And Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Rise up and go, thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; for Jehovah has called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land for seven years.
Elisha once raised this woman's son from the dead. Now he tells her to leave the land before famine strikes it — which raises two questions: who sends a famine, and why does the warning come to her?
The word "called" makes the famine an appointment, not an accident. It falls on a nation that had already forgotten both a terrible siege and the mercy that ended it.
The siege of Samaria with all its horrors, and the grace of God in all its fullness, were soon forgotten. Neither the misery they endured nor the mercy they received turned the nation to the Lord their God. Still, God does not abandon His people. He still acts on their behalf, even though it may be in the way of chastening because of their evil. So we find Elisha saying, "The Lord has called for a famine." The Lord reveals to the prophet not only that a famine is coming, but that He Himself sends it.
Commentators separate this famine from the shortage in the chapter before. That earlier one struck a single city while an enemy army surrounded it.
The previous chapter and this one mention two famines. The first, at Samaria, was local and partial; it was a judgment of God, but the enemy served Him as the instrument to produce it. The second, which now occupies us, was far more severe — a direct judgment of God reaching the whole land of Israel.
Elisha announces the disaster, but he is not its cause. His one recorded action here is to get a widow out of harm's way.
What was he going to do? Inflict a famine on the land? No. We do not hear that he prayed for it. But we do hear that he warned this Shunammite, so that the bitter results of the famine would not reach her. It was an intervention of grace, not an execution of judgment. She did as the man of God said. She went with her household and lived in the land of the Philistines for seven years. When the full time of famine had passed, she returned.
Kindness runs both ways in her story. She once made room in her home for a travelling prophet; now he brings her the one piece of news that can save her household.
If the Lord calls for a famine because of the low condition of the nation, He will also provide for the godly during the time of famine... This godly woman had cared for the prophet in good days. Now, in days of trouble, the prophet warns and instructs her.
The ESV's "had said" puts this warning before the events of the chapter just told. And her move was not simply a sensible reading of hard times.
This happened earlier than the events recorded in the previous chapter. Whenever it was, the Shunammite left the land of Israel by God's command, given through Elisha... Such was the Lord's care for this godly Shunammite that He sent her away beforehand. Is it not good to have to do with God? The emigration of this family was on an altogether different principle from that of Elimelech and Naomi (Ruth 1). Their move was just a matter of human convenience, and great sorrow was the result.
Elisha names no country for her to go to. He names only the land she must leave — Canaan, her own home.
"Rise up," says the prophet to the Shunammite, "and go, you and your household, and sojourn wherever you can." This woman's joy was to live among her own people. Now she must leave her goods and her inheritance behind. She must flee before the judgment about to fall, and take the first shelter she finds. A complete cycle, a week of years, was assigned to her as a time of refuge among strangers... She must sojourn where she could, the only condition being that it not be in Canaan.
Elisha tells her to take her household with her. Older translations read "you and your household," and several writers take that wording as a sign that her husband had died since chapter 4. The prophet would have spoken to a living husband instead.
During her husband's lifetime the prophet could never have said to her, "you and your household." She had lost her protector. She must leave goods that were once large, and these pass into the hands of strangers. Poor now, she leaves, and the Lord will feed her in whatever refuge she can reach.
Elisha gives the length of the famine in advance. That number is a comfort, not a threat.
God reveals to Elisha that if He chastens His people, He also sets a limit to the trial. The famine in Israel will come upon the land for seven years. It is no different today in the history of the Church, or of each believer. Of the church in Smyrna we read, "you will have tribulation," but it lasts only "ten days." So too, if one of God's people must pass through many trials, they will last only "for a season" (1 Peter 1:6).
Writers trace a progression in what this woman learns of God's grace.
The Shunammite woman is a picture of the godly remnant of Israel. She had learned the grace of God in giving new life (ch. 4:17), and further in resurrection power (ch. 4:32-37). Now she is to learn His grace in sustaining her in a time of famine and in restoring all her possessions... This reminds us of the seven-year tribulation that is coming, above all on Israel, though it will affect the whole world.
