And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of GoD, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers.

And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of GoD, and come again.

And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? it is neither new moon nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

So she went and came unto the man of GoD to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of GoD saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:

Run now, I pray thee, to meet her;

and say

unto

her,

her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

And when she came to the man of GOD to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gelazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of GoD said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

Then she said, Did I desire a son of

not say, Do not deceive me?

my lord? did I

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 upom the face of the child.

And the mother of the child said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.

And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing: wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.

And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD,

his

And he went up and lay upon the child, and put mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

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.

And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her: and when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

Then

Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went

out.

Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine houshold, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of GOD: and she went with her houshold, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

And it came to pass at the seven years end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.

And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of Gon, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.

And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was her's, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

And Elisha came again to Gilgal; and there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets

And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and

found

།

found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.

So they poured out for the men to eat: and it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of GoD, there is death in the pot; and they could not eat thereof.

But he said, Then bring meal: and he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat and there was no harm in the pot.

And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of Gop bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof: and he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.

And his servitor said, What! should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.

So he sat it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.

And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, 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 place there where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

So he went with them. Jordan, they cut down wood.

And when they came to

But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.

And the man of GoD said, Where fell it? And he

shewed

shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim.

Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it..

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

The law, which authorized the proceedings against the poor widow, seems to have been made originally to deter the Israelites from living beyond their income, which no one would have had occasion to do if all the statutes of the LORD had been observed in the land, because the allotted portion of each family would have amply supplied their wants. But the revolutions which had happened through the disobedience of the LORD'S people, had altered the case; and numbers became poor by their own sin and folly, many by the oppression of others.

We have read in what manner Jezebel had persecuted the prophets; and there is some reason to suppose, that the poverty of this woman's husband might be the consequence of that queen's tyranny; however it was, the man had feared the LORD, and his widow and children had a claim to the DIVINE MERCY, because God had graciously promised to be a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow.

The remarks we lately made on the history of the widow of Zarephath may be applied on the present occasion. At the time Élisha received such kindness from the Shunamite, he was high in the favour of the king of Israel, and could have promoted the temporal interest of her and her husband; but this good woman had learnt to set bounds to her desires, and having the means of living suitably to her rank in life, she declined his generous offer, thinking it safer and more agreeable to live among those friends whose society she had

VOL. III.

Q

long