Therefore he said, Take it up to you. And he put out his hand, and took it.
All Commentaries on 2 Kings 6:7 Go To 2 Kings 6
Caesarius of Arles
AD 542
When the divine lesson was read now, dearly beloved, we heard that as blessed Elisha was going to the river Jordan with the sons of the prophets to cut some wood, an ax fell into the water, and the man from whose hand it slipped cried out to blessed Elisha, “Alas, my lord, for this was borrowed.” After this blessed Elisha threw a piece of wood into the place where the ax had fallen, and the iron swam. Elisha typified our Lord and Savior, dearly beloved, as we have frequently mentioned to your charity. Moreover, in the boy who was from the sons of the prophets and from whose hand the ax slipped, we not unfittingly understand Christ our Lord. That ax that fell seems to signify Adam or the whole human race. Therefore, the son of the prophets held the ax in his hand, because our Lord and Savior had in the hand of his power the human race, which he had created. Just as the ax fell out of the prophet’s hand into the water, so the human race through pride shook off itself free from the hand of almighty God, fell and plunged itself into the river of dissipation and the waters of every sin. So the ax lay in the water, because the human race had fallen into the abyss of all vices in miserable ruin. As it is written: “I am sunk in the abysmal swamp,” and again: “I have reached the watery depths; the flood overwhelms me.” That river where the ax fell signifies the pleasure or dissipation of this world, which is passing, fleeting and descending into the abyss. A river derives its name from the idea of flowing; since all sinners are said to flow along clinging to transitory pleasures, for this reason that ax lay sunk in the river and mud.
At his coming Elisha threw in a piece of wood, and the iron swam. What does it mean to cast the piece of wood and bring the iron to light, except to ascend the gibbet of the cross, to lift up the human race from the depth of hell and to free it from the mud of all sins by the mystery of the cross? After the iron floated, the prophet put in his hand to recover it, and it returned to the useful service of its master. Thus it also happened to us, dearly beloved brothers. We who had fallen from the Lord’s hand through pride merited to return again to his hand and power through the wood of the cross. Therefore, with his help, let us strive as much as we can not to fall again from his hand through pride. Without any preceding good merits of ours we have been brought from darkness to light, recalled from death to life and brought back to the right path from many errors. For this reason let us run while we still possess the light of life and not neglect the passing times of salvation. Let not the unwholesomely sweet and exceedingly dangerous joy of this world delight us, lest we again fall away from good works and the path of justice as from the hand of the Lord and hasten to the wicked river of this world. Let us not be submerged again in the mud of all sins in unhappy destruction, but let us listen to the apostle say, “If you have risen with Christ, mind the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Seek the things that are above.” Why does he say “if you have risen,” unless because we had fallen? Elsewhere the same apostle says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from among the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.” Does it not seem to you as though he is shouting to the ax, which is lying in the mud? Awake, he says, you who sleep in the deep waters, and Christ will enlighten you through the mystery of the cross. All these truths have already been fulfilled in us, beloved brothers, through the sacrament of baptism.
