10 Please let us make a little room on the wall. Let us set for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. It shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
A little chamber on the wall - The room probably projected like a balcony beyond the lower apartments - an arrangement common in the East.
A stool - Rather, "a chair." The "chair" and "table," unusual in the sleeping-rooms of the East, indicate that the prophet was expected to use his apartment for study and retirement, not only as a sleeping-chamber.
Let us make a little chamber - See the note upon Judges 3:20 (note). As the woman was convinced that Elisha was a prophet, she knew that he must have need of more privacy than the general state of her house could afford; and therefore she proposes what she knew would be a great acquisition to him, as he could live in this little chamber in as much privacy as if he were in his own house. The bed, the table, the stool, and the candlestick, were really every thing he could need, by way of accommodation, in such circumstances.
Let us make a (h) little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
(h) Which would be separate from the rest of the house, that he might more conveniently give himself to study and prayers.
Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall,.... Either of the city, to which their house might join, or of their garden, a little distance from the house; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it of a little edifice built up of walls of stone or bricks, and not one with reeds, or stud and mud:
let us set for him there a bed; that he may stay all night when he pleases:
and a table; not only to eat his food, but to write on, and lay his books on he reads. Of the table of a scholar of the wise men, in later times, we are told (t), that two thirds of it were covered with a cloth, and the other third was uncovered, on which stood the plates and the herbs:
and a stool; to sit upon at table:
and a candlestick; with a candle in it, to light him in the night to read by, and the like:
and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither; where he would be free from the noise of the house, and be more retired for prayer, reading, meditation, and study, and not be disturbed with the servants of the family, and be mixed with them; all this she contrived, both for his honour, and for his quietness and peace.
(t) Pirke Eliezer, c. 33.
Let us make a little chamber--not build, but prepare it. She meant a room in the oleah, the porch, or gateway (2-Samuel 18:33; 1-Kings 17:19), attached to the front of the house, leading into the court and inner apartments. The front of the house, excepting the door, is a dead wall, and hence this room is called a chamber in the wall. It is usually appropriated to the use of strangers, or lodgers for a night, and, from its seclusion, convenient for study or retirement.
On the wall - That he may be free from the noise of family business, and enjoy that privacy, which, I perceive, he desireth for his prayers and meditations. A bed, &c. - He will not be troublesome or chargeable to us: he cares not for rich furniture or costly entertainment, and is content with bare necessaries.
*More commentary available at chapter level.