Everyday Trials, the Temptation of Witchcraft and People Who Feel Powerless

2 Kings 6:1-33 (NKJV)
¹  And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, "See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.
²  Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell." So he answered, "Go."
³  Then one said, "Please consent to go with your servants." And he answered, "I will go."
⁴  So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
⁵  But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, "Alas, master! For it was borrowed."
⁶  So the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float.
⁷  Therefore he said, "Pick it up for yourself." So he reached out his hand and took it.

This is one of the more obscure miracles in the Old Testament, and for some time I did not see the point of this miracle.  Recently, I learned that one takeaway from it is to compare it to the unfortunate fate of Gehazi, the original personal assistant to the Prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5:20-27).  The Lord does not approve of greed but values the humble servant and cares about the joys and challenges of even his everyday life.  It also is an appeal to people who feel powerless in life, and to those among them who are tempted to look at witchcraft as a way to deal with life.

I found some notes from a good study Bible, and the episode of an unfortunate slave caught in the middle of the Salem Witch Trials, to be helpful commentary when considering this passage.

 

Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

"Ancient magic included a category called transference, where properties or characteristics of one object were passed to another.  In this case, the buoyancy of the wood is passed to the axe head.  While the text is unclear whether Elisha was actually practicing magic or not, his actions would have appeared that way to an ancient observer."

"Magic is typically forbidden to Israel for a number of reasons:  (1)  Magic is human encroachment into the divine realm.  (2)  Magic is used to manipulate deity.  (3)  Magic involves relying on a power other than Yahweh.  If that is the reason, a sanctioned prophet would be able to bypass all three; his office already enters the divine realm, and the power come from Yahweh, even though the prophet appears to have some autonomy in using it.  The prophets are called to wield divine authority at some level."

(Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2017)

 

Note:  I don't know if this is true, but I once read that the horrors of the Salem Witch Trials started with a slave from the Caribbean named Tituba, who taught some young girls spells.  The article noted that witchcraft was attractive to the oppressed and powerless.  The teacher was enslaved and the students were in a culture that probably did not acknowledge much value in them.  Here in this strange passage the Lord addressed the questions of whether God had any interest in the everyday trials and difficulties of His people, and whether it is really worth it for the oppressed and powerless to turn to witchcraft. 

 

What I mean is that the miracle is about a minor issue, not minor to the young prophet who borrowed the axe head, but minor in the grand scheme of things.  Here the miracle shows the intimacy of God.  Our God is a God of everyday life, and has interest even in the everyday trials and challenges of His people.  Also, note that the miracle looks similar to an element of magic called "transference".  The Study Bible listed above said that in ancient times one form of magic was to transfer the characteristic of one object (the stick) to another (the axe head) so the axe head rises to the surface so the young prophet can retrieve it.  Why would the Lord make a miracle look like magic?  I think He wanted to send a message to people tempted to participate in magic.  Magic can be tempting to those who are powerless and oppressed (note the story about the Salem Witch Trials.  Note also the teen witch movie "The Craft" has a sequel out soon).  The message from the Lord is "don't turn to witchcraft in an effort to manipulate nature or some sort of "deity".  Rather, turn to me, the only true God of the universe.  It is an appeal to everyone who feels defeated, powerless, mistreat, subject to injustice. 

 

Note from the web on Tituba, thought to be the first person to confess involvement in witchcraft during the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

Tituba was an Indian woman, not (as commonly believed) a Negro slave. She was originally from an Arawak village in South America, where she was captured as a child, taken to Barbados as a captive, and sold into slavery. It was in Barbados that her life first became entangled with that of Reverend Samuel Parris. She was likely between the age of 12 and 17 when she came into the Parris household. She was most likely purchased by Parris from one of his business associates, or given to settle a debt. Parris, at the time, was an unmarried merchant, leading to speculation that Tituba may have served as his concubine.

Tituba helped maintain the Parris household on a day-to-day basis. When Parris moved to Boston in 1680, Tituba and another Indian slave named John accompanied him. Tituba and John were married in 1689 about the time the Parris family moved to Salem. It is believed that Tituba had only one child, a daughter named Violet, who would remain in Parris's household until his [sic] death.

Tituba made herself a likely target for witchcraft accusations when shortly after Parris's daughter, Betty, began having strange fits and symptoms, she participated in the preparation of a "witchcake" (a mixture of rye and Betty's urine, cooked and fed to a dog, in the belief that the dog would then reveal the identity of Betty's afflictor). Parris was enraged when he found out about the cake, and shortly thereafter the afflicted girls named Tituba as a witch. Parris beat her until she confessed.

Tituba was the first witch to confess in Salem, and she likely did it to avoid further punishment. In her confession she apologized for hurting Betty, claimed she never wanted to hurt Betty, and professed her love for the child. She also wove a lively tale of an active community of witches in Salem. She named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne as witches. By confessing early on, Tituba avoided the ordeal of going to trial, joining with the afflicted girls in providing key evidence against accused witches. Her husband, John, would also fall into fits, and become afflicted.

When public sentiment towards the accusers and the trials began to change, Tituba recanted her confession. This further enraged Parris, who in retaliation, refused to pay the jailer's fee to get Tituba out a prison. As a result, she spent thirteen months in jail until an unknown person paid the seven pounds for her release and bought her. It is likely that the same person bought her husband, John, because Puritans were not inclined to split up married couples, even slaves. It is unknown what happened to her after she began her life with her new owner. --KS

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/ASA_TIT.HTM

I think that www.umkc.edu is the University of Missouri at Kansas City