Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Kings 6

It seems to have been a habit of the prophets to gather about them companies of young men whom they instructed in the holy Scripture and in the truths of revelation. Many of these young men became prophets themselves and were the instructors of the people.

Elisha, then, was the President of a College for young men who were being trained for the sacred ministry of God. They had grown so numerous that they were cramped in their lodging, and they said, "The place is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us fit place there, where we may dwell."

They were ready to work to build their own lodging; they do not appear to have gone into debt for it, and to have saddled themselves and the institution for many years afterwards, but they put their own shoulders to the wheel, as good men should do when there is any work to be done for the cause of God.

Let us go, we pray thee, to Jordan, and take from there every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell.

And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.

His presence would be an encouragement to them; his holy conduct would make their work more pleasant, and they would also feel as if they were more truly working for God when they had the presence and the support of God's servant. He, on the other hand, was quite ready to go. God's ministers, if they are what they should be, are quite ready to help in any kind of work. We find Paul the Apostle picking up sticks to make a fire, and we find Elisha going with his dear friends to the forest when they went to cut down timber to make a house.

We sometimes regret that spiritual work should so often have to come into contact with commonplace things, and yet it is so. Young prophets must have a house, and when we gather a congregation we must build them a meeting-house. In this country, we cannot meet every day in the open air, and we often regret this. Yet I believe it is meant by God to be a discipline for His Church. If the Church cannot come into contact with common life without its spirituality being endangered, so much the worse for its spirituality.

It must be flimsy stuff if it cannot bear the wear and tear of common life.

These young men were too poor to buy their own tools, so they asked for a kind loan of an axe-head to use in the Lord's service. It was very natural, therefore, for this young man to regret that the axe he had borrowed fell off into the water. This made him exclaim, "Alas!"

Be very careful about loans, be sure to repay them in due time, and take great care that nothing prevents you from doing so. He said, "Alas, master! for it was borrowed."

God can do all things; he can make iron swim—we cannot—and yet you see the prophet did it, and he did it by the use of a stick. He cut down a stick.

Was there any connection between the stick and the iron? I can't see any, and yet God does use means, and he would have us use means. He cut down a stick and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim.

If you're in great trouble tonight, have confidence in that God who can make the iron swim. If you have some worry, and you do not know how to meet it, some work, and you do not know how to do it, look to him who made the iron swim, and he can do the same for you. Trust him, rest upon him, and see if he does not do it.

Of course, he wanted to keep it secret, and pounce upon Israel here and there without notice and so win an easy victory.