2 Kings 4:11
One day Elisha came to visit and went to his upper room to lie down.
Sermons
A Great WomanMarianne Farningham.2 Kings 4:8-17
A Great WomanT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.2 Kings 4:8-17
HospitalityHomilist2 Kings 4:8-17
HospitalityD. Thomas 2 Kings 4:8-17
Kindness RequitedC.H. Irwin 2 Kings 4:8-17
The Lady of Shunem: 1. a Son GivenJ. Orr 2 Kings 4:8-17














I. GOOD MEN CARRY THEIR GOODNESS WHEREVER THEY GO. The Shunammite's words are a testimony to the character of Elisha. "I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually." Elisha's conduct and conversation showed him to be a holy man of God. It was evident that God was with him, and that he lived near to God. He did not leave his religion behind him at home. Wherever he was, he took his religion with him. A lesson for modern Christians. There is not much reality in our religion if we do not confess it amongst strangers just as much as where we are known. The inward character is shown by the outward acts. "Coelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt." It is evident that Elisha was a man of studious habits. The furniture which the Shunammite placed in his room shows this. The stool or chair and the table were intended to afford him facilities for study. He who will teach others must store his own mind with knowledge. Paul exhorted Timothy to give attention to reading. The minister and the Sunday-school teacher need constant study to equip themselves for their important work.

II. GOOD MEN CARRY A BLESSING EVERYWHERE. Their goodness benefits others as well as themselves. "The holy seed shall be the substance thereof." Some there are who bring evil wherever they go. One bad man, one wicked woman, may corrupt a whole community. Some are the perpetual occasions of strife, discord, unpleasantness, unhappiness. What an unenviable character! Oh to be like him who "went about every day doing good!"

III. KINDNESS TO GOOD MEN IS NEVER LOST. This Shunammite treated Elisha kindly because he was a servant of God, and the God whom he served rewarded her for her kindness to his servant. "Give, and it shall be given unto you" She lost nothing, but gained much, by her generosity and hospitality, by the trouble she took to provide a resting-place for the prophet. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward." - C.H.I.

Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall.
I. HOW DID THIS LITTLE CHAMBER COME TO BE? It originated in the quick and clear perception of this woman of Shunem. "I perceive," she said to her husband, "that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually." I don't know that any very unusual faculty of perception was necessary for this. A much inferior person might have made the same observation as she made, but few would have made it in the same sense, and with the same fulness of meaning. What is said in one of the psalms, of the gods of the heathen, is true of too many human creatures. "They have eyes, but they see not." They see the mere forms of things but not the inhering, underlying substance. They see the outward movements of things, but not the inward significance. And suppose different people looking out of the window; will they all see alike? We know they will not. Why, there are some people who could see the same persons pass for year after year and never make an inference. "They have their own reasons, no doubt, for passing and repassing — what is that to me?" There are other people who could not see them pass many days without having certain conjectures about them, and beginning to take an interest in them; we mean not the barren interest of a mere curiosity, which is common enough, but the deeper concern of the heart. "That little boy is in a situation, for he passes the window daily at the same time. This woman who is going by is paler day by day, and wears sorrow on her face. Perhaps she has some great home care. Or she is brighter and happier, things are better with her." The "perceiving," the observing eye, is the gate of knowledge, the quickener of sympathy, the informer to benevolence. It brings before the benevolent heart the material on which it can act. It is at least the hewer of wood and the drawer of water to nobler faculties than itself.

II. IMMEDIATE ACTION IS TAKEN. This action gives expression to the good impulse which attended so very closely on the quick perception. "Let us make a little chamber." There is a pleasure in seeing, simply as seeing. It is good to know men and things somewhat correctly; but the higher pleasure is later born, and is always associated with doing and with duty. And these two pleasures God hath joined together, although men are always rending them asunder. And so men, looking at the same things, take different courses. From the same point apparently they diverge — one along the pathway of duty and activity and helpfulness; and another by a shorter circuit, back again idly to the post of observation. "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it." Make your little chamber, whatever it be, for helpfulness to others, as long as help can be given in that way.

III. DO NOT THINK OF THESE DUTIES OF HELPFULNESS AS INVOLVING GREAT EXERTION, OR VERY CONSIDERABLE EXPENDITURE OF TIME OR MONEY. It is not so. It is even in some cases very much the reverse, as in this case of the good Shunammite. Her gift, after all, is very simple, and to herself and her husband very inexpensive. And yet I think I see something on the walls — one, two, three inscriptions at any rate are there — only a single word in each. Now we don't need this famous room for rest or for writing, but we do need it very much for some higher purpose. Let us stay in it for a very little time until we can read together these inscriptions.

