2 KINGS CHAPTER 6
The Floating Ax Head
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Now the sons of the prophets told Elisha, “Look, this place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let’s go to the Jordan where each of us can get a log, and we will build us a place to meet there.” He answered, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Please go with your servants.” He replied, “I’ll go.” So he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the ax head fell into the water. He yelled out, “Oh my master! It was borrowed!” The man of God asked, “Where did it fall in?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float. He said, “Lift it out.” So the man reached out his hand and took it.
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NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says, “Iron technology was becoming more widely available at this time, but implements of iron were still expensive and valuable…Ancient magic included a category called transference, where properties or characteristics of one object were passed on to another. In this case, the buoyancy of the wood is passed to the axhead. While the text is unclear whether Elisha was actually practicing magic or not, his actions would have appeared that way to an ancient observer.”
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As disturbing of a prospect as the above comment may be, this is not the first time Elisha has performed a miracle that would fall under this same category of the ancient idea of transference. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes, “The stick cast into the river was the outward symbol which the prophet used, as a sign of what was to be miraculously brought to pass. The iron was to float as the piece of wood did. In the same manner the salt at Jericho, and the meal at Gilgal, were signs the one of the purity, the other of the wholesomeness, which was to be wrought in the bad water, and the noxious pottage.”
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So, why would this be acceptable for Elisha to do when Scripture seems to speak so clearly against doing “magic.” Perhaps this explanation from NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible offers some clarity, “Magic is typically forbidden to Israel for a number of reasons: (1) Magic is human encroachment into the divine realm. (2) Magic is used to manipulate deity. (3) Magic involves relying on a power other than Yahweh. If that is the reason, a sanctioned prophet would be able to bypass all three; his office already enters the divine realm, and the power comes from Yahweh, even though the prophet appears to have some autonomy in using it. The prophets are called to wield divine authority at some level.”
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Guzik highlights a valuable point, “Conceivably, God could have arranged a way for the ax head to appear right in the man’s hand without any effort on his part. But this miracle worked in a familiar way – God did the part only He could do, but He left to man the part that he could do.”
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Horses and Chariots of Fire
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Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He conferred with his advisers saying, “Invade at such and such a place.” But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place because Syria is invading there.” So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had told him about. The man of God repeatedly warned the king so the king would be on his guard. The king of Syria was furious about this so he summoned his advisers and demanded, “Tell me! Which one of us is on the king of Israel’s side?” One of his advisers answered, “No one, my lord king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in your bedroom.” So the king said, “Go and see where he is so that I can send men to capture him.” The king was told, “He’s in Dothan.” So he sent horses, chariots, and a large army there. They went at night and surrounded the city.
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ESV Study Bible writes, “Relations between Syria and Israel have deteriorated since ch. 5. Elisha intervenes to help Jehoram, not because anything has changed in his behavior (3:2-3, 13) but simply because the time has not yet arrived for final judgment on this royal house (cf chs 9-10). Prophetic oracles apparently were often sought or offered in the ancient Near East in relations to military campaigns… Dothan is only10 miles north of the capital city of Samaria, illustrating the extent of Syrian penetration into Israel at this time…”
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When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, he saw that an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. He said, “Oh no, my lord! What will we do?” He answered, “Don’t be afraid, those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Yahweh, please open his eyes so that he may see.” So Yahweh opened the servant’s eyes and he saw that the hill was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And when the Syrians came down toward him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh saying, “Strike this people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness in accordance with Elisha’s prayer. Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me and I will lead you to the man you’re looking for.” Then he led them to Samaria.
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NLT Illustrated Study Bible writes, “The identity of Elisha’s alarmed servant is unknown. He was evidently the replacement of Gehazi (5:27).”
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NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes, “The text does not speak of the mountains surrounding Dothan, but of the mount where Elisha stands. It refers then not to an army in the hills, but to Elisha’s heavenly bodyguard. They are not there to attack the Aramean army, but to protect Elisha from harm…” On the “blindess,” the same source continues, “It is often assumed that this refers to a total loss of physical sight. Yet the Arameans would not doubt their location just because they could no longer physically see it…It seems much more likely that the text refers to a dazed mental condition, in which the Arameans are open to suggestion and manipulation, but are still able to follow the prophet to Samaria. They believe Elisha when he tells them they are in the wrong place (v. 19), and they do not realize that he has tricked them until the daze has passed (v. 20)…”
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NET Bible’s text critical notes add support to the latter point mentioned above, “On the basis of the Akkadian etymology of the word, M. Cogan and H. Tadmor (II Kings [AB], 74) translate ‘blinding light.’ HALOT 761 s.v…suggests the glosses ‘dazzling, deception.’”
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As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Oh Yahweh, open the eyes of these men so that they can see.” So Yahweh opened their eyes and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.” When the king of Israel saw them he asked Elisha, “My father, should I kill them?” He answered, “Don’t kill them. Did you capture with your sword and your bow these men you want to kill? Give them some food and water so they can eat and drink and go home to their master.” So he prepared a big feast for them and when they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they went back to their master. After this, the Syrians stopped raiding Israel’s territory.
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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges writes, “The prophet points out that the men are not even captives whom the king himself has taken. Had they been so, yet the laws of war would have forbidden their slaughter at such a time and in cold blood. Much more is it unlawful to slay these, who are God’s prisoners. Some have preferred to take the sentence as not interrogative. ‘Those whom thou hadst taken prisoners thou mightest be allowed to slay, but not these.’ Deuteronomy 20:13 sanctions the slaying prisoners of war; but it is doubtful whether the grammar of the original in this verse can be taken as anything but interrogative.”
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Ben Hadad Besieges Samaria
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Some time later King Ben Hadad of Syria gathered his entire army, marched up, and laid siege to Samaria. As a result there was a great famine in Samaria. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for 80 silver shekels and a cup of dove’s dung sold for 5 silver shekels.
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ESV Archaeology Study Bible notes, “Conditions in Samaria were so grim during the Aramean siege that the Israelites were forced not only to slaughter and eat valuable animals (Ex 13:13; 20:17; 22:4), but also to spend exorbitant amounts of money on an undesirable part of the animal to avoid starvation. Further, the consumption of donkeys was prohibited by Mosaic law (Lev 11:3)…Dove’s dung could be understood literally. However, an Akkadian list of plants defines ‘dove’s dung’ as the ‘seed of the false carob,’ that is, and inedible seed pod. Whichever item is intended, it signified their desperation. Further, it was being sold for five shekels, the equivalent of what the average worker would earn in six months.”
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As the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “My lord king, help!” He replied, “If Yahweh doesn’t help you, how will I help you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?” Then he asked, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we can eat him today, and we’ll eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I told her, ‘Give your son so that we can eat him.’ But she has hidden her son!” When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he went along the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath his clothes. Then he said, “May God do so to me and more if Elisha son of Shaphat still has his head on his shoulders by the end of the day.”
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HCSB notes, “Famine came as a result of the siege, limited to the capital city. The Aramean army lived quite well off the country (see 7:7).”
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ESV Study Bible says, “…The normal food supply is exhausted; nothing comes from the threshing floor…or winepress…Jehoram appears to believe that removing Elisha will remove the problems he is facing.”
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Now Elisha and the elders were sitting in Elisha’s house. The king had sent a messenger, but before the messenger arrived Elisha told the elders, “Do you realize that this murderer intends to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Isn’t that the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?” And while Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This disaster is from Yahweh. Why should I wait any longer for Yahweh to help?”
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On the message the messenger delivers to Elisha, Guzik remarks, “The king of Israel was honest enough to admit that his real anger was against the LORD.”
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