Shunem

שׁוּנֵם

Where was biblical Shunem? At Sulam village, on the Hill of Moreh, east of Afula, about 30 km southwest of Tiberias. I mark it certain.

A wealthy woman of Shunem built a small upper room for Elisha, and he promised her a son. Years later the boy died in her lap. She rode to the Carmel to find the prophet, and Elisha came back and brought the child to life.

By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker

Site today
Sulam village, on the Hill of Moreh, east of Afula
How sure
Certain The name, the sources and the finds all agree.
Other names
Sulam, Solem, Tel Shunem
Location
32.6064° N, 35.3346° E (Google Maps)
Shunem on the hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel
Shunem on our hand-drawn Map of Biblical Israel. Get the full map as a print →

How we know where it was

The name never really left. The Arab village on the mound is called Sulam. That is Shunem with the n turned into an l, a common shift. Eusebius already placed Shunem here in the 4th century, and in the 14th century Ishtori HaParchi made the same identification.

Egyptian records know the town too. Thutmose III lists it. In the Amarna letters the ruler of Megiddo complains about having to farm Shunem's royal lands. It appears again in Pharaoh Shishak's list.

Then the geography. Joshua lists Shunem beside Jezreel, in the land of Issachar. Before Saul's last battle the Philistines camped at Shunem while Saul gathered Israel on Gilboa, directly across the valley. Look south from the village and the whole battlefield is in front of you. Shunem also gave the aged King David his attendant, Abishag the Shunammite.

In the village, near the mosque, tradition points out the house of the Shunammite woman. Couples hoping for a child come to pray there, recalling the son Elisha promised her.

Visiting today

Sulam sits on the old mound with little archaeology to see. The view south across the Harod Valley to Gilboa is the reason to come.

Read it in the Bible

Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.

See Shunem on the interactive map →

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