The Shunammite Woman's Faith Is To Be Praised — James Jennings

Okay, this morning, I want to consider seven praiseworthy characteristics of a mother who endured three great trials that tested her faith. The first trial was that she was not a mother. At least, she didn't have a son.

It's not clear whether she had any other daughters earlier on in life. And due to her husband's age, the window to have a child, it seemed to be closed. But she was content. That was her first trial. And you know, thinking about Mother's Day today, I'm always reminded of how many sisters out there, Mother's Day is a difficult day because they've had infertility in their marriage and they don't have any children.

That can be a hard day. My wife's roommate, they lived together for years prior to Bethany and I getting married. They both got married around the same time. And here, Bethany and I have five children.

And her roommate friend has yet to have one. Now, they have one through adoption. Praise God. But they could not have any of their own. That was a trial. So that's something to remember on Mother's Day.

The second trial this woman went through was the death of this very child whom she had been given. But, she had faith that the child would be raised from the dead. And the third trial was she had to uproot and relocate for seven years of her life and leave all that she knew from her homeland and go to another land.

But, she had faith, returned, and had no loss suffered. And so, in this woman, we're going to read everything the Bible has to say about her. And we're going to see in each of these trials, she passed the test by faith.

At least, that seems to be what the narration indicates is true about her. She trusted in the Lord who controlled her circumstances. And so, turn to 2 Kings 4. And what we read in this narrative part of the Old Testament Scriptures is incidents of her life that are recorded because of her interaction with Elisha.

The Shunammite Woman in 2 Kings

And when you think about Elisha who followed the prophet Elijah, you should think about Hebrews 1 where it says that God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And so, Elisha was the man of God. God was speaking through this man.

Right? It was as if he had the very Word of God. So, you don't want to think about the way she goes to him for help is to be parallel to going to a pastor now and today. But rather, it's going to the Lord.

He really represented the mouthpiece of God. And so, this woman I want to look at is the Shunammite woman. We don't know her first name. All we know is the place she came from. Kind of like saying the Canadian or the Romanian.

Here we have the Shunammite woman. So, 2 Kings 4, we're going to read starting in verse 8. One day, Elisha went on to Shunamm where a wealthy woman lived who urged him to eat some food. Basically trying to force him to come over and have a meal with us.

So, whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there and eat food. So, a pattern is starting to form. Verse 9, And she said to her husband, Behold, now I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way.

Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there. So they made a full-out guest room for him.

Verse 11, One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there. And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him. Verse 13,. And he said to Gehazi, Say now to her, See, you have taken all this trouble for us.

What is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken to you on your behalf? To the king or to the commander of the army? She answered, I dwell among my own people. In other words, she seems very content.

Verse 14,. And he said, What then is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Well, she has no son, and her husband is old. In other words, when he dies, who's going to take the estate? Who's going to carry on the family name?

That was a big deal in Old Testament genealogy times. Verse 15,. He said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway. So she's standing there again. Verse 16,. And he said, at this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.

And she said, No, my lord, O man of God, do not lie to your servant. Don't mislead me. Don't lead me astray. Don't raise my hopes. Verse 17,. But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring.

As Elisha had said to her, when the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, Oh, my head, my head. The father said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.

And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon. And then he died. And she went up, and she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out.

Then she called to her husband, who is still outside, and said, send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again. And he said, why will you go to him today?

It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. She said, all is well. Then she saddled the donkey and she said to her servant, urge the animal on. Do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you. And so they rode on that donkey for a while.

Verse 25,. So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, Look, there is the Shunammite. Run at once to meet her and say to her, Is all well with you?

Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child? And she answered, all is well. And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And that's the same word for urged him to eat in the beginning.

Laying hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress. And the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me. Then she said, Did I ask the Lord for a son?

Did I not say, Do not deceive me? He said to Gehazi, Tie up my garment and take my staff in your hand and go. A staff like Moses. It was used. It had a sense of power. Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.

I'm sorry, did I just read back at the wrong place? V. 30. V. 29, If you meet anyone, do not greet him. And if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child. Then the mother of the child said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.

So, in view of her persistence, you've got to catch this, in view of her persistence, Elisha then goes. So he arose and followed her. Meaning, he only went because of her persistence right there. V. 31, we're in 2 Kings 4.

If you just got here. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child. But there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore, he returned to meet him and told him, The child has not awakened.

When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them, him and the child, and prayed to the Lord. So he's praying here in private. V. 34, then he went up and lay on the child, just like Elijah had done in 1 Kings 17, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands, and as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm.

