twelve hours had passed since the decease of the child. In the Orient, however, decomposition commences much sooner than among us, especially in the warm harvest-season (ver. 18). With reference to the law, Numb. xix. 11, according to which the touching a corpse makes unclean, the Talmudists, as Philippson observes, raised the question: "Did the son of the Shunammite render unclean? and the answer is: DDD D'NI NDDD No (a corpse makes unclean, but not a living body)." So much at least is clear from this, that they did not consider the boy a real corpse, although they did not deny the miracle. That the act of Elisha cannot in any wise be compared with the restoration to life of the son of the widow of Nain, or of Lazarus, hardly needs to be mentioned.

of apostasy, form the core of the covenant-people, and represent the true Israel. The two narratives are not, therefore, inserted here accidentally and without connection, but they join on very fitly to the two preceding. They have not the object, however, any more than those have, to present Elisha to us as a thaumaturge and to glorify him: on the contrary they are intended to strengthen faith in Him whose instrument and servant the prophet is. They teach and attest practically the truth of the Psalmist's words (Ps. xxxiii. 18, 19), which we might even place over them as a title, "Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him; upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death (vers. 38-41), and to keep them alive in famine" (vers. 42-44). At the same time both nar

6. Gehazi's mission to Shunem, since it was un-ratives afford us an insight into the schools of the successful and had no effect whatever upon the development of the story, might have been left unmentioned. That it is narrated, however, in detail, is all the more a proof of the historical truth of the entire story, inasmuch as it cannot serve the glory of the prophet on account of its entire want of success. It is, in fact, not omitted, because it teaches practically that the gift of the Spirit with which God arms His servants, the prophets, for extraordinary deeds, cannot be transferred by these to others, and that it pertains still less to the external symbol of the prophetical calling, so that not every one in whose hand the symbol may be is thereby put in a position to execute such acts. It was not so much the mother of the boy who was to learn this, for she did not desire that Gehazi should be sent, nor Gehazi, for he did not offer to go, but was called upon by the prophet to do so, as it was Elisha himself. The gift of the

or Spirit is not an habitual, permanent one, but one which is given specially for each occasion, and which the prophet cannot dispose of according to his own good-will and pleasure. As it had not been made known to Elisha by Jehovah that the boy was dead or would die, so the command had not been given to him by God that he should give | Gehazi a commission for the deed, and intrust his staff to him. Out of anxiety, lest the prophet's credit might suffer if the cause of the failure of this mission was sought in him, it was very early thought necessary to have recourse to an allegorical interpretation. The dead boy was said to signify the human race, which had fallen under death on account of sin; the staff with which Gehazi thought that he could awake the dead boy, represented the Law of Moses, which could not save from sin and death; Elisha, finally, who afterwards brought the dead to life, was a type of the Son of God, who, by his incarnation, put himself in connection with our flesh (ver. 34), and imparted new life to humanity. This interpretation is found from the time of Origen on, in all centuries, and even in the most modern times it has been adopted by Cassel Elisa, s. 42 sq.). However imaginative and edifying t may be, it has no foundation in the text.

7. The third and fourth narratives (vers. 38-44) belong together, because both concern the circle of sons of the prophets. Whereas in the first two narratives it is individual faithful servants of Jehovah, who experience, through the prophet, His marvellous, protecting, helping, and saving might, here it is the entire community of sons of the prophets, that is to say, of those who, in the time

prophets. In the same place where the sons of the prophets "sat before him," i. e., received instruction, there they also ate together, i. e., they led a life of close fellowship and communion (cf. Luke xv. 2; 1 Cor. v. 11 sq.). It follows that this life in common was anything but luxurious, on the contrary that it was a life of sacrifice. How straitened the circumstances were in which they lived we may see from the fact that Elisha had to send one of their number into the field to collect wild herbs before the mi-day meal could be prepared, and also that, later, the little which one man brought had to suffice for a hundred men. From this it follows either that the pupils of the proph ets were poor by birth, or that they hart decided to live a life of sacrifice and self-denial. Nevertheless, their number was large, and the fact that even bitter want could not separate them from one ansign of the purity of their motives and of their other and break up the community, is a beautiful faithful zeal.

