Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 4
Usually, after a death, the funeral would happen that same day. The family would weep bitterly, and they would express their feelings very publicly. They would wash the body; and their relatives, friends and neighbours would gather. Then, they would take the body and bury it.
The woman in Shunem behaved very differently. God had promised that son to her, by means of a special message from the prophet (holy man) Elisha. So, it seemed wrong to her that the boy should die at such a young age. She knew that he had died – but she believed that God wanted him to live. She did not have the power in prayer to bring the boy back to life. However, she believed that Elisha – or rather, Elisha’s God – had the power.
So, she asked her husband for a donkey – a small animal like a horse – to take her to Elisha. She did not tell her husband that the boy had died. So, he probably thought that she wanted prayer for the son to recover from his illness. Her husband tried to ask her why she was going. Clearly, she was not going for the Sabbath, Saturday, when Elisha taught the people about God. Nor was she going for the new moon, in other words, the start of a new month. If there was a problem, the husband wanted to know. He cared about his wife.
She answered with a single word, SHALOM in the Hebrew language, which we usually translate ‘peace’. She meant, ‘it is well’ or perhaps ‘it will be well’. She was confident that God would answer Elisha’s prayer for her son.
Next part: The woman needed Elisha's prayers (2 Kings 4:24-26)
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