2 Kings 2:23

_AND HE WENT UP FROM THENCE UNTO BETHEL: AND AS HE WAS GOING UP BY THE WAY, THERE CAME FORTH LITTLE CHILDREN OUT OF THE CITY, AND MOCKED HIM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, GO UP, THOU BALD HEAD; GO UP, THOU BALD HEAD._ There came forth little children, х_ Nª`AARIYM_ (H5288), young lads; applied to Isaac, Joseph, Rehoboam, when full-grown (Genesis 22:5; Genesis 41:12; 2 Chronicles 13:7); Septuagint, paidaria mikra] - i:e., the idolatrous or infidel young men of the place, who affected to disbelieve the report of his master's translation, sarcastically urged Elisha to follow in the glorious career. BALD HEAD, х_ QEEREEACH_ ...

19-25 Observe the miracle of healing the waters. Prophets should make every place to which they come better for them, endeavouring to sweeten bitter spirits, and to make barren souls fruitful, by the word of God, which is like the salt cast into the water by Elisha. It was an apt emblem of the effect produced by the grace of God on the sinful heart of man. Whole families, towns, and cities, sometimes have a new appearance through the preaching of the gospel; wickedness and evil have been changed into fruitfulness in the works of righteousness, which are, through Christ, to the praise and glory of God. Here is a curse on the youths of Bethel, enough to destroy them; it was not a curse causeless, for it was Elisha's character, as God's prophet, that they abused. They bade him "go up," reflecting on the taking up of Elijah into heaven. The prophet acted by Divine impulse. If the Holy Spiri...

Verse 2 Kings 2:23. _THERE CAME FORTH LITTLE CHILDREN OUT OF THE CITY_] These were probably the school of some celebrated teacher; but under his instruction they had learned neither piety nor good manners. _GO UP, THOU BALD HEAD; GO UP, THOU BALD HEAD._] עלה קרח עלה קרח _aleh kereach, aleh kereach_. Does not this imply the grossest insult? _Ascend, thou empty skull, to heaven_, as it is pretended thy master did! This was blasphemy against God; and their punishment (for they were Beth-elite idolaters) was only proportioned to their guilt. Elisha _cursed them_, i.e., pronounced a curse upon them, _in the name of the Lord_, בשם יהוה beshem _Yehovah, by the name_ or _authority of Jehovah_. The spirit of their offense lies in their _ridiculing a miracle_ of the Lord: the offense was against _Him_, and _He_ punished it.

As Beth-el was the older seat of the calf-worship 1 Kings 12:32; 1 Kings 13:1, a prophet of Yahweh was not unlikely to meet with insult there. BY THE WAY - i. e. “by the usual road,” probably that which winds up the Wady Suweinit, under hills even now retaining some trees, and in Elisha’s time covered with a dense forest, the haunt of savage animals. Compare 1 Kings 13:24; and for the general prevalence of beasts of prey in the country, both earlier and later than this, see Judges 14:5; 1Sa 17:31;...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 2:1 THE REMOVAL OF ELIJAH FROM EARTH, AND SOME EARLY MIRACLES OF ELISHA. The great prophet of Israel was to have a departure from earth as marvelous as his life had been. Ewald's words, though not intended in an historical, but only in a literary sense, embody very forcibly what the humble believer may accept as the actual _rationale_ of the occurrence related in 2 Kings 2:1 : "An earthly career which had no equal in the purity of its devotion to the service of Jehovah, and was at the same time consummated by such powerful efforts to promote the

AND HE WENT UP FROM THENCE UNTO BETHEL,.... From Jericho, which lay in a plain, to Bethel, situated on an hill, and therefore is said to go up to it; hither he went, to acquaint the sons of the prophets with the assumption of Elijah, to condole their loss of him, and to comfort and encourage them, and confirm his own authority among them as a prophet in his stead: AND AS HE WAS GOING UP BY THE WAY; the ascent to the city: THERE CAME FORTH LITTLE CHILDREN OUT OF THE CITY; the word for "children" is used of persons of thirty or forty years of age; and though these are said to be "little", they were so well grown as to be able to go forth out of the city of themselves, without any to guide them, or to take care of them; and were of an age capable not only of taking notice of Elijah's baldness, but knew him to be a prophet, and were able to distinguish between good and evil; and, from a ma...

II. THE PROPHET ELISHA 1. The Beginning of His Ministry CHAPTER 2:12-25 _ 1. The mantle used (2 Kings 2:12)_ 2. The sons of the prophets (2 Kings 2:15) 3. The healing of Jericho's waters (2 Kings 2:19) 4. Judgment upon the scoffers (2 Kings 2:23) Both Elijah and Elisha are types of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their names indicate this. Elijah means “my God is Jehovah,” and Elisha, “my God is salvation.” Suffering, affliction and rejection are prominent in the life of Elijah, but it ended for him by being taken into heaven. It foreshadows the path of Him who was rejected by His own, cast

2 KINGS 1:1 TO 2 KINGS 2:25. LAST DAYS AND ASCENSION OF ELIJAH: ELISHA ESTABLISHED AS HIS SUCCESSOR. Here we have perhaps a third Elijah narrative, in which the prophet is represented as playing a part scarcely worthy of the Elijah of 1 Kings 17-19 or 21, who in the first section represents Yahweh against the Tyrian Baal, whereas in the latter he stands for righteousness opposed to legalised violence. Here the king's offence is that he sent to a Philistine oracle instead of inquiring of Yahweh, and his soldiers are punished by fire for summoning the prophet to surrender. The spelling of the prophet's name in Hebrew differs from that in the rest of the OT. The story is mentioned in the Gospel (Luke 9:54). With ch. 2 we seem to en

BETH-EL. One of the seats of Israel's calf-worship (1 Kings 12:26). LITTLE CHILDREN. young men. Hebrew. _na'ar._ Used of Isaac (twenty-eight years old); Joseph (thirty-nine); Rehoboam (forty). GO UP, &C. An open insult, avenged by Elisha _'_. God in. way suited for that dispensation, though not for this. "Go up" may have referred to Elijah's translation; and thus,. blasphemous insult outraging Jehovah's own act. BALD HEAD. Baldness premature. Elisha lived fifty years longer (2 Kings 13:14). GO UP, &C. Figure of speech _Epizeuxis._ App-6....

Elisha curseth the mocking children and some of them are destroyed (Not in Chronicles) 23. _from thence_unto _Beth-el_ Going back by the same way which he had come some days before with Elijah. _there came forth little children_ The margin of R.V. gives -young lads". The word in the original is that which Solomon uses in his prayer at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:7), -I am but _a little child_". This was at the time when he had just been elevated to the throne. So that although the word may mean -a little child" it is not necessary nor possible in the present passage to understand by it anything but such young persons as were well aware of the outrage and wickedness of their conduct. _Go up, thou bald head_ As the prophet drew near to the city these youths recognised him by his garb for one of the Lord's prophets. It may be that he was wearing Elijah's mantle. Suc