In Second Kings, chapter four, verse twenty-one, Elisha was known by people from all walks of life as “the man of God,” as in verses nine, sixteen, twenty-two, twenty-five, twenty-seven, and forty, respectively. Other examples are chapter five, verse eight: chapter six, verses six, nine to ten, chapter seven, verse eighteen, chapter eight, verses four, eight, and eleven, accordingly. The highest tribute an individual may receive as a reward to any minister is that he is a “man of God.”
The following are five characteristics of this man of God. Elisha maintained intimate and persevering communion with God. He knew God and was well-known by Him. Elisha was a holy man, fully set apart from the religious and moral compromise and dedicated to the Lord God of Israel. He empathized with God over the sins of the covenant people and opposed the tide of idolatry and apostasy in Israel.
The spirit of the Lord was upon Elisha, enabling him to speak with spiritual authority as God’s representative and to proclaim the word of the Lord faithfully. As a prophet of enormous stature and gifts, his ministry received affirmation by God with mighty miracles and signs.
One cannot be sure what thoughts were in the bereaved mother’s heart. Perhaps she entertained some vague notion that the prophet revived her child and thought that until his presence would become a reality. The next best thing was to place the child where the prophet’s presence had lately been. Elijah had established the child he restored to life as in First Kings seventeen, verse nineteen: the fact may have been famous to the Shunammite. She did not expect mere contact with the bed to restore her child.
Either the body should not be disturbed, or the death known. It is clear that, from whatever motive, the woman wished to conceal the situation until she had seen what Elisha could do for her. She neither told her husband nor the servant who accompanied her.