03.20. Lodging at Shunem

Lodging at Shunem

About midway between north and south of the promised land, and a few days’ journey from Jerusalem, there is an extensive plain, which reaches from the sea-coast to the vine-covered borders of Jordan, presenting here and there a hill, and partially watered by the river Kishon. In this tract, which for the fruitfulness of the soil, the luxuriance of its vegetation, and the pleasantness of its climate, was in former days scarcely equaled in the world, was situated, amid groves of evergreen olives and waving corn fields, the quiet little town of Shunem, inhabited chiefly by husbandmen, and a place of comfort and simplicity. Imagine yourselves looking down the street of it, and beholding a venerable person with one attendant, just come into the town as a traveller. A rough mantle is girded about his person; but his animated countenance is a striking contrast to his attire; for it is lighted up with benevolence and peace. Respectfully saluted by all who meet him, he returns their salutations with paternal kindness; and having advanced towards a house, rather distinguished from the rest by its superior situation and appearance, we find him received at the door by the mistress of a wealthy family, and who has welcomed him with unaffected cordiality. That the traveller should have been so well known in Shunem by young and old to be the prophet Elisha, attended by his servant Gehazi, need not surprise us. He had frequently passed through it on his visits to the seminaries of the prophets, which were stationed in various parts of the country; and whenever the tumult of the world urged him to his sequestered and peaceful retreat on the top of Carmel, he would sometimes have to pass through Shunem on his way. The inhabitant at whose house he was here welcomed, is described as "great" or wealthy, as she was the wife of a substantial Israelite. She was likewise no ordinary possessor of those true riches which neither moth nor rust can corrupt; for we may trust that she was a daughter of Abraham after the spirit, and one of those few in Israel who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. From the great respect and filial affection evinced in her conduct towards the prophet, we may suppose her to have regarded him as her spiritual father, though we are not informed how she became acquainted with him. But it appears that she was no stranger to him; that he had often availed himself of her hospitality, and that of late, with the approbation of her husband, who also feared God, she had prepared a room for his reception, provided with a bed, a table, a stool, and a candlestick. Elisha, gratified by their anxiety for his comfort, and well convinced of their sincerity, readily accepted this additional testimony of their kindness, and in his subsequent visits to Shunem, proceeded at once to the little sanctuary prepared for him, which his presence converted into a Bethel. Every care seems to have been taken, that the holy man should not be disturbed in his devotions and meditations; for it was perceived that he enjoyed a more wonderful and intimate intercourse with Jehovah than others. This example of the Shunammite pleasingly reminds us of the assurance given by our Lord, "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. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward," Matthew 10:41-42. What else are we to understand by this declaration, but that whoever respects the Divine image in God’s children, notwithstanding their humble and unpretending exterior, and whoever shows kindness and love to any one such person for the Lord’s sake, shall participate in the same Divine blessings which he is ever pouring down upon the just? What say you to this assurance? Does not the Lord highly honor his children, by thus rewarding whatever good is done to them as if it were done unto himself? Does he not express a most tender care over them, in thus commending them to the kind reception of the world? Mark then well these words of the Most High. Whoever acts according to them, as did the Shunammite to Elisha, may be assured that the blessing of God will rest upon his house; and that blessing is likely to consist in the most glorious of all gifts, namely, spiritual regeneration, the first germ of which, perhaps, is indicated by such simple instances of love to the people of God. Or, if the person be already born again, his reward may consist in a gift, which, next to the new birth, is most of all to be desired, that of intimate communion with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, by a more thoroughly renovated and enlightened conscience. But whoever hates the righteous because they are righteous, let him consider what he has to expect from an Almighty Being who cares for his children with such a tenderness as this; yes, let the very love of Jesus to his people make such a person tremble.