seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Kings 8:1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the Lord has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” 2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and land. 4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” 5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to appeal to the king for her house and land.
Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.
Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.
Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life: 2 Kings 4 describes Elisha’s previous dealings with this woman. She and her husband were godly, generous people who helped the prophet. Through Elisha’s prayer they were blessed with a son, who was also brought miraculously back to life.
She went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years: On the advice of the prophet, the woman and her family left Israel because of a coming famine. In the land of the Philistines, they were spared the worst of the famine.
She went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land: Upon leaving Israel and going to the land of the Philistines, the woman forfeited her claim to her ancestral lands. She made this appeal so she would not be a loser for listening to God’s prophet and for saving her family from famine.
As he was telling the king: The woman came to make her request at the exact time Gehazi told the king about the miracles associated with her life. This was perfect, God-ordained timing.
Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left: The king understood that if God was obviously supportive of this woman, then it also made sense for him to support her and to answer her request. In the end, her obedience to God’s word was not penalized.
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Isn't it amazing! When God is involved, things just happen at the right nano-second in time!
Gehazi is going to get into some drama later in the chapter and that drama will be long winded.
In these verses, however, Gehazi was talking with king Ben-Hadad. I think that's who it was. It could have been Ben-Hadad II.
Remember, Israel and Judah had separate kings. To make things more confusing, the king of Syria is involved in a lot of these stories.
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At any rate, as timing would have its perfection, Gehazi was telling the king all about how Elisha [Gehazi's boss] brought a boy back to life when the Shunammite woman showed up with business to attend to.
Elisha told the woman about a famine coming up. He had her go away for seven years so she and her son would survive the famine. Now the famine was over and she was back in her home country.
The Shunammite was a woman though. Women only owned land in Israel in very rare circumstances. She was a war widow and she had ties to Elisha, and her story was confirmed by Gehazi.
Let's face it, if a woman walked into court and started telling the judge about how a man brought her son back from dead cold, and then told her to go away for seven years, well the court would have dismissed the woman before the story could unfold.
Gehazi was in the right place at the right time, telling exactly the right tale of the annuls of the Prophet Elisha, when the woman arrived. Her best witness was right there.
Talk about God's perfect timing.
The king restored the Shunammite woman's land, home, and possessions. Wow!
Talk about God's perfect timing!
GOD'S perfect timing!
