Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
We may well suppose that, after the birth of this son, the prophet was doubly welcome to the good Shunammite. He had thought himself indebted to her, but henceforth, as long as she lives, she will think herself in his debt, and that she can never do too much for him.
Commenting on 2 Kings 4:18-37
And Gehazi passed on before them,.... The prophet and the Shunammite: and laid the staff upon the face of the child; as he was ordered: but there was neither voice nor hearing: it seems as if he spoke when he laid the staff on the child, but it heard and answered him not, so that there was no sign of life in it: wherefore he...
2Ki 4:31 Gehazi did as he was commanded, but the dead child did not come to life again; the prophet’s staff worked no miracle. “There was no sound and no attention,” i.e., the dead one gave no sign of life. This is the meaning of קשׁב ואין קול אין both here and 1Ki 18:29, where it is used of dead idols.