2 Kings 4:29

_THEN HE SAID TO GEHAZI, GIRD UP THY LOINS, AND TAKE MY STAFF IN THINE HAND, AND GO THY WAY: IF THOU MEET ANY MAN, SALUTE HIM NOT; AND IF ANY SALUTE THEE, ANSWER HIM NOT AGAIN: AND LAY MY STAFF UPON THE FACE OF THE CHILD._ Take my staff ... and lay ... upon the face of the child. The staff was probably an official rod of a certain form and size. Necromancers used to send their staff, with orders to the messengers to let it come in contact with nothing by the way that might dissipate or destroy the virtue imparted to it. Some have thought that Elisha himself entertained similar ideas, and was under an impression that the actual application of his staff would serve as well as the touch of his hand. But this is an imputation dishonourable to the character of the prophet. He wished to teach the Shunammite, who obviously placed too great dependence upon him, a memorable lesson to look to God...

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...

Verse 29. _SALUTE HIM NOT_] Make all the haste thou possibly canst, and lay my staff on the face of the child; he probably thought that it might be a case of mere _suspended animation_ or a _swoon_, and that laying the staff on the face of the child might act as a _stimulus_ to excite the animal motions....

SALUTE HIM NOT - Compare the marginal reference. Salutation is the forerunner of conversation and one bent on speed would avoid every temptation to loiter. LAY MY STAFF UPON THE FACE OF THE CHILD - Perhaps to assuage the grief of the mother, by letting her feel that something was being done for her child....

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

THEN HE SAID TO GEHAZI, GIRD UP THY LOINS,.... His loose and long garments about him, that he might make quicker dispatch in travelling: AND TAKE MY STAFF IN THINE HAND, AND GO THY WAY; not for the sake of travelling with it, but for an end after mentioned: IF THOU MEET ANY MAN, SALUTE HIM NOT; AND IF ANY SALUTE THEE, ANSWER HIM NOT AGAIN; that so no time may be lost: AND LAY MY STAFF UPON THE FACE OF THE CHILD; he not intending when he said this to go himself, but at the time, as near as he could, when this action was performed, would pray to God to restore life to the child; for he could not imagine that by this bare action it could be done....

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 ...

SAID. In what Elisha said the signs given are put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), App-6, for the things symbolized by them. SALUTE HIM NOT. Idiom. The salutation being ceremonial and taking time. CHILD. Hebrew. _na'ar =_ youth....

_Gird up thy loins_ With the loose flowing garments of Orientals it is needful when haste is desired, to gather them up and bind them together so that they do not impede the traveller. This is done by a band round the waist. _take my staff in thine hand_ It is not easy to see the purpose of this order. The staff was to be laid on the face of the child, but it produced no effect. It may be that Elisha thought God would allow the restoration of the child on the imposition of the staff. Some have supposed that the action was meant to teach those who knew of it, that the miracle was not to be ascribed to any external agency, but only to God's intervention in answer to prayer. Others have thought that the lack of faith in the mother, who would not go back without Elisha, caused the first measures adopted to be ineffective. Perhaps the prophet only sent on Gehazi that the mother might feel th...