Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
The child sneezed seven times, and ... opened his eyes. These were the first acts of restored respiration, and they are described as successive steps. Miracles were for the most part performed instantaneously, but sometimes also they were advanced progressively toward completion, and until the Gospel dispensation, when the Spirit was poured out fully, they were performed as it were by effort, and as in this case, after partial failure (1 Kings 18:44-45; Mark 8:24-25). Some of the old Jewish writers held that this son became afterward the prophet Habakkuk, and consequently the earliest of the prophets whose collected writings are contained in Scripture; but this is a mere fancy.