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Topic: TOWER (12/01/22)
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TITLE: A Day In Shnem | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Meiners
12/06/22 -
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It was a beautiful day in Shnem. Rhoda had just finished preparing a delicious meal for her household. As they were about to sit down to eat, there was a knock at the door.
“Now, who is that?” thought Rhoda.
As she opened the door, she was delighted to see their very dear friend Elisha.
“Elisha!” Everyone welcomed in unison.
“Come in,” invited Rhoda. “We were just about to have our meal. Please join us.”
Elisha took off his cloak, hung it on the hook, and took his place at the table. He invited Gehazi, his servant, to join him for repast.
Elisha was more than an invited guest, he was a special friend of the family. So-much-so that Rhoda convinced her husband to build a special room on their roof for Elisha to stay when he journeyed through their town. She called it his “tower room” his safe place. It was a cozy room complete with a bed, table, chair and lamp.
“Will you be spending the night with us Elisha?” Rhoda asked. “Your room is ready and it would be our delight to have you as our guest.”
Yes,” Elisha replied. “Gehazi and I will be spending the night. Thank you both for your kind hospitality.”
After Elisha turned in for the night he asked his servant, Gehazi, to call Rhoda to his room. He instructed his servant to say to her ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’
Rhoda answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
“Well,” Elisha asked, “What can be done for you?”
Gehazi answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.”
As Rhoda stood in the doorway, Elisha said to her, “At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.”
Rhoda was stunned. Could this be true?
“You wouldn’t deceive me Elisha, would you?”
“No, my child”
Just as Elisha had promised, when spring came, she gave birth to a son.
One day when the boy was twelve years old he joined his father in the field helping the reapers pick the harvest. All seemed fine until the boy cried out in pain, “Oh, my head, my head!” Panic stricken, his father asked the servant to carry him home to his mother.
Rhoda sat in the rocker for the next several hours with her son on her lap as she tried to comfort him and relieve his pain. Nothing she did helped.
Around noon the boy died.
Most mothers who have just lost her child would mourn deeply for her loss. Rhoda reacted differently. She went to “the tower” and laid him on Elisha’s bed, shut the door, then left him. She sent word to her husband to come. She asked, “Can you spare one servant and a donkey so I can go find the man of God to bring him back to the house”.
“Why do you want to do this?” Asked her husband. “It’s not a new moon or Sabbath.”
“I must go,” she replied.
She left immediately with her servant in search of Elisha. When Elisha saw her coming Gehazi ran at once to meet her. “Is everything okay with you and your son?” he asked.
“All is well,” Rhoda replied.
When she came close to Elisha she bowed at his feet. Elisha could see she was in bitter distress.
“My child, what is wrong?” asked Elisha.
“Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, “Do not deceive me?”
“My son is dead.”
Elisha gave Gehazi these orders. “Tie up your garment. Take my staff in your hand and go. Lay my staff on the face of the child.”
“No!” Rhoda cried. “You must come, Elisha.”
In silence, all three headed to the home of Rhoda.
Gehazi went on ahead. When he arrived at the house he did as Elisha had instructed, but there was no sign of life in the child. When Elisha arrived, he went to the bedside of the child and prayed. He covered the boy with his body. The child sneezed seven times!
Rhoda cried, “He’s alive”!
Elisha presented him to his mother.
Rhoda humbly bowed at the feet of Elisha. “Thank you. You have turned my pain into healing, my weeping into laughter.”
Cradling her son she said, “May God be praised!”
Story from 2 Kings 4:18-37 - ESV
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I liked the story. God can work miracles.