2 Kings 8:3

For her house. The Shunammite woman had at one time been well to do. It was at her home that a room had been made for Elisha (ch. 4:8-11) and it was on her land that her son had fallen ill at the harvest season (ch. 4:18, 19). While she was absent in Philistia her house and fields had been appropriated by someone else. The property may have been taken over by the local authorities as abandoned by its owner, or some person in the neighborhood may have taken over her home as his own. Whoever it was who held the property, refused to give it up upon her return. She therefore made her appeal direct to the king. Appeals to the king by private citizens were common in the ancient Orient and are repeatedly mentioned in the Biblical record (2 Sam. 14:4; 1 Kings 3:16; 2 Kings 6:26).