2 Kings 4:29

Contextual Overview

¹⁸The child grew and one day went out to his father and the harvesters. ¹⁸ When the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. ¹⁸ And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers. ¹⁸ When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. ¹⁸ The boy grew up and one day went out to his father, who was with the grain harvesters. ¹⁸ The boy grew and one day he went out to see his father who was with the harvest workers. ¹⁸When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁸ When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁸ And when the childe was growen, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father, and to the reapers. ¹⁸Then the child was grown. And the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Gird up thy loins: 2 Kings 9:1, 1 Kings 18:46, Ephesians 6:14, 1 Peter 1:13

take my: 2 Kings 2:14, Exodus 4:17

salute him not: Luke 10:4

lay my staff: 2 Kings 2:8, 2 Kings 2:14, Exodus 7:19, Exodus 7:20, Exodus 14:16, Joshua 6:4, Joshua 6:5, Acts 3:16, Acts 19:12

Reciprocal: Genesis 47:7 - And Jacob 2 Kings 4:12 - Gehazi Proverbs 31:17 - girdeth Jeremiah 1:17 - gird up Matthew 17:16 - and they Mark 9:18 - and they Mark 16:8 - neither John 20:17 - Touch

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then he said to Gehazi, gird up thy loins,.... His loose and long garments about him, that he might make quicker dispatch in travelling:

and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way; not for the sake of travelling with it, but for an end after mentioned:

if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again; that so no time may be lost:

and lay my staff upon the face of the child; he not intending when he said this to go himself, but at the time, as near as he could, when this action was performed, would pray to God to restore life to the child; for he could not imagine that by this bare action it could be done.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Salute him not - Compare the marginal reference. Salutation is the forerunner of conversation and one bent on speed would avoid every temptation to loiter.

Lay my staff upon the face of the child - Perhaps to assuage the grief of the mother, by letting her feel that something was being done for her child.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. Salute him not — Make all the haste thou possibly canst, and lay my staff on the face of the child; he probably thought that it might be a case of mere suspended animation or a swoon, and that laying the staff on the face of the child might act as a stimulus to excite the animal motions.