WAIT… THAT’S IN THE BIBLE? — DAY 33

A lighthearted look at some of the wonderfully unexpected things you discover when you actually read your Bible, context still matters!

“As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. ‘Oh no, my lord!’ he cried out. ‘It was borrowed!’ The man of God asked, ‘Where did it fall?’ When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.” 2 Kings 6:5–6

WAIT, THE IRON AXE HEAD FLOATED?!

Let’s set the scene.

The company of prophets had outgrown their meeting place, so they headed down to the Jordan to cut timber and build somewhere bigger.

Everything is going well until…

WHOOSH!

An axe head flies off the handle…

SPLASH!

Straight into the Jordan.

And the man’s immediate reaction is:

“OH NO, MY LORD! IT WAS BORROWED!”

Forget the fact that you’ve just launched somebody else’s axe head into a river.

Forget explaining how you’re going to retrieve a heavy piece of iron from the bottom.

There’s only one thought going through this man’s head:

“I HAVE TO GIVE THAT BACK!”

Anyone who has ever borrowed something and accidentally broken or lost it understands this man’s panic completely.

Then Elisha asks:

“Where did it fall?”

The man points to the spot.

Elisha cuts a stick.

Throws it into the water.

And

THE IRON FLOATS.

Modern Bible reader:

“EXCUSE ME

THAT IS NOT HOW IRON WORKS.”

Imagine everyone standing beside the Jordan:

“Did that axe head just FLOAT?”

Elisha:

“Pick it up.”

And the man reaches out and takes it.

Problem solved.

Context still matters!

This wasn’t simply God performing a random supernatural trick.

Iron tools were valuable, and the man specifically tells Elisha that the axe was borrowed.

Losing something valuable that belonged to somebody else could have placed him in a genuinely difficult situation.

And that’s what makes this little miracle so beautiful.

This isn’t the Red Sea parting.

There isn’t an army being defeated.

Fire isn’t falling from heaven.

A nation isn’t being delivered.

It’s one man

with one borrowed axe head

at the bottom of a river.

And God cared.

Sometimes we can think that God is interested only in the enormous, life-changing problems.

But this little story reminds us that what seems insignificant to everybody else can still matter to Him.

The man cared about that axe.

So God met him right there beside the Jordan.

But still

Imagine having to explain this when you returned the axe:

OWNER:
“Everything go okay?”

BORROWER:
“Well, technically I lost part of it in the Jordan.”

OWNER:
“YOU WHAT?!”

BORROWER:
“It’s fine. Elisha made it float.”

OWNER:
“……”

Sometimes God parted the sea.

Sometimes He called down fire.

Sometimes He defeated armies.

And sometimes

HE HELPED SOMEBODY RETURN A BORROWED TOOL.

Because nothing that concerns us is necessarily too small for God to care about.

Context still matters!