What Does 2 Kings 4:29 Mean in the King James?
Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The staff is named for support, and the “salute” Elisha forbids is a blessing-word: both roots sharpen the urgency of the dispatch.
THE MEANING
A life is in danger, and the mission moves straight toward the child: Gehazi carries the staff of support and leaves ordinary exchanges unanswered. The verse holds the urgency of that act without yet saying whether the child wakes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that every greeting must be returned gives way here: even words of blessing wait when a life-critical task is underway.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁעַנְתִּי
mish'anti
GROWS FROM
שען
sha'an
To lean on or provide support.
The word for “staff” carries the idea of support in its root. Hebrew keeps the physical object and the act of leaning on support close together, even where English gives only the object’s name.
ALSO GROWS
mish'enet: A staff or support.
מִשְׁעֶנֶת
This related form makes the support-root visible in the name of the object sent ahead.
sha'an: To lean or rely on.
שָׁעַן
The same root moves from a support one can hold to the act of leaning on something for support.
תְבָרֲכֶנּוּ
t'varakennu
GROWS FROM
ברך
barak
To bless; the same consonants are also associated with the knee.
Behind “salute” is the Hebrew word for blessing. The command therefore suspends an exchange of blessing as well as a greeting, making the urgency sharper than the English alone suggests.
ALSO GROWS
berakhah: Blessing.
בְּרָכָה
This noun from the same root makes clear that the greeting word belongs to the language of blessing.
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared consonants preserve the bodily association between blessing and the knee, a layer behind the familiar English word.
THE PATTERN
When a messenger is sent into a life-critical task, the route is cleared of ordinary delay and the messenger carries a sign of the sender’s support.
And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.THE THREAD
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.The Hebrew word for the staff, mish’anti, grows from sha’an, “to lean on” or “rely on”; Isaiah uses that same root for what Israel will “stay upon.” The staff in Elisha’s hand thus carries support in its name, while Isaiah makes reliance itself the focus.
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