The Shunammite Woman
A woman of great faith who prepared a place for the prophet and received back her son from death
A Notable Woman
The Shunammite woman lived in Shunem, a town in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. Scripture calls her “a great woman”—a phrase suggesting wealth, status, and character (2 Kings 4:8). She is never named; she is known entirely by her deeds.
When the prophet Elisha passed through Shunem, she urged him to stop and eat. This became a habit; whenever Elisha passed by, he would stop at her home. Eventually, the Shunammite woman said to her husband: “I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither” (2 Kings 4:9–10).
This simple act of preparing a room—with bed, table, stool, and lamp—speaks to a woman of both practical generosity and spiritual discernment. She recognized a holy man and created a permanent place of refuge for him.
The Promise of a Son
Elisha wanted to reward her hospitality. Through his servant Gehazi he asked what could be done for her—whether she needed a word spoken to the king or the commander of the army. Her answer was striking: “I dwell among mine own people” (2 Kings 4:13). She had no ambition for worldly advancement.
Gehazi noted that her husband was old and she had no son. Elisha called her back and promised: “About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son.” She responded not with joy but with something closer to protective caution: “Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid” (2 Kings 4:16). The promise was too precious to be disappointed. But the son was born as Elisha said.
The Death of Her Son
Some years later the boy went out to his father in the field during the harvest. He complained of his head, was brought home, and died on his mother’s lap at midday. She carried him to Elisha’s chamber, laid him on the prophet’s bed, closed the door, and said nothing to her husband except: “It shall be well” (2 Kings 4:23). She then saddled a donkey and rode urgently to find Elisha.
When Gehazi met her and asked if all was well, she again answered: “It is well.” Only when she reached Elisha himself did she fall at his feet and speak her grief. Elisha immediately sent Gehazi ahead with his staff; the woman refused to leave the prophet’s side: “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee” (2 Kings 4:30). Elisha rose and went with her.
The Resurrection
Elisha went into his chamber where the child lay, prayed to the Lord, stretched himself out on the boy’s body, and the child’s flesh became warm. After a second stretching and seven sneezes, the boy opened his eyes. Elisha called the Shunammite woman and said: “Take up thy son.” She fell at his feet, bowing herself to the ground, then took up her son and went out (2 Kings 4:32–37).
Lessons from Her Life
The Shunammite woman’s faith is expressed primarily through action: she built a room before anything miraculous happened, she responded to loss with composure and directness, and she refused to leave the prophet’s side when she needed him most. Her repeated “It is well” was not denial of grief but a declaration that the matter was in God’s hands.
Her story parallels the themes of Hannah and Sarah before her—women whose capacity to receive from God was preceded by the pain of longing. The room she built for Elisha became, by divine irony, the room where her dead son was restored to life.
Key Scriptures
- 2 Kings 4:8–37 — The full account: the room, the son’s death, the restoration
- 2 Kings 8:1–6 — Later encounter: her land restored by the king