~ one time ...

Chapter 6 of 2 Kings begins with a little tiny story. It is tucked in between the story of an important general from the ENEMY getting healed of leprosy and battles between Aram and Israel and all the attendant cool miracles. It is about a man and his neighbor's ax.  The event, while incidental, is shocking and huge. It must have been a miracle remembered and retold in awe filled voices around tables at night after dinner when all the "do you remember when" stories are bandied about. The "who" is missing entirely -- we do not know any names ... except of course Elisha's. There is no national consequence, no pithy moral beyond 'be careful with things you've borrowed'. It is a story of kindness -- and wonder.

So some of the sons of the prophets want a new place to live. People marry, have children. Soon you need a bigger place. The men decide on a building project and ask Elisha to come along and he does (good thing!)

While they are building, one guy is 'felling a beam' and his ax head flies off and (see it in slow motion, as you might if, in a movie, a director wanted to catch both your eye and your emotions) it lands 'plunk-splash!' in the middle of a river and ... as iron ax heads will ... sinks to the bottom.

"*&$#)@!*&%^$#" The man stands looking stupidly from the handle to the river and back again. There is a bigger problem than a broken ax and a beam not quite felled. He borrowed the ax from his neighbor. Turning he sees Elisha, and that is what he tells him. "Alas my master! For it was borrowed!"

Elisha then does a very 'Elisha-esk' miracle. This one is one of my favorite, favorites. No, I know! I know! I keep saying that : "favorite ... this one is my favorite...this one is my favorite favorite!" But how do you NOT love these stories? Anyway ... Elisha says, "Where did it fall?" When the man tells him (I am sure he helplessly said, "uh . . . somewhere about there . . .  " cuz there is no mark on the top of a river when an ax head has hit it and then the ax has sunk to the bottom.) Elisha cuts a stick off a tree and throws it onto the water and the ax head floats up to the stick! !

WAIT!

Sticks -- wood -- cannot be magnetized! Really! Go check. Look at any science book on magnets; go online. Sticks are NOT magnets. Third graders know that. And while we are at it...iron does not float up. RIGHT? If there had been a real magnet, it would have had to have been VERY powerful to pull the iron ax head up!  But...it worked anyway. The ax head floated to the top and the man got it out of the water.

Yeah, that's a story I would tell and re-tell and re-tell!

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