Bible Lesson: Miracles Of The Old
Testament: Dead Son Raised To Life.
Occasion: Shunamite's Faith,
Sees Her Son, Brought Back To Life.
Location: Shunem.
Bible Text:
II Kings 4:32-36 NLT
18 One day when her (The woman from
Shunem) child was older, he went out to help his father, who was
working with the harvesters.
19 Suddenly he cried out, “My head
hurts! My head hurts!” His father said to one of the servants,
“Carry him home to his mother.”
20 So the servant took him home, and
his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.
21 She carried him up and laid him
on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there.
22 She sent a message to her
husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry
to the man of God and come right back.”
23 “Why go today?” he asked. “It
is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.” But she said, “It
will be all right.”
24 So she saddled the donkey and
said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down unless I tell you
to.”
25 As she approached the man of God
at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi,
“Look, the woman from Shunem is coming.
26 Run out to meet her and ask her,
‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’”
“Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”
27 But when she came to the man of
God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught
hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God
said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but The Lord has
not told me what it is.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask you
for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get
my hopes up’?”
29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get
ready to travel; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along
the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.”
30 But the boy’s mother said, “As
surely as The Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home
unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.
31 Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid
the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There
was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him,
“The child is still dead.”
32 When Elisha arrived, the
child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.
33 He went in alone and shut the
door behind him and prayed to The Lord.
34 Then he lay down on the child’s
body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the
child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he
stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again!
35 Elisha got up, walked back and
forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on
the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
36 Then Elisha summoned Gehazi.
“Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in,
Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”
37 She fell at his feet and bowed
before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her
arms and carried him downstairs.
Verses 8-17 in this chapter tells us of
the Shunemite receiving a “miraculous,” son. Miraculous,
because...
II Kings 4:14 NLT
Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What
can we do for her?”
Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t
have a son, and her husband is an old man.”
It was a terrible
reproach for a Jewish woman, not to have a child. Now God in His
miraculous mercy had taken that reproach away with the birth of her
son.
Our spiritual
enemy wasn't to pleased with this victory, so he struck the child and
killed him.
Often after great
spiritual victories, the enemy comes in to try to afflict the people
of God.
Israel had just
crossed the Red Sea, what a miracle of victory, but it was a matter
of hours till the people were stirred up with the idea they would die
of thirst, and that they would surely die from hunger. Where had
their faith, and their God gone?
I Corinthians 16:13 NLT
Be on guard.
Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.
II Kings 4:25-30 NLT
25 As she approached the man of
God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to
Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming.
26 Run out to meet her and ask
her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your
child?’” “Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is
fine.”
27 But when she came to the man
of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught
hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God
said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but The Lord has
not told me what it is.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask
you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and
get my hopes up’?”
29 Then Elisha said to Gehazi,
“Get ready to travel; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone
along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.”
30 But the boy’s mother said,
“As surely as The Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go
home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.
The woman of
Shunem had faith in Elisha, it was he that had promised her a son,
and a son she delivered.
If anyone could
help her it would be The God of Elisha.
II Kings 4:31-33 NLT
31 Gehazi hurried on ahead and
laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was
no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The
child is still dead.”
32 When Elisha arrived, the child
was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.
33 He went in alone and shut the
door behind him and prayed to The Lord.
I feel sorry for the poor individuals who say, well, obviously the
child had just passed out in the heat of the day, No miracle, no
story.
Perhaps it would do you well, to go back and read this narration
again, and take notice of the fact that no less than 4 times and by 3
individuals, we are told that the child was dead.
In any court of law, there could not be any more convincing evidence!
The mother had stated that her child was dead, the servant Gehazi had
stated twice that the child was dead, and Elisha himself testified
that indeed (now hours later), the child was dead!
II Kings 4:34-37
NLT
34 Then he lay down on the
child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on
the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s
hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to
grow warm again!
35 Elisha got up, walked back and
forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on
the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!
36 Then Elisha summoned Gehazi.
“Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in,
Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”
37 She fell at his feet and bowed
before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her
arms and carried him downstairs.
Just as Isaac's life was a miracle of conception, so to the
Shunemites son, and it was a miracle that he was brought back to life.
The Lord's words that were true to (90 year old) laughing Sarah, are
still true to one and all today!
Genesis 18:14
KJV
Is any thing
too hard for The Lord?..."
Why was this Shunemite woman so blessed from the beginning?
II Kings 4:8-10
NLT
8 One day
Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and
she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he
passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.
9 She said to
her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is
a holy man of God.
10 Let’s
build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a
table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay
whenever he comes by.”
The Shunemite woman, like Mary of Bethany, choose to cherish the
things of God!
Luke 10:38-42
NLT
38 As Jesus and
the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a
certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her
home.
39 Her sister,
Mary, sat at The Lord’s feet, listening to what He taught.
40 But Martha
was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus
and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister
just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help
me.”
41 But The Lord
said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all
these details!
42 There is
only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it,
and it will not be taken away from her.”
These women cherished the things of God, and surely The Word Of The
Lord, abideth forever.
Jeremiah 15:16
KJV
Thy words were
found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God Of
Hosts.
What do you cherish the most in your life?
The Living God, should be your answer.
Deuteronomy
6:3-5 KJV
4 Hear, O
Israel: The Lord Our God is one Lord:
5 And thou
shalt love The Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou
shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as
frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou
shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Psalm 42:1,2 NLT
1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.
2 I thirst for God, The Living God..."
When we desire and long for The Living God, more than anything else,
all else will be added unto us.
Matthew 6:33 KJV
(Jesus)
But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you.
The Shunemite received a son in old age, not because she had
asked for one,...
The Sunemite receivved her son risen back to life, not because she
had begged it to be so, ...
Because she had above all, always sought The Living God, and His
servants blessings.
Hosea 10:12 KJV
Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow*
ground: for it is time to seek The Lord, till He come and rain
righteousness upon you.
*Fallow-Hebrew: Niyr (Neer): Ploughing, (to break up) ploughed
land: ploughing, tillage.
Psalm 84:10-12
KJV
10 For a day in
thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in
The House Of My God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For The Lord
God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: no
good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O Lord Of
Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
