2 Kings 4:23

23 And he said to her, For what cause goest thou to him? today be not calends, neither sabbath. And she answered, I shall go.

2 Kings 4:23 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 4:23

And he said, wherefore wilt thou go to him today?
&c.] What reason is there for it? what is the meaning of it?

it is neither new moon nor sabbath;
neither the first day of the month, nor the seventh day of the week, times which were religiously observed; so with the Heathens the new moon and the seventh of the week, and so the fourth, were sacred ^F21; which notions they borrowed from the Jews, (See Gill on 1 Samuel 20:5) and when, it seems, it was usual to frequent the house of the prophet, to hear the word of God read and explained, and other religious exercises performed, as praying and singing praise, and receiving some good instructions and advice. Joseph Kimchi gives a different sense of these words:

``there is not a month past, no, not a week, since thou sawest him;''

why therefore shouldest thou be in such haste to go to him? so the words for new moon and sabbath may signify:

and she said, it shall be well;
it was right for her to go, and it would be well for him and her, and the family; or, "peace" ^F23, be easy and quiet, farewell: it is much he had no mistrust of the death of the child, or that it was worse, since it went from him ill.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Hesiod. Opera & Dies, l. 2.
F23 (Mwlv) "pax", Pagninus, Montanus

2 Kings 4:23 In-Context

21 Certainly she went up, and laid him on the little bed of the man of God, and closed the door. And she went out,

22 and called her husband, and said, I beseech, send thou with me one of the servants, and an ass, and I shall run out unto the man of God, and I shall turn again (and then I shall return).

23 And he said to her, For what cause goest thou to him? today be not calends, neither sabbath. And she answered, I shall go.

24 And she saddled the ass, and commanded to the servant, Drive thou, and haste thee; make thou no tarrying to me in going (do not thou go slow for me), and do thou this thing which I command to thee.

25 Then she went forth, and came to the man of God, into the hill of Carmel. And when the man of God had seen her even against him, he said to Gehazi, his servant, Lo! that Shunammite; (Then she went forth, and came to the man of God, on Mount Carmel. And when the man of God had seen her some way off, he said to Gehazi, his servant, Lo! that Shunammite;)