CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2 Kings 4:22. That I may run to the man of God—Not waiting to inform her husband of the reason of her mission, lest he should dissuade her, not doubting the miraculous help she would gain from the man of God.
2 Kings 4:23. She said, It shall be well—Simply שָׁלוֹם, peace. With the one single word she likewise answers G hazi (2 Kings 4:26), the Eastern Salam! “it is well!” for she desired silence till she could tell all the truth to the servant of Jehovah.
2 Kings 4:27. Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her—Gehazi thought her eager attitude an undue freedom, not sufficiently respectful towards his master. But fervid grief stays not at punctilios, “her soul is bitter.”
2 Kings 4:31. There was neither voice nor hearing—אֵין קוֹל נְאֵין קָשֶׁב—i.e., the dead gave no sign of life, no response to the mere staff. The act was allowed to fail, in order to show that only through humble and dependent prayer could God’s power be entreated.
2 Kings 4:34. Lay upon the child—Following the method of his great predecessor, Elijah (1 Kings 17:21). Yet the effects differed, the resuscitation was by gradual and progressive stages.
HOMILETICS OF 2 Kings 4:18-37
A GREAT TRIAL AND ITS JOYOUS ISSUE
SORROW and joy, tears and laughter, lie close together in the ever-changing experience of human life. The source of greatest joy is often turned into a channel through which flows the bitterest anguish. The son of the Shunamite, whose advent brought gladness into the home, was also the means of bringing over it the darkest shadow of trouble. But as the star shines brightest in the night, so in the gloomiest moments of our distress are we most conscious of the radiance of the Divine presence, and are more impressed with the wisdom and glory of His works.
I. Here we have the trial of a first bereavement (2 Kings 4:18-21).
1. It was the bereavement of an only son. It was not only the loss of a child, but of the only child, and that child the son and heir—a child sent as a special and unlooked-for gift of heaven, as of one “born out of due time.” The first and fondest affections of the parental heart had centred in this child, and his loss was the heaviest affliction his parent had ever known. Words cannot depict the keen and bitter pang of a first bereavement—the heart lies pierced and bleeding, writhing in voiceless and helpless agony. Happy is the sufferer who can find relief in tears!
2. The bereavement was sudden. One moment the lad is blithe and merry in his gambols in the harvest field—the pride of his father, who already sees in the abundance of his fields the means of blessing the future of his son; the next moment he is smitten by the fierce rays of the sun that had ripened his father’s wealth, and he is carried to his mother’s lap to die. The eyes that had watched with a mother’s rapture the nimble form of her darling boy as he bounded towards the fields in the golden light of that harvest morning, with his parting kiss fresh upon her lips, are now bent in tearless grief over his corpse. A few brief hours have brought the change from light to darkness, from life to death. Ah! how sudden are the great changes of life—how swift is the messenger of sorrow! We live a life-time in a moment, and the heart receives a scar that time will never efface.
II. Here we have a trial of faith in the Almighty power of God (2 Kings 4:22-30).
1. Sorrow should not destroy, but intensify, our faith. As soon as the first shock of alarm had subsided, the faith of the Shunamite woman in the God of Elisha asserted its power. She believed her boy might be restored. So strong was this belief that, for the time being, she hid the fact of his death from her husband. She heroically bore the grief herself, strong in the confidence of Divine interference. The soul that has no faith in God is paralyzed and helpless in sorrow. The distress that drives the believer to God, drives the unbeliever to despair. “Faith is the best lever at a dead lift.”
2. Faith prompts to the use of all legitimate means to attain our most ardent desires. With all speed she sought an interview with the prophet, poured her grief into his ears, and passionately entreated his help; nor would she cease her supplications until she prevailed upon him to accompany her to the home where the dead child lay The chamber of the prophet was, for the first time, the chamber of death. Faith without works is dead. It is presumption to expect God to do what we can do for ourselves. Only when we have exhausted all human means may we patiently and believingly wait for the Divine interference. We cannot save ourselves; but we are directed to ask, seek, knock.
III. Here we have the trial of a painful suspense (2 Kings 4:32-35). Elisha entered the chamber, shut the door, and was alone with the dead child and with God. Who can describe the agony of suspense that tortured that mother’s heart during the few hours of the prophet’s absence—how hope and fear alternated? Will the door never open again? Will the prayers of the holy man prevail? Will she clasp again her living son? And yet most of us are acquainted with such moments in life. How much has sometimes depended upon a single hour—upon a letter—upon a telegram! Such moments have been experienced at the rescue of a wrecked crew. Will the vessel hold together—will the line bear the strain—till the last man is saved?
IV. Here we have the sorrow of death exchanged for the joy of a miraculous resurrection (2 Kings 4:36-37). The faith and prayer of the prophet triumph. The child is restored to life, and given back to his mother. Who can describe her rapture? “This my son was dead, and is alive again.” A symbol of the rapid and marvellous changes in life. After a storm, a calm. Trial, conflict, despair, give place to joyous deliverance. “Sorrow may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning.”
LESSONS:—
1. There is no home into which death does not sooner or later enter.
2. The only refuge and relief in sorrow is in God.
3. The greatest trials lead to the realization of the greatest blessings.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2 Kings 4:18-37. The Shunammite’s son. I. A proud mother’s delight.
(1). Her son. The pleasure she took in watching his childhood and growth, &c. He was her treasure.
(2). He was her only son. This would increase her anxiety and also her delight in him Judges 11:34; Luke 9:38).
(3). The child of promise (2 Kings 4:16-17). Hebrew wives anxious to have children—especially to have a son. This desire is natural, not confined to Hebrews. Her husband was well off, and here was a son to inherit the father’s property and name.
(4). Harvest time. Her child sent out to play in the harvest field. She watches him depart, and thinks of the happy day he would have, and the meeting at night. II. A tender mother’s trial,
(1). The child in the field. Youthful sports. Playing at harvesting. The father’s pleasure. The sunstroke. “My head! my head!” The father’s sorrow. “Carry him to his mother.” A mother the best nurse.
(2). She sees her child returning, not running by the father’s side, but carried. Her anxiety. Her fears.
(3). Nurses her child. The time drags on. The mother does not tire. The child dies. She has faith left. Faith a good companion in trouble. This child of promise could not be lost—should not die if she could help it. Carries the child into the prophet’s chamber. III. A good wife’s example.
(1). Considers not her own feelings only, but her husband’s also. How great his grief on his return, and finding death in his house!
(2). Resolves on immediate action. Will visit the man of God. Cannot do this without assistance. The distance is very great. Calculates the time can accomplish it before the day is over.
(3). Hastens to the field—begs for one of the young men, &c. Does not tell her husband. Would not grieve him. A hint for those who unnecessarily burden other people with their troubles. IV. A happy mother’s reward.
(1). She returns with the prophet. Who would bring a doctor to a dead child? Her faith.
(2). The child’s wonderful restoration to life.
(3). The first reward. Clasping the living child to her heart.
(4). Second reward. The father’s return and greeting. Pleased to find that the child is well. Astonishment at learning the history of the day. Men at their occupations little think of the trials at home. Should commend their dear ones to God.
(5). Her after rewards. The preservation and growth of this child.
LEARN:—
1. To repay a mother’s love and anxious care.
2. Try to bear your trial nobly without making other people bear it.
3. Jesus will aise all children up at the Last Day.—Class and Desk.
2 Kings 4:18-19. His father grew young again with the pleasure of this sight, and more joyed in this spring of his hopes than in all the crops of his harvest. But what stability is there in earthly delights? The hot beams of the sun beat upon that head which much care had made tender and delicate. The child complains to his father of his pain. Oh, that grace would teach us, what nature teaches infants, in all our troubles to bemoan ourselves to our Heavenly Father!
2 Kings 4:18. A day in a mother’s life. There are times when everything goes on smoothly, and one day is like another. Again there are times when changes come, and whole years of joy or sorrow may be concentrated into a single day. So it was with the household at Shunem. It was a hallowed day when Elisha first entered the house (2 Kings 4:8). It was a joyous day when a man-child was born (2 Kings 4:17). But most memorable of all was that day when the only son was lost and found; was dead, and received back to life again (2 Kings 4:18-37).
1. Morning joys. It is the harvest time. “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening” (Psalms 104:22-23). First, we see mother and child at home. She is called “a great woman” (2 Kings 4:8). This implies not greatness in wealth, but in character (Proverbs 12:26; Proverbs 31:10-31). Doubtless she would show her “greatness” not only in her management of household affairs, but in her care of her child. How tenderly she would watch over him; with what gentle wisdom she would train him in the ways in which he should go! Day by day he grew before her in strength and comeliness. He was her joy and pride. His birth had taken away her reproach; his training had developed all the deepest feelings of her nature; his fellowship was her delight, and his future the dearest hope of her life. He should live and prosper. He would yet do worthily in Shunem, and be famous in Jezreel. Oh, happy mothers,
“Who carry music in their heart;
Plying the daily task with busier feet
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.”
The next scene is in the harvest field. Here, too, all is joy. The father is glad at sight of his boy. His coming is not the result of command, but of his own choice. There is such love between him and his father as makes their meeting and intercourse a joy to both. They are happy together. See them watching the reapers, or walking hand in hand amidst the yellow corn. The father’s heart swells with gladness. His boy is more to him than all his fields. He is his only son, his heir, his treasure, the hope of his old age. He sees in him his mother’s love and image, and the stay of her heart when he himself is gone. How fervently he prays: “The God of Jacob bless the lad.”
2. Darkness at noon. How soon may the brightest sky be clouded. How quickly may the happiest home be darkened by sorrow and the shadow of death! “We know not what a day may bring forth.” The sun is high and hot in the heavens. Suddenly a cry of agony is heard—“My head, my head!” It is the cry of a child. How strange the association—childhood and pain! Surely here is a proof of the ravages of sin (Romans 5:14). We may hear many sermons, and give no heed; but hard and callous is the heart that can behold the sufferings of a child and yet not feel humbled and awed before God. It is a cry raised in the midst of innocent labour. The work going on is good, and not evil. It is in accordance with God’s ordinance. It is wholesome and pure. Old and young may join in it freely. Such, at least, it was in the olden time, when the simplicity of and purity of pastoral life was still known in the land (Ruth 2:4). And yet here death comes. There is no place safe. There is no people or work with immunity from trouble. The cry brought woe to the father’s heart. His son’s voice was sweet to his ear. Many a time had he heard it and been glad. But now the words “my head” are like a sword. Well did he know the import of that, terrible cry. He is helpless. But he knows where comfort is to be found. “To his mother.” It was the instinct of his heart. It was what the boy himself would have said, could he have spoken. Where is there a comforter like a mother? It may be the child is hurt. Others may make light of it: not so his mother. It may be he is weary of learning. Others may be hard and impatient: not so his mother. It may be he has committed a fault. Others may be severe and unsympathizing: not so his mother. It may be he has been stricken by sickness. Others may not understand or take heed: not so his mother. Work is laid aside. Comforts are got. Books, pictures are bought. Everything must give way to the little in valid. “His mother.” Sure refuge for the weary; true resting-place for the sick and stricken child. Picture the sad home-coming. “Carry him.” The lad obeys. What a change! He came out full of life and frolic; he is borne back helpless as a clod. “His mother.” Perhaps on household business intent. Perhaps preparing for the return of father and child, and busy in heart shaping joyous things. Alas! how dreadful the awakening (2 Kings 4:20). Mark her gentleness. “On her knees”—where often she had dandled him with delight. Her patience and hope. Till noon. What suspense! What hoping against hope! Her terrible distress. “Died.” Seemed like as if the sun had gone down at noon. All was dark. In that moment what thoughts crowded upon her soul! What a trial to her faith! God seemed to have forsaken her. Thus with many—
“Too common! Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break.”
III. Light at evening time. All is not lost, since God liveth. This woman, like her countryman of Gospel times, was great in faith. Therefore, instead of giving way to despair, she strengthens her heart in God. Perhaps she said to herself, like David, “Why art thou cast down, my soul? Still hope in God.” Mark the preparation. What promptitude and decision! The long ride to Carmel. At other times might have admired the “glory of Carmel,” but now she is preoccupied—her heart is fixed. She is silent. The passionate appeal to the prophet (2 Kings 4:27-30). Nothing will satisfy her but Elisha. He is to her the man of God. He stands as the prophet of the Lord to her, in sorrow as in joy. She will not leave off till he yields. Such importunity pleads not in vain. The return and restoration (2 Kings 4:32-37). Hope has sprung up again in her breast. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. How strange and solemn the scenes in the chamber of death! How wonderful the revival! God is great. Oh, what joy when the mother clasps again to her breast her beloved boy! Nothing Diviner could she feel short of heaven. Think of the happy close of the day in that Hebrew home! Dearer than ever was the son that had been dead, and received back to life again. Stronger than ever was the faith of father and mother in the God of Jacob, who had proved their Refuge and Help in the time of trouble. With what quiet and assured peace would they kneel in prayer. With what joyful hearts would they sing praises to the God of Israel (Psalms 30:11-12). What lessons to young and old are here (Ecclesiastes 12:1; Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4). Trials will come. In the darkest hour God can help. Here the child cries to his father, the father sends to the mother, the mother appeals to the prophet, and the prophet casts himself on God. So let us cast ourselves on Christ, our God and Saviour (Isaiah 66:13; John 11:25).—The Study and Pulpit.
2 Kings 4:19. What an undivine inference was that of the Bishop of Hereford, in his sermon at Oxford upon this text, in the reign of Edward II., pursued at that time by his queen and son, that an aching and sick head of a kingdom was of necessity to be taken off, and no otherwise cured!—Trapp.
2 Kings 4:20. The death of a child. I. Lightly regarded by some. II. Is the first real sorrow to many. III. A proof of the prevalence and power of sin. IV. Gives a deeper interest to the bereaved in the better land.
—The death of loved children comes often suddenly, like the lightning from a clear sky, and destroys our joy and our hopes. Therefore, we should possess these gifts as not possessing them. The Lord will not abandon, in days of adversity, him who trusts in Him in days of prosperity. He who in the latter has learned sobriety, and maintained his faith, will not be without wisdom and consolation in the former, but will be composed in all adversity.—Lange.
2 Kings 4:22-23. A prudent wife. I. Will control her own feelings for the sake of her husband. II. Will consult her husband on every needful occasion. III. Enjoys the respect and confidence of her husband in all things.
—A pious woman does nothing without her husband’s knowledge, and does not willingly call his attention to anything by which he may be saddened.—Starke.
2 Kings 4:26-27. This scene is natural and very graphic. If you ask after a person whom you know to be sick, the reply at first will invariably be Well, thank God, even when the very next sentence is to inform you that he is dying. Then the falling down, clasping the feet, &c., are actions witnessed every day. I have had this done to me often before I could prevent it. So also the officious zeal of the wicked Gehazi, who would thrust the broken-hearted mother away, probably thinking her touch pollution, agrees perfectly with what we know of the man, and of the customs of the East.—Thomson.
2 Kings 4:26. “It is well.” The verdict of hope. I. May be uttered when the heart is full of sorrow. II. Indicates an unwavering faith in God. III. May be true in a higher sense when present circumstances do not warrant the verdict.
—The highest Christian optimism. I. Teaches that all is well in its relation to the wisdom and love of God. II. In its present moral bearing on ourselves. III. In its relation to the compensation and glory of the future.
2 Kings 4:27. Do not make known at once to every one you meet that which distresses you, but keep it to yourself until you find one who understands you, and whose heart you have tested. Beware lest thou treat harshly sad souls who are overcome by grief, and who seek help and consolation, and lest thou thrust them away or judge them hastily. Do not cause still more grief to a bruised heart.
2 Kings 4:31. The powerlessness of some religious acts explained. I. Not because they are not done as commanded and with all due propriety and solemnity. II. But because there is a lack of earnest, acting, living faith. III. Because there are defects and inconsistencies of religious character.
—Why was Gehazi’s mission with the staff a failure? First of all, we maintain that it is far from certain or evident that Elisha expected his staff and his servant would be effectual in raising the dead. On the contrary, it is very possible that he meant Gehazi’s mission should be a failure, in order to show that the miracle could not be wrought by any supposed magic of the staff, by any mere human agency whatever. But on the other supposition, certainly admissible, and even probable, that the prophet expected his staff to resuscitate the child, the failure is thus well explained by Kitto: “Elisha did not at first mean to go himself to Shunem, and for that reason sent his staff to supply the lack of his own presence. But after he had sent away the servant, his observation of the uneasiness of the mother, whom he had expected to have gone home satisfied, and her avowed determination not to leave him, induced him to alter his purpose, and, with the kindness natural to him, to forego his own engagements at Carmel, and to accompany her to her forlorn home. It was probably in consequence of this change of plan that no response was made to the first claim of faith by means of the staff. That appeal, in fact, was superseded the moment he resolved to go in person, the Lord thus reserving for the personal intercession of His prophet the honour of this marvellous deed.” But Gehazi’s supposed unfitness to work the miracle, and the woman’s lack of faith in him, are facts not to be overlooked. They may be a sufficient reason for the failure of Gehazi’s mission. For in the realm of the miraculous, Divine Power works not blindly nor arbitrarily, but according to sacred laws. To affirm that there must be a sympathetic union or spontaneous affiliation between the human agencies employed and those deeply concerned in a given miracle, is only to say what is abundantly suggested in the Scriptures. Nor is this to degrade a class of miracles to the low plane of animal magnetism, or explain them away on naturalistic principles; yet it need not be denied that the psychological basis of animal magnetism was a medium through which many miracles were performed, and without which some miracles could not have been wrought. When the disciples, after their failure to heal a lunatic child, asked Jesus why they could not work the miracle, He replied, “Because of your unbelief” (Matthew 17:20, comp. Matthew 13:58; Mark 6:56; Mark 9:23).—Whedon.
—The staff of the prophet is of no use if the spirit and power of the prophet are wanting. Do not mistake the sign for the thing signified. It is God alone who can help, and His help is not dependent on external instruments and signs.
2 Kings 4:32-35. The power of prayer.
1. The best preparation for a great spiritual conflict.
2. Inspires an invincible faith.
3. Suggests the use of the best means for obtaining an answer.
4. Achieves great victories.
2 Kings 4:32-33.—Merit and importunity have drawn Elisha from Carmel to Shunem. He finds his lodging taken up by that pale corpse. He shuts the door and falls to prayer. This staff of his, whatever became of the other, was long enough, he knew, to reach up to heaven, to knock at these gates, yea, to wrench them open. Bishop Hall.
2 Kings 4:34. He knew what Elijah had done in a similar case (1 Kings 17:21), and followed his example; but doubtless both Elijah and Elisha used these natural means in accordance with some special revelation that was given them. This placing of his mouth, eyes, and hands, upon those of the child, bore the same relation to this miracle which the spittle and the washing in Siloam did to the miracle by which Jesus gave sight to the man blind from his birth (John 9:1-7). Divine power could have raised this child to life in answer to Elisha’s prayer without any other action on the part of the prophet, but Divine wisdom decreed otherwise. Christ opened one blind man’s eyes by a single command; but in the other case He adopted peculiar measures to work substantially the same miracle. We cannot tell why, but we accept the facts, and argue from them the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God (Romans 11:33). We do not presume to deny that our God might have adopted a different plan of redemption from the one we have, but we may well question the possibility of a wiser one, and though we cannot fathom all its mystery, we accept with joy the fact of “God manifest in the flesh;” and in the blessed incarnation of our Lord, to use the analogy of this miracle of Elisha, we see with wonder how the God-man stretches himself upon our cold, lifeless humanity that was dead in trespasses and sins, and even contracts himself to the narrow span of our infancy, childhood, manhood. His blessed mouth and eyes and hands come into contact with our own. He breathes upon us the Holy Ghost, and we are quickened and warmed into a new and eternal life. We are thus raised from spiritual death, and our ears hear, and our eyes see, and our hands handle the word of life.—Whedon.
2 Kings 4:35. Thus the work is done by degrees and with difficulty, mystically showing how hard it is to raise one dead in sins and trespasses, and to bring the work to any good effect. To comfort a wounded conscience is as great work, saith Luther, as to raise one from the dead.—Trapp.
2 Kings 4:36-37.—The mother is called in to receive a new life in her twice-given son. She comes in full of joy, full of wonder, bows herself to the ground, and falls down before those feet she had so boldly laid hold of in Carmel. Oh, strong faith of the Shunammite, that could not be discouraged with the seizure and continuance of death, raising up her heart still in an expectation of that life which to the eyes of nature had been impossible, irrevocable! Oh, infinite goodness of the Almighty, that would not suffer such faith to be frustrated, that would rather reverse the laws of nature, in returning a guest from heaven, and raising a corpse from death, than the confidence of a believing heart should be disappointed!—Bishop Hall.
As might be expected, there have not been wanting rationalistic interpreters who have explained this miracle as a case of suspended animation, or fit of apoplexy, and Elisha’s efforts as the manipulations of animal magnetism, by which sensation was restored. Of course such expositors ignore or deny the plain statement that the child was dead, and so do not explain, but contradict and torture the word of Scripture.—Whedon.