Adam Clarke

And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. Then she shut the door and went out.

“Laid him on the bed of the man of God - She had no doubt heard that Elijah had raised the widow’s son of Zarephath to life; and she believed that he who had obtained this gift from God for her, could obtain his restoration…”

Then she saddled the donkey and told her servant, “Drive onward; do not slow the pace for me unless I tell you.”

“Drive, and go forward - It is customary in the East for a servant to walk along side or drive the ass his master rides.”

Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.”

“It is well - How strong was her faith in God and submission to his authority! Though the heaviest family affliction that could befall her and her husband had now taken place; yet, believing that it was a dispensation of Providence which was in itself…”

Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

“Did I desire a son of my lord? - I expressed no such wish to thee; I was contented and happy; and when thou didst promise me a son, did I not say, Do not deceive me?”

And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

“I will not leave thee - The prophet it seems had no design to accompany her; he intended to wait for Gehazi’s return; but as the woman was well assured the child was dead, she was determined not to return till she brought the prophet…”

Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand.

“Lay upon the child - Endeavored to convey a portion of his own natural warmth to the body of the child; and probably endeavored, by blowing into the child’s mouth, to inflate the lungs, and restore respiration.”

Elisha turned away and paced back and forth across the room. Then he got on the bed and stretched himself out over the boy again, and the boy sneezed seven…

“The child sneezed seven times - That is, it sneezed abundantly. When the nervous influence began to act on the muscular system, before the circulation could be in every part restored, particular muscles, if not the whole body, would be thrown into strong contractions and…”

When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land.

“Came again to Gilgal - He had been there before with his master, a short time prior to his translation.”

Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain.

“Bread of the first-fruits - This was an offering to the prophet, as the first-fruits themselves were an offering to God.”

At this time the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken a young girl from the land of Israel, and she was serving Naaman’s wife.

“The Syrians had gone out by companies - גדודים gedudim, troops. When one hundred or two hundred men go out by themselves to make prey of whatever they can get, that is called, says Jarchi, גדוד gedud, a troop.”

She said to her mistress, “If only my master would go to the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.”

“Would God my lord - אחלי achaley, I wish; or, as the Chaldee, Syrian, and Arabic have, “Happy would it be for my master if he were with the prophet,” etc. Here the mystery of the Divine providence begins to develop itself.”

And Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said.

“Thus and thus said the maid - So well had this little pious maid conducted herself, that her words are credited; and credited so fully, that an embassy from the king of Syria to the king of Israel is founded upon them!”

Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”

“Sent a messenger - Did not come out to speak with him: he had got his orders from God, and he transmitted them to Naaman by his servant.”

Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?”

“Are not Abana and Pharpar - At present these rivers do not exist by these names; and where they are we know not; nor whether they were the Orontes and Chrysorroes. Mr.”

Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?

“My father - A title of the highest respect and affection. Had bid thee do some great thing - If the prophet had appointed thee to do something very difficult in itself, and very expensive to thee, wouldst thou not have done it?”

So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that…

“Then went he down - He felt the force of this reasoning, and made a trial, probably expecting little success.”

But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused.

“I will receive none - It was very common to give presents to all great and official men; and among these, prophets were always included: but as it might have appeared to the Syrians that he had taken the offered presents as a remuneration for…”

Yet may the LORD forgive your servant this one thing: When my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my arm, and I…

“In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant - It is useless to enter into the controversy concerning this verse.”

“Everything is all right,” Gehazi replied. “My master has sent me to say, ‘I have just now discovered that two young men from the sons of the prophets have come…

“And he said - שלום shalom. It is peace; all is right. This was a common mode of address and answer. There be come to me from mount Ephraim - There was probably a school of the prophets at this mount.”

But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them.

“He - bound two talents of silver - It required two servants to carry these two talents, for, according to the computation above, each talent was about 120lbs. weight.”

When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed.

“When he came to the tower - The Chaldee, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic understand the word עפל ophel, which we translate tower, as signifying a secret, dark, or hiding place. He was doing a deed of darkness, and he sought darkness to conceal it.”

But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you?

“Went not mine heart with thee - The Chaldee gives this a good turn: By the prophetic spirit it was shown unto me, when the man returned from his chariot to meet thee.”

Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you and your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.

“The leprosy of Naaman - shall cleave unto thee - Thou hast got much money, and thou shalt have much to do with it. Thou hast got Naaman’s silver, and thou shalt have Naaman’s leprosy.”

“Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron…

“He cut down a stick - This had no natural tendency to raise the iron; it was only a sign or ceremony which the prophet chose to use on the occasion.”

So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out.

“Sent to the place - To see if it were so. But the Vulgate gives it quite a different turn: Misit rex Israel ad locum, et praeoccupavit eum.”