2 Kings 4:26

2Ki 4:26 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, [Is it] well with thee? [is it] well with thy husband? [is it] well with the child? And she answered, [It is] well.

Ver. 26. And she answered, It is well.] It is, or would be. Well it is howsoever for the present, and it will be better hereafter.

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.

2Ki_4:26

Is it well with thee?

Ministerial inquiry into the welfare of a people

I. When may it be said to be really well with any persons? Many would think it to be well with us when we have food and raiment, when our flocks and herds increase. But, if this is to be well, and we are no better than this worlds goods can make us, we are well only for time, and as it respects our frail and perishable bodies. In this sense, it was well with Dives. For it to be really well with us, we must come to things which concern the soul, and which have a reference to that eternal state whither we are going. Mark, then, what follows: It is well with us if our souls have been awakened--if we have found forgiveness--if the Lord Jesus Christ be precious to us--and if we be now walking in newness and righteousness of life.

II. Whether it be thus well with you? You may, as we have seen, be well as it respects this world and your abiding in it. But, is it well with your souls? Would it be well with you, do you think, if God were now to require your souls of you? Inquire, I pray you. Felt you ever your need of mercy? Has a sensibility of your guiltiness ever constrained you to cry for mercy? Have you, like her who had lost one of her ten pieces of silver, sought for it til you have found it? Is your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience? What do you love most? Christ or the world?--Christ or sinful pleasure?--Christ or the increase of your temporal wealth and honour?--Christ or yourself? What is your chief joy? The Christian rejoices in Christ Jesus. Is He the object of your rejoicing? In what way are you living? The way in which we live will most clearly evidence whether we have been awakened, forgiven, and I accepted in the Beloved, or not; and, consequently, whether it be well with us or not. (W. Mudge, B. A.)

It is well

Death is not a calamity to the Christian. It is well.

I. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of life. Paul would say, To live is Christ, and yet he testified, To depart and be with Christ is far better.

II. In view of the home prepared for the saved.

III. it is well with the child of God even in this life.

IV. Appeal to the living. Is it well with your soul? (Homiletic Review.)

A searching inquiry

In the late South African War, Major Child, when setting out one morning on reconnaissance duty, had a presentiment he might not return alive, and so said to a brother officer that if he fell that day he wanted written on his memorial stone just these words: Is it well with the child? It is well. It fell out as he anticipated, but death had no terrors for him, and now he lies on the veldt with this question and answer above his grave. Suppose this question put to us: Is it well with thee? Can we answer, It is well? (J. D. Jones, M. A.)

She answered, It is well.--

Submission under trial

I. The trial which the woman endured. Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards. The ills to which flesh is heir are diffused with wonderful impartiality. The palace is as much accustomed to the visits of sorrow as is the cottage. The robe of honour cannot ward off the touch of pain any more than the garment of beggary. The glittering diadem often encircles an aching brow, and the silken robe often covers a bleeding heart.

1. In her trial there was the disappointment of a strong desire. She seems to have had only one strong desire ungratified. No child had ever called her mother; she had no son to perpetuate her husbands name in Israel. The desire to be a mother was peculiarly strong in the heart of a Hebrew wife, from the national relationship to the promise, that of the seed of a woman would come the Destroyer of the serpent and the Deliverer of Jacob. This desire in the heart of the Shunammite had almost died away, when the prophet assures her she shall yet embrace a son. As the desire had been strong, so would the joy be great when the desire was realised. Who can blame her if her heart swelled with a joyful pride and a proud joy, as she clasped her baby to her breast, and pictured for him a future of happiness and honour?

2. An additional element in this womans trial was the blasting of a bright hope. What sweet and sacred hopes cluster round every cradle! We all know the power of hope, and to how large a degree hope constitutes the beauty and blessedness of human life.

3. As another element of this womans trial--her tenderest affections have been torn. Her child has been taken from her. The grief of one that mourneth for a first-born has passed into a proverb. She had lost her first-born--nay, she had lost her only child.

