Floating Iron and a Faithful God
Sometimes even when we are doing a good thing and seeking the wisdom of God, we may encounter losses. That seemed to be the case of the prophets of God in 2 Kings 6.
Elisha’s prominence as a prophet of God and successor of Elijah resulted in a growing number of young men who followed him so that they too might be used by God. According to this passage in 2 Kings, the “sons of the prophets” had grown to the point that their living conditions were too small. They appropriately pointed this out to their mentor and asked if they might have permission to gather lumber and build a bigger facility where they would continue to live and learn from Elisha.
Elisha gave the group permission to go to the Jordan and start cutting logs to build their new facility. The group asked Elisha to join them, and he agreed to go along. They began their work cutting down the trees when one guy experienced an expensive misfortune. The axe head fell off into the Jordan River! Now, that might not sound expensive or much of a problem for us in 2025, but in the 800s BC, there wasn’t a hardware store down the road. To have an axe head would have been a valuable asset. And this prophet’s misfortune was even worse because it was a borrowed axe!
The distressed prophet ran to Elisha with his problem, but Elisha didn’t share his panic. He simply asked, “Where did it fall in?” Then Elisha cut a stick and tossed it into the river where his protege had pointed. The iron axe head floated to the top of the river, and the prophets retrieved it.
I hesitated to write on this message because it is a rather unusual story and bible scholars are all over the map on what it might mean. As we read the Bible, we do discover lots of things that we probably won’t truly understand until we are face to face with Jesus. So, what can we learn from this passage? I proceed cautiously…
1.) God is all about preparation and succession. All through the Old Testament we see God raise up the next leader, judge, priest, prophet, king, and so on. In the New Testament, we see Paul developing and training Timothy and elders in the early church. Discipleship is a part of God’s mandate. A fair question to ask yourself: Who am I discipling?
2.) Saints and sinners experience accidents. Until Jesus returns, stuff will break and get lost. It is a fallen world.
3.) The things that people bring to our attention may seem small to us but feel heavy to them. A caring response is to listen and try to help whenever possible.
4.) God can and will demonstrate his care and compassion in many ways and can intervene miraculously even when we might not expect him to.
5.) Always watch for God to show up!
Father, we are grateful for your word and for the reminder that there is not a time or situation that comes to us where you are unaware. Give us the courage to come to you with the little things and the big things in our lives. We ask for your Holy Spirit to guide our discipleship as we raise up the next generation of disciples. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
2 Kings 6:1-7 ESV
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