And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
When she reached the man of God at the hill, she grabbed hold of his feet. But Gehazi came over to push her away. The man of God said, 'Leave her alone, because her heart is deeply troubled, and the LORD has hidden this matter from me and hasn't told me what's wrong.'
The prophet Elisha recognizes that the Shunammite woman is in deep distress about something God hasn't yet revealed to him, so he protects her from being turned away.
📚 Historical Context
This occurs when the Shunammite woman's son has died and she has traveled to Mount Carmel to find Elisha. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, grasping someone's feet was a desperate gesture of pleading for help. Gehazi was Elisha's servant who tried to maintain proper protocol by keeping people at a distance from his master.
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