And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.
The verse belongs to the account in which the sons of the prophets build a larger house and dwelling for themselves to live in. One of the students asks Elisha to go along with the servants to the work, and Elisha answers that he will go. The episode is evidence that Israel had a school for training workers, called a college or school of the prophets.
The head of the schools goes with the students to do manual work, so teachers and students work together while the students labor with their own hands to meet their own needs. Industrial and physical work was a required duty and part of education in those schools, where various industries were taught and students supported themselves by useful, industrious, self-supporting labor. The same account includes a miracle that saved a borrowed ax, showing that God honors the work of everyday laborers. In that episode God worked a miracle to rescue one of them from distress, showing himself an ever-present helper in difficulty and trial, and the account serves as a lesson for believers.
The principles and pattern of the schools of the prophets in this account reveal God's plan for schools and are presented as the model for church schools and institutions for educating workers who witness for Christ. Schools built on that pattern are established in a simple style with humble buildings rather than in an elaborate way, are conducted as nearly as can be understood after that model, have teachers who not only know the truth but do God's Word and answer from Scripture, and always have a missionary line of work connected with them to help those who are fallen, degraded, wounded, bruised, and ready to perish. Every dollar that can be spared should be put into the treasury to erect these agencies for good and increase their facilities, so that a great work may be done in a short time before the Lord comes, rather than diminishing them, and this earnest work of building and witnessing is active labor with Jesus Christ, so that those found doing it when the Lord comes will be called good and faithful servants entering the joy of their Lord.
The verse belongs to the account in which the sons of the prophets build a larger house and dwelling for themselves to live in. One of the students asks Elisha to go along with the servants to the work, and Elisha answers that he will go. The episode is evidence that Israel had a school for training workers, called a college or school of the prophets.
The head of the schools goes with the students to do manual work, so teachers and students work together while the students labor with their own hands to meet their own needs. Industrial and physical work was a required duty and part of education in those schools, where various industries were taught and students supported themselves by useful, industrious, self-supporting labor. The same account includes a miracle that saved a borrowed ax, showing that God honors the work of everyday laborers. In that episode God worked a miracle to rescue one of them from distress, showing himself an ever-present helper in difficulty and trial, and the account serves as a lesson for believers.
The principles and pattern of the schools of the prophets in this account reveal God's plan for schools and are presented as the model for church schools and institutions for educating workers who witness for Christ. Schools built on that pattern are established in a simple style with humble buildings rather than in an elaborate way, are conducted as nearly as can be understood after that model, have teachers who not only know the truth but do God's Word and answer from Scripture, and always have a missionary line of work connected with them to help those who are fallen, degraded, wounded, bruised, and ready to perish. Every dollar that can be spared should be put into the treasury to erect these agencies for good and increase their facilities, so that a great work may be done in a short time before the Lord comes, rather than diminishing them, and this earnest work of building and witnessing is active labor with Jesus Christ, so that those found doing it when the Lord comes will be called good and faithful servants entering the joy of their Lord.