Dr Paul Allen

Rembrandt — The Departure of the Shunammite Woman (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 2 Kings 4:8-37 ; 8:1-6  Just a few miles north of Jezreel , where Jezebel's story had drawn to its grim conclusion, lived a wealthy Israelite woman whose sharp eye kept track of travelers from Nazareth to Jerusalem. One of the more colorful characters who frequented the road outside her house was Elisha , the prophet who succeeded Elijah . One day the Shunammite woman invited Elisha to linger for a meal. Afterward, she said to her husband, "Let's make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us." Moved by her kindness, Elisha inquired, through his servant, Gehazi , whether he could use his influence with Israel's king on her behalf. But the woman wasn't looking for favors at court, so Elisha pressed his servant, saying, "What, then, can be done for her?" Gehazi merely pointed out t...

Gehazi attempts to awaken the son of the Sunammite woman with the staff of Elisha (2 Kings 4.29-31), engraving by Bernhard Rode before 1780. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) What is the eternal destiny of infants who die before reaching a condition of accountability? Spurgeon used it as his text when he preached a sermon entitled, “Infant Salvation.” The verse is 2 Kings 4:26: “Is it well with the child?” And she answered, “It is well.” Spurgeon explains the context of this verse:  This good Shunammite was asked by Gehazi , whether it was well with herself. She was mourning over a lost child, and yet she said, “It is well;” she felt that the trial would surely be blessed. “Is it well with thy husband?” He was old and stricken in years, and was ripening for death , yet she said, “ Yes , it is well.” Then came the question about her child, it was dead at home, and the enquiry would renew her griefs, “Is it well with the child?” Yet she said, “It is well,” perhaps so answ...

Apparition of the spirit of Samuel to Saul, by Salvator Rosa, 1668. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her”  1 Samuel 28:7. When Saul tried to kill David , David fled with some of his loyal men. On their way into the wilderness they stopped at Nob where the tabernacle was maintained by the priests. David told Ahimelech the high priest that he was on a mission from Saul and that he and his men were hungry. (Jesus referred to this incident in Matthew 12:3 –4). Ahimelech gave him bread to eat. Word of this got back to Saul, and Saul had Ahimelech and all the priests killed (1 Samuel 21–22). We then skip over several years during which Saul tried to kill David numerous times, and during which David’s band enlarged considerably. There came a time when the Philistines grew bold enough to attack Israel again. They knew that Samuel was dead and that David, the great warrior, had left Saul...

Image via Wikipedia "And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God , which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee , on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither." ( 2 Kings 4:9-10 )   This sparsely furnished little room, built by a kindly woman and her elderly husband, was the prototype of all the so-called " prophet 's chambers" that have been built for traveling teachers and evangelists ever since.   Little did this simple farm couple anticipate what fruit their kindness would bear one day in this very room. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers" the Bible says, "for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" ( Hebrews 13:2 ). In the first place, to show his appreciation, Elisha prayed that the Lord would give them a son, and God miraculously an...