8. Both prophetical acts of Elisha in the circle of the pupils of the prophets have been referred to quite ordinary incidents. In the first it has been said that Elisha showed himself a "remarkable student of nature for the time in which he lived" (Knobel, l. c., s. 95), just as in chap. ii. 20 sq. and iii. 16 sq. If he had been such, however, he would certainly have known that no one can make a pot full of bitter and poisonous herbs uninjurious by simply adding a handful of meal. Hence the Exeget. Handbuch des Alt. Test. believes that the prophet may have added something else, does not tell, however, what this something else was, nor whence he got it. Theodoret observes that it was not ro αλεύρου φύσις, but ἡ τοῦ προφητικού πνεύματος duvaus, which weakened or destroyed the action of the poison. The meal was here only a natural and appropriate sign of healthful nourishment. The truth underlying the second story is thought to be "that the sons of the prophets were protected by Elisha's wise precaution during that time of famine" (Knobel, s. 97). In that case Elisha must have sent orders to the man of Beth-Shalisha beforehand, and his precaution, since the man only brought twenty barley-loaves, which were not enough for so many, would have been insufficient and not by any means wise. Neither does the narrative contain "the moral, that the believer can satisfy his earthly needs even with scanty means (Köster, Die Prophet. s. 88), for the prophet does not mean to give an example of the way in which we ought to behave, but he states what Jehovah will do. It is not he who brings about the satis

faction of their hunger, but Jehovah; he only fore- | we are in the wrong and are sinning against the tells it and announces it. Jehovah ordered it so that a strange man, uncalled and unexpected, should bring to the prophet in a time of famine the first-fruits, which belong to Jehovah according to the Law (Numb. xv. 19, 20; Deut. xxvi. 2 sq.), and He blessed this gift so that it sufficed to satisfy the entire community of the prophets. Hence it follows that this feeding cannot be regarded as a type of the miraculous feedings in the New Testament, and that we cannot say: "Jesus taught on a grand scale what Elijah taught on a small scale" (Dereser); still less can the New Testament incidents be regarded as imitations and mythical de-Ver. 6. HALL: The goodness of God gives grace velopments of this. The Lord Himself, at the feeding of the five thousand, makes reference, not to this narrative, but to the feeding of the people with manna in the wilderness (Ex. xvi. 15 sq.), and He gives to His miracle an express object and significance (John vi. 32 sq.), such as we cannot at all think of in this case. Besides that, however, the historical connection, the occasion, the persons, all are utterly different, and the asserted similarity is reduced finally simply to this, that through the divine influence a little suffices for many: an altogether ordinary truth which pierces through many other incidents in the history of redemption, which are entirely different from this one.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL,

Vers. 1-7. KRUMMACHER: The Story of the poor Widow. (a) Her distress; (2) she seeks refuge in the prophet, and (c) finds it.-Help in Need. (a) The woman who receives assistance. (Widow of a God-fearing man, burdened by debt, and without resources; mother of two children, who are to be taken from her; her faith and trust; her gratitude. Such are always helped.) (b) The prophet who assists her. (As a genuine prophet of God he does not stop his ears to the cry of the poor, like the creditor, Prov. xxi. 13. He knows that he who has compassion on the widows and fatherless thereby serves God, James i. 27. Gold and silver he has not, but he employs the gift which he has received, and does not stop with words. Go and do likewise, 1 Peter iv. 10; James ii. 14-17.)-WÜRT. SUMM.: Our Lord and God allows it to come to pass that widows and orphans are often distressed and harshly treated in order to try their faith and patience; if they show themselves upright, trust in God, have patience and pray diligently, then God helps them marvellously, blesses a little to them, that they may have all necessary maintenance, and may find it sufficient, and He saves them, at the proper time, from the hands of their oppressors. With this reflection all widows and orphans, when they are poor, abandoned, and oppressed, must console themselves, if their nourishment is scanty, and they are besides unkindly regarded by the world.-Ver. 1. STARKE: A good reputation after death. He feared God! See to it that thou, also, after thy departure, mayest with justice have this name, for all, all must depart, but he who doeth the will of God abideth forever (1 John ii. 17).-He who fears God will not make debts thoughtlessly; but for him who falls into debt innocently God will find means of payment in time.-Summum jus, summa injuria. We may be entirely in the right and act perfectly according to the law, in the eyes of men, while

highest law before God. See James ii. 13.-Ver. 2. STARKE: As God readily hears the cry of the poor and suffering (Ps. cxlv. 18, 19), so do also His servants and children.-Vers. 3-5. CRAMER: In temporal affairs experience must precede and faith follow; in spiritual affairs faith must precede, and then experience follows, for we do not find out the truth unless belief in God's Word has preceded (John vii. 17).-Ver. 5. Whatever a man does in the obedience of faith, whether it appears foolish or vain in the eyes of the world, is nevertheless blessed by God, and redounds to his soul's health. according to the measure of those who receive it; if He ceases to pour it into our hearts, it is because there is no more room there to receive it. If wo could receive more He would give more.-Ver. 7. If means are given thee to satisfy thy creditor, let it be thy first duty to pay him before thou carest for thyself! He who can pay his debts, but wil not, takes what does not belong to him and sins against the eighth commandment.-VON GERLACH: When the Lord gives there is always some thing left over and above; He never merely takes away distress, He gives a blessing besides. He desires, however, that the obligation to our neighbor should first be satisfied before we begin to enjoy His biessing.

