2 Kings 4:35

35. Returned, and walked in the house That is, he left the child, and went down stairs, and paced to and fro in a larger room than his own little chamber. His own animal heat might have become much reduced by absorption into the cold body of the child, and his walking to and fro was probably, as Bahr suggests, an involuntary result of the great emotion with which he looked and waited for the fulfilment of his prayer.

Went up Upstairs again into his own room. He went up and repeated his former efforts again.

Sneezed seven times “When the nervous influence began to act on the muscular system, before the circulation could be in every part restored, particular muscles, if not the whole body, would be thrown into strong contractions and shiverings, and sneezing would be a natural consequence; particularly as obstructions must have taken place in the head and its vessels, because of the disorder of which the child died.” Clarke.

As might be expected, there have not been wanting rationalistic interpreters, who have explained this miracle as a case of suspended animation, or fit of apoplexy, and Elisha’s efforts as the manipulations of animal magnetism, by which sensation was restored. Of course, such expositors ignore or deny the plain statement that the child was dead, and so do not explain, but contradict and torture the word of Scripture.