And he said, About this season, next year, you shall embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, you man of God, do not lie unto your handmaid.
All Commentaries on 2 Kings 4:16 Go To 2 Kings 4
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
We have heard that after this blessed Elisha passed by Shunem, where a certain woman received him and said to her husband, “I perceive that this is a man of God: let us make him a chamber and put a bed in it for him, and a table, and a stool and a candlestick, that when he comes, he may abide there.” Now, that woman was sterile, but at the prayer of Elisha she bore a son. So, too, the church was sterile before the coming of Christ; but just as that other bore a son at the prayer of Elisha, so the church bore the Christian people when Christ came to it. However, the son of that woman died during the absence of Elisha; thus also, the church’s son, that is, the Gentiles, died through sin before Christ’s advent. When Elisha came down from the mountain, the widow’s son was revived; and when Christ came down from heaven, the church’s son or the Gentiles were restored to life.
