2 Kings 6:5-6

2 Kings 6:5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.

6 And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim.

The word translated as ‘stick’ is the same word translated as 'tree'. Interestingly enough, we find another passage in which a stick (tree) is cast into water. It’s in:

Exodus 15:23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

These two passages have the casting of a stick/tree into water in common. In one passage the tree thrown into the water caused iron to swim. In the other the tree cast into the water makes the bitter water sweet.

What could the tree represent?

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,...

Even today, the tree (or cross) has become a symbol for the sacrifice of Christ.

Water can be used by God as a picture of His judgment. Especially when something heavy is cast into it.

Revelation 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

A heavy object sinks right to the bottom. Man's sins spiritually weigh him down. They will cause the sinner to sink down under the wrath of God and be destroyed finally. But the casting of a tree into the water causes the ax head made of iron to swim. It does not sink. The tree represents the cross of Christ or His sacrifice on behalf of His elect that spares a sinner from drowning as Pharaoh and the Egyptians drowned in the Red sea.

Q. So the axe head is the sinner?

The ax head was made of iron.

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Psalm 38:4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.