Then he got up again, walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him for a second time. The child sneezed seven times. The child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite.

So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, Pick up your son. She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.". So that's the first place we hear about this Shunammite woman.

Seven Characteristics of the Shunammite Woman

And we're going to read the one other place just quickly in 2 Kings 8. And then I want to point out seven things about this woman. There's more than seven, but I have around seven. But 2 Kings 8, in verse 1.

This is a shorter passage. Now, Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, Arise and depart with your household and sojourn wherever you can. For the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.

So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. At the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land.

Now, the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. And if you had read chapter 5, we would have found out he's a leper at this point. Saying, tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.

And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, my lord, O king, here is the woman.

Meaning she got back after seven years at the exact moment to make her appeal when Gehazi was before the king talking about her very situation. Incredible example of the providence of God in Scripture.

It's amazing. It refreshed the king's mind. It gave her favor before the king. Verse six, and when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her saying, restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day she left the land until now.

You know, it's interesting, their produce. If there was a famine, why would there be all this produce to be gathered by the time she got back? Well, the word famine, it always doesn't just carry the idea of food.

And it made me think of Ezekiel 5. I will send famine and wild beasts against you. They will rob you of your children. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord, I have spoken.

So here the Lord has Elijah, speak to her, she leaves, and her son is protected. They are protected. Then they come back and they have no loss at all. So Proverbs 31 .30 says, charm is deceitful, beauty is vain.

But a woman who fears the Lord, something's supposed to happen to her. What is that? She is to be praised. She is to be praised. Now we don't know anything about the Shunammite's looks. We don't know if she had the beauty of Abishag the Shunammite that we find in 1 Kings 13.

It was very beautiful. We don't know. We don't even know that much about her personality. We don't know. I mean, you kind of get a sense of it, but we don't know. But what we do see, I believe, is her fear and obedience to the Lord, and that is something that should be praised.

And we have an admonition in Proverbs to actually praise a woman who fears the Lord. That is something that should be esteemed. In the very next verse in Proverbs, it says, let her works praise her in the gates.

Let her works praise her in the gates. There are works of this woman, the Shunammite, that should be praised in the gates, in the gates, and told about. And her works were done at a time when it was very spiritually dark, right?

That Israel was absolutely in a dark state. I mean, you remember in 1 Kings, Elijah thought he was the only one left, right? But the Lord said to him, no, I have a few thousand people that are still left, that are still following me.

The author here, go back to chapter four. That's going to be the main place. Will be 2 Kings 4. But he calls this woman, he says in verse 8, he calls her a wealthy woman. A wealthy woman. Now that may very well be commending her character, not just describing her social status, right?

It might not just be hitting on the reality that she had financial wealth. He might actually be writing this, because all these things have already happened. They've already taken place. And some would even render the word great.

Here's a great woman. Here's a great woman. And so, in bringing this message here, three things to think about. Number one, I want to remind the men of things that you can praise your own wife for, right?

How can you be an encouragement to your own wife on this day, on any day? Second thing, I want to remind the wives of some things by which they should seek to imitate. And the third thing is to remind single men of certain characteristics that you should be seeking for in a spouse.

In a spouse. So, seven things I want to praise about this woman here, the Shunammite woman, who we do not know her name. And so the first thing I want to praise is this. I want to give praise to her discernment.

Discernment and Spiritual Maturity

To her discernment. And when you think about discernment, what verse comes to your mind often? Hebrews 5 .14. Hebrews 5 .14, it says, solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment, so a certain degree of discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

And this woman shows she's got some discernment in the spiritual realm. Physical realm, yes. But the spiritual realm, she has some discernment, some ability to distinguish good from evil. Look at verse nine.

And she said to her husband, Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Notice when she makes this judgment of Elisha being a holy man of God, she's had continual exposure by having him at the dinner table, by interacting with him to recognize this is a man of God.

What was happening in all those conversations? We do not know. We do not know. But after a continual time, she saw this man is a man of proven worth. This is a man who is a man of God. And this is in contrast to the widow of Zarephath, right?

The widow of Zarephath also saw her son raised from the dead by Elijah. She had a miraculous provision of food. She had the sudden death of her son. She had Elijah raise him from the dead. It was only after all of that happened that that widow said this is a man of God, right?

The Shunammite woman is way ahead of the widow of Zarephath. The widow of Zarephath, she made that proclamation after multiple miracles she witnessed. This woman here, she's just had continual time with this person with her family around the dinner table.

