Part 217 (1/2)

4:10. Let us, therefore, make him a little chamber, and put a little bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick, that when he cometh to us he may abide there.

4:11. Now, there was a certain day, when he came, and turned into the chamber, and rested there.

4:12. And he said to Giezi, his servant: Call this Sunamitess. And when he had called her, and she stood before him,

4:13. He said to his servant: Say to her: Behold, thou hast diligently served us in all things; what wilt thou have me to do for thee? Hast thou any business, and wilt thou, that I speak to the king, or to the general of the army? And she answered: I dwell in the midst of my own people.

4:14. And he said: What will she then that I do for her? And Giezi said: Do not ask, for she hath no son, and her husband is old.

4:15. Then he bid him call her. And when she was called, and stood before the door,

4:16. He said to her: At this time, and this same hour, if life be in company, thou shalt have a son in thy womb. But she answered: Do not, I beseech thee, my lord, thou man of G.o.d, do not lie to thy handmaid.

4:17. And the woman conceived, and brought forth a son in the time, and at the same hour that Eliseus had said.

4:18. And the child grew. And on a certain day, when he went out to his father to the reapers,

4:19. He said to his father: My head acheth, my head acheth. But he said to his servant. Take him, and carry him to his mother.

4:20. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, she sat him on her knees, until noon, and then he died.

4:21. And she went up, and laid him upon the bed of the man of G.o.d, and shut the door: and going out,

4:22. She called her husband, and said: Send with me, I beseech thee, one of thy servants, and an a.s.s, that I may run to the man of G.o.d, and come again.

4:23. And he said to her: Why dost thou go to him? to day is neither new moon nor sabbath. She answered: I will go.

4:24. And she saddled an a.s.s, and commanded her servant: Drive, and make haste, make no stay in going: And do that which I bid thee.

4:25. So she went forward, and came to the man of G.o.d, to mount Carmel: and when the man of G.o.d saw her coming towards, he said to Giezi, his servant: Behold that Sunamitess.

4:26. Go, therefore, to meet her, and say to her: Is all well with thee, and with thy husband, and with thy son? And she answered: Well.

4:27. And when she came to the man of G.o.d, to the mount, she caught hold on his feet: and Giezi came to remove her. And the man of G.o.d said: Let her alone for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

4:28. And she said to him: Did I ask a son of my lord? did I not say to thee: Do not deceive me?

4:29. Then he said to Giezi: Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go. If any man meet thee, salute him not: and if any man salute thee, answer him not: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

Salute him not... He that is sent to raise to life the sinner spiritually dead, must not suffer himself to be called off, or diverted from his enterprise, by the salutations or ceremonies of the world.

4:30. But the mother of the child said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. He arose, therefore, and followed her.

4:31. But Giezi was gone before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, and there was no voice nor sense: and he returned to meet him, and told him, saying: The child is not risen.

St. Augustine considers a great mystery in this miracle wrought by the prophet Eliseus, thus: By the staff sent by his servant is figured the rod of Moses, or the Old Law, which was not sufficient to bring mankind to life then dead in sin. It was necessary that Christ himself should come, and by taking on human nature, become flesh of our flesh, and restore us to life. In this Eliseus was a figure of Christ, as it was necessary that he should come himself to bring the dead child to life and restore him to his mother, who is here, in a mystical sense, a figure of the Church.

4:32. Eliseus, therefore, went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed:

4:33. And going in, he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord.