Komentaryo sa 2 Mga Hari 4:16: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi & Metzudat David

“He said: at this season next year, etc.” [4:16]. Elisha said to the woman. You will have a son, next year at this time. The woman said: dear sir, man of God, do not make fun of me by offering me a present that will not be fulfilled. That is to say, you tell me that I will have a son who will soon die. Do you want to ask God that He should give me a son who will remain alive? The woman became pregnant and had a son in the time that the prophet had said. He child grew and he went to his father, to the reapers in the field.

“At this season [next year] when the time comes to give birth.” Just as you are alive and well today, so will you be alive at this season [next year]¹⁶I.e., Elisha was guaranteeing her future health by comparing it to her present state of health. Alternatively, חַיָּה refers to a woman who gives birth and כָּעֵת חַיָּה refers to a nine month span, the normal period of pregnancy. Elisha told her that the baby will be born after fully developing in the womb.—Metzudas Dovid at this time and embracing a son.

As if to say, in the time to come, at the time it is appropriate to be "alive" ( meaning a woman who is giving birth) and at the end of nine months are the days of pregnancy.

“Do not my master.” Do not say, “embracing a son.” Why do I need to embrace him if I will end up burying him?¹⁷She suspected that her son would survive for only a short period because the prophet used the expression “you will be hugging a son” instead of “you will have a son,” the expression used by the angels when they told Avrohom that Sarah will bear him a son. See Bereishis 18:10.—Malbim This is what she said to him when he died, “Did I not say, ‘Do not mislead me’?”

Do not deceive. Do not show me something that will fail. You have power to beg mercy, so that a son will be given to me. But I beg you, do not give me [any child], rather a child who will live.

Do not deceive. Like “whose waters will not fail.”¹⁸Yeshayahu 58:11.