C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on 2 Kings 4:21-23

2Ki 4:21-23

The mother took the dead child at once up to the chamber built for Elisha, laid it upon the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind her; she then asked her husband, without telling him of the death of the boy, to send a young man with a she-ass, that she might ride as quickly as possible to the man of God; and when her husband asked her, “Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day, since it is neither new moon nor Sabbath?”From these words, Theod., Kimchi, C. a Lap., Vatabl., and others have drawn the correct conclusion, that the pious in Israel were accustomed to meet together at the prophets’ houses for worship and edification, on those days which were appointed in the law (Lev 23:3; Num 28:11.) for the worship of God; and from this Hertz and Hengstenberg have still further inferred, that in the kingdom of the ten tribes not only were the Sabbath and new moons kept, as is evident from Amo 8:5 also, but the prophets supplied the pious in that kingdom with a substitute for the missing Levitical priesthood. she replied, shalom; i.e., either “it is all well,” or “never mind.” For this word, which is used in reply to a question after one’s health (see 2Ki 4:26), is apparently also used, as Clericus has correctly observed, when the object is to avoid giving a definite answer to any one, and yet at the same time to satisfy him.