The Relation of Prayer to Secondary Causes
2 Kings 4:32-37
And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed.…


And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, etc. The death of the Shunammite's son, as we have seen in the preceding verses, was in many senses to her a very severe trial - a trial from which we have inferred that great trials often spring from great mercies; that great trials should be patiently endured; and that great trials might have a blessed end. By prayer Elisha now raised the woman's dead boy to life. See what Elisha did here.

I. HE PRAYED TO THE LORD. "Let this child's soul come into him again."

II. HE PUT HIMSELF INTO DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE CHILD. Mouth to the child's mouth, eyes to the child's eyes, hands to the child's hands, as if he transfused all the vital magnetism of his own nature into the person of the dead child.

III. HE PERSEVERED WITH THE EFFORT. Until the child's flesh waxed warm, and the child sneezed with the breath of new life. - D.T.



Parallel Verses
KJV: And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

WEB: When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed.




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