2 Kings 4:20

_AND WHEN HE HAD TAKEN HIM, AND BROUGHT HIM TO HIS MOTHER, HE SAT ON HER KNEES TILL NOON, AND THEN DIED._ HE SAT ON HER KNEES UNTIL NOON, х_ WAYEESHEB_ (H3427), sat; but the Septuagint seems to have read wayasheen; for it renders kai ekoimeethee epi ton gonatoon, and he slept on her knees]....

18-37 Here is the sudden death of the child. All the mother's tenderness cannot keep alive a child of promise, a child of prayer, one given in love. But how admirably does the prudent, pious mother, guard her lips under this sudden affliction! Not one peevish word escapes from her. Such confidence had she of God's goodness, that she was ready to believe that he would restore what he had now taken away. O woman, great is thy faith! He that wrought it, would not disappoint it. The sorrowful mother begged leave of her husband to go to the prophet at once. She had not thought it enough to have Elisha's help sometimes in her own family, but, though a woman of rank, attended on public worship. It well becomes the men of God, to inquire about the welfare of their friends and their families. The answer was, It is well. All well, and yet the child dead in the house! Yes! All is well that God doe...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 4:1 TYPICAL MIRACLES WROUGHT BY ELISHA. General _introduction_._ _The miracles of this chapter are all of them miracles of mercy. The first and last consist in the multiplying of food, and thus belong to the same class as our Lord's feeding the four and the five thousands, and Elijah's increasing the meal and oil of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:10). It serves no useful purpose to ask how miracles of this class were wrought. The inspired writers have not told us; and our own thoughts upon the subject can at the best be mere unfounded conjectures. The rationalistic attempts which have been made to solve the mystery exhibit a weakness and feeblen

AND WHEN HE HAD TAKEN HIM, AND BROUGHT HIM TO HIS MOTHER,.... The lad led him home, and delivered him to his mother: HE SAT ON HER KNEES TILL NOON, AND THEN DIED; out of her great affection, she took him on her knees, and laid his head in her bosom to sooth the pain, and in this posture he continued until the middle of the day, and then expired; by which it appears it was in the morning when he went into the field, and when the sun was pretty high, and beat strongly on him; which, it may be, produced a fever, and which issued in his death....

3. THE MIRACLES CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The widow's oil multiplied (2 Kings 4:1)_ 2. The Shunammite and her reward (2 Kings 4:8) 3. The son of the Shunammite raised from the dead (2 Kings 4:18) 4. The deadly pottage healed (2 Kings 4:38) 5. The multitude fed (2 Kings 4:42) In the previous chapter Elisha appeared as the saviour of Israel, and now he acts in behalf of the widow of one of the sons of the prophets. His name is not given. Elisha had known him as one who feared the Lord. And now the widow deeply in

ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN. This gives one of the most delightful pictures of rural life in ancient Israel. It describes the kindly hospitality of the great lady of Shunem, the accommodation provided a chamber with walls (_mg._) and furniture no makeshift arrangement, but such as befitted an honoured guest; the description of the boy's death, her drive from Shunem to Carmel to the prophet, Elisha's behaviour, as revealing his naturally considerate demeanour, is vividly portrayed. More than one expression recalls the Elijah story (_cf._ 1 Kings 18:26 with 2 Kings 4:31, and 1 Kings 18:42 with 2 Kings 4:33). Shunem ...

_he sat on her knees till noon_ The attack was in the early part of the day, when the oblique rays of the sun appear to be most dangerous. The mother's affection shews itself in her unbroken attention....

C. RESURRECTION OF THE SHUNAMMITE'S Song of Solomon 4:18-37 TRANSLATION (18) And the child grew, and it came to pass one day that he went unto his father to the reapers. (19) And he said unto his father, My head, my head! And he said unto the lad, Carry him unto his mother. (20) And he carried him, and brought him unto his mother, and he sat upon her knees unto noon and died. (21) And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. (22) And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray you, one of the servants, and one of the donkeys that I may hasten unto the man of God, and come again. (23) And he said, Why are you going unto him? Today is not the new moon or sabbath. And she said, it will be well. (24) And she saddled the donkey and said unto her servant, Drive, and go forward, Do not slacken for my sake the riding unless I co...

VARIOUS MIRACLES OF ELISHA The miracles related of Elisha in this and the following Chapter s resemble many of those previously recounted of Elijah. Thus both prophets multiplied the sustenance of a woman in need (2 Kings 4:1; 1 Kings 17:8); both restored a dead child to life (2 Kings 4:8; 1 Kings 17:17); both came into conflict with their king on the occasion of a famine (2 Kings 6:24; 1 Kings 18;...

THE LAST KINGS OF *ISRAEL AND *JUDAH BOOK OF 2 KINGS _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 4 ELISHA PROVIDES OIL FOR A WIDOW V1 A man’s widow went to speak to Elisha. The man had been a member of a group of *prophets. The widow cried out, ‘My husband, who was your servant, has died. As you know, he gave honour to the *Lord. Now a man to whom he owed money has come. That man wants to take my two boys as his slaves.’ V2 Elisha replied, ‘How can I help you? What have you got at home?’ ‘I have nothing except a small jar of *olive oil,’ she answered....