And she tells her husband, and surely this man who continually comes through here, who we've had all this time around, he's a man of God. That speaks to her discernment. Her discernment here. She's not being like Eve, getting deceived in the garden by the conversation with the devil.

She's recognizing that this man, he is a man of God. And we also see her discernment and her judgment of Gehazi. It's interesting, after her child died, and throughout all of this narrative, she puts very little weight on Gehazi.

She puts very little emphasis and trust on him. Even when he took the staff to go ahead, it's like she didn't want to go with him. She had no confidence that he would be the means by which her son would be raised from the dead.

And in the very next chapter, what does Gehazi do? And he lies to Naaman in order to get riches and God strikes him with leprosy. Right, so this is a man who clearly had problems and she did not put much weight on him.

But you think about an ability to distinguish good from evil. That's a characteristic that is often not sought by women in our world. It's not something that is praised and commended. For a woman to have discernment, to be able to hear a preaching, hear a sermon, and be able to say, you know what, this person was false and this, this, this, and that, or to say the positive, they were true and this, this, and that.

Proverbs 11 .21, it says, like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. Right, if you've got women, outwardly they look incredibly attractive in the eyes and the standards of the world, but they have no discretion and the writer says it's just like seeing a pig with a gold ring in its snout.

It's just not actually that attractive in the end. And so discernment that you get by constant practice, that's something you should be seeking to do. You should be seeking to practice discernment. Right?

That's, you know, honey, what do you think about this? Is this true? Is this false? This family we just had over for a meal, this visiting preacher, what was your take? I mean, do you hear that comment?

It sounded really too subjective. Right? And he didn't really back it up scripturally. I mean, do you have discussions like that? Practicing as a couple to increase your discernment? Second thing I want to praise her for is for her use of her wealth and her hospitality.

Hospitality and the Wise Use of Wealth

Her use of her wealth and her hospitality. And as I mentioned, 8 .1 says she was a wealthy woman. And then we see in that same verse, she urged him to eat some food. She laid hold of his feet is what it means.

Whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food. He would turn in there to eat food. She forced him to come over for dinner. I mean, that's pretty hospitable. You've had that, right? I mean, someone sees a need and they might realize that you're not as, you know, I'll go get a hotel.

Well, there's not really a hotel back then. There wasn't a big, Marriott was not around. There wasn't a lot of opportunity. Maybe go sleep under a tree. Here, this woman is urging him. She's persistent here to come and eat and have a meal.

She basically forced him to have dinner. And then they go beyond that, right? Verse 10, let us make a small room on the roof with walls and just give him a piece of cardboard to sleep on. No, put him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp so he can read, right?

You don't stick a prophet in a room without a lamp, right? You don't have a guest room and have a visiting preacher come through and it's like, there's no desk to study. I mean, does he not study then, you know?

So, going above and beyond, right? They're going above and beyond using their wealth to provide a place for him. It makes you think of Proverbs 31 .20. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

So she realized this man needs a place more private for he can stop by. He's continually coming through here. He's got a need. Honey, why don't we meet that need? And let's make a room on that corner of the house.

I already talked to the structural engineer. We're gonna be able to get a permit. Let's put a room up there. I found this nice lamp on Craigslist. It's not gonna cost too much. We got more money than we know what to do with.

Forget the new tractor. Let's put a room in for this person. And you know what? Let's charge him rent. No, no rent. We're gonna serve this person. We have received freely. We're going to give freely to this man.

You could say she was doing what Titus 3 .14 says, let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. And that's exactly what she was doing.

She was meeting a case of urgent need. And it wasn't her husband taking initiative here. It was her, right? And that might play into her discernment. I don't know. The narrative mainly mentions her, not her husband.

It doesn't say a lot about the man. Now, no doubt there were many women in the town who had an opportunity to feed a certain profit, but she beat them all. She beat all of them to the task. But why was no one else in the city wanting to put a guest room for this man and take him in for a meal?

Well, I think we have our answer in verse 13. Look at verse 13. He said, and he said to him, say now to her, see, you have taken all this trouble for us. Right? Elijah, Elisha tells Gehazi, this woman has taken all this trouble, trouble for us.

And if you look up that word, trouble, it means bewilderment and terror. How is she taking up bewilderment? How is she taking up terror by having a guy over for a meal? Well, if you forget the context of this whole section, was Elijah just going around being well-received everywhere he went?

