What does the Sunamitess do when Giezi is sent ahead with Eliseus’s staff?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

She swears by the living Lord and Eliseus’s living soul that she will not leave him. Eliseus rises and follows her. Giezi places the staff on the child’s face but reports that the child has not risen; Eliseus then comes to the house himself.

Chapter breakdown

A woman among the prophets’ wives cries to Eliseus. Her husband, whom she calls his servant, is dead; Eliseus knows he feared God. A creditor has come to take her two sons to serve him. Eliseus asks what she wants him to do for her and what she has in her house. Calling herself his handmaid, she says she has nothing but a little oil to anoint herself.

Eliseus tells her to borrow empty vessels from all her neighbors, not a few. She and her sons are to go inside and shut the door. She is to pour into all the vessels and take them away when full. She shuts the door with her sons inside; they bring vessels and she pours. When they are full, she asks her son for another. He says there are no more, and the oil stops. She reports to the man of God. He tells her to sell the oil, pay the creditor and live with her sons on the rest.

One day Eliseus passes through Sunam, where a great woman invites him to eat bread. As he often passes that way, he turns into her house to eat. She tells her husband she perceives that this frequent visitor is a holy man of God. She proposes a little chamber with a little bed, table, stool and candlestick, so he can stay when he comes. On a later visit he enters the chamber and rests there.

Eliseus tells his servant Giezi to call the Sunamitess. She comes and stands before him. He tells Giezi to say that she has diligently served them in all things and to ask what he can do for her: does she have business for which she wants him to speak to the king or the army’s general? She answers that she lives among her own people. Eliseus asks what he should do for her. Giezi says not to ask, because she has no son and her husband is old. Eliseus tells him to call her again, and she stands before the door.

Eliseus tells her that at this time and the same hour, if life be in company, she will have a son in her womb. She begs him, as a man of God, not to lie to his handmaid. She conceives and bears a son at the time and same hour he had said.

The child grows. One day he goes to his father among the reapers and twice says his head aches. His father tells a servant to carry him to his mother. She seats him on her knees until noon, when he dies. She goes up, lays him on the man of God’s bed, shuts the door and goes out.

She asks her husband for one of his servants and an ass so she can run to the man of God and return. He asks why she goes when it is neither new moon nor sabbath. She answers that she will go. She saddles the ass and tells her servant to drive quickly, make no stop and do what she bids. She comes to the man of God at mount Carmel. Seeing her approach, Eliseus points out the Sunamitess to Giezi.

Eliseus tells Giezi to meet her and ask whether all is well with her, her husband and her son. She answers that it is well. When she reaches Eliseus on the mount, she catches hold of his feet. Giezi comes to remove her, but Eliseus tells him to leave her alone: her soul is in anguish, and the Lord has hidden it from him and has not told him. She asks whether she asked her lord for a son and whether she had not told him not to deceive her.

Eliseus tells Giezi to gird his loins, take his staff in hand and go. If anyone meets him, he is not to salute him; if anyone salutes him, he is not to answer. He is to lay the staff on the child’s face.

Challoner’s separate note applies the instruction about salutations to someone sent to raise a spiritually dead sinner to life. Such a person must not be called away or diverted from the task by the world’s salutations or ceremonies.

The child’s mother swears by the living Lord and Eliseus’s living soul that she will not leave him. He rises and follows her. Giezi has gone ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but there is no voice or sense. He returns to meet Eliseus and reports that the child has not risen.

The separate annotation presents St. Augustine’s understanding of a mystery in this miracle. The staff sent with the servant figures Moses’s rod, or the Old Law, which could not bring mankind, dead in sin, to life. Christ himself had to come, take human nature, become flesh of our flesh and restore us to life. In this reading Eliseus figures Christ: he had to come himself to bring the dead child to life and restore him to his mother. The mother, in this mystical sense, figures the Church.

Eliseus enters the house and finds the child dead on his bed. He shuts the door with himself and the child inside and prays to the Lord. He lies upon the child, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, eyes on eyes and hands on hands. As he bows over him, the child’s flesh grows warm. Eliseus returns and walks once to and fro in the house, then goes up and lies upon the child again. The child gapes seven times and opens his eyes.

Eliseus calls Giezi and tells him to call the Sunamitess. She comes in, and Eliseus tells her to take up her son. She falls at his feet and worships upon the ground, takes up her son and goes out.

