Bible Dictionary

Shunammite

Easton's Bible Dictionary 1897

A person of Shunem (1 Kings 1:3; 2 Kings 4:12). The Syr. and Arab. read “Sulamite.”

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia 1915

shoo'-na-mit (shunammith, shunammith; Codex Vaticanus Somaneitis; Codex Alexandrinus Soumanites): Applied to natives of Shunem.

(1) Abishag, who was brought to minister to the aged king David, love for whom led Adonijah to his doom (1Ki 1:3,15; 2:17, etc.).

(2) The woman, name unknown, whose son Elisha raised from the dead (2Ki 4:12, etc.). Later when apparently she had become a widow, after seven years' absence on account of famine, in the land of the Philistines, she returned to find her property in the hands of others. Elisha's intervention secured its restoration (2Ki 8:1-6).

(3) The Shulammite (So 6:13). In this name there is the exchange of "l" for "n" which is common.

W. Ewing