Wednesday | 14 October 2026
When the word of God is proclaimed a second time, it is also the opportunity for restoration, through faith, for resurrection life. The account of the Shunamite woman is a good example of this principle. When Elisha first proclaimed to the woman that she would have a son, she did not believe him. 2Ki 4:16. She responded by saying to the messenger, ‘No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!’ 2Ki 4:16. Nevertheless, the woman conceived and bore a son at the time appointed by Elisha.
Significantly, this child was born according to the faith of the messenger. The child was not born according to the woman’s faith, for she did not believe the word concerning her house. When the boy was still young, he became sick and died. 2Ki 4:20‑22. The woman immediately recognised her own culpability for the situation, which she attributed to her unbelief concerning the word of the messenger.
When she came before Elisha, the messenger, she caught him by the feet and said to him, ‘Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, “Do not deceive me”?’ 2Ki 4:27‑28. This was an action of repentance, as she reminded the messenger of the response that she had made when the word had first been proclaimed to her. She was confessing that the word had died in her house, and the promise had been lost because of her unbelief.
The woman expressed faith for a second time in relation to the word that had been proclaimed to her household, by clinging to the messenger in a new way. Her relationship with Elisha shifted from being a benefactor in the first time to a disciple in the second time. Notably, the child was not raised from the dead because of the faith of Elisha. It was the faith of the woman toward a new season of discipleship that enabled resurrection life to come to her household.
Further Study:
2 Kings 4
References:
2Ki 4:16
Then he said, ‘About this time next year you shall embrace a son.’ And she said, ‘No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!’
2Ki 4:20-22
When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. Then she called to her husband, and said, ‘Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.’
2Ki 4:27-28
Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, ‘Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me, and has not told me.’ So, she said, ‘Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, “Do not deceive me”?’