Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 4
A few years passed. The child grew, and he seemed strong and healthy. Then, perhaps for the first time, his father permitted his little boy to join the workers at the harvest.
In Israel, the crops of grain grow through the Winter. The harvest is in late Spring. It is hard work for everyone, but it is a very joyful occasion. The people are glad to see the grain that God has so generously provided for them (Psalm 126:6). The father would have given his son some small task to do, for example to scare birds away from the grain.
The harvest happens in dry weather, when the sun is hot. We do not know whether that caused the boy’s illness. He went to his father to complain that his head was hurting. It was still morning.
The father did not seem to think that his son was seriously ill. He did not send someone to find a doctor, or even take the boy home himself. Instead, he asked one of his servants to carry the boy back to his mother.
However, the boy’s mother could see that the illness was very serious. She would not leave the boy; she looked after him herself. However, the boy’s health only became worse until he died.
After that, her reactions were very unusual. She told nobody what had happened. She did not weep, but she took the boy’s body upstairs. She placed the body in the room that she made for Elisha, on Elisha’s bed. By that action, she showed that she was trusting God to help her in her desperate situation. The God who gave her that son, could cause the boy to become alive again.
Next part: The woman decides to go to Elisha (2 Kings 4.22-23)
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