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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 2 King 6:6 - 6:6
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When he showed Elisha, in answer to his inquiry, the place where it had fallen, the latter cut off a stick and threw it thither (into the water) and made the iron flow, i.e., float (יָצֶף from צוּף, to flow, as in Deu 11:4); whereupon the prophets' pupil picked the axe out of the water with his hand. The object of the miracle was similar to that of the stater in the fish's mouth (Mat 17:27), or of the miraculous feeding, namely, to show how the Lord could relieve earthly want through the medium of His prophet. The natural interpretation of the miracle, which is repeated by Thenius, namely, that “Elisha struck the eye of the axe with the long stick which he thrust into the river, so that the iron was lifted by the wood,” needs no refutation, since the raising of an iron axe by a long stick, so as to make it float in the water, is impossible according to the laws of gravitation.