John Gill Commentary 2 Kings 6

And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha
Or the disciples of the prophets, as the Targum:

behold now, the place where we dwell with you is too strait for us :
their numbers were so increased, that there was not room enough for them in the house they dwelt in with the prophet; which increase was owing, the Jews ^F26 say, to the departure of Gehazi last mentioned, who was a bad man, and used the disciples so ill, that they could not stay in the college; but, when he was gone, they flocked in great numbers; but rather it was owing to the very instructive ministry and wonderful miracles of Elisha: the place where the prophet and his disciples now dwelt seems to be Gilgal, (2 Kings 4:38) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 107. 2.

Let us go, we pray you, 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 where 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 you;
he gave them leave, without which they did not choose to do anything.

FOOTNOTES:

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

And one said, be content, I pray you, and with your servants ,
&c.] Or be pleased to go with us; he begged it as a favour, that, being awed by his presence, they might preserve peace and order, and have his advice as to the spot of ground to erect their edifice on, and might be protected by him from harm and mischief by men or wild beasts:

and he answered, I will go ;
he consented to it, knowing perhaps before hand that he should have an opportunity of working a miracle there, as he did.

So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut
down wood .
Trees which grew upon the banks of it, to build their house with, at least for the rafters and flooring of it, supposing the walls to be built of stone.

But as one was felling a beam
Cutting down a tree, or a branch of it:

the axe head fell into the water :
into the waters of Jordan; or "the iron" ^F4 , the iron part of it, with which the wood was cut;that flew off from the helve into the water:

and he cried, and said, alas, master! for it was borrowed :
it grieved him to lose his axe, because he could do no more work, and the more because it was not his own,but he had borrowed it of his neighbour; and still more, because, as it seems, he was poor, and not able topay for it, which, being of an honest disposition, gave him distress.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (lzrbh) "ferrum", Pagninus, Montanus