VI.
THE HISTORY OF ELISHA’S MIGHTY WORKS CONTINUED.
(1-7) The prophet causes an iron ax-head to float ın the Jordan.
(1) And the sons of the prophets said. — The form of the verb implies connection with the preceding narrative; but as the section refers to Elisha’s activity among the sons of the prophets, it was probably connected originally with 2 Kings 4:44. The compiler may have transferred it to its present position in order, as Thenius suggests, to indicate the lapse of some time between the events described here and there; and further, to separate the account of the renewed warfare between Syria and Israel (2 Kings 6:8, seq.) from that of Elisha’s good deed to Naaman the Syrian.
The place where we dwell with thee. — Rather, the place where we sit before thee: scil., habitually, for instruction. The phrase occurred in 2 Kings 4:38. The common hall is meant; whether that at Gilgal or at Jericho is uncertain. Jericho was close to the Jordan (2 Kings 6:2), but that does not prove that it is meant here. The prophet’s disciples did not live in a single building, like a community of monks. Their settlement is called “dwellings” (nâyôth) in the plural (1 Samuel 19:18); and they could be married (2 Kings 4:1).
Too strait. — Their numbers had increased. (Comp. 2 Kings 4:43.)