1 Kings 17:21

21 He spread abroad himself, and was meted upon the child by three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, I beseech, the soul of this child turn again into the entrails of him. (Then he stretched himself over, or above, the child three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let the soul of this child return to his entrails.)

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 Elijah said to her, Give thy son to me. And he took that son from her bosom, and bare into the solar, where he dwelled; and he put him on his bed. (And he took her son from her bosom, and carried him up to the solarium, where he stayed; and he put him on his bed.)

20 And he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, whether thou hast tormented also the widow (hast thou tormented this widow), with whom I am sustained in all manner, (so) that thou killedest her son?

21 He spread abroad himself, and was meted upon the child by three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, I beseech, the soul of this child turn again into the entrails of him. (Then he stretched himself over, or above, the child three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let the soul of this child return to his entrails.)

22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child turned again within him, and he lived again.

23 And Elijah took the child, and put him down of the solar into the lower house (and took him down from the solarium to the lower part of the house), and betook him to his mother; and he said to her, Lo! thy son liveth.