Vers. 8-37. God's Ways with His Children. See Historical, § 3.-BENDER: Elisha in Shunem. (a) The kind reception which he there met with; (b) the great deeds by which he there glorified the name of his God.-KRUMMACHER: The Story of the Shunammite. (a) The shelter at Shunem; (b) the grateful guest; (c) the dying boy; (d) Gehazi with Elisha's staff; (e) the resuscitation of the dead.-The Shunammite, a woman after God's own heart. WÜRT. SUMM.: She loved God's word and His servant, the prophet Elisha, and she did him much good out of her fortune; she led a quiet, modest life, so that she had no affairs at the royal court or at law; she held her husband in honor, and did not wish to undertake any journey without his permission; she was able to strike a middle course, and she knew how to conduct herself so that she did not anger God, nor give offence to her neighbors.

Vers 8-17. The house at Shunem, a tabernacle of God amongst men, for there dwelt faith and love (vers. 8-11), and therefore, also, peace and blessing (vers. 12-17).-Ver. 8. There are always, among those whose lot it is to have wealth, some who do not attach their hearts to it (Ps. lxii. 10), and do not trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God (1 Tim. vi. 17, 18); who have not become satiated and indifferent in their hearts, but hunger and thirst after righteousness, and have an earnest desire for the bread of life. The servants of the Word ought not to withdraw themselves from these, but advance to meet them in every way.— BERLEB. BIBEL: God always gives to His children pious hearts, so that they open their houses and shelter strangers. Though the Gadarenes beg Him to depart (Luke viii. 37), though there are Samaritans who will not receive Christ (Luke ix. 52 sq.), yet there is always a good soul which is glad to take the Lord Jesus and receive Him to itself.-BENDER: He who, like the Shunammite, hon. ors and loves the Lord, and is anxious to lead a life in God, honors and loves also the servants of the

the promises too great and glorious, and ourselves unworthy of them (Gen. xviii. 13 sq.; John xi. 23 sq.).

Vers. 18-21. Happiness and unhappiness, joy and sorrow, stand, here upon earth, ever side by side. There is no unalloyed happiness. We are not in the world simply in order to have happy days; God sets the day of adversity over-against the day of prosperity (Eccl. vii. 14).—Man, in his life, is like the grass (Ps. ciii. 15, 16). The death of loved children comes often suddenly, like the lightning from a clear sky, and destroys our joy and our hopes. Therefore we should possess these gifts also, as not possessing them, and learn to believe that God's ways, &c. (Isai. lv. 8, 9). The Lord will not abandon, in days of adversity, him who trusts in Him in days of prosperity. He who in the latter has learned sobriety, and maintained his faith, will not be without wisdom and consolation in the former, but will be composed in all adversity.— Ver. 22. STARKE: A pious woman does nothing without her husband's knowledge, and does not willingly call his attention to anything by which he may be saddened.-Ver. 23. Husbands ought not to put any hindrance in the way of their wives when they wish to go there where they hope to find food for their souls, and counsel and consolation from God. Sundays and feast-days are not instituted merely that we may rest from labor, but that we may hear the Word of God, and be edified thereby. This word is not, indeed, bound to any definite time, it is a well of living water, from which we may and ought to take at any time, and satisfy our thirst for knowledge, consolation, and peace. How many there are, however, of those who do not do this even on Sundays and feastdays!-Vers. 25-28. The arrival of the Shunammite at Carmel. (a) She receives a kind welcome (OSIANDER: Pious people have hearty love for each other, and each shares in the other's joy and sorrow, Rom. xii. 15), but she conceals from Gehazi that which troubles her heart. (Do not make known at

