2 Kings 8:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, the wickedness of Israel punished with a long famine, one of the serious judgments often warned about in the law. Canaan, that fruitful land, was turned into a barren place because of the people’s sin. The famine in Samaria ended quickly when the siege was lifted, but neither that judgment nor that mercy had the right effect on them, so the Lord called for another famine. When he judges, he will be victorious.

If smaller judgments do not lead people to repentance, he can send greater ones that last longer. These judgments are under his command, and they come when he calls for them. He calls people through his ministers to turn from sin and obey him. If they ignore those warnings, we should expect he will call for some other trouble, because he will be heard. This famine lasted seven years, twice as long as the famine in Elijah’s time. If people insist on walking against God, he can make the furnace even hotter.

We also see the kindness shown to the good Shunammite woman rewarded by God’s care during that famine. She was not fed by a miracle, as the widow of Zarephath had been, but she was given advance notice of the famine so she could prepare. She was told to move to another country, and anywhere outside Israel she would find food. In Joseph’s time, Egypt benefited greatly because it knew about the famine ahead of time, and so did this woman. Others would have to move later, after they had already suffered a long time, wasted their goods, and had less chance to settle well elsewhere. It is a mercy to see danger ahead, and it is wisdom to hide ourselves when we do.

Providence gave her a good place to live in the land of the Philistines, who, though defeated by David, were not fully driven out. It seems the famine was only in Israel, while nearby countries still had plenty. That clearly showed God’s direct hand in the matter, as in the plagues in Egypt, when he made a difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians. It also showed that Israel’s sins, against whom this judgment was aimed, were more offensive to God than the sins of their neighbors, because they were his own covenant people. “You only have I known,” he says, “therefore I will punish you” (Amos 3:2). Other countries had rain when Israel had none, and were spared from locusts and caterpillars when Israel was being eaten up by them. Some think this may be the famine spoken of in (Joel 1:3-4).

It is strange that, when food was available in nearby countries, no one tried to bring grain into Israel to prevent people from leaving. But just as they were blinded by their idol worship, so they were made foolish even in matters of ordinary life.

When the famine was over, she returned from the land of the Philistines. That was no proper home for an Israelite any longer than necessity required, because there she could not keep her new moons and sabbaths as she had done in her own land, among the prophets’ schools (2 Kings 4:23). But when she came back, she found that she had been kept out of her own property. It had either been taken for the king’s treasury, seized by a landholder, or occupied by neighbors while she was away. Or perhaps the person she had trusted to manage it had acted dishonestly and would neither give it back nor account for the profits. It is hard to find someone trustworthy in a time of trouble (Proverbs 25:19; Micah 7:5).

She brought her case to the king himself for help. This shows, and we can note it to his credit, that he was easy to reach and dealt personally with complaints from wronged subjects. There had been a time when she lived so securely among her own people that she did not need anyone to speak for her to the king or the army commander (2 Kings 4:13). But now her own close associates, the very people she trusted, had proved so unfair and unkind that she had to appeal to the king against them. There is much uncertainty in this world. What we depend on most may fail us, and the help we think we will never need may become the help that saves us.

At that very moment, the king was talking with Gehazi about Elisha’s miracles (2 Kings 8:4). It was a shame that he needed to be told about them then, when he could have learned from Elisha himself if he had not chosen to close his eyes to the clear proof of Elisha’s calling. Still, it was good that he was now better disposed, and would rather speak with a leper who could give a true account than remain ignorant. The law did not forbid all conversation with lepers, only living with them. Since there were no priests in Israel at that time, perhaps the king, or someone appointed by him, oversaw lepers and judged their condition, which may have brought him into contact with Gehazi.

This good timing helped both Gehazi’s story and the woman’s petition. We should recognize God’s providence in arranging the details of events, because even small things can matter greatly, as they did here. First, it made the king ready to believe Gehazi’s account, since the very woman and her son stood there to confirm it: “This is the woman, and this is her son; let them speak for themselves” (2 Kings 8:5). In that way, God made him believe what he might have questioned if he had only Gehazi’s word, since Gehazi had been marked by leprosy and was not fully trustworthy. Second, it made the king ready to grant her request. Who would not be willing to favor someone whom heaven had so clearly favored, and to protect a life that had been given back by miracle more than once?

Because of this, the king ordered that her land be restored to her, along with all the profits that had been gained from it while she was away. If the land and its income had passed to the crown, it was generous to restore everything so fully. He would not, as Pharaoh had done in Joseph’s time, grow rich from his subjects’ troubles. If someone else had taken her property, then the king was simply doing justice and carrying out his duty (Psalm 82:3-4; Proverbs 31:9). Those in authority must do more than avoid wrongdoing themselves. They must also defend the rights of people who have been wronged.