THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN-Overview

OVERVIEW

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INTRODUCTION

In Proverbs 31:25 the scriptures tell us of a woman who “.. smiles at the future.” This means that the future holds no terror or fear for such a woman. How can this be? How can women, who have wild imaginations, who Satan attacks constantly with fears, smile at the future ‘with confidence? Only the women who, have fixed their hope, their destiny, and their total self on the person and work of Jesus Christ can do this. What happens around them cannot remove this focus. What others do to them cannot remove this focus, because their faith and hope resides in the one constant of life — the character and essence of the God. From I Cor. 13:13 we find that faith and hope are two separate things. Faith comes first and then comes hope. We cannot have hope until first we have faith. As we apply faith to our daily lives, then we fix our hope on God for the future. This hope gives us the strength to face with confidence the future. For, as we see God vindicate our faith, then we know He is the fulfillment of all hope.

We, who have committed our lives to Christ, and to growing in grace and knowledge of Him, many times wonder if it is possible to live such a life of confidence and hope. For this reason it is important for us to look at the actual life of the Shunammite woman. We must keep in mind that she did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to aid her. She did not have the completed cannon of scripture from which to learn about the God she believed in. The Shunammite Woman just had simple faith in the character and essence of God. This faith in the character and essence of God sustained her through her trial. This faith makes her life a testimony of faith and hope. We must have this same faith to live a victorious life in the present society and ‘world in which we live. We have been taught that God is Love, but do we understand that He loves us and desires our happiness? We have been taught that God is just, but do we understand that He will exercise His justice in our behalf? We have been taught that God is all-powerful, but do we believe that He will use His power in our behalf? We have been taught that God is in control, but do we exercise faith in this essence of God when various things happen in our life? If we’re like most women we don’t. From the study of the Shunammite woman it is hoped that we will come to see the victory of life that results in focusing our hope on the character and essence of God.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

We don’t have a name for the Shunammite woman. Apparently she is called the Shunammite woman because she is a woman from Shunem. This is all that we know of her other than what the scripture will reveal to us about her faith and character. It should be noted that there are two other women from Shunem mentioned in the Bible. One, is Abishag, a virgin taken to minister to King David in his old age, and the other is the Shulammite (variation of Shunammite) woman who is the central figure of the Song of Solomon.[i] Since we know that Abishag and the Shulammite from Song of Solomon were both very beautiful woman it might be reasonable to expect the woman of our study is beautiful in appearance as well. However, since the scripture doesn’t specify we will not dwell on this.

Shunem was located in the land settled by the Tribe of Issachar and was part of the northern ten tribes of Israel. During the period of this study, Jehoram (also called Joram) was King. This Jehoram (not to be confused with the Jehoram that was King of Judah) was the son of Jezebel and Ahab. This tells us that the nation of Israel was in apostasy and the worship of Baal was very prevalent. During Ahab’s reign Jezebel caused most of the prophets of God to be destroyed and vigorously promoted Baal worship in the country.[ii] In other words, the Shunammite woman lived in a time very much like today. While we don’t recognize “Baal” worship in the exact same manner, the pseudo religious community of our time promotes the same apostate thinking — faith in visions rather than Jesus Christ, or “channeling” for guidance rather than the Word of God, or promotion of “self” abilities. Anything or anyone that encourages people away from praying, and living a life of faith, and reading the written Word of God that reveals the living Word of God (Jesus Christ) is apostate religion. The Shunammite woman stood firm in faith in her apostate time of history, and thus stands as our example of what we can do in our apostate time of history.

Elisha, the prophet of God that succeeded Elijah, served primarily in the northern kingdom (which included Shunem), from the latter part of the reign of Ahab into the rule of Joash, from roughly 850 to 800 B.C.[iii] Elisha’s ministry consisted of serving the schools of the prophets, helping the needy, performing miracles, giving advice to the king, and acting as a spokesman for God. Elisha is recorded as performing more miracles than any other prophet of God in the Old Testament. He is mentioned only once in the New Testament by Jesus Christ, where our Lord used Elisha’s healing of Naaman as an example of the scarcity of faith within Israel.4 Through Elisha the Shunammite woman received her instruction, and through Elisha the Shunammite woman was given the opportunity to minister. Her services make the faith and hope of the Shunammite woman more spectacular, and make the study of this woman so important.

SUMMARY:

After studying the life of the Shunammite woman it became obvious to me that her faith was more complete than what was in my life. I spent many hours thinking about the Shunammite woman’s ability to completely put her life in the hands of God with such hope and assurance. Then I asked myself, “Why my life does not demonstrate such a life of faith.” The answer came when I realized that while I can say that I believe in the character of God, the evidence of my life actions say that I don’t really believe. In other words, it is a simple thing to say and convince ourselves that we believe God loves us and desires only our good. The test comes when we live it or not. What we live shows what we truly believe.

We can easily list the Essence of God in our minds: such as He is the absolute essence of love, justice, righteousness, sovereignty, eternal life, all powerful, all knowing, all places, absolute truth and unchangeable. Words and thoughts come easily enough. However, it is an entirely different thing when we place our total hope for our lives on these very characteristics of God. When we can do this, we can live the same life, give the same testimony, and receive the same care as the Shunammite woman received from God in whom she placed her hope.

PSALM 39:7 — And now Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in Thee.

To Continue on to Part One click here

[i] The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 5, Shulammite, pg. 422

[ii] 1 Kings 18:4, 19:1–2

[iii] The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 2, Elisha, pg. 290