II Kings 4:21
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And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Great service Elisha had done, in he foregoing chapter, for the three kings: to his prayers and prophecies they owed their lives and triumphs. One would have expected that the next chapter would tell us what honours and what dignities were conferred on Elisha for this, that he should immediately be preferred at court, and made prime-minister of state, that Jehoshaphat should take him home with him, and advance him in his kingdom. No, the wise man delivered the army, but no man remembered the wise man, Ecc 9:15. Or, if he had preferment offered him, he declined it: he preferred the honour of doing good in the schools of the prophets before that of being great in the courts of princes. God magnified him, and that sufficed him - magnified him indeed, for we have him here employed in working no fewer than five miracles. I. He multiplied the poor widow's oil (Kg2 4:1-7). II. He obtained for the good Shunammite the blessing of a son in her old age (Kg2 4:8-17). III. He raised that child to life when it was dead (Kg2 4:18-27). IV. He healed the deadly pottage (Kg2 4:38-41). V. He fed 100 men with twenty small loaves (Kg2 4:42-44).
Open source ↗4:21 laid him on the bed of the man of God: The woman’s action kept her son’s death a secret from others and demonstrated her confidence in Elisha’s ability to do a miracle.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.
Please let us make a small room upstairs and put in it a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp for him. Then when he comes to us, he can stay there.”
She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.”
But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.