Woman of Shunam
2 Kings 4 launches the story of an unnamed woman who owns land, which is significant. She is identified as a prominent woman, and she takes agency in insisting the prophet Elisha stop and stay with her and her husband. The text highlights her understanding of Elisha as a holy prophet, and her service to him and his servant was seen to Elijah as faithfulness to the LORD. He thanks her by inquiring if there was anything she (and her husband) needed (4:13). As she was barren, one would guess she would ask for a child like other women in Scripture, but her answer is interesting, "Among my own people I am living." Elisha confers with his servant Gehazi, and he he suggests to pray for God to provide a child. In Sandra Glahn's book, A Woman's Place is in the Story. she reveals fascinating similarities with the stories of Sarah and Hannah. Like those women, Elisha announces that the Shunammite woman will have a son. The text advances to when the boy is growing up and unexpectedly passes away in his mother's arms after a headache. The faithful woman keeps the truth from her husband, lays him in the bed Elisha used, and sets out to bring the prophet back with her. Her husband questions her urgency, yet she is undeterred and travels twenty miles on a donkey to Mount Carmel. Elisha witnesses her approach and instructs Gehazi to run and make sure everything is alright. She relpies, "Everything is all right" (2 Kings 4:26). Finally when she gets to Elisha she grasps his feet in distress, and cries out, "Did I ask for a son, my lord? Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my hopes?" The prophet instantly tells his servant to take his staff and run to the boy, stopping for nothing, and to lay the staff on the boy's face. The woman of Shunam and Elisha set off to return to her home as well. In a shocking twist, nothing happens when the staff is placed on the boy by Gehazi, and Elisha arrives to see him deceased. Elisha closed the door, stretched his body over the boy's, just as Elijah had done before. The boy is raised and reunited with his devoted mother.
This Dutch painting from a student of Rembrandt shows the prophet holding his staff while the woman of Shunam kneels before him, atttending to his needs as she welcomes him to stay at her home. The use of dark shadows with the soft glow of the fire is an artistic techinque called chiaroscuro, and is characteristic of Dutch paintings during this time period. Here, the style adds to the intimate and hospitable emotion of the painting.