(6) Told.--Related to him, i.e., the story. So in 2Kings 8:4-5.

Officer.--Literally, eunuch (s?ris). (Comp. Note on Genesis 37:36; 1Chronicles 28:1.)

Fruits.--Literally, revenues, produce in kind, which must have been paid out of the royal stores. This seems to imply that her land had been annexed to the royal domains.

Verse 6. - And when the king asked the woman, she told him; rather, and the king made inquiry of the woman, and she answered him. The extent of the inquiries is not indicated. They may have included questions concerning the miracle, as well as questions concerning the woman's claim to the land and house, and the evidence which she could produce of proprietorship. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer - literally, a certain eunuch, or chamberlain - an officer of the court, who was in his confidence, and would give effect to his directions saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. The order was, that not only was the Shunammite to receive back her house and estate, but that she was also to have "the mesne profits" i.e. the full value of all that the land had produced beyond the expense of cultivation during the seven yearn of her absence. English law lays down the same rule in cases of unlawful possession for which there is no valid excuse.

8:1-6 The kindness of the good Shunammite to Elisha, was rewarded by the care taken of her in famine. It is well to foresee an evil, and wisdom, when we foresee it, to hide ourselves if we lawfully may do so. When the famine was over, she returned out of the land of the Philistines; that was no proper place for an Israelite, any longer than there was necessity for it. Time was when she dwelt so securely among her own people, that she had no occasion to be spoken for to the king; but there is much uncertainty in this life, so that things or persons may fail us which we most depend upon, and those befriend us which we think we shall never need. Sometimes events, small in themselves, prove of consequence, as here; for they made the king ready to believe Gehazi's narrative, when thus confirmed. It made him ready to grant her request, and to support a life which was given once and again by miracle.And when the king asked the woman, she told him,.... The whole affair; how that she had a son according to the word of Elisha, when she had been barren, and her husband old; that this child was struck with sickness, and died; and that the prophet, through his prayers, restored it to life:

so the king appointed unto her a certain officer; the word signifies an "eunuch": him he ordered to attend upon her, and assist her, and see to it that she was put into the possession of her house and land:

saying, restore all that was her's, and all the fruits of the field, since the day that she left the land, even till now; not only her house and land, but all the rent, profits, and dues arising from thence during the time of her absence: the Jews except the rent of her house.