[i.] After an interval of several years, the boy is old enough to accompany his father to the corn-field, where the harvest is proceeding. The fierce rays of the morning sun are too powerful for him, and (affect- ed apparently by a mn-stroke") he is carried home to his mother only to die at noon. She says nothing of their loss to her husband, but depositing her child on the bed of the man of God, at once starts in quest of him to Mount Carmel. The distance is fifteen or six- teen miles- — at least four hours' ride ; but she is mount- ed on the best ass ('prixn, the she-ass, such being noted for excellence), and she does not slacken rein. Elisha is on one of the heights of Carmel commanding the road to Shunem, and from his position opposite to her (ni^i^p) he recognises in the distance the figure of the regular attendant at the services which he holds here at " new moon and sabbath" (corap. ver. 23). Ke sends Gehazi down to meet her, and inquire the reason of her unexpected visit. But her distress is for the ear of the master, and not of the servant, and she press- es on till she comes up to the place where Elisha him- self is stationed ("i^n, the mount, ver. 27, i. e. Carmel, ver. 25); then throwing herself down in her emotion, she clasps him i)y the feet. Misinterpreting this ac- tion, or perhaps with an ascetic feeling of the unholi- ness of a woman, Gehazi attempts to thrust her away. But the prophet is too profound a student of human nature to allow this — " Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and Jehovah hath hid it from me, and hath nottoldme." " Andshe said" — with theenig- matical form of Oriental speech — " did I desire a son of my lord ? Did I not say, do not deceive me .'" No explanation is needed to tell Elisha the exact state of the case. The heat of the season will allow of no de- lay in taking the necessary steps, and Gehazi is at once dispatched to run back to Shunem with the ut- most speed. He takes the prophet's walking-staff" in his hand which he is to lay on the face of the child. The mother and Elisha follow in haste. Before they reach the village the sun of tliat long, anxious sum- mer afternoon must have set. Geliazi meets them on the road, but he has no reassuring report to give ; the placing of the staff' on the f ice of the dead boy had called forth no sign of life. Then Elisha enters the house, goes up to his own chaml)er, "and he shut the door on them twain, and prayed unto Jehovah." It was what Elijah had done on a similar occasion, and
in this and his subsequent proceedings Elisha was probably following a method which he had heard of from his master. The child is restored to life, the mother is called in, and again falls at the feet of the prophet, though with what different emotions — " and she took up her son and went out" (2 Kings iv, 18-37). There is nothing in the narrative to fix its date with reference to other events. "We here first encounter Gehazi, the " servant" (^^'3, lad) of the man of God. It must of course have occurred before the events of viii, 1-6, and therefore before the cure of Naaman, when Gehazi became a leper.
(G.) The scene now changes to Gilgal, apparently at a time when Elisha was residing there (iv, 38-41). The sons of the prophets are sitting round him. It is a time of famine, possibly the same seven years' scar- city which is mentioned in viii, 1, 2, and during which the Shunammite woman of the preceding story migrated to the Philistine countrj'. The food of the party must consist of anj' herbs that can be found. The great caldron is put on at the command of Elisha, and one of the company brings his blanket (^153; not "lap" as in A. V.) full of such wild vegetables as he has col- lected, and empties it into the pottage. But no sooner have the}' begun their meal than the taste betrays the presence of some noxious herb [see Gouhd], and they cry out, "There is death in the pot, oh man of God!" In this case the cure was effected by meal which Elisha cast into the stew in the caldron (1 Kings iv, S8-41).
(7.) The next miracle in all probability belongs to the same time, and also to the same place as the pre- ceding. A man from Baal-shalisha (q. v.) brings the man of God a present of the first-fruits, which under the law (Num. xviii, 8, 12 ; Dent, xviii, 3, 4) were the perquisite of the ministers of the sanctuary^20 loaves of the new barley, and some delicacy, the exact nature of which is disputed, but which seems most likely to have been roasted ears of corn not fullj' ripe (b w"!3 perhaps ellipticalh' for P'2'13 'C^'y, comp. Lev. xxiii, 4), brought with care in a sack or bag ("[".bpiJ, Sept. TT/'/pa). This moderate provision is by the word of Jehovah rendered more than sufficient for a hundred men (2 Kings iv, 42-44). This is one of the instances in which Elisha is the first to anticipate in some meas- ure the miracles of Christ.