Was this a day and age where it was like, it was commendable to take in someone? No, it was not. You could incur danger upon your own house just by hosting someone. Just think years earlier, 1 Kings 19, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword.

And I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away. So Elijah, that's the type of day and age he was in. And there's not a lot that's changed since Elisha's come on the scene, right? So you got people out there seeking to kill a prophet.

And so building a room and urging him for a meal, Elisha looks at that and says, you've gone to trouble. It wasn't just the trouble of building a room. That doesn't cause bewilderment. It wasn't just had to cook another meal or he came spur of the moment at constant times.

The trouble was we're associating with this man who people want to kill. And we could occur ourselves some danger here, but her family took a risk to help one that no one else would. And why is she even mentioned in our Bibles?

What even entered her into this narrative? Inviting one person over for a meal, right? It's incredible. If she didn't do that, we wouldn't know anything about the Shunammite woman. She would not be here.

Just one meal invite. It's amazing what that can lead to. And here she was using her wealth, like 1 Timothy 1 says, for the rich, because there are people who are rich who are following Christ. They are to do good, to be rich in good works and be generous and ready to share.

And they were ready to share. Another thing we see here is this, a wealthy woman, she was not protected from the trials of barrenness. She was not protected from all of those things. She ultimately needed God to do something in her life.

It was not anything that money could buy. So that's the second thing to praise the Shunammite woman for, is the use of her wealth to be hospitable. So a third thing I want to praise is her motives for why she does good.

Pure Motives in Serving Others

Her motives. And this is important because you could look and say, well, this is great and all that she did, but why? Why? Why did she do this? I mean, there might be many people who want to have Elisha because he's famous.

They want to stay at their house. But what's the motive behind it? What are they trying to get? Did you maybe hear about his previous giving a widow an oil lamp that never ran out and she wanted something out of this?

Did she have some ulterior motives there? Look at verse 13, chapter four. And he said to him, say now to her, see, you've taken all this trouble for us. What is it to be done for you? And then he puts out something that in her eyes would be incredible, that even to have a word spoken to the king and look at her answer, I dwell among my own people.

Meaning this woman's response right there, it indicates something about her motive. Was she doing all these acts of kindness with some hope of being rewarded? She wasn't. Because if she was, that was her very opportunity to be rewarded.

And she didn't bite it. She didn't bite it. And this is important because Luke six, it says, if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? It's worthless, right? It's worthless.

Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend and lend expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great. Right? You lend expecting absolutely nothing in return.

And so here this woman, you know, I think she had right pure motives based on her response right there. She was doing it with ulterior motive. That was her prime opportunity to capitalize on that. And she did not.

A fourth thing to praise her for. A fourth thing I would say is her submissiveness to her husband. And I realize a lot, you know, it's hard to go to a narrative place in Scripture where you don't have all the details and you can kind of, you know, it can be hard sometimes.

Submissiveness and Faithfulness in Marriage

You don't want to overly interpret things or read things into what's happening. But the passage does talk about two places where she goes to her husband. Verse nine. And she said to her husband, behold now, I know this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way.

Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there. She's running this by her husband. Now, depending on how you read that, I understand one could read it and feel like, oh, she's just telling them how it's going to be.

You know, there's no question mark there in the text. If you read Proverbs 31, it's amazing the initiative the woman is taking in buying a field and doing all of these different things. Right? As she is submitting to her husband.

And then in 22, verse 22, then she called to her husband and said, so it's after her son has died. She's not even told him the child has died. And she called her husband and said, send me one of the servants, one of the donkeys that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.

And then he says, why? So he's, why do you want to do this, honey? Why do you want to go to this place? Why would you go with him today? It's not the new moon. It's not even a Sabbath. And she said, all is well.

It is well. And then she saddled the donkey. And she said to her servant, urge the animal on. So two places the woman went to her husband. Right? I mean, look, a woman can go to her husband and have no submissiveness because it is a heart matter here.

But here, a woman that it seems they're portraying is being far more sensitive to spiritual things than her own husband. She's running these things by her husband. She's definitely not being quarrelsome.

The text doesn't indicate she's not being fretful as Proverbs 21 says. She's not being quick tempered. It seems she's seeking to be submissive to her husband. And you know, many a woman like Abigail got stuck with a very ungodly husband.

And Abigail had to use her discernment to make decisions in certain ways to protect the good of Nabal's property and her property, even though her husband was sitting there drunk and unable to be involved in any of that type of decision making.

