2 Kings 4:28

28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? 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 Please run out now to meet her and ask, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your child all right?’” And she answered, “Everything is all right.”

27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me?’”

29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

30 And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.