Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

APRIL 8.]

LESSON XIV.

THE SHUNAMMITE.-2 Kings iv. 25-37.

RECITE VS. 32-36.

[About 889 B. C.

25 So she went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shu26 nammite: | Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is well with thy husband? is it well 27 with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the 28 LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. | Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive 29 me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: 30 and lay my staff upon the face of the child. | And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I 31 will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. | And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is 32 not awaked. | And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon 33 his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. | 34 And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh 35 of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro: and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened 36 his eyes. | And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So be called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy 37 son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

[blocks in formation]

CONNECTED HISTORY.-Elisha was entertained at the house of the Shunammite; promised to her a son; the child when grown fell sick and died; his mother went to Carmel for Elisha; he restored the child. [The dates in the margin of some of our Bibles are clearly wrong (895-4), as they do not allow time for the child to become grown;" he was probably from four to six years old.]

66

ORDER OF EVENTS.-(76.) Elisha at the house of the Shunammite. (77.) Her child's death. (78.) The child's restoration to life.

TO THE SCHOLAR.-Read very carefully the verses 8 to 31, telling how the little boy, while playing in the harvest field, was taken suddenly sick, brought home to his mother, and in a little while died..

NOTES.-Ge-ha'-zi. Nothing is known of his birth, or when he became Elisha's attendant. Later he was smitten with leprosy, and dismissed from the prophet's service. 2 Kings v. 20-27. Several years afterwards he obtained for the Shunammite the restoration of her property. 2 Kings viii. 1-6.-Shu'-nam-mite, a woman of Shunem (now Solam), a town in Issachar (Josh. xix. 18), at the south-western foot of Little Hermon. It was about 17 miles across the plain of Jezreel from Shunem to the nearest point of Carmel. Porter saw in the harvest fields at that place children playing among the sheaves, and all with bare heads in the blazing sunshine.-Staff, applied to the wand or sceptre of a ruler; might be used by any leader as a symbol of authority; was the badge of the prophetical gift and office of Elisha; probably of wood, but cannot be described from any Bible notices. (See picture, p. 51.)

EXPLANATIONS AND QUESTIONS.

Lesson Topics.-(I.) THE MOTHER'S APPEAL. (II.) GEHAZI'S FRUITLESS MISSION. (III.) ELISHA RESTORES THE DEAD CHILD.

...

...

Shu

I. THE MOTHER'S APPEAL. (25.) Gehazi nammite. See Notes. (26.) run to meet her, showing respect to the woman; It is well-literally, 66 peace, an ambiguous answer; she could not stop to explain to the servant. (27.) by the feet, an eastern form of supplication, still practiced, compare Mark v. 22; John xi. 32; hath hid it, hath not revealed it. I. Questions.-To whom did the afflicted mother go? Where? How far from her home? In what direction? Tell the story of her son's sickness. Of his death. Where had she left him? Who saw her coming to Mount Carmel? What did he bid Gehazi say to her? State her reply. The meaning of it? What did she do when she came to the prophet? The significance of this act? Mention some similar instances in Christ's time. What did Gehazi do? How did Elisha restrain him? Why? State her words to the prophet. To whom should we go in sorrow? How?

II. GEHAZI'S FRUITLESS MISSION. (29.) gird up thy loins, the loose robes must be tightly belted for rapid travelling; take my staff, sign of a prophetical act;

salute him not, the ceremonious Oriental salutations take much time, and hinder the traveller. (See picture, p. 26.) (30.) As the Lord liveth, etc., a double oath, the same as was three times used by Elisha. 2 Kings ii. 2, 4, 6; see also 1 Sam. xx. 3; xxv. 26. (31.) nor hearing, literally, nor attention;" not awaked, death is often spoken of as a sleep. 1 Kings i. 21; Matt. ix. 24; John xi. fl. II. Questions.-State Elisha's command to Gehazi. What was he to take? What not to do? Where to lay his staff? State the mother's words to the prophet. Mention other instances of a similar oath. What did the prophet do? v. 30. State how Gehazi executed his commision. With what effect? What report did he give to his master? Mention other instances where death is spoken of as a sleep.

