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Updated: June 17, 2025
I must always remember Shunem gratefully, as a place which gave to us this leafy shelter after our long, hot ride. We lunched, rested, chatted, smoked our pipes an hour, and then mounted and moved on. At last, here were the "wild, free sons of the desert, speeding over the plain like the wind, on their beautiful Arabian mares" we had read so much about and longed so much to see!
It is certain that he knew what was about to happen, and that, if he had been loyal to his prince, he would have striven to assist him. I remember that dreadful day before the day of Gilboa. The host of the Philistines came and pitched in Shunem as the sand of the desert for number. Saul had gathered all Israel together, but they were fewer than the Philistines, and disheartened.
For my eyes are very dim, and it is now many years since last I came over the hills to Shunem." The man did not reply. " So many years that for nigh upon an hour I have been saying, 'Surely here should Shunem come in sight or here its white walls among the oaks below the house of Miriam of Shunem'. But I forget the curtain on my eyes, and the oaks will have grown tall."
"For as often as we passed by," he said, "we found food and a little room prepared upon the wall. 'Thou hast been careful for us, said I, 'with all this care. What is to be done for thee? Shall I speak to the King for thee, or to the captain of the host? Thine answer was, 'I dwell in Shunem, among my own people." "There is no greener spot in Israel."
As he ceased, another figure a woman's stepped out, as it seemed to him, from behind the man; stepped forward and touched him on the arm. "Hail, then, Elisha, son of Shaphat!" "Thou knowest? . . ." "Who better than Miriam of Shunem? Put near thy face and look." "My eyes are very dim." "And the oaks are higher than Shunem. My face has changed: my voice also." "For the moment it was strange to me.
Not only was the poor widow helped out of her difficulties, her descendants unto all times were provided for. The oil rose in price, and it yielded so much profit that they never suffered want. The great woman of Shunem, the sister of Abishag and wife of the prophet Iddo, also had cause to be deeply grateful to Elisha.
Here Gideon pitched his camp in the old times; behind Shunem lay the "Midianites, the Amalekites, and the Children of the East," who were "as grasshoppers for multitude; both they and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude." Which means that there were one hundred and thirty-five thousand men, and that they had transportation service accordingly.
Here Gideon pitched his camp in the old times; behind Shunem lay the "Midianites, the Amalekites, and the Children of the East," who were "as grasshoppers for multitude; both they and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude." Which means that there were one hundred and thirty-five thousand men, and that they had transportation service accordingly.
Next, one sees the double summit which towers above Megiddo; the mountains of the country of Shechem, with their holy places of the patriarchal period; the hills of Gilboa, the small picturesque group to which is attached the graceful or terrible recollections of Shunem and of Endor; and Tabor, with its beautiful rounded form, which antiquity compared to a bosom.
When all is known it will be found that the men of the five talents have owed much of their success and more of their happiness to the fidelity and love of men of the one talent. How well Gehazi served Elisha! How nobly the servant comes out in that exquisite story of the Lady of Shunem. How jealous he is of his master's honour! How dear he was to Elisha's soul, "my heart! my other self!"
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