The Bible has a good deal to say about the land question. There is one memorable passage in Isaiah (Isaiah 5:8): "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth l" There is another memorable passage in the Epistle of St, James: "Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth." If such denunciations of oppression and wrong had been remembered, we should have had less of socialistic combinations and less of agrarian crime. In this passage we have -

I. A COMMAND OBEYED. Elisha's command seemed a hard one. This woman of Shunem was to arise with her household, and leave her home and farm for seven years. He told her, indeed, that there was to be a famine in the land. But she might have wanted more proof. She might have said, "Well, I shall wait till I see some signs of the famine. It is a great hardship to have to get up in this way and leave my home, without any immediate reason. What if Elisha's fears should turn out to be untrue? May not the famine be as bad anywhere else?" So men often reason when God gives them some command or points out to them the way of salvation. Lot lingered, when urged to depart out of Sodom, though the very angels of God had come to warn him of his doom. So men linger still, when urged to flee from the wrath to come. They linger, though every day is bringing them nearer to eternity. They linger, though they know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man may come. Whether it be the path of salvation or the path of Christian service which God calls us to tread, let us not linger, let us not hesitate to obey, but, like this woman of Shunem, let us do at once what God commands.

II. LOSS INCURRED. This woman actually did suffer by her prompt obedience. She escaped the famine, indeed, but she lost her land. On this subject Dr. Thomson says, in 'The Land and the Book,' "It is still common for even petty sheikhs to confiscate the property of any person who is exiled for a time, or who moves away temporarily from his district. Especially is this true of widows and orphans, and the Shunammite was now a widow. And small is the chance to such of having their property restored, unless they can secure the mediation of some one more influential than themselves. The conversation between the king and Gehazi about his master is also in perfect keeping with the habits of Eastern princes; and the appearance of the widow and her son so opportunely would have precisely the same effect now that it had then. Not only the land, but all the fruits of it would be restored. There is an air of genuine verisimilitude in such simple narratives which it is quite impossible for persons not intimately familiar with Oriental manners to appreciate, but which stamps the incidents with undoubted certainty." We may incur loss from a worldly point of view by obeying a command of God. But which do we prefer - worldly gain or a conscience at peace with God? Which less is greater - the loss of a few pounds, or the loss of our heavenly Father's smile? Even if we do lose by it - it is best to do the will of God, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

III. QUESTIONS ASKED. We are not told what led to this remarkable conversation which Jehoram had with Gehazi. Perhaps the time of famine had humbled him. Perhaps he was becoming penitent for his threat of taking Elisha's life. Perhaps it was mere idle curiosity. But at any rate, here is the King of Israel inquiring of Gehazi, "Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done." Gehazi, at this time, loved to think and speak of Elisha. He had been a good master to him. His deeds were worth recording. And so Gehazi proceeds to tell the story of Elisha's mighty deeds.

1. We ought to be ready to answer questions about our Master. They may proceed from curiosity, from wrong motives, Never mind. Our answer, given in a Christian spirit, may be the means of disarming ridicule. It may be an opportunity for us to tell the old, old story of the cross.

2. We ought not to be ashamed of our Master. He is "the chiefest among ten thousand... and altogether lovely." His Name is above every name. The Name, the life, the works, the words, of Jesus ought to be a favorite theme with us.

IV. RESTITUTION MADE. When God's time comes, how very easily he can fulfill his purposes! Gehazi had just reached that part of his story where Elisha restored the Shunammite's son to life, when, to his astonishment and delight, the Shunammite herself appeared on the scene. She came with her petition to the king that he would cause her house and land to be restored. Gehazi, not, perhaps, very regardful of courtesy or etiquette, calls out in the fullness of his joy, "My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life." The king, whose feelings had already been touched by the pathetic narrative of the little lad carried home from the harvest-field to die, touched also by the entreaty of the woman for the restoration of her lost property, and perhaps recognizing the hand of Providence in the remarkable events of that day, gives orders that not only her land, but the fruits of it from the day she left, should be restored to her. That was wholesale restoration and restitution. Who shall say it was unjust? What a disgorging there would be, if all who have taken money or land from others by unlawful means, all who have extorted unjust rents, were compelled to restore their ill-gotten gains! The Shunammite had not suffered, after all, by her obedience. "No one hath forsaken houses, or lands, or father, or mother, or friends... but he shall receive an hundredfold more in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting." - C.H.I.

