Take every man a beam - Trees were rare in most parts of Palestine, but plentiful in the Jordan Valley. Jericho was known in early times as "the city of palms" Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 1:16.

Every man a beam - They made a sort of log-houses with their own hands.

Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan,.... Which, according to Josephus (a), was fifty furlongs, or upwards of six miles, distant from Gilgal:

and take thence every man a beam; by cutting down the trees that grew there; for Mr. Maundrell says (b), the banks of Jordan are beset with bushes and trees, which are an harbour for wild beasts; and another traveller (c) observes, that it is shadowed on both sides with poplars, alders, &c. and who speaks of their cutting down boughs from the trees when there:

and let us make us a place there where we may dwell: near the banks of Jordan, which they might choose for the seclusion and pleasantness of the situation, or because Elijah was taken up to heaven near it, as Abarbinel thinks; from whence it appears that these scholars were far from living an idle life; for they were not only trained up in useful learning, but were employed in trades and manufactures, to which they had been brought up, and knew how to fell timber, and build houses:

and he answered, go ye; he gave them leave, without which they did not choose to do anything.

(a) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 4. (b) Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 82, 83. (c) Sandys's Travels, l. 3. p. 110.

Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a {a} beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye.

(a) Or a piece of wood fit to build with.

6:2 Jordan - To the woods near Jordan. A beam - A piece of timber for the building. Hence it may be gathered, that although the sons of the prophets principally devoted themselves to religious exercises, yet they sometimes employed themselves about manual arts.

2. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan-whose wooded banks would furnish plenty of timber.

6:1-7 There is that pleasantness in the converse of servants of God, which can make those who listen to them forget the pain and the weariness of labour. Even the sons of the prophets must not be unwilling to labour. Let no man think an honest employment a burden or a disgrace. And labour of the head, is as hard, and very often harder, than labour with the hands. We ought to be careful of that which is borrowed, as of our own, because we must do as we would be done by. This man was so respecting the axe-head. And to those who have an honest mind, the sorest grievance of poverty is, not so much their own want and disgrace, as being rendered unable to pay just debts. But the Lord cares for his people in their smallest concerns. And God's grace can thus raise the stony iron heart, which is sunk into the mud of this world, and raise up affections, naturally earthly.