Verse 23. - And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house [Probably the עֲלִיָּה. was reached by an outside staircase, and did not directly communicate with the lower rooms. Cf. Matthew 24:17; Mark 2:4; 2 Kings 9:13] and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.

17:17-24 Neither faith nor obedience shut out afflictions and death. The child being dead, the mother spake to the prophet, rather to give vent to her sorrow, than in hope of relief. When God removes our comforts from us, he remembers our sins against us, perhaps the sins of our youth, though long since past. When God remembers our sins against us, he designs to teach us to remember them against ourselves, and to repent of them. Elijah's prayer was doubtless directed by the Holy Spirit. The child revived. See the power of prayer, and the power of Him who hears prayer.And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house,.... Being come to life, he took it off of the bed in his bedchamber, and brought it down to the lower part of the house, where the woman was:

and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, see, thy son liveth; which no doubt was to her great surprise, and was a wonderful instance of divine power and goodness, and to which the apostle may have respect, Hebrews 11:35, Bunting (l) says, the inhabitants of this place now take upon them to show the chamber wherein the prophet Elias lived, when he raised the widow's child to life.

(l) Travels, &c. p. 205.