We approach, in this chapter, the end of Elisha's wondrous but most useful career. His days are now perceptibly numbered, and one more recorded event, and he passes from the scene of this world. The text presupposes that the reputation of Elisha was established as a great and holy man "Tell me all the great things that Elisha hath done." The question of the king is introductory to an interesting illustration of the working of Divine providence, in bringing together persons and things in a most unexpected manner, to the furtherance of the ends of justice and the promotion of honesty. We are here also recalled to an old acquaintance, of whom we have heard nothing in the prophet's history for some years, namely, the pious Shunammite; but, although we find no record of herself and family during this interval, it is clear that her acquaintance with Elisha had been kept up, and that he may have been her counsellor and guide in many a difficult position. A prolonged famine of seven years is approaching. Elisha knows it; for "the Lord had called for it" (ver. 1). A partial famine for a brief space had already been endured at the hands of man — the Syrian enemy during the siege of Samaria. It does not appear to have worked any good effect in humbling tim nation. As the smaller judgment is unheeded, the Lord will send a greater. And let us not omit to observe how partial this visitation is to be. The good land, the most fruitful of all lands, is to be blasted with its desolating evidence, while, but a few score miles away, in the country of the Philistines, there is plenty. Surely "the Lord doth make a fruitful land barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein" (Psalm 107:34); and His providence can as easily give plenty here and want there, as the day succeeds the night and the night the day, even as He teaches by Amos (Amos 4:7). Thus it was here; for Elisha, summoning the Shunammite to his presence, forewarns and advises her concerning the coming straitness, "Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn" (ver. 1). And we can readily see what an advantage the foreknowledge of Elisha would have secured. It would enable the family to make a suitable disposition of property, while plenty was still in the land, and the coming famine hidden from the people at large; and thus she could take enough with her for their support in the land of the Philistines during that lengthened period. And thus we may again notice how the Lord repaid her faith and affection for His servant (Matthew 10:41). Well, time, that never stands still, pursued its course — and the seven years had passed. What happened during that period we do not learn. How her son had grown to man's estate, and was now probably her stay and comfort in the land of the stranger; " It came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land" (ver. 3). And now the remarkable providence of Jehovah meets our eyes. The king, we may charitably hope, had profited by the Divine visitation, and he who cared little for the Lord and his servants during comparative prosperity is anxious to hear about the great prophet in "the day of his distress." Or, if we would take the more unfavourable view of ibis proceeding, we may suppose that mere curiosity, in an idle moment, prompted the king to request of Gehazi the leper an account of "all the great things Elisha had done." And was Gehazi, though now a leper in body, a penitent in heart, and clean in soul? Had the fearful correction administered to his sin wrought a salutary end? It is an interesting thought that "the destruction of the flesh may have been the salvation of the spirit" (1 Corinthians 5:5); but it can only be a thought, for the Scripture is silent. How manifest are the leadings of a special providence! that just at the moment when Jehoram is listening attentively to this surprising account from Gehazi's lips, and is perhaps wanting a confirmation of the wonder in his heart — just at this precise moment, when he was telling the king "how the prophet had restored a dead body to life" (ver. 5) — the Shunammite herself enters the Court: "Behold, the woman, whose son be had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land." There are two inquiries on which a few words may here be said: —

I. WAS IT A MATTER OF CHANCE? and I reply in the negative — It was not a matter of chance. No converted man would for an instant yield to such an imagination; but there are many nominal Christians who think and speak of such events as if they were but a lucky or unlucky combination of accidents, as the case may touch them. Why was it not a matter of chance? Because to cherish the supposition is to dethrone Jehovah from His supreme seat of absolute control over all things, as well as all creatures, living. If we calmly reflect awhile on the point, such an argument at once places all secondary causes, such as the elements, the seasons, the maladies, and other external movements affecting outwardly .the human family, as well as the motives and influences bearing upon the internal economy of man, beyond the inclination of the almighty God over all. It is much the same in probability as if an individual were to argue that the works of a watch would go forward, and the wheels run their regular course, without any mainspring to set them in motion. As opposed to such a view, nothing that happens can possibly be a matter of chance in a believer's eye. His own experience would contradict the opinion, if he had not the word of Jesus to sustain it (Luke 12:6, 7).

II. BUT WAS THIS UNEXPECTED MEETING AN EVENT IN ANY WISE IMPROBABLE AND UNWORTHY OF CREDIT? A brief examination of the narrative may anticipate such a thought, and prevent its entertainment. There are many here who have experienced, to say the least, occurrences quite as improbable as this. All the circumstances are natural and consistent. What more natural than the Shunammite, finding on her return to her own country that her "house and her land" had been appropriated by another, should at once seek the king's presence, and "cry unto him" for the restoration of her rights? .and what more consistent than the fact of such a presence being sought, and such a petition being offered, at a time when, as we have seen, his majesty was probably holding a Court, and Gehazi was admitted for some like end? The result may be viewed as almost a necessary, consequence. The king, arrested by the singular coincidence, and struck by this unexpected confirmation, is at once predisposed to lend a favourable ear to the Shunammite's prayer, and so, with the characteristic decision of a despotic judgment, commands officer to see not only "her house and her land" restored, but even "all the fruits of the field since the day that she had left" (ver. 6). The decision was in accordance with the instructions given to Israel's judges: "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy from out of the hand of the wicked" (Psalm 82:3, 4). This happy result is calculated to strengthen the faith of all who can feel, with the apostle, that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness" (1 Corinthians 3:19). One who can grasp this fact in his inmost heart can indeed realise the persuasion of the Psalmist (Psalm 91:1), "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." He feels that whatever seems to make against him is really working for him. Cherish such a trust in the living God. It will sanctify every event of your life; it will moderate its joys; it will mitigate its sorrows; it will quicken activity, while it will temper hastiness; it will arouse indolence, while it will moderate zeal; above all, it will ever impart contentment with results, whatever may be the disappointment by the way. But again: this happy end to the Shunammite will not, I fear, correct the error of those who are sceptical and incredulous of a special providence. The very circumstance of the means by which it was compassed being natural and probable will, strange to say, often have the effect of hardening the mind against better impressions. It is thus that extremes so frequently meet, and exhibit a character of most perplexing inconsistency. The incredulous in what is probable will be the most credulous in what is improbable; and the man who rejects the workings of Divine providence in natural and common events will be the foremost to receive, aye, and to contend for, those workings in unnatural and uncommon events. Thus, a heathen will, as Ezekiel describes, "use divination at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to know which to take; he will make his arrows bright, he will consult his images, he will look in the liver" (Ezekiel 21:21); and thus an ignorant and superstitious but nominal Christian will have recourse to the turning of a pack of cards, or the winding of tea-leaves round a teacup, or the lines in the hand, sagely pronounced upon by a mysterious operator, while they would openly scoff at, or in heart ridicule, the notion of immediate direction being given to man at a throne of grace in answer to effectual, fervent prayer.

(G. L. Glyn.)