1. Considerateness is the first. There was evidently a thoughtful and respectful considerateness in the way this gift was offered to Elisha. Another word surely we can see in this little room, if we look — the word,

2. Simplicity. Nothing, in its way, could be simpler than this room and its furniture. "A bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick." Of course this chamber was only for a passing traveller and not for a permanent resident. But how easy it is to make a grand display for a passing traveller! Monarchs have been known before now to impoverish some noble families by accepting from them a munificence of hospitality beyond their means. And should we be wrong in supposing that the simplicity of this one chamber is, after all, but the expression of a simplicity that reigned through the whole house of this good woman in Shunem? "How many things," said Socrates, "there are which I do not need!" "How many things" there are, which, although we do need them a little, we can yet do very well without! Here is a bed, and that meets the need of almost one-third of our whole time here on earth. Here is a table, and that meets the need — for intellectual persons, for commercial men, and for some workmen — of another third of our time. If I am neither sleeping, working, nor eating, and yet am detained in-doors, I cannot stand all day; well, here is a stool to sit on and think, or think of nothing. Year in and out, there are twelve hours of dark to pass through, — well, here is a candlestick, or lamp, with oil in it — light it, and let it burn. And so we are at the end of the inventory! Beautiful simplicity! There is just one word more I want you to decipher, and that is the word,

3. Contentment. The whole history of this chamber shows that an unusual contentment reigned in this home. If the inmates had been dissatisfied or ambitious, here is a fine opportunity to advance themselves. The very ladder of elevation comes within their reach. A word from the prophet would set them almost anywhere.

(A. Raleigh, D. D.)

People
Elisha, Gehazi
Places
Baal-shalishah, Edom, Gilgal, Mount Carmel, Shunem
Topics
Aside, Chamber, Fell, Lay, Lieth, Pass, Rest, Rested, Room, Thither, Turneth, Upper
Outline
1. Elisha multiplies the widow's oil
8. He obtains a son for the good Shunammite
18. He restores her son when dead
38. At Gilgal he heals the deadly pottage
42. He satisfies a hundred men with twenty loaves

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Kings 4:11-17

     5733   pregnancy

Library
When the Oil Flows
'And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.'--2 KINGS iv. 6. The series of miracles ascribed to Elisha are very unlike most of the wonderful works of even the Old Testament, and still more unlike those of the New. For about a great many of them there seems to have been no special purpose, either doctrinal or otherwise, but simply the relief of trivial and transient distresses.
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Miracle Needing Effort
'So she went, and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: 26. Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband! is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. 27. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Infant Salvation
Now, let every mother and father here present know assuredly that it is well with the child, if God hath taken it away from you in its infant days. You never heard its declaration of faith--it was not capable of such a thing--it was not baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ, not buried with him in baptism; it was not capable of giving that "answer of a good conscience towards God;" nevertheless, you may rest assured that it is well with the child, well in a higher and a better sense than it is well
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

That the Grace of Devotion is Acquired by Humility and Self-Denial
The Voice of the Beloved Thou oughtest to seek earnestly the grace of devotion, to ask it fervently, to wait for it patiently and faithfully, to receive it gratefully, to preserve it humbly, to work with it diligently, and to leave to God the time and manner of heavenly visitation until it come. Chiefly oughtest thou to humble thyself when thou feelest inwardly little or no devotion, yet not to be too much cast down, nor to grieve out of measure. God ofttimes giveth in one short moment what He
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Extracts No. Ix.
[As the objector here begins to give up his ground, his letters from this place will be given nearly entire. He commences this number as follows, viz.] "Dear sir and brother--Your reply to my seventh number has been received, and hereby duly acknowledged. I have just given it a second reading, with peculiar care and attention; and I must add, generally speaking, with peculiar satisfaction too; for as it has tended in some degree to revive my almost extinguished faith in divine revelation, so it
Hosea Ballou—A Series of Letters In Defence of Divine Revelation

Abram's Horror of Great Darkness.
"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." If we consider the sketch, given us in scripture, of the life of this patriarch, we shall find that few have had equal manifestations of the divine favor. But the light did not at all times shine on him. He had his dark hours while dwelling in this strange land. Here we find an horror of great darkness to have fallen upon him. The language used to describe his state, on this occasion,
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

The Soul.
Man as we behold him is not all there is of man. He is a wonderful being. He stands in the highest order of God's creation. He Is A Compound. Man was created a physical and spiritual organism. He possesses an animal and a spiritual life. Thus he is connected with two worlds. The physical creation is termed the "outward man," and the spiritual, the "inward man." "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." 2 Cor. 4:16. "For we know
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

Answer to the Jewish Rabby's Letter.
WE Are now come to the letter of Mr. W's Jewish Rabby, whom Mr. W. calls his friend, and says his letter consists of calm and sedate reasoning, p. 55. I on the other hand can see no reason in it. But the reader than not need to rely upon my judgment. Therefore I will transcribe some parts of it, and then make some remarks. The argument of the letter is, that the story of Lazarus's being raised is an imposture; or else the Jews could not have been so wicked, as to be on that account provoked against
Nathaniel Lardner—A Vindication of Three of Our Blessed Saviour's Miracles

Supplementary Note to Chapter ii. The Year of Christ's Birth.
The Christian era commences on the 1st of January of the year 754 of the city of Rome. That our Lord was born about the time stated in the text may appear from the following considerations-- The visit of the wise men to Bethlehem must have taken place a very few days after the birth of Jesus, and before His presentation in the temple. Bethlehem was not the stated residence of Joseph and Mary, either before or after the birth of the child (Luke i. 26, ii. 4, 39; Matt. ii. 2). They were obliged to
William Dool Killen—The Ancient Church

Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.),
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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