2 Kings 2:23-25

D. THE CURSING OF THE BETHEL YOUTHS 2:23-25

TRANSLATION

(23) And he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up in the way, young men went out from the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, O bald one, Go up, O bald one. (24) And he looked behind him, and saw them, and cursed them, in the name of the LORD; and two she-bears went out from the woods, and tore among them forty-two lads. (25) And he went from there unto Mt. Carmel; and from there he returned to Samaria.

COMMENTS

After a brief stay at Jericho, Elisha visited Bethel, probably to