2 Kings 6:2

2 Give us permission to go down to the Jordan where each of us will get a log. We'll build a roomier place." Elisha said, "Go ahead."

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 One day the guild of prophets came to Elisha and said, "You can see that this place where we're living under your leadership is getting cramped - we have no elbow room.

2 Give us permission to go down to the Jordan where each of us will get a log. We'll build a roomier place." Elisha said, "Go ahead."

3 One of them then said, "Please! Come along with us!" He said, "Certainly."

4 He went with them. They came to the Jordan and started chopping down trees.

5 As one of them was felling a timber, his axhead flew off and sank in the river. "Oh no, master!" he cried out. "And it was borrowed!"