When we think of all the awesome miracles recorded in the Old Testament, chances are that the story of Elisha making an axe head float is not one that comes to mind (2 Kings. 6:1-7). If we just consider the mighty wonders worked by Elijah and Elisha—resurrection (1 Kgs. 17:22; 2 Kgs. 4:34), drought (1 Kgs. 17:1), fire from heaven (1 Kgs. 18; 2 Kgs. 1:10, 12), parting the Jordan (2 Kgs. 2:8), the bears (2 Kgs. 2:24), curing leprosy (2 Kgs. 5)—a floating axe head doesn’t look like it belongs on that list. It seems insignificant, pointless, and may even cause us to wonder, “What is this story doing in the Bible?”
Our understanding of the floating axe head, and other seemingly trivial stories, depends on what we believe the Bible is and how we ought to read it. If we believe the Bible is a unified story that is all about Jesus (Lk. 24:13-35), then even a strange miracle like this points to that story and teaches us something about the gospel.
When we consider this miracle in its literary context (how it relates to the book of Kings) and its canonical context (how it relates to the rest of Scripture) we will see that the floating axe head is not only connected to the rest of Elisha’s ministry, but also points forward to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
The Floating Axe Head in its Literary Context
First, it is important to notice that this miracle is part of the ongoing narrative of Elisha’s ministry. It is not some bizarre isolated event; it is connected to the other miracles Elisha performs. In fact, this is the third story where Elisha has healed, delivered, or restored something by throwing/casting something into water. Elisha threw salt into a spring of water to heal it (2 Kgs. 2:19-22); he threw flour into a deadly pot of stew to cleanse and make it good to eat (2 Kgs. 4:38-41); and when the axe head falls into the water, Elisha “cut off a stick and threw it in [the water] and made the iron float” (2 Kgs. 6:6). Elisha is being pictured as a new Moses, who also threw a piece of wood into the bitter waters of Marah to restore them and make them sweet (Ex. 15:23-25).
There are connections to other miracles as well. Elisha’s command to “take up” the floating axe head echoes his previous command to the Shunammite woman to “take up” her resurrected child (2 Kgs. 4:36). The man who recovers the axe head is also delivered from being potentially indebted to his master for losing borrowed property (2 Kgs. 6:5; cf. Ex. 22:14-15), just as the Shunammite woman is given oil to pay the debt which she owed to her creditors (2 Kgs. 4:1-7). Additionally, the axe head being restored connects to Naaman being cleansed of his leprosy by dipping in the Jordan River, which is the immediately preceding story in chapter 5.
But we must also remember that this story, included as it is in the history of 1-2 Kings, was read by Israel when they had been exiled to Babylon. In this light, there’s a sense in which this miracle can be taken as an illustration of Israel’s future hope. Peter Leithart explains:
The ax head sinks into the water and returns, like Jonah the prophet. In Jonah, submersion and return is an image of Israel’s exile in the sea of Gentiles and its return to the land…and the ax head passing through the Jordan further strengthens the association with Israel’s exile and return. For the original exilic readers of 1-2 Kings, this narrative demonstrates again that clinging to the prophet and his word is the way of return—both the way of repentance and the way of restoration to the land. When Israel is sent to slavery to pay off its debt of sin, it hopes for a new exodus that will restore it to the land, in a cosmic Jubilee.1Peter J. Leithart, 1 & 2 Kings, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006), 200.
Through the miracles of Elisha, God’s people learn that God is in the restoration business. When all hope seems lost, when the only outcome appears to be loss, indebtedness and slavery, God is able to restore what is lost and reverse the fortunes of his people.
The Floating Axe Head in Canonical Context
When we consider how this story fits in with the rest of Scripture, we see that it points us to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures present Jesus as a greater Elisha, whose way was prepared by one who went before him “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). He is a prophet who resurrects a widow’s son (2 Kgs. 4:32-37; cf. Luke 7:11-17), multiplies bread (2 Kgs. 4:42-44; cf. Mark 6:37-44), and ministers to Gentiles because he is not welcome in his home town (Lk. 4:16-30). Like Elisha restoring the axe head, Jesus also performed a miracle of provision with the coin in the mouth of a fish (Matt. 17:27). Jesus too was in the healing, delivering, and restoring business.
But the connection with Jesus does not stop there. If it is true that the floating axe head connects to Jonah and the idea of Israel’s restoration from exile, as Leithart suggests, then we have the pieces in place to understand this miracle as pointing to his resurrection. Jesus, like Israel and like Jonah (cf. Matt. 12:40) would be cast into the waters of exile and death, only to be raised and restored by God’s power. It is through his death and resurrection that Israel’s debt of sin is paid and they are restored. Furthermore, the church identifies with Jesus in his death and resurrection through our own submersion into the waters of baptism, which is a picture of God’s power restoring and resurrecting us.
Reading Scripture Rightly and Fully
Of course, some may reject such a fanciful or “allegorical” interpretation, insisting that we are reading something into the text that is not there and was not known to the original audience. However, if the Old Testament, according to the risen Lord Jesus himself, is all about him (Lk. 24), then we need to take him seriously and (re)read the Scriptures accordingly. When we do, we realize this story is not in Scripture to teach us about borrowing property, cutting down trees, or how to retrieve lost property. It’s not just about God’s concern for a simple yet genuine need.2Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Kings: The Power and the Fury, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2005), 103-105. It is there to point us to Jesus, to teach us about what God has done for us in and through Christ and his Holy Spirit.
In his discussion of allegory, Mitchell Chase reminds us that our allegorical interpretation needs to be “textually grounded in God’s canonical revelation.”3Mitchell L. Chase, 40 Questions about Typology and Allegory, ed. Benjamin L. Merkle, 40 Questions Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2020), 197. Proper allegorical interpretation does not make the text mean anything we want it to mean. When our search for “deeper” meaning is guided by and grounded in God’s word, we can see how the miracle of the floating axe head teaches us about God’s restorative, redemptive, and resurrection power in Christ. Guided by Holy Spirit and the example of the Apostles (cf. Gal. 4:21-31), we can safely say that Jesus, in one very real sense, does represent the stick that is thrown into the water to raise us to new life; he is the axe head that is sunk, seemingly lost, but restored.
God has spoken to us at many times, and in many ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Heb. 1:1). As Christian readers and interpreters of Scripture, we ought to read the Scriptures rightly and fully. If Jesus fulfills the OT Scriptures, we must read them in a new light: in the light of his death and resurrection.
Mitch Bedzyk serves as a pastor Emmanuel Community Church, overseeing music and Sunday Classes. He received his Master of Theological Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and works in IT for the NY Office of Mental Health. He and his wife, Sarah, have five children: Kya, Khalli, Oliver, Amelia, and Micah. In his spare time he enjoys reading, coffee, guitar, being an MLS fanatic and playing fantasy soccer.
