Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.
A borrowed axe head sinks in the Jordan. Elisha gives no advice. He throws a cut stick into the river, and the iron rises. Why does a prophet who has just handled kings and armies stop for a lost tool? And what does a floating axe head mean?
Great Power Stooping to a Small Loss
The story turns from kings and armies to a work party on a riverbank.
Hamilton SmithOnce again the story of Elisha passes from kings and great men to a simple home scene. The sons of the prophets are building a place to live. The incident shows the simple, lowly life that marked this man of God. He is ready to meet the difficulties of kings and their armies. At the right time he can also give himself to felling a tree and building a house. In the greatness of his way he can stoop to small affairs and walk with humble folk.
Elisha never scolds the man for being careless. That silence shapes how we read the miracle.
William KellyNow here again we see the same thing. It is not reprimand. No doubt there was carelessness, but it is the grace that can meet every need, the little just as much as the great. And I do not hesitate to say that true greatness shows itself in its capacity to take in the little.
Why "Borrowed" Made It Serious
The loss stung for one reason — the axe was not his own.
W. W. Fereday"Alas, master," cried the unfortunate woodman, "for it was borrowed." To lose what belongs to another is more serious than to lose what is really our own. Everything that makes a man what he is comes from Another and belongs to Another. No man has anything that he can properly call his own.
The Stick and the Power Behind It
A chip of wood has no power to lift sunken iron. One writer sets the moment beside Peter standing on the water.
J. G. BellettWhether it is Peter, or the iron, that stands on the face of the waters, both are equally contrary to nature. There is no natural link between the cause and the effect, between throwing in a stick and the floating of the iron. There was no such link later between putting clay on the eyes and the restoring of sight. What counts is neither the skill of the workman nor the fitness of the tool, but the excellency of the power of God.
Critics mock this story as both too small and too impossible.
W. W. FeredayIn this materialistic day people think it childish to believe miracles. Here is an axe head brought up from the bed of a river by the simple act of casting a stick into the water. Here indeed is food for the contempt of the proud. But the narrative presents no difficulty to faith. No reverent mind believes that the natural laws He Himself set up can limit the Lawgiver of the universe.
A Picture of the Cross
Elisha asks where the iron fell. Then he sends the wood down to that very spot. Writers read the order of events as a picture.
W. W. FeredayThe living branch was cut down and thrown in where the lost iron lay. In the same way the living Christ was cut down, and went right down into death where lost men lay. He who would deliver men had to go where men were. Nothing else could work.
Commentators differ on how far to press such pictures. One writer says so plainly, then points to the Jordan as a picture of death.
Andrew MillerSome have thought this small incident carries a deep meaning as a picture; others have been afraid to press it that far. Yet at the very least it is a striking illustration of resurrection life and power. On what the Jordan pictures, all agree. It stands for death. And as for "the axe head," it lay as lost and dead in its depths.
Borrowed Tools and Real Work
One writer turns the word "borrowed" into a warning about serving God with truth we have never made our own.
Leslie M. GrantThe axe speaks of the truth of the Word of God, a tool that can be most effective when well used. But we may be using "borrowed" truth. Someone else gained it for his own profit, and we have never taken it into our own souls. We may have learned it in the head in a Bible school, but not in a living way in the school of God. If so, there will always be some failure in our work.
Summary
- Loss — the axe head flew off during honest work. Elisha does not scold, because grace meets the small need as much as the great.
- Borrowed — the loss stung because the axe belonged to another, and nothing we have is truly our own.
- Where — Elisha asks for the exact spot, and the wood goes down to where the iron lay. Rescue reaches the lost thing where it is.
- Swim — a stick cannot raise iron, so the credit belongs to the power of God, who is not bound by the laws He made.
- Take — the truth we work with must become our own, not stay borrowed.