the floating axe

Originally posted on February 03, 2009 – by Andre Piet

Last Sunday I spoke in Rotterdam about the phenomenon that in Scripture there is often mention of being ‘drawn out of the water’. Among other things, the story of the axe that fell into the Jordan was discussed. For a moment I was tempted to say more about that axe, but for the sake of time I had to… cut it short. After the meeting and later also by email several people asked me about the deeper meaning of the borrowed axe in 2 Kings 6. I would like to share a few considerations in this weblog.

the story

In 2 Kings 6 there is mention of the expansion of a prophet school that had become too small. This school was located in Gilgal (cf. 2 Kings 4:38). Under the leadership of Elisha (“the man of God”) the prophets set about building the house, but while cutting trees the iron of one of the axes comes loose and suddenly falls into the Jordan. The woodcutter cried out in alarm: it was borrowed! Then “the man of God” takes action and throws a piece of wood into the water and the iron comes floating to the surface so that it could be taken again.

the house

The building of the house speaks in a hidden way of the building of “the house of God, which is the ecclesia of the living God” (1 Timothy 3:15). For in that house the Word of God stands central. The house is located at Gilgal by the Jordan. This location refers to to (over)turn (= Gilgal; Joshua 5:8,9), to Joshua (= Jesus), and to the passage through the Jordan of death (> on the third day; Joshua 3). The building of the house at this place thus refers to the building of the house of God since Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

borrowed

Believers are expected to build on the House, but they should realize that it is not their own work. The cutting (“let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body”) can only take place successfully if we are aware that everything is God’s work. We are not the owner of the house, nor of the means by which the building work takes place. It is all borrowed. This is also emphasized by “the man of God” who brings the axe back to the surface by means of the wood. We do not do that ourselves; it is done for us. Indeed, by “the Man of God.” And by means of the wood. Naturally we think of the tree of the curse (Galatians 3:13): the way by which God brings forth new Life (> rising up out of the Jordan)!
May we often be able to cut with this little axe!

Delen: