Or; The ruler says, she is dead, exaggerating his calamity. As it is the manner of those that prefer a petition to magnify their distress, and to represent them as something more than they really are, in order to gain the compassion of those to whom they make supplication; whence he adds, “But come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.”
See his dullness. He begs two things of Christ, to come, and to lay His hand upon her. This was what Naaman the Syrian required of the Prophet. For they who are constituted thus hard of heart have need of sight and things sensible.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).