2 Kings 4:29

Gird up thy loins With the loose flowing garments of Orientals it is needful when haste is desired, to gather them up and bind them together so that they do not impede the traveller. This is done by a band round the waist.

take my staff in thine hand It is not easy to see the purpose of this order. The staff was to be laid on the face of the child, but it produced no effect. It may be that Elisha thought God would allow the restoration of the child on the imposition of the staff. Some have supposed that the action was meant to teach those who knew of it, that the miracle was not to be ascribed to any external agency, but only to God's intervention in answer to prayer. Others have thought that the lack of faith in the mother, who would not go back without Elisha, caused the first measures adopted to be ineffective. Perhaps the prophet only sent on Gehazi that the mother might feel that something was being done, and be soothed in her distress.

if thou meet any man, salute him not An injunction necessary in the East where the salutations are full of form, and consume much time. Cf. our Lord's language to the seventy (Luke 10:4).