John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 6. And when the king asked the woman, she told him , etc.] The whole affair; how that she had a son according to the word of Elisha, when she had been barren, and her husband old; that this child was struck with sickness, and died; and that the prophet, through his prayers, restored it to life: so the king appointed unto her a certain officer ; the word signifies an “eunuch”: him he ordered to attend upon her, and assist her, and see to it that she was put into the possession of her house and land: saying, restore all that was her’s, and all the fruits of the field, since the day that she left the land, even till now ; not only her house and land, but all the rent, profits, and dues arising from thence during the time of her absence: the Jews except the rent of her house.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - The kindness of the good Shunammite to Elisha, was rewarded by the car taken of her in famine. It is well to foresee an evil, and wisdom, when we foresee it, to hide ourselves if we lawfully may do so. When the famine was over, she returned out of the land of the Philistines; tha was no proper place for an Israelite, any longer than there wa necessity for it. Time was when she dwelt so securely among her ow people, that she had no occasion to be spoken for to the king; but there is much uncertainty in this life, so that things or persons ma fail us which we most depend upon, and those befriend us which we thin we shall never need. Sometimes events, small in themselves, prove of consequence, as here; for they made the king ready to believe Gehazi' narrative, when thus confirmed. It made him ready to grant her request and to support a life which was given once and again by miracle.
Original Hebrew וישׁאל7592 המלך4428 לאשׁה802 ותספר5608 לו ויתן5414 לה המלך4428 סריס5631 אחד259 לאמר559 השׁיב7725 את853 כל3605 אשׁר834 לה ואת853 כל3605 תבואת8393 השׂדה7704 מיום3117 עזבה5800 את853 הארץ776 ועד5704 עתה׃6258
