Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
A lord on whose hand the king leaned. When an Eastern king walks, or stands abroad in the open air, he always supports himself on the arm of the highest courtier present.
If the Lord would make windows in heaven, х 'arubowt (H699)] - windows closed by a lattice; but here "windows in heaven" denote sluices, floodgates, opened to let rain fall (cf. Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:2; Isaiah 24:18; Isaiah 60:8; Hosea 13:3). [The Septuagint renders it: kataraktas en ouranoo; that is, Should God rain down grain, as He had formerly done manna, this prediction might be verified.] The scoffing infidelity of this remark, which was a sneer against, not the prophet only, but the God he served, was justly and signally punished (see 2 Kings 7:20).