1 Kings 17:21 MEANING

(21) He stretched himself upon the child.--To suppose that this implies merely the use of some natural means of reviving the dead, is simply to explain the whole description away. The idea in this passage (as in 2 Kings 4:34; 2 Kings 13:21, and, perhaps, Acts 20:10) clearly is of a certain healing "virtue," attaching in measure to the person of the prophets, as without measure it belonged to our Lord Himself (Luke 8:45-46). But it is to be noted that in the case of the prophet, the power to heal or raise up is made distinctly conditional on prayer, "the Lord heard the voice of Elijah."

Verse 21. -And he stretched himself [marg. measured himself, but Gesenius holds that stretch out is the primary meaning of the root] upon the child [cf. 2 Kings 4:34. The commentators are again at variance as to whether these words imply the use of natural means or not. Those who hold that the child was dead naturally adopt the negative, and some (Keil, Rawlinson, al.) compare with it the action of our Lord in the case of the blind, deaf and dumb (Matthew 9:35; Luke 7:14; John 9:6, 7). But surely the circumstances and the purpose alike, in these latter cases, were entirely different. The object of the touch, of anointing the eyes, etc., in these cases of healing, appears to have been to awaken a sufficient faith - without which "He could do no miracle" (Matthew 13:58) - in men whose infirmities of blindness, deafness, etc., prevented their attaining faith through the ordinary channels of seeing and hearing the merciful and gracious Son of man. But here the child, if not dead, was senseless. We are driven, therefore, to the belief that the prophet "used rational means for warming and revivifying" the child, "not with the hope that of themselves they would prove effectual, but in the sure confidence that God, in answer to his weeping supplication, would impart supernatural force to the natural human agencies," Bahr] three times [Not only in his prayer but also in this triple repetition do we recognize Elijah's profound conviction that only by the Almighty power of God could the child be restored, and that whatever means were used, God alone could make them effectual. For three is the number and signature of the Godheads" die eigentlieh gottliche Zahl, die Signatur des gottlichen Wesens" (Bahr, Symb. 1:143). Hence it is, inter alia, that "the calling upon the name of Jehovah in the old covenant" - he might have added, "and in the new;" cf. Mark 14:39, 41; 2 Corinthians 12:8 - "was a threefold act:" Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10, 13; Numbers 6:24-26; Isaiah 6:3 (Bahr). The correspondence with 2 Corinthians 12:8 is very striking] and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray Thee [Heb. now] let this child's soul come into him [Heb. upon his inside עַל is here, as elsewhere, used for אֵל again. [Though נֶפֶשׁ, here translated "soul," constantly means "life," yet it by no means settles the question whether the child was really living or dead. For,

(1) the, primary meaning of the word is breath (Gesen., Thesaurus, s.v.), and

(2) the words might with perfect propriety, even if we interpret "life" or "soul," be used of one who lay in a lifeless and inanimate condition. Massillon's graphic language (vol. 1. p. 91, ed. 1858), showing the contrast between Elijah's procedure and that of our blessed Lord (Luke 7:14; Luke 8:54; John 11:43), is worth citing here: "Elie ressuscite des morts, il est vrai; mais il est oblige de se coucher plusieurs fois sur le corps de l'enfant qu'il ressuscite; il souffle, il se retrecit, it s'agite; on voit bien qu'il invoque une puissance etrangere; qu'il rappelle de l'empire de ta mort une ame qui n'est pas soumise a savoix, et qu'il n'est pas lui-meme le maitre de la mort et de la vie: Jesus-Christ ressuscite les morts comme il fait les actions les plus communes; il parle en maitre a ceux qui dorment d'un sommeil eternel, et l'on sent bien qu'il est le Dieu des morts comme des vivants, jamais plus tranquille que lorsqu'il opere les plus grandes choses."]

17:17-24 Neither faith nor obedience shut out afflictions and death. The child being dead, the mother spake to the prophet, rather to give vent to her sorrow, than in hope of relief. When God removes our comforts from us, he remembers our sins against us, perhaps the sins of our youth, though long since past. When God remembers our sins against us, he designs to teach us to remember them against ourselves, and to repent of them. Elijah's prayer was doubtless directed by the Holy Spirit. The child revived. See the power of prayer, and the power of Him who hears prayer.And he stretched himself upon the child three times,.... Or "measured himself" (i) 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.

(i) "et mensus est se", Pagninus, Montanus; "admensus se", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.