04.03.03 Biblical Story of a Value-Adding Homemaker

The Shunammite Woman and Value Addition

In the bible, 2 Kings 4:8-37 narrates how Prophet Elisha used to regularly visit a place called Shunem where a notable woman lived. One of her greatest attributes was her ministry to add value to the life of the Man of God, Prophet Elisha, by persuading him to drop at her home for a meal each time he was in Shunem. When the prophet’s journeys to the city became regular, the Shunammite proposed to her husband that they prepare a small upper room for the prophet and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair and a lampstand so he could rest during the visits and possibly overnight at their house whenever he required accommodation at Shunem. The bible reports how the Man of God was so touched by their ministry that he declared that the ‘then’ barren woman will get a son despite her husband’s old age. And sure enough, the prophet’s declaration came to pass one year later, when their son was born.

However, one day the son complained of a severe headache then died. The Shunammite woman laid his body on the prophet’s bed then hurried on a donkey to find Elisha who lived in Carmel. The prophet sent Gehazi his servant with his (Elisha’s) staff to lay it on the boy’s face, but he did not come back to life. The woman had insisted to return with Elisha to her home. So, when they arrived at the house, Elisha went straight up to his room where the child lay, shut the door behind him then stretched himself over the boy, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, hands to hands until the boy’s body became warm. The prophet left the room, walked about then came back to the room and repeated the stretches over the boy’s body until he (the boy) sneezed seven times then opened his eyes. That was how the woman’s initiatives to add value saved her precious boy’s life, teaching us that hospitality can turn a woman’s life from a grim position to a positive one.