Shunem
A place in the Bible
A town in the Valley of Jezreel, in northern Israel. In the Douay-Rheims it is called “Sunam.”
What happened here
- The Shunammite woman: an important woman of Shunem invited the prophet Elisha to eat every time he passed by.
- Elisha’s room: she and her husband made him a small room with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp.
- The child: this woman’s son died. Elisha shut himself in with him, prayed to the Lord, and the boy opened his eyes.
Today
It was on the plain of Jezreel, in northern Israel.
Where it appears in the Bible
2 Kings 4:8; 2 Kings 4:9-10; 2 Kings 4:32-35
What the Bible says
2 Kings 4:8
And there was a day when Eliseus passed by Sunam: now there was a great woman there, who detained him to eat bread; and as he passed often that way, he turned into her house to eat bread.
2 Kings 4:9-10
9And she said to her husband: I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who often passeth by us. 10Let us therefore make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us, he may abide there.
2 Kings 4:32-35
32Eliseus therefore went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed. 33And going in he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord. 34And he went up, and lay upon the child: and he put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he bowed himself upon him, and the child’s flesh grew warm. 35Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro: and he went up, and lay upon him: and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Shunem”