Lord, and seeks their society. He does not seek them, however, as pleasant companions, or merely in order to claim their help in bodily need, but he seeks them as shepherds, as soul-physicians, as guardians of God's mysteries, and as messengers in Christ's stead.—Vers. 8–11. The Shunammite urges the holy man of God to stay at her house and to be her guest; she prepares him a dwelling in her house. He who is more than a prophet desires to take up his residence with us. He stands before the door and knocks, and if any man, &c., Rev. iii. 20. Let us prepare the dwelling for Him, and pray every day: Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest! and: Remain with us, for the evening is drawing on. O! selig Haus wo man Dich aufgenommen, &c. (hymn of Spitta), Matt. xxv. 35, 40.-Be hospitable! for the sake of the Lord, and with joy, without murmuring (Rom. xii. 13; Heb. xiii. 2; 1 Peter iv. 9).-Vers. 9-10. How beautiful it is when one spouse incites the other to holy works of love, and both are in accord therein; when husband and wife understand each other well, and go on uninterruptedly in a bond of pure fidelity (Gerhardt's hymn: Wie schön ist's doch, &c.).— STARKE: Husbands should not restrain their wives from kind actions toward the children and servants of God.-Ver. 10. J. LANGE: God gives, in this earthly life, not only what is absolutely necessary, but also what belongs to easiness of circumstances: a fact which we ought also to recognize with thanksgiving. Ver. 11. HALL: Solitude is most advantageous for teachers and students (Matt. xiv. 23). Vers. 12-17. What the Lord says, Matt. x. 40-42, is fulfilled already here, under the old covenant; how much more will it be fulfilled under the new covenant.-The Conversation of Elisha with the Shunammite. (a) The question of Elisha. (A question inspired by gratitude, although the woman had far more reason to thank him than he her, for cf. 1 Cor. ix. 11.-STARKE: A noble heart does not like to receive a favor and make no return, but recognizes its obligation to return it. It is, however, also a test-question, to see if the Shu-once to every one you meet that which distresses nammite had received him in the name of a prophet you, but keep it to yourself until you find one who and not for the sake of a reward, or for any tem- understands you, and whose heart you have tested, poral gain. The question as to thy wishes is a Sirach xxi. 28.) (b) She is thrust away by Gelazi question as to the disposition of thy heart.) (b) (Beware lest thou treat harshly sad souls, who are The answer of the Shunammite. ("I dwell," &c. overcome by grief, and who seek help and consolaShe asks no recompense for the good she has done, tion, and lest thou thrust them away or judge them she wishes to have nothing to do with the court of hastily. Sir. iv. 3: Do not cause still more grief to the king, and the great ones of this world, she has a bruised heart.-BERLEB. BIBEL: There are many no desire for high things, but," &c. Rom. xii. servants who wish to hinder others from familiarity 16-a sign of great humility and modesty. Al- because it appears to them too bold. Magdathough she lacked that which was essential to lens are thrust away from the feet of Jesus Christ, the honor and happiness of an Israelitish wife, and the Pharisees are scandalized at them, Luke viz., a son, yet she was contented, and no word of vii. 38. Elisha receives this woman in a friendly complaint passed her lips-a sign of great con- manner and listens with sympathy. Sir. vii. 38 tentment. He who is godly is also contented, 1 "Leave not those who mourn without consolation, Tim. vi. 6, and says: Howsoever he may conduct but sorrow with the sorrowing." Come, in thy sor my affairs, I am contented and silent.)-He who is row, to Him who calls the sorrowful and the heavyat peace with God in his heart, lives in, and pur-laden to himself, and who has said: "Him that sues, peace with men (Rom. xii. 18; Heb. xii. 14). -Vers. 14-17. The Lord, according to His grace and truth, remembers even the wishes which we cherish in silence and do not express before men, and He often gives to those who yield to His holy will without murmurs or complaints just that which they no longer dared to hope for.-It makes a great difference whether we doubt of the divine promises from unbelief, or from humility or want of confidence in ourselves because we consider

cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out," John vi, 37.)-Vers. 29-31. Gehazi's Mission to Shunem. (a) Elisha's intention in sending him; (b) the failure of his mission (see above, the Exeget, and Critical and the Historical notes). The especial gift which God has given, out of free grace, to one man, cannot be transferred by him to another. Let every one serve the other with that gift which he has received (1 Peter iv. 10), for we are not mas. ters of the gifts of God, but only stewards. The

B.-The healing of Naaman, punishment of Gehazi, and recovery of a lost axe.

CHAP. V.-VI. 7.

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable [honored], because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies [in marauding bands], and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on 8 Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with 4 the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one [he, i. e., Naaman] went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said 5 the maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes 6 of raiment. [,] And he brought the letter [omit the letter] to the king of Israel [the letter], saying [which was to this effect]: Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that 7 thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to

8

kili and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore, [Nay! only] consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know [learn] that there is a 9 prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and 10 stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to 11 thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover 12 the leper [heal the leprosy]. Are not Abana' and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So 13 he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, 14 Wash, and be clean? Then he went down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

15

And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing [token of 16 gratitude from-omit of] of thy servant. But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he 17 refused. And Naaman said, Shall there not then [If not, then let there], I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? [,] for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but 18 unto the Lord." In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, [;] that [omit that] when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: [;] when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in 19 this thing. And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way [some distance].

20

But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of 21 him. So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? 22 And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even [just] now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets give them, i pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of gar23 ments. And Naaman said, Be content, [pleased to―omit,] take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before 24 him. And when he came to the tower [hill] he took them from their hand, and 25 bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence 26 comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid' 27 servants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever. And he went from his presence a leper as white as snow.

CHAP. VI. 1. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, 2 the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a 3 place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said,