The Shunammite Woman

Background to the Gospel lesson in Matthew 10:40-42 is a wonderful story of hospitality (2 Kings 4:8-17). Shunem (Sulam) still exists today near Nazareth. A wealthy woman there invited the prophet Elisha to eat with her and her husband. Her home became a regular stopping place as Elisha passed by. Her hospitality was so rare and great that she and her husband went to considerable trouble and expense building a spare room for him to rest on his journeys. Asking his assistant Gehazi what he could do to repay the woman’s kindness, he learned that she was childless. The prophet said she would bear a child. God rewards hospitality.