The Shunammite woman’s land is restored
Divided Kingdom · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 34f77eea5b5b3ba0 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Elisha’s ministry · After seven years away; exact regnal setting uncertain
Warned by Elisha of a seven-year famine, the woman whose son he restored lives in Philistine territory. On returning, she appeals to the king for her house and land. Gehazi is recounting her son’s restoration, and the king orders her property and its income restored.
The passage looks back over the famine and does not name the king. Its placement after Gehazi’s punishment does not settle when this royal conversation occurred in relation to that earlier story. The woman’s recovery includes the produce from the period of her absence.
Primary Scripture
8:1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed that a seven-year famine will come to the land.”
8:2 So the woman had proceeded to do as the man of God had instructed. And she and her household lived as foreigners for seven years in the land of the Philistines.
8:3 At the end of seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to the king to appeal for her house and her land.
8:4 Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.”
8:5 And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”
8:6 When the king asked the woman, she confirmed it. So the king appointed for her an officer, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the country until now.”
Related Scripture
The earlier account explains the woman’s relationship with Elisha and the story Gehazi is telling.
Location evidence
Shunem marks the woman’s home locality, not the unnamed location of her appeal to the king. Her temporary home in Philistine territory is not pinned.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.334306, 32.605633]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Shunem: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.334306, 32.605633]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible.info: Shunem (CC BY 4.0)
OpenBible.info: Shunem (CC BY 4.0)
For the class
Why does the order address both the property and the income lost during her absence?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/divided-kingdom.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm