And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
What have I to do with thee? The phrase is elliptic, and the meaning is, What is there in common to us two-to me, a sinful woman, and thee, a man of God-that we should thus have come together to my harm? (cf. Judges 11:12; 2 Kings 3:13: see Trench 'On Miracles,' p. 104.) Without answering her bitter upbraiding, the prophet takes the child, lays it on his bed, and, after a very earnest prayer, had the happiness of seeing its restoration, and along with it, gladness to the widow's heart and home.
There is a remarkable difference noticeable between the miracles of the Old and the New Testaments. 'We find,' says Trench, 'the holy men of old sometimes bringing-if one may venture so to speak-hardly, and with difficulty, the wonder-work to pass. It is not born without pangs: there is sometimes a momentary pause, a seeming uncertainty about the issue; while the miracles of Christ and His apostles are always accomplished with the highest ease' (Numbers 12:13-15; 1 Kings 18:42-44; 2 Kings 4:31-35). The prophet was sent to this widow, not merely for his own security, but on account of her faith to strengthen and promote which he was directed to go to her, rather than to many widows in Israel, who would have eagerly received him on the same privileged terms of exemption from the grinding famine. The relief of her bodily necessities became the preparatory means of supplying her spiritual wants, and bringing her and her son, through the teaching of the prophet, to a clear knowledge of God, and a firm faith in His Word (Luke 4:25).