Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
Take my staff ... and lay ... upon the face of the child. The staff was probably an official rod of a certain form and size. Necromancers used to send their staff, with orders to the messengers to let it come in contact with nothing by the way that might dissipate or destroy the virtue imparted to it. Some have thought that Elisha himself entertained similar ideas, and was under an impression that the actual application of his staff would serve as well as the touch of his hand. But this is an imputation dishonourable to the character of the prophet. He wished to teach the Shunammite, who obviously placed too great dependence upon him, a memorable lesson to look to God. By sending his servant forward to lay his staff on the child, he raised her expectations, but at the same time taught her that his own help was unavailing - "there was neither voice nor hearing." The command, to "salute no man by the way," showed the urgency of the mission, not simply as requiring the avoidance of the tedious and unnecessary greetings so common in the East (Luke 10:1); but the exercise of faith and prayer. It could not be that Elisha himself expected his staff to raise to life the widow's child, for he must have known well that if he set about anything in his own strength, or expected anything from the means, without looking directly to God in and through the means, he would be rebuked, and left without success. But the act of Gehazi was allowed to fail, in order to free the Shunammite, and the people of Israel at large, of the superstitious notion of supposing a miraculous virtue resided in any person, or in any rod, and that it was only through earnest prayer and faith in the power of God, and for His glory, that this and every miracle was to be performed.