It appears from Elisha's history that he frequently travelled from mount Carmel to Samaria, and therefore was necessarily obliged to ass through Shunem, which was a small city belonging to the tribe of Issachar. See 2 Kings 2:25. But (as the after events in this woman's life make it appear) the Lord was overruling the prophet's path in this instance to a work of mercy. The Reader will not fail, I hope, to have his mind directed to the steps of Jesus, concerning whom the Evangelist expressly tells us that he must needs go through Samaria; that is, I apprehend, Jesus was constrained in his coming into this world to seek and save that which was lost, to visit Samaria, because he knew that there was a woman among the number which his Father had given him for redemption, who was then living in a state of unawakened sin and unregeneracy. Oh! precious Jesus! And is there not an holy constraint, even now, in thine hallowed bosom, that in thy gathering all thy people unto thee, thou shouldest send thy blessed Spirit to awaken sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan to God?
Related Commentaries of 2 Kings 4:8
2 Kings 4:8
8 And it fell on a day,b that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.