You know, there's often times a wife has to live out her own faith despite her husband not being at the same spiritual place. And this woman, she's doing that. And that's commendable here. Well, a fifth thing.

I want to praise her for her level of contentment. Contentment. I believe this woman is an example of someone who has the rare jewel of contentment. She doesn't want more than what she already has. Verse 13, he said to her, again, I'll go to the king or to the commander of the army in her response.

Contentment Without Covetousness

I mean, does this not speak of contentment? She answered, I will dwell among my own people. People. I mean, is he offering in what he says? Is he saying that I'll speak to the commander and get your husband some position?

I'll go to the king, get him some position. Is her idea that, well, do you have any complaint you want to take before the king? I'll take that complaint before you. Do you need access to people of power?

I've got access to people of power. And here you've shown me hospitality. I'll now give you access to these people of power that I have access to. Do you want that? I'm good. I'm good. Whatever it is, it was implied that it was a considerably big favor.

And she's fine. I dwell among my own people. She's not looking for all this advancement, but she is content. Content. Contentment, that's something to praise. Discontentment. We're off to family. It's something that trickles down to the children.

The children start to imitate their parents who are discontent. And the children become discontent. Rot your bones. A sixth thing here to praise this woman for, this mother for, is her response of faith in a sudden fiery trial and her persistence in prayer.

Faith-Filled Persistence in Prayer

Her response, I believe, of faith. And we see here her persistence in laying a hold of God's man who is God's mouthpiece. And we can look at that as her persistence in prayer. And one thing to think about at first is what does she not do when her child dies?

What does she not do? I mean, you're there sitting in the chair holding your child for a few hours. Your child dies. What was the first thing she did? Took the boy's dead body, went to the prophet's room, and left the boy's dead body on his bed.

Second thing she did, went outside, called her husband to get a donkey to go to Mount Carmel. And in that interaction, nothing indicates here she told her husband that her son had died. Is that odd? Your child died.

I mean, if one of my children died, one of the first things I'd be doing is telling my wife. You know what my wife could do about my dead child? About as little as I could do about my dead child. But you know what Elijah could do about that dead child?

Far more than this woman's husband could do. She didn't fall into mass hysteria. She didn't even tell her husband. She determined to go to the very one in whom God's providence was involved in telling her she would have the son.

She went to the very one who was the prophet of God, who was the man of God. Constantly through this text, it's saying Elijah was God's man. That's who she went to. Even though it was hours away, even though she had to travel on this donkey, on this bumpy terrain, she went to the man of God.

That was the first thing on her mind apparently. The son's dead, put him on the bed, and I'm going to get to that man of God. If you see here, what's the most surprising moment in all this narrative, at least for me, is her response to her husband after her son has died.

2 Kings 4 .23. Why will you go to Him today, and it is neither new moon nor Sabbath? She said, all is well. Or it could be worded, it is well. It is well is another literal renders of that. It's well.

Or it could be like shalom, peace. Peace is upon me. Is this an example of someone asking you how you are doing and you say all is well, but you're actually lying? Are you okay? Yeah, I'm doing well. And I find out later, oh, your child died and you didn't tell me?

Is that a lie? Well, either she's lying or this is a great act of faith. That word all is well, it means I am whole, intact, in prosperity and peace. I'm not worried. In the Greek Septuagint, it's the same phrase Jesus says when He appears to the people in John 20.

He stood among His disciples and He said, peace be with you. It's the same phrase there. Peace be with you. All is well. I mean, was it a lie? Well, think about this. You lie to cover something up that you don't want someone to see and find because of how it makes you look.

Right? Often that's the motivation of a lie. Is this some cover up here? Is she trying to conceal something that she doesn't want her husband to find out about? Nothing here indicates that. And it appears the husband didn't even think the child was that sick.

I mean, he sent the child back by a servant. And then when she comes out, the husband didn't say, well, how's our boy doing? This is his only child. He didn't have ten. This is his only child. This is your whole lineage right here.

If he dies, you've got no son to carry on this family name and you're not going to have any more children. For them, a lot was at stake here. No heir would he have of his inheritance. So was her answer to avoid giving a definite answer to her husband?

Did she just want to avoid that right there? It wasn't a lie, just avoiding it? Or was her answer actually a definite answer? Was she actually saying in faith, all is well? All is well. I'm in peace and I'm not worried.

I'm not worried. And I would tend to see this to praise her for that statement in response to the fiery trial that is knocked on her door, I would tend to see that as an act of faith. Here she is, not gripped with hysteria.