Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan,.... Which, according to Josephus , 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 , the banks of Jordan are beset with bushes and trees, which are an harbour for wild beasts; and another traveller 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.
Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 4. Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 82, 83. Sandys's Travels, l. 3. p.