man of God. See App-49.
cut down. Not same word as 2 Kings 6:3. Hebrew. kazab. to cut evenly: i.e. shape or size evenly. Occurs only here and Song of Solomon 4:2 ("even shorn").
a stick. a helve.
iron did swim. made him see the iron: by causing it to rise to the surface. Elisha's twelfth miracle. See note on 2 Kings 2:15. The spiritual application is thus put by John Newton: "Not one concern of ours is small If we belong to Him; To teach us this, the Lord of all Once made the iron to swim".