Eliseus returns to Galgal during a famine in the land. The sons of the prophets dwell before him. He tells a servant to set on the great pot and boil pottage for them. Someone goes into the field for wild herbs, finds something like a wild vine, gathers field gourds until his mantle is full, and cuts them into the pot when he returns. He does not know what it is.

Challoner’s separate note identifies the wild gourds as colocynthidas. It says they are extremely bitter, hence called the gall of the earth, and poisonous if taken in a great quantity.

They pour the pottage out for their companions. After tasting it, they cry to the man of God that death is in the pot and cannot eat it. Eliseus asks for meal. When it comes, he casts it into the pot and tells them to pour it out for the people to eat. There is now no bitterness in the pot.

A man comes from Baalsalisa bringing the man of God firstfruits bread, twenty barley loaves and new corn in his bag. Eliseus tells his servant to give it to the people to eat. The servant asks how so little can be set before a hundred men. Eliseus repeats the command and gives the Lord’s word that they will eat and some will remain. The servant sets it before them; they eat and some remains according to the Lord’s word.

The story inside

The chapter follows four households or groups receiving Eliseus’s instructions. The widow reports a creditor’s claim on her two sons. Borrowed vessels fill with oil until no vessel remains; she is then told to sell it, pay the creditor and live on the rest. At Sunam, repeated meals lead to a chamber for Eliseus. His offer to speak for the woman receives her answer about her people; Giezi’s report that she has no son leads to the promise and birth. The boy later dies on her knees at noon. She places him on Eliseus’s bed and goes to Carmel. After her brief answer to Giezi, she holds Eliseus’s feet and recalls her earlier plea not to be deceived. Giezi’s staff brings no voice or sense; the mother has refused to leave Eliseus, who follows her. He prays and lies upon the child, whose flesh warms; after another approach the child gapes seven times and opens his eyes. The mother receives him and goes out. At Galgal, a gatherer unknowingly adds wild gourds to pottage, which the companions cannot eat. Meal is added and bitterness is gone. Firstfruits from Baalsalisa are then set before a hundred men, who eat with some left. Three separate annotations give a spiritual application, an attributed Augustinian reading and a qualified plant explanation.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The widow’s instructions include both the pouring and what to do afterward. Empty vessels are borrowed from all the neighbors, not a few; her sons bring them behind the shut door. The oil stops when no vessel remains. Eliseus then tells her to pay the creditor from its sale and live with her sons on the rest. The account reports that instruction without narrating the later sale.
2
The mother’s exchanges preserve what each person knows and says. She answers Giezi that all is well, but Eliseus later says her soul is in anguish and that the Lord has not told him about it. Her refusal to leave him precedes his following her. Giezi reports the staff’s unsuccessful result before Eliseus prays in the house. The annotation’s Augustinian reading must remain distinct from that narrative.
3
The two food accounts keep different particulars. The gatherer does not know what he has put into the pottage; Challoner’s plant note qualifies its poison by quantity. After meal is added, the verse says no bitterness remains. The later gift is twenty barley loaves and new corn; the servant’s question names a hundred men, and the Lord’s word promises food left over. None of these details requires an invented explanation of how the change happens.