- Called. The famine is not chance or bad weather; the Lord calls for it, and He tells His prophet first.
- Warned. Elisha's part is not to bring the judgment but to get one household clear of it — grace moving ahead of trouble.
- Sent. She leaves by God's word, not by her own calculation, which is what separates her move from Elimelech's in Ruth 1.
- Measured. God names the seven years in advance. He sets a limit to the trials of His people, and that limit holds.
- Restored. What she gives up is not lost. God's grace restores all her possessions — a picture of Israel receiving back what was taken away.
And the woman rose up, and did according to the saying of the man of God, and went, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
Elisha warns the woman of Shunem, whose son he had raised from the dead, to leave home before a seven-year famine comes. She goes at once, and writers read her move as obedience to a word from God, not flight from hunger.
Her leaving began with a message, not with hunger. One writer sets her beside Elimelech and Naomi, another family who left the land:
The departure of the Shunammite from the land of Israel took place by divine command through Elisha. A time of trouble was approaching, and "the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). Such was the Lord's care for the godly Shunammite that He sent her away beforehand. Is it not good to have to do with God? The emigration of this family was therefore on an altogether different principle from that of Elimelech and Naomi (Ruth 1). Their move was just a matter of human expediency, and great sorrow was the result. The true line for us all is shown in our Lord's words in Matthew 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Elisha announced the famine, but he did not cause it. He warned one woman, so her household would escape what the nation was about to feel.
What was he going to do? Inflict a famine on the land? No. We do not read that he prayed for it, but we do read that he warned this Shunammite, so that she would be preserved from the bitter consequences of the famine. It was a work of grace, not an execution of judgment.
She had helped the prophet when she had plenty. Now the help runs the other way.
We learn that if the Lord calls for a famine because of the low condition of the nation, He will also provide for the godly during the time of famine. So once more we see the grace of God to the Shunammite. This godly woman, who had cared for the prophet in days of prosperity, is now warned and instructed by the prophet in days of adversity.
Obedience meant walking away from everything she owned. One writer notes that her husband is no longer mentioned, and that the prophet includes her whole household.
We can be sure that by this time the Shunammite was a widow. While her husband was alive the prophet could never have said to her, "you and your household." She had lost her protector. She must leave her goods, once considerable, and strangers take them. Reduced to want, she goes off to be fed by the Lord in whatever refuge she can reach. But she takes with her the son whom the prophet had raised from the dead.
The verse names where she went but not why. One writer answers: she was not sent to a chosen place, only out of a condemned one.
This woman, whose joy was to live among her own people, must leave her goods and her inheritance and flee before a coming judgment. She had to accept the first shelter that offered itself. It was not for her to remain, like Abraham, in Canaan during the famine, nor, like Isaac, to make a short stay in Philistia... No, she must live wherever she could, the only condition being that it not be in Canaan.
The famine had a fixed length, and one writer takes that limit as a rule of how God deals with His own.
Notice that the trouble was limited — "seven years." He who sits on the throne will never let the reins of government be seized by the enemy. His controlling hand measures everything that must fall on His own, and the enemy is powerless to go beyond that measure. So the sufferings of the elect during the great tribulation are for 1260 days (Rev. 12:6), and Satan could not make it 1261 however much he wished.
One writer reads her whole story as a picture of something larger.
The Shunammite woman is a picture of the godly remnant of Israel. She had learned the grace of God in giving new life (ch. 4:17), and further in resurrection power (ch. 4:32-37). Now she is to learn His grace in sustaining her in a time of famine and in restoring all her possessions.
- Word first. She moved because God spoke, not because food ran out. That set her apart from Elimelech.
- Warning is grace. The warning was not judgment falling on her. It was mercy, reaching her before the famine came.
- Obedience costs. She left her goods and inheritance to strangers, and kept only her household and her risen son.
- Trials are measured. "Seven years" was a fixed limit; no enemy can stretch what God has measured for His own.
- Restoration follows. God gave back all her possessions — a picture, one writer says, of His grace to the godly remnant of Israel.