2 Kings 6:7

6:1-7 There is that pleasantness in the converse of servants of God, which can make those who listen to them forget the pain and the weariness of labour. Even the sons of the prophets must not be unwilling to labour. Let no man think an honest employment a burden or a disgrace. And labour of the head, is as hard, and very often harder, than labour with the hands. We ought to be careful of that which is borrowed, as of our own, because we must do as we would be done by. This man was so respecting the axe-head. And to those who have an honest mind, the sorest grievance of poverty is, not so much their own want and disgrace, as being rendered unable to pay just debts. But the Lord cares for his people in their smallest concerns. And God's grace can thus raise the stony iron heart, which is sunk into the mud of this world, and raise up affections, naturally earthly.

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,.... Of whose reign, and of the three following, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, and the account of them, from hence to the end of 2 Chronicles 36:13 , what needs explanation or reconciliation; see Gill on 2 Kings 23:31 , 2 Kings 23:32 , 2 Kings 23:33 , 2 Kings 23:34 , 2 Kings 23:35 , 2 Kings 23:36 , 2 Kings 23:37 , 2 Kings 24:5 , 2 Kings 24:6 , 2 Kings 24:8 , 2 Kings 24:10 , 2 Kings 24:17 , 2 Kings 24:18

No doubt there is something startling in the trivial character of this miracle, and of the few others which resemble it. But, inasmuch as we know very little as to the laws which govern the exercise of miraculous powers, it is possible that they may be so much under their possessor's control that he can exercise them, or not exercise them, at pleasure. And it may depend on his discretion whether they are exercised in important cases only, or in trivial cases also. Elisha had evidently great kindness of heart. He could not see a grief without wishing to remedy it. And it seems as if he had sometimes used his miraculous power in pure good nature, when no natural way of remedying an evil presented itself.

6. cut down a stick, and cast it in thither—Although this means was used, it had no natural adaptation to make the iron swim. Besides, the Jordan is at Jericho so deep and rapid that there were one thousand chances to one against the stick falling into the hole of the axe-head. All attempts to account for the recovery of the lost implement on such a theory must be rejected. the iron did swim—only by the miraculous exertion of Elisha's power.

7 . Therefore said he ] R.V. And he said . The conjunction is the simple copulative, and nothing more is needed in the English. he put out his hand, and took it ] Elisha here wrought, as on previous occasions, for the help of the sons of the prophets. Now however his power is exercised for an individual, while in the other cases recorded, it was for the benefit of the whole society. Critics have objected that there is no adequate reason for the exercise of supernatural power, but the loser of the axe was sorely troubled ere he came to Elisha, as his cry ‘Alas! master’ shews. There was no chance of supplying what was lost except with some miles of journey, and perhaps poverty was an obstacle too. Beside which the whole community would be encouraged, when by this act Elisha made clear to them that they had God’s blessing on their new undertaking.

Verse 7. - Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it. Elisha does not take the axe-head out of the water himself, but requires the scholar to do it, in order to test his faith. He must show that he Believes the miracle, and regards the iron as really floating on the top of the water, not as merely appearing to dose. 2 Kings 6:7

When he showed Elisha, in answer to his inquiry, the place where it had fallen, the latter cut off a stick and threw it thither (into the water) and made the iron flow, i.e., float (יצף from צוּף, to flow, as in Deuteronomy 11:4 ); whereupon the prophets' pupil picked the axe out of the water with his hand. The object of the miracle was similar to that of the stater in the fish's mouth ( Matthew 17:27 ), or of the miraculous feeding, namely, to show how the Lord could relieve earthly want through the medium of His prophet. The natural interpretation of the miracle, which is repeated by Thenius, namely, that "Elisha struck the eye of the axe with the long stick which he thrust into the river, so that the iron was lifted by the wood," needs no refutation, since the raising of an iron axe by a long stick, so as to make it float in the water, is impossible according to the laws of gravitation.

14 . I was no prophet, and I was no prophet’s son ] i.e. not one of the “sons of the prophets,” as the companies, or guilds, of prophets, at Beth-el, Gilgal, and other places, are called in the Book of Kings ( 1 Kings 20:35 ; 2 Kings 2:3 ; 2 Kings 2:5 ; 2 Kings 2:7 ; 2 Kings 2:15 ; 2 Kings 4:1 ; 2 Kings 4:38 ; 2 Kings 5:22 ; 2 Kings 6:1 ; 2 Kings 9:1 ). In Semitic languages ‘son’ is often used in the figurative sense of belonging to: thus in Syriac bar naggârê , ‘a son of the carpenters,’ means a member of a carpenters’ guild.