Test your recall

How do the mother’s earlier plea, the child’s death, her journey and refusal to leave Eliseus lead from Giezi’s failed staff placement to Eliseus’s prayer and the child’s return to her?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 38304–38316
4 Kings Chapter 4 Miracles of Eliseus. He raiseth a dead child to life. 4:1. Now a certain woman of the wives of the prophets, cried to Eliseus, saying: Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him. 4:2. And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she answered: I, thy handmaid, have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me.
Lines 38317–38332
4:3. And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbours empty vessels, not a few. 4:4. And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within, and thy sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full, take them away. 4:5. So the woman went, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in. 4:6. And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood. 4:7. And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest.
Lines 38333–38346
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. 4:9. And she said to her husband: I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who often passeth by us. 4:10. Let 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. 4:11. Now, there was a certain day, when he came, and turned into the chamber, and rested there.
Lines 38347–38361
4:12. And he said to Giezi, his servant: Call this Sunamitess. And when he had called her, and she stood before him, 4:13. He said to his servant: Say to her: Behold, thou hast diligently served us in all things; what wilt thou have me to do for thee? Hast thou any business, and wilt thou, that I speak to the king, or to the general of the army? And she answered: I dwell in the midst of my own people. 4:14. And he said: What will she then that I do for her? And Giezi said: Do not ask, for she hath no son, and her husband is old. 4:15. Then he bid him call her. And when she was called, and stood before the door,
Lines 38362–38368
4:16. He said to her: At this time, and this same hour, if life be in company, thou shalt have a son in thy womb. But she answered: Do not, I beseech thee, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie to thy handmaid. 4:17. And the woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time, and at the same hour that Eliseus had said.
Lines 38369–38380
4:18. And the child grew. And on a certain day, when he went out to his father to the reapers, 4:19. He said to his father: My head acheth, my head acheth. But he said to his servant. Take him, and carry him to his mother. 4:20. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sat him on her knees, until noon, and then he died. 4:21. And she went up, and laid him upon the bed of the man of God, and shut the door: and going out,
Lines 38381–38394
4:22. She called her husband, and said: Send with me, I beseech thee, one of thy servants, and an ass, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. 4:23. And he said to her: Why dost thou go to him? to day is neither new moon nor sabbath. She answered: I will go. 4:24. And she saddled an ass, and commanded her servant: Drive, and make haste, make no stay in going: And do that which I bid thee. 4:25. So she went forward, and came to the man of God, to mount Carmel: and when the man of God saw her coming towards, he said to Giezi, his servant: Behold that Sunamitess.
Lines 38395–38405
4:26. Go, therefore, to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with thee, and with thy husband, and with thy son? And she answered: Well. 4:27. And when she came to the man of God, to the mount, she caught hold on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of God said: Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. 4:28. And she said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord? did I not say to thee: Do not deceive me?
Lines 38406–38410
4:29. Then he said to Giezi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go. If any man meet thee, salute him not: and if any man salute thee, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
Lines 38411–38414
Salute him not.... He that is sent to raise to life the sinner spiritually dead, must not suffer himself to be called off, or diverted from his enterprise, by the salutations or ceremonies of the world.
Lines 38415–38422
4:30. But the mother of the child said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. He arose, therefore, and followed her. 4:31. But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he returned to meet him, and told him, saying: The child is not risen.
Lines 38423–38432
St. Augustine considers a great mystery in this miracle wrought by the prophet Eliseus, thus: By the staff sent by his servant is figured the rod of Moses, or the Old Law, which was not sufficient to bring mankind to life then dead in sin. It was necessary that Christ himself should come, and by taking on human nature, become flesh of our flesh, and restore us to life. In this Eliseus was a figure of Christ, as it was necessary that he should come himself to bring the dead child to life and restore him to his mother, who is here, in a mystical sense, a figure of the Church.
Lines 38433–38446
4:32. Eliseus, therefore, went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed: 4:33. And going in, he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord. 4:34. 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 bowed himself upon him, and the child’s flesh grew warm. 4:35. Then 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.
Lines 38447–38452
4:36. And he called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess. And she being called, went in to him: and he said: Take up thy son. 4:37. She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground: and took up her son, and went out.
Lines 38453–38462
4:38. And Eliseus returned to Galgal, and there was a famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets dwelt before him: And he said to one of his servants: Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. 4:39. And one went out into the field to gather wild herbs: and he found something like a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds of the field, and filled his mantle, and coming back, he shred them into the pot of pottage; for he knew not what it was.
Lines 38463–38466
Wild gourds of the field.... Colocynthidas. They are extremely bitter, and therefore are called the gall of the earth; and are poisonous if taken in a great quantity.
Lines 38467–38474
4:40. And they poured it out for their companions to eat: and when they had tasted of the pottage, they cried out, saying: Death is in the pot, O man of God. And they could not eat thereof. 4:41. But he said: Bring some meal. And when they had brought it, he cast it into the pot, and said: Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was now no bitterness in the pot.
Lines 38475–38487
4:42. And a certain man came from Baalsalisa, bringing to the man of God, bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and new corn in his scrip. And he said: Give to the people, that they may eat. 4:43. And his servant answered him: How much is this, that I should set it before a hundred men? He said again: Give to the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord: They shall eat, and there shall be left. 4:44. So he set it before them: and they ate, and there was left, according to the word of the Lord.