II. Her conduct under the trial. Notice, first:

1. She is filled with the most pungent sorrow. When trial is sent, it is designed we should feel it. There may be sorrow, there must be sorrow, under the afflictions and bereavements of life; only it should not be despondent sorrow, nor rebellious sorrow, nor murmuring sorrow, but sorrow submissive and sanctifying, like that of this woman.

2. She acquiesces in the will of God. She says, It is well. This is one of the highest achievements of Christian faith.

3. In her trial this woman cleaves to God. She does not sit down and brood over her bereavement, and nurse her grief, and indulge in the luxury of sorrow. She goes at once to consult the oracle of God.

(1) She may have gone to inquire whether there were not deliverance from her trial.

(2) She may have gone to seek strength to bear her trial. The prophet was the mouth of God to her.

(3) She may have gone to seek the sanctification of her trial. Whether this was one of the blessings she desired in going to the man of God, may be doubted; it cannot be doubted that this ought to be our main desire in going to God Himself in seasons of trial and sorrow.

III. The grounds which may produce and sustain such a course of conduct as this woman pursued. There are three grounds which may contribute to this desirable result. A consideration--

1. Of what we are who endure the trial;

2. of what He is who sends the trial; and

3. of the purpose the trial is designed to serve. (G. D. Macgregor.)

Reasons for trials

I. Affliction comes to call our sin to our remembrance, and to humble us for it beneath the cross of Jesus.

II. Another end for which God sends His heavy hand upon His children is to loose them from the world--to make them cease from the idolatry of the creature.

III. Again, another object of the trials which God sends His children is to make himself more dear to them. Dear indeed He is to all who have learned to view Him as a God of love--as the God who hath so loved the world as to send His only-begotten Son to die for it--dear is He to all of us whose souls. He has sprinkled with the blood of Christ, in whom He has revealed His Son, and whom He has made heirs, through Christ, of life eternal.

IV. A further end God has in view in laying crosses on His people is that He may conform them to their Saviour, by admitting them into the fellowship of His sufferings. If we suffer, says the apostle, we shall also reign with Him. Justly then might we feel uneasy to be the prosperous followers of a suffering Lord--light-hearted servants of a sorrowing and weeping Master.

V. But, when God makes His children acquainted with affliction, He has a purpose in His view, beyond any of the objects we have yet enumerated. He intends by it His own glory. Eminently is that glory promoted and set forth by the patience of His people in the hour of trial, and by their cheerful acquiescence in His will. The world is then compelled to see that there is truth, that there is power, in His Gospel. It is well, very well, with every child of God, however great be the fight of affliction he is called on to sustain. For look at the issue of these things! These afflictions are not everlasting. God will not always chide, neither keepeth He His anger for ever. As soon as the ends of His chastening providence are answered, the dispensation will be changed. It is well, then, with believers even in their most afflicted moments. The Shunammite spoke truth when she uttered that saying in the midst of her affliction. Christian brethren, are any of us her fellow-sufferers? (A. Roberts, M. A.)

The uses of affliction

An artist asked a friend to come to his studio to see a painting just completed. He came at the time appointed, but was shown into a dark room, and there left alone. He waited for fifteen minutes, when his friend came in, greeted him cordially, and then took him to the studio. Before he left, the artist said laughingly: I suppose you thought it queer to he left in that dark room so long? Yes, I did. Well, said the artist, I knew that if you came into my studio with the glare of the street in your eyes you could not appreciate the fine colouring of the picture. So I left you in the dark room till the glare had worn out of your eyes. So God puts His children into the dark room of affliction, so that they may be able to see the beauty of heavenly things otherwise hidden from their eyes. (Christian Commonwealth.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And she answered, It is well--Her answer was purposely brief and vague to Gehazi, for she reserved a full disclosure of her loss for the ear of the prophet himself. She had met Gehazi at the foot of the hill, and she stopped not in her ascent till she had disburdened her heavy-laden spirit at Elisha's feet. The violent paroxysm of grief into which she fell on approaching him, appeared to Gehazi an act of disrespect to his master; he was preparing to remove her when the prophet's observant eye perceived that she was overwhelmed with some unknown cause of distress. How great is a mother's love! how wondrous are the works of Providence! The Shunammite had not sought a son from the prophet--her child was, in every respect, the free gift of God. Was she then allowed to rejoice in the possession for a little, only to be pierced with sorrow by seeing the corpse of the cherished boy? Perish, doubt and unbelief! This event happened that "the works of God should be made manifest" in His prophet, "and for the glory of God."

