II Kings 4:27
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When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
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 ↗4:27 caught hold of his feet: With this sign of deep respect and supplication, the woman poured out her heart to Elisha (see Matt 28:9; Luke 8:41, 47; 17:16; Rev 1:17).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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And Nathan replied to the king, “Go and do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”
And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?
“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
So she set out and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman.
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.
In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”
The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares in its joy.