1 Kings 17:18

O thou man of God. — The terms of the address (contrasted with 1 Kings 17:12), indicate a natural growth in the recognition of the true God by the woman, through familiar intercourse with the prophet, and experience of his wonder-working power. For it is the adoption of the regular Israelitish description of the prophet as her own. (See Judges 13:6; 1 Kings 12:22; 1 Kings 13:1.)

To call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? — The words express the unreasonableness of natural sorrow. The underlying idea is that of the exclamation, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” The better knowledge of God, gained through the presence of the prophet, had, of course, brought out in her a deeper sense of sin, and now makes her feel that her sorrow is a just punishment. With pathetic confusion of idea, she cries out against his presence, as if it were the actual cause of judgment on the sin, which it has simply brought home to her conscience.