[ocr errors]

III. ELISHA RESTORES THE DEAD CHILD. (32.) his bed -i. e., Elisha's bed. (33.) them twain, himself and the child. (34.) mouth upon his mouth, etc., doing these things successively; stretched himself, prostrated himself." (35.) returned, from the chamber; waxed warm, a sign of returning life, dead bodies are cold. (36.) Take up thy son, compare Elijah's action (1 Kings xvii. 23) and Christ's (Luke vii. 15).

III. Questions.-Where was the dead child? What three things did Elisha do? How did he lie upon the child? How many times stretch himself upon the child? With what result the first time? The second? State the prophet's command to Gehazi. To the Shunammite. What did she do? Describe a

similar miracle performed by Elijah. 1 Kings xvii. 17-24. How are the spiritually dead brought to life? Eph. ii. 1.

What facts in this lesson teach us

(1.) Where afflicted parents should seek consolation?
(2.) The weakness of human means?

(3.) The power of God to raise the dead?

66

HYMN, Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep!"-Calvary Songs, p. 153.

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

APR. 15.]

LESSON XV.

NAAMAN THE LEPER.-2 Kings v. 1-14.

RECITE VS. 10-14.

[About 894 B.C.

1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty 2 man in valour, but he was a leper. | And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And 3 she said unto her mistress, | Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his 4 leprosy. And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and 5 thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes 6 of raiment. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest 7 recover him of his leprosy. | And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood 10 at the door of the house of Elisha. | And Elisha sent a

8

messenger unto him, saying, Go, and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come 11 again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. | But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and 12 recover the leper. | Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? 13 So he turned and went away in a rage. | And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, 14 Wash, and be clean? | Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

[blocks in formation]

CONNECTED HISTORY.-Elisha healed the deadly pottage at Gilgal; satisfied a hundred men with twenty loaves and full ears of corn. [Naaman was probably cured before the raising of the Shunammite's son. The writer having begun the account of Elisha's visit to Shunem, completes it before noting other events.]

ORDER OF EVENTS.-(79.) Elisha heals the deadly pottage. (80.) Satisfies a hundred men. (81.) Naaman is cured of his leprosy.

TO THE SCHOLAR.-Study the Old Testament story of the healing of a leper, with the desire of finding how it illustrates the New Testament cure for sin.

NOTES.-Na'-a-man (pleasantness, grace), not mentioned elsewhere except in Luke iv. 27. Jewish tradition says he was the archer who shot king Ahab (1 Kings xxii. 34), and thus gave "deliverance unto Syria." The Assyrian monuments show that Syria had broken away from the Assyrian yoke about this time, and Naaman may have performed his great services in this war for independence.-Lep'-ro-sy, a most terrible, loathsome and incurable disease, by which the victim's body is slowly consumed. Special laws were given to those who had it (Lev. xiii. xiv.), and they were kept apart from all others by the Jews. The Syrians were less strict in isolating lepers. Leprosy was sometimes a direct judgment of God, as with Moses (Ex. iv. 6), Miriam (Num. xii. 10), Gehazi (2 Kings v. 27), Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 19). Leprosy is a most forcible type of sin. Christ healed it. Matt. viii. 2; Luke xvii. 12.-Tal'-ents, a silver talent was equivalent to about 1600 American "trade dollars."-Pieces of gold. Coined money did not exist. The pieces were cut from bars (Wilkinson says they were sometimes in the form of rings) and weighed. The "piece," or "shekel," was worth from six to ten dollars. The whole value of the silver and gold taken by Naaman is estimated at from $54,000 to $75,000.-Char-i-ot. Solomon had brought chariots out of Egypt and furnished them to the Syrians. 1 Kings x. 29. These were two-wheeled vehicles, drawn by horses, and usually containing two persons. Jor'-dan (the descender), the chief river of Palestine. It is a deep, sluggish stream, of a clayey color.-Ab'-a-na," the golden stream of the Greeks, rises in Anti-Lebanon, 23 miles from Damascus, and runs directly through the city, supplying its orchards and gardens; now the Barada.-Phar'-par, the modern El-Awaj, rising in Mt. Hermon, and flowing through the plains 8 miles south of Damascus. Both the rivers are clear, bright mountain streams. -Da-mas-ous, the capital of Syria, one of the oldest cities in the world, and still flourishing.

« AnteriorContinuar »