The next episode is introduced with a flashback to seven years earlier (8:1–6), when Elisha advises the Shunammite woman to sojourn outside of Israel during a famine. Because she has to reclaim her land from the king, one wonders if the king somehow appropriated the land in her absence. There is a miracle of timing: at the very moment the king is asking Gehazi about Elisha’s mighty deeds, the woman shows up with her (revived) son! Gehazi’s cameo is almost as astonishing, since he was last seen at the end of chapter 5 “white as snow”—it is not clear why he is in the king’s presence, but his animated testimony aids the restoration of her property. The prophet’s reputation continues to be a major them…