2 Kings 6:2

2 Let us please go to the Jordan and each bring from there one log that we might make a place there for us to live." Then he said, "Do so."

2 Kings 6:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 6:2

Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan
Which, according to Josephus ^F1, was fifty furlongs, or upwards of six miles, distant from Gilgal:

and take thence every man a beam;
by cutting down the trees that grew there; for Mr. Maundrell says ^F2, the banks of Jordan are beset with bushes and trees, which are an harbour for wild beasts; and another traveller ^F3 observes, that it is shadowed on both sides with poplars, alders and who speaks of their cutting down boughs from the trees when there:

and let us make us a place there where we may dwell:
near the banks of Jordan, which they might choose for the seclusion and pleasantness of the situation, or because Elijah was taken up to heaven near it, as Abarbinel thinks; from whence it appears that these scholars were far from living an idle life; for they were not only trained up in useful learning, but were employed in trades and manufactures, to which they had been brought up, and knew how to fell timber, and build houses:

and he answered, go ye;
he gave them leave, without which they did not choose to do anything.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 4.
F2 Journey from Aleppo p. 82, 83.
F3 Sandys's Travels, l. 3. p. 110.

2 Kings 6:2 In-Context

1 Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "Please look; the place where we are living before you [is] too cramped for us.

2 Let us please go to the Jordan and each bring from there one log that we might make a place there for us to live." Then he said, "Do so."

3 Then a certain one said, "Please be prepared and go with your servants," and he said, "I will go."

4 He went with them, and they went to the Jordan, and they cut down the trees.

5 It happened as the one [was] felling the log, that the iron ax fell into the water. He called out and said, "Oh, no! My master, it was borrowed!"