1 Kings 17:21

21 And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body.

1 Kings 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.

1 Kings 17:21 In-Context

19 And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

20 And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?

21 And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body.

22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived.

23 And Elias took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth.