2 Kings 4:28

28 Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn't I say, 'Do not deceive me?' "

2 Kings 4:28 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:28

Then she said, did I desire a son of my lord?
&c.] It was not at her request she had one, at least the first motion was not from her; the prophet first told her, and assured her she should have one, without her asking for it; she might be pleased with it, and desire the promise might be fulfilled; but it was not an inordinate, importunate, desire of one, in which she had exceeded, that so the taking it away from her might be a correction of her for it:

did I not say, do not deceive me;
by giving hopes of a child, and yet have none; and now it was equally the same, or worse, to have one, and then to have it taken away again as soon as had almost; so the Targum,

``did I not say unto thee, if a child is given me, let it live, if not, do not trouble or grieve me;''

and then, no doubt, she told him plainly the child was dead, and where she had laid it, though not recorded.

2 Kings 4:28 In-Context

26 Run out to meet her and ask, 'Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?' " And she answered, "Everything's all right."
27 When she came up to the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone-she is in severe anguish, and the Lord has hidden it from me. He hasn't told me."
28 Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn't I say, 'Do not deceive me?' "
29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your mantle under your belt, take my staff with you, and go. If you meet anyone, don't [stop to] greet him, and if a man greets you, don't answer him. Then place my staff on the boy's face."
30 The boy's mother said [to Elisha], "As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So he got up and followed her.
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