1). A Wealthy Couple Provide A Permanent Lodging Place For Elisha For When He Visits Shunem (2 Kings 4:8-10).
The story commences with the kindness of a wealthy couple who truly believe in YHWH to YHWH's servant Elisha.
Analysis.
a And on one particular day Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a wealthy woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread (2 Kings 4:8).
b And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually” (2 Kings 4:9).
a “Let us make, I pray you, a little chamber on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp, and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he will turn in there” (2 Kings 4:10).
Note that in ‘a' Elisha would ‘turn in' at the wealthy woman's to eat bread, and in the parallel the purpose of the provision of a room was so that he would be able to ‘turn in' there. Central in ‘b' is the fact that it was done because he was a ‘holy man of God'. The woman was a true believer in YHWH.
‘And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a wealthy woman, and she constrained him to eat bread (a meal). And so it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.'
Shunem was about eight kilometre (five miles) from Jezreel and therefore near a main route through the valley. It was thus heavily frequented, and Elisha would pass that way often on his way between Mount Carmel and Jezreel. One day when he was passing through a wealthy woman who was a true worshipper of YHWH and who lived there, and had no doubt noticed his passing a number of times, constrained him to enter her house for a meal. And after that he often enjoyed a meal there.
‘And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us continually.” '
This acquaintance with him led to her to point out to her husband that this continually passing prophet was genuinely ‘a holy man of God' (a true prophet of YHWH).
“Let us make, I pray you, a little chamber on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a seat, and a lamp, and it shall be, when he comes to us, that he will turn in there.”
So she suggested that they built a room onto their presumably large house (or a brick room on the roof of the house rather than simply a rude shelter, accessible by outside steps) where he could stay. There they would provide him with a bed, a table, a chair and a lamp, all the basics that were needed to make a man comfortable. Then whenever he passed by he could stay there. This was evidence of their relative wealth, for most houses could only support a makeshift lean-to on the flat roof for visitors to stay in. It would therefore have provided Elisha with undreamed of comfort. The lamp would be a small vessel containing oil with a pinched neck into which a wick was placed and lit.
There is a reminder to us here that if we are generous to those who truly serve God (not to money grabbers) we will not lose our reward.