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 26. It is well.] How strong was her faith in God and submission to his authority! Though the heaviest family affliction that could befall her and her husband had now taken place; yet, believing that it was a dispensation of Providence which was in itself neither unwise nor unkind, she said, It is well with me, with my husband, and with my child. We may farther remark that, in her days, the doctrine of reprobate infants had not disgraced the pure religion of the God of endless compassion. She had no doubts concerning the welfare of her child, even with respect to another world; and who but a pagan or a stoic can entertain a contrary doctrine?

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

(26) Run now, I pray thee, to meet her.—This perhaps indicates the respect in which Elisha held the Shunammitess. But it may denote surprise and apprehension at an unusual visit. Hence the inquiries about each member of the family.

It is well.—She said this merely to avoid further explanation. She would open her grief to the prophet’s own ear, and to none other.

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

26. run now, I pray thee] The R.V. puts ‘now’ last of these words, ‘I pray thee’ is closely joined with ‘run’ in the Hebrew. There is a touch of deep feeling in the action of Elisha. He knows that there must be some special reason for a visit at this unusual time, and he would learn, even before the mother is near enough for him to hear her, whether there is trouble at home which has brought her to Carmel.

And she answered, It is well] The word means, as was noted on verse 23, Peace, and we can only think that she gives this answer to Gehazi’s question, that she may avoid more words. She has no thought of deception, but her heart is too full for speech, at all events till she come into the prophet’s presence.

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.

Run now, I pray thee, to meet her,.... In respect to her, and to know the occasion of her coming; something is the cause of it:

and say unto her, is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? has any disaster befallen thee, thy husband, or the child? are all in good health? or does any disorder attend any of them?

and she answered, it is well; as in general they were, the greatest part, she and her husband; and though the child was dead, yet, if gone to heaven, as she might hope, it was well too; and it is right to judge and say, that all that the Lord does is well: she gives a short answer to the servant, not being willing to be detained, and being desirous of telling her case to the prophet himself.

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

Well. She declines mentioning what she wanted to the servant, in order that she might speak to the prophet in person. (Menochius) --- She might also rationally hope that the child was well in another world. (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).

So it was in some respects, because it was the will of a wise and good God, and therefore best for her. Or, it shall be well: though the child be dead, I doubt not by God’s blessing upon thy endeavours it shall live again, and do well. But she answers ambiguously, and briefly too, that, she might sooner come to the prophet, and more fully open her mind to him.

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

Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? Elisha feels that there must be something the matter, to account for the Shunammite"s coming to him so unexpectedly. His anxiety is aroused, and, in his impatience to know what has happened, instead of waiting for the woman"s arrival, he bids his servant run, and ask what is the matter. Some misfortune, he supposes, must have happened either to her, or to her husband, or to the child. And she answered, It is well. She gave, as before to her husband (ver. 23), the ambiguous answer, "Peace," intending thereby merely to put off Gehazi, and not explain herself to any one but his master.

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

It is - So it was in some respects, because it was the will of a wise and good God, and therefore best for her. When God calls away our dearest relations by death, it becomes us to say, it is well both with us and them. It is well, for all is well that God doth: all is well with them that are gone, if they are gone to heaven. And all is well with us that stay behind, if by the affliction we are furthered in our way thither.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And she said, “[All is] well.” This is an abbreviated verse, for it should have been written, “And he asked her, and she said, ‘We are well.’”

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.