Daily Tanach Thursday 15th Shevat, Sefer Melachim 2 Chapter 8 Part 1: The Shunamis

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Chapter 8: The Shunamis, Elisha and  king Chazael and Yehoram

  1. The Shunamis flees from famine:
  • Elisha instructs the Shunamis to flee from famine: When the famine was first set to take place in the land of Israel, Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had revived [i.e. the Shunamis], telling her that she should take her household and flee to a different area being that G-d has decreed a famine onto the land for a total of seven years. [This was the famine that occurred in the days of Yoel Ben Petuel.[1]]
  • The Shunamis flees to the land of the Philistines: The woman heeded to the instructions of Elisha and she traveled together with her household and settled in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
  • The Shunamis returns to find her field taken: At the end of seven years, the Shunamis woman returned from the land of Philistines [and found her home and field taken by squatters while she was gone, and they refused to leave[2]]. She went to the king to complain about her house and field asking him to have it restored to her possession.
  • The king hears of the miracle of the resurrection of the son of the Shunamis: [At the same time that the Shunamis woman came to complain to the king[3]] the king was speaking to Geichazi, the servant of Elisha, and was asking him to tell him of all the great miracles that Elisha had performed. When Geichazi began telling the king of the miracle that Elisha performed in resurrecting a young sick lad from the dead, at that same moment the Shunamis woman whose son he had revived came to the king with her complaint regarding the squatters that took over her house and field. Geichazi then said to the king that this is the very woman in the story, and it is her son whom Elisha revived.
  • The king orders the land and grain to be restored to the Shunamis: The king asked the woman as to what she wants and she told him of the squatters who stole her property, and the king appointed a minister to go with her and make sure that all of her property is returned to her and that she be reimbursed for all the produce of the field that was taken from her unrightfully from the day she left the land until now.

[1] Rashi 8:1

[2] See Ralbag 8:3

[3] Metzudos Dovid 8:4

About The Author

Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein is a 6th generation descendent of the famous Chief Rabbi of Izhmir, Rav Yehoshua Avraham Krispin, who authored a number of Sefarim, and was a colleague of Rav Chaim Falagi, and father in-law of the Pesach Hadvir. He currently lives with his wife Shayna, and twelve children K”H, in Tzfas, Israel. Rabbi Goldstein received Semicha from Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski of the Tomchei Temimim headquarters in 2005 and served as a chaplain in the Lotar/Kalatz and K9 unit of the IDF from years 2005-2008. He is also a certified Shochet, and has performed Hashgacha work in slaughterhouses. Rabbi Goldstein is the director of Shulchanaruchharav.com, the world’s leading web-based Halacha database, and is the director of the Home Study Semicha Program, a self-study web-based Semicha program. He is a prolific author of over 50 Sefarim studied by a wide range of readers throughout the world, which is used regularly in Semicha programs around the globe. He is a world renowned Posek, answering questions to a web-based market, and serves as a local Posek, Rav, and Lecturer, in the Tzemach Tzedek community Shul in Tzefas, Israel. His many classes can be heard both from his website, Vimeo and YouTube channel. Students can join live to classes given in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, through the “בית חבד צפת Chabad Tsfat” YouTube channel.

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