2 Kings 4:19

And he said unto his father, my head, my head,.... After he had been some time with him, he complained of a pain in his head, which might be owing, as Abarbinel thinks, to the sun's beating upon it, being harvest time, and hot weather; and the pain being exceeding great and vehement, he repeated his complaint, see Jer 4:19.

and he said to a lad, carry him home to his mother; his father gave orders to a lad that attended the reapers to have him home to his mother, that she might give him something to ease him of his pain.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Ki 4:19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

Ver. 19. And he said to his father, My head, my head.] The sunbeams in that hot season of harvest had beaten hard upon his head, and made him sick. The Latins call a sick man Aegrum, from the pitiful moan he maketh, crying, Ai, Ai .{ a} But what an undivine inference was that of the Bishop of Hereford in his sermon at Oxford upon this text, in the reign of Edward II - pursued at that time by his queen and son - that an aching and sick head of a kingdom was of necessity to be taken off, and no otherwise cured! {b}

Till noon, and then died.] The child was well, sick, and dead, and all in the space of four or five hours. A sore trial; and a fair warning to all parents not to love their little ones too much, lest God soon take away the earthly idol.

{a} ai, ai, vox dolentis.

{b} Dan., Hist., 216.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His head ached sore, and therefore he cried thus.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

RAISES HER DEAD SON. (2Ki. 4:18-37)

My head, my head!--The cries of the boy, the part affected, and the season of the year, make it probable that he had been overtaken by a stroke of the sun. Pain, stupor, and inflammatory fever are the symptoms of the disease, which is often fatal.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. My head, any head.] Probably affected by the coup de soleil, or sun stroke, which might, in so young a subject, soon occasion death, especially in that hot country.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) My head, my head.—The boy had a sunstroke. It was the hot season of harvest, and his head was probably uncovered.

A lad.—Rather, the young man. The servant waiting on him.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. My head, my head] The description points to an attack of sunstroke, where the first symptom is pain in the head. But the father thinks lightly of it, for such attacks are more frequent with older persons than with children. He merely tells a servant to carry the child home. Sunstroke is alluded to in Psa_121:6, and it was from it that Manasses the husband of Judith died, in the barley harvest (Jdt_8:2-3).

to a lad] R.V. to his servant. The Hebrew has a definite noun ‘to the servant’, i.e. who was at hand to carry out any order the master might give. Hence the change in R.V.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The child’s malady was a sunstroke. The inhabitants of Palestine suffered from this (Psa 121:6; Isa 49:10; Judith 8:3).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Carry. This interpretation suits with the occasion, and is conformable to the Septuagint and Chaldean. (Menochius) --- Literally, "conduct him," but he was sick and little. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

His head was grievously pained; which possibly came from the heat of the harvest season, to which he was exposed in the field.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. My head, my head — He was probably sun struck, and this is the more likely in view of the season of the year, and of his own youth and tenderness. “I know by experience,” says Thomson, “that this valley glows like a furnace in harvest-time.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said unto his father, My head, my head. Sunstroke was common in Palestine (Psa_121:6; Isa_49:10 RAPC Jdt 8:2, 3) and would be most frequent and most fatal at the time of harvest. The cry of the child is at once most touching and most natural. And he said to a lad; literally, to the lad-probably the lad who had attended the" young master" to the field. Carry him to his mother; i.e. take him indoors, and let his mother see to him. No wiser directions could have been given.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“My head! My head!” I am sick in my head.

He said. His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him to his mother.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.