Albert Barnes

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD.

“The creditor is come ... - The Law of Moses, like the Athenian and the Roman law, recognized servitude for debt, and allowed that pledging of the debtor’s person, which, in a rude state of society, is regarded as the safest and the most natural…”

and Elisha said to Gehazi, “Now tell her, ‘Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you?

“Thou hast been careful for us - For the prophet and his servant, who must have been lodged as well as his master. I dwell among mine own people - The woman declines Elisha’s offer.”

And the woman called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may go quickly to the man of God…

“Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men and one of the asses - All the “young men” and all the “asses” were in the harvest field, the young men cutting and binding the sheaves, and placing them upon carts or wains, the…”

“Why would you go to him today?” he replied. “It is not a New Moon or a Sabbath.” “Everything is all right,” she said.

“Her husband did not connect the illness with his wife’s demand, but thought she wished to attend one of the prophet’s devotional services.”

When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet.

“She caught him by the feet - To lay hold of the knees or feet has always been thought in the East to add force to supplication, and is practiced even at the present day. Compare Mat 18:29; Joh 11:32.”

So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go!

“Salute him not - Compare the marginal reference. Salutation is the forerunner of conversation and one bent on speed would avoid every temptation to loiter.”

Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response.

“There was neither voice nor hearing - Compare 1Ki 18:29. The child is not awakened - See 2Ki 4:20. The euphemism by which death is spoken of as a sleep was already familiar to the Jews (see 1Ki 1:21 note).”

So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.

“Prayed - Prayer was the only remedy in such a case as this (compare the marginal reference and Jas 5:16), though it did not exclude the use of other means 2Ki 4:34.”

One of them went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a wild vine from which he gathered as many wild gourds as his garment could hold.

“A wild vine - Not a real wild vine, the fruit of which, if not very palatable, is harmless; but some climbing plant with tendrils.”

Then Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Pour it out for the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

“Then bring meal - The natural properties of meal would but slightly diminish either the bitterness or the unwholesomeness of a drink containing colocynth.”

But his servant asked, “How am I to set twenty loaves before a hundred men?”

“This miracle was a faint foreshadowing of our Lord’s far more marvelous feeding of thousands with even scantier materials.”

Now Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly regarded, for through him the LORD had given…

“By him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria - An Assyrian monarch had pushed his conquests as far as Syria exactly at this period, bringing into subjection all the kings of these parts.”

“Go now,” said the king of Aram, “and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel.”

“Six thousand pieces of gold - Rather, “six thousand shekels of gold.” Coined money did not exist as yet, and was not introduced into Judea until the time of Cyrus.”

And the letter that he took to the king of Israel stated: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman, so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

“That thou mayest recover him - literally, “And thou shalt recover him.” The Syrian king presumes that, if there is a cure for leprosy to be had in Israel, the mode of obtaining it will be well known to his royal brother.”

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper?

“He rent his clothes - The action indicated alarm and terror quite as much as sorrow 2Sa 13:19; Ezr 9:3; 2Ch 34:27; Jer 36:22. Consider, I pray you - Jehoram speaks to his chief officers, and bids them mark the animus of the Syrian monarch.”

But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over…

“He will surely come out to me - In the East a code of unwritten laws prescribes exactly how visits are to be paid, and how visitors are to be received, according to the worldly rank of the parties (compare 2Ki 5:21).”

Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all…

“He returned - Naaman was grateful (compare Luk 17:15). From the Jordan to Samaria was a distance of not less than 32 miles. Naaman further went to Damascus, far out of his way, lengthening his necessary journey by at least three days.”

“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry.

“Two mules’ burden of earth - This earth, Naaman thought, spread over a portion of Syrian ground, would hallow and render it suitable for the worship of Yahweh.”

“Go in peace,” said Elisha. But after Naaman had traveled a short distance,

“So he departed ... - This clause should not be separated from the succeeding verse. The meaning is, “So he departed from him, and had gone a little way, when Gehazi bethought himself of what he would do, and followed after him.””

When Gehazi went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?” “Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied.

“Lest his absence should be noticed, Gehazi hastened, without being called, to appear before his master. In the East it is usual for servants to remain most of the day in their lord’s presence, only quitting it when given some order to execute.”

Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

“The writer returns here to the series of miracles which Elisha performed for the benefit of the prophetical schools under his care. The connection, in this point of view, is with 2Ki 4:44.”

Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” said Elisha.

“Take every man a beam - Trees were rare in most parts of Palestine, but plentiful in the Jordan Valley. Jericho was known in early times as “the city of palms” Deu 34:3; Jdg 1:16.”

As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

“The ax head - literally, as in the margin. The Jews used iron for the heads of axes at a very early date (see Deu 19:5).”

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…

“In thy bedchamber - literally, “in the secret place of thy bedchamber,” i. e.,” in the greatest possible secrecy.” The seclusion of the harem must be taken into account for the full appreciation of the force of the phrase.”

So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”

“Dothan - See the marginal reference note. It was at no great distance from Shechem. Its ancient name still attaches to a Tel or hill of a marked character (compare 2Ki 6:17), from the foot of which arises a copious fountain.”