimony is ours, as well. We, too, have a King acting on our behalf as we share our stories and declare His truth with those we encounter in our life journeys.

Sources: Berlin, Adele, and Marc Brettler. The Jewish Study Bible. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. 740. Bible Pronunciation Chart. Better Days Are Coming.com. http://www.betterdaysarecoming/bible/pronunciation.html (accessed January 29, 2011). Bruce, F. F., gen. ed. Zondervan Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing Company, 2008. 373. Hayford, Jack W., Litt.D., et al., eds. The New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, NKJV. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2002. 357. Hebrew and Greek Lexicons. Bible Study Tools.com. http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons (accessed November 9, 2010). MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible: NASB. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishing Company, 2006. 511-13, 519. Meeks, Wayne, et al. The Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 565-71. Myers, Allen C., ed. The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996. Old and New Testament Concordances, Lexicons, Dictionaries, Commentaries, Images, and Bible Versions. Blue Letter Bible.org. http://www.blueletterbible.org/ (accessed January 29, 2011). The Old Testament of the Jewish Bible. Alexander Jones, gen. ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. 463. Zodhiates, Spiros. The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1991. 1666. Say It Correctly

Elisha. Ih-LI-shuh.

Gehazi. Ge-HA-zi.

Philistine. FIL-uh-steen.

Shunammite. SHOO-na-mite.

Daily Bible Readings

MONDAY

A Son Restored

(Luke 15:11-24)

TUESDAY

The Protector of Widows

(Psalm 68:1-6)

WEDNESDAY

Greed and Generosity

(Luke 20:45-21:4)

THURSDAY

A Promised Son

(2 Kings 4:8-17)

FRIDAY

Seeking Help from the Prophet

(2 Kings 4:18-27)

SATURDAY

A Child Restored

(2 Kings 4:28-37) SUNDAY

Justice for a Widow

(2 Kings 8:1-6)

—Precepts 2011-2012