Shortly after his death and burial, Moses was raised back to life again and taken to heaven. Moses, was a courageous leader who led the people of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, a short time after he was buried was raised immortal. In other words, Moses would never experience death again.  But Moses was not the only one who has been raised back to life again. There are two more cases found in the Old Testament.

Sin, Evil, Death, Dying, and What Happens After We Die

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

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Inviting the Holy Spirit

Father, we are grateful to you for the assurance of eternal life through Jesus. Thank You for providing the evidence of your resurrection power through those you have brought back to life. In Jesus’ Name Amen

In the previous lesson, Lesson 5, Day 2, we discover that Moses was not allowed to enter the earthly Canaan. But he received a greater reward. He was raised back to life and taken to the heavenly Canaan to live forever. You can review this lesson at SabbathSchoolDaily.com 

In the Old Testament, besides the resurrection of Moses, 1 Kings 17:8–24 and 2 Kings 4:18–37 tells of two other people that were raised back to life again. 

In lesson 4, we established that resurrection is a time when God wakes up people from the dead. Again, if you have not viewed Lesson 4, check it out at SabbathSchoolDaily.com

The two stories about the resurrections in 1 Kings 17:8–24 and 2 Kings 4:18–37 seem similar, but they have some significant differences. Read them and see if you can determine the similarities and differences, between the two stories.

In both cases, someone was raised from the dead.

In Hebrews 11:35, we read that because of their faith,

35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; (Hebrews11:35).

This is exactly what happened in 1 Kings 17:8–24 and 2 Kings 4:18–37.  

They tell us about two women whose sons died and because of their faith, God restore their sons’ lives. So, God woke up their sons from the dead and gave them back to their mothers.

The first incident happened during the time when almost everyone in Israel had apostatized, they had stopped worshiping God. This is found in 1 Kings 17:8–24.

This happened under the leadership of King Ahab and his pagan wife Jezebel. (Split)

People of that day were considered pagans who worship gods outside of the God Most High, the God who created the heavens and the earth. Thus, it was with Jezebel, the pagan Queen of Israel. (Split)

Consequently, Israel experiences a severe drought, in which they had no rainfall for a long time. During this time, God commanded Elijah, a prophet and man of God to go to Zarephath, a town outside of Israel. There, Elijah met a widow Phoenician woman. Phoenicia today would be located primarily in modern Lebanon.

This widow had enough food for one final meal for herself and her son. After this meal, they would have no food left to eat.

It says in the book Conflict and Courage,

The coming of Elijah on the very day when the widow feared that she must give up the struggle to sustain life tested to the utmost her faith in the power of the living God to provide for her necessities. But even in her dire extremity, she bore witness to her faith by a compliance with the request of the stranger who was asking her to share her last morsel with him. . . . 

The widow of Zarephath shared her morsel with Elijah, and in return, her life and that of her son were preserved. And to all who, in time of trial and want, give sympathy and assistance to others needier, God has promised great blessing.—Conflict and Courage, p. 206.

God gave them a miracle. He gave the widow much flour and oil. The flour and oil did not run out until the rain came. But

something sad happened after the miracle.  The widow’s son got sick and died.

The widow asked Elijah to help her. What did Elijah do? Elijah cried out to the Lord. 

“The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the boy returned to him and he revived” (1 Kings 17:22, NASB).

The little boy was brought back to life again.

The second story in which a person other than Moses was resurrected happened in Shunem. This story is found in 2 Kings

4:18–37. Shunem was a small village south of Mount Gilboa near the sea of Galilee. There, Elisha, a prophet and man of God met a married woman who had no children. Elisha told her that she was going to have a son and just as he predicted she had a son.

The child grew and was healthy. But then the boy got sick and died. The Shunammite woman went to Mount Carmel. There, the woman asked Elisha to come to see her son.

—àHere is what the book Prophets and Kings says about this incident.

The mother would not be satisfied till Elisha himself came with her. “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee,” she declared. “And he arose, and followed her.” . . .

When they reached the house, Elisha went into the room where the dead child lay, “and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro, and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.” . . . (Split)

So was the faith of this woman rewarded. Christ, the great Life-giver, restored her son to her. In like manner will His faithful ones be rewarded, when, at His coming, death loses its sting and the grave is robbed of the victory it has claimed. Then will He restore to His servants the children that have been taken from them by death. —Prophets and Kings, pp. 238, 239.

So, Elisha went with her and prayed to the Lord for the child. God answered Elisha’s prayer and the child woke up from the dead. (Split)

These women were of different religions, and of different backgrounds. They were not Israelites. Yet they both had

the same saving faith. The widow of Zarephath, the Phoenician woman, fed Elijah at a time when there was no safe place for him in Israel.

The Shunammite woman and her husband built a special room in their house for Elisha, the prophet, the man of God, to stay in while passing through their region.

These mothers, showing faith in God, asked the men of God to help them when their children died.

They believed that God would bring their children back to life again.

Thus, these mothers experienced the joy of their sons being resurrected. Their hearts filled with joy when their sons woke up from the dead!

These are great stories, but of course, for each of these two accounts, there are many untold stories of others that didn’t end with something so miraculous. Yet, there is hope, for those who put their trust and faith in God, like the Phoenician women and the Shunammite women, they will see their little ones brought back to life again in the first resurrection when Jesus returns the second time.

The Phoenician women and the Shunammite women asked for help from the prophets Elijah and Elisha respectively. But what happens when we are unable or feel unworthy to ask God for help. Find out in Day 4: The Son of the Widow of Nain

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