Articles
“Two Beautiful Women”
Shunem was an obscure city in the territory of Issachar (Josh. 19:18). It was also home to two notable women. Since they are the only Shunammites mentioned in Scripture a comparison is in order.
Abishag the Shunammite — (1 Kings 1)
We meet the first woman at the end of David’s life. After God had promised David a royal dynasty (2 Sam. 7:12-13) his family and kingdom began to fall apart. There was adultery, then murder, two rebellions (15:1-19:43; 20:1-26), a war with the Philistines (21:15-22), and an ill-advised census which resulted in a terrible plague (24:1-25). It is a tragic story of decline.
As David continued to age, his servants tried to solve the issue of the royal succession their own way. They looked for a woman to “wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms… So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite… The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.” (1 Kings 1:1-4)
Sadly, Abishag was regarded as little more than a blanket and a bedfellow for the king. The Hebrew expression “to wait” appears in Lev. 18:23 as “give herself,” which tells us the advisors’ intention was for Abishag to make herself sexually available to David. Another phrase, “lie in your arms,” also has sexual undertones (Gen. 16:5; 2 Sam. 12:8; Mic. 7:5). This was a calculated move to use Abishag’s beauty to entice the king and produce an heir. The king’s impotence (“the king knew her not”) was perhaps what sparked Adonijah’s rebellion in the following verses. Even worse, after Adonijah’s rebellion was quelled and Solomon was crowned king, Adonijah asked Bathsheba to “give [him] Abishag the Shunammite as [his] wife” (1 Kgs. 1:13-18) as a kind of consolation prize. This impertinent request cost him his life (1:19-25). Abishag, endowed with physical beauty by God, was regarded as a pawn by men and suffered terrible shame. How many women like Abishag are used in the same way today?
The Wealthy Shunammite Woman — (2 Kings 4)
The only other story of a Shunammite is much more refreshing. It comes years later during the tenure of Elisha the prophet. Unlike Abishag, this woman is not named or described physically. Instead, she is remembered for her wealth, hospitality, and faith.
She invited Elisha to eat as he traveled through Shunem (2 Kgs. 4:8). Recognizing him as a “holy man of God,” she consulted with her husband to make an apartment for Elisha so he could stay whenever he liked (4:9-10). Elisha wanted to thank her in a special way but serving the Lord was reward enough for her (4:12-13).
Elisha later found out she had “no son and her husband is old,” so he promised she would have a son the following year. Stunned, she thought the prophet was playing a cruel joke but, sure as God’s word, “the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.” (2 Kgs. 4:12-17) Years later, the child tragically died in his mother’s arms but Elisha, in a vivid display of God’s power, brought him back to life and restored him to his mother (2 Kgs. 4:32-37).
These two women, although both from Shunem and both beautiful, are a study in contrasts. One was cursed by her physical beauty and was caught in the middle of a twisted plan that ended in failure and disgrace. The unnamed woman's inwardly beauty was used for God’s good purposes and ended in honor. Abishag, like many women today, was exploited for her perishable beauty and suffered greatly. However, the unnamed woman's imperishable beauty was willingly given in service to God’s kingdom (1 Pet. 3:4; Rom. 6:13).
