Melachim Alef 17:21

21 And he stretched himself upon the yeled shalosh p’amim, and cried out unto Hashem, and said, Hashem Elohai, let this yeled’s nefesh return to him again.

Melachim Alef 17:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 17:21

And he stretched himself upon the child three times
Or "measured himself" ^F9 on it, or put himself into a posture in some respects equal to the child; putting his mouth on its mouth, his eyes on its eyes, his hands on its hands, as Elisha afterwards did in a like case, perhaps in imitation of him, ( 2 Kings 4:34 ) , thereby showing his great affection to the child, and in order to increase it the more, and to make him the more fervent and importunate in his prayers for its life; and hereby signifying also that he would if he could infuse his breath and life into it, and warm it with his own heat:

and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this
child's soul come into him again:
which shows that the child was really dead; and a proof this that the soul dies not with the body, but exists in a separate state without it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (ddmtyw) "et mensus est se", Pagninus, Montanus; "admensus se", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Melachim Alef 17:21 In-Context

19 And he said unto her, Give me thy ben. And he took him out of her kheyk, and carried him up into the aliyyah (upper room), where he abode, and laid him upon his own mittah (bed).

20 And he cried out unto Hashem, and said, Hashem Elohai, hast thou even brought evil upon the almanah with whom I sojourn, by slaying her ben?

21 And he stretched himself upon the yeled shalosh p’amim, and cried out unto Hashem, and said, Hashem Elohai, let this yeled’s nefesh return to him again.

22 And Hashem heard the voice of Eliyahu; and the nefesh of the yeled returned to him again, and he came alive.

23 And Eliyahu took the yeled, and brought him down out of the aliyyah into the bais, and delivered him unto his em; and Eliyahu said, Look! Thy ben liveth.