A further step in their history is now before us-deliverance from the law and what it has to say to them. They seem to be without liberty and seeking deliverance. They say, "Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye."
They had already seen what had happened to Elisha at Jordan; he had received an entirely new life as he passed over Jordan on his return to Gilgal. They had seen that his previous occupation and interests were entirely gone and in their place was a life of heavenly grace. This they desired but did not have. They go to Jordan seeking it.
The Jordan river had been impressed on them as the place where the life of Elisha was changed, where he found deliverance from the old life and began a new one. They say, "The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us." They want deliverance; they want liberty.
"Strait" means narrow and constricted, like a narrow gate. Like them, we want liberty, the liberty of the sons of God. That is what we get in Rom. 8-the liberty of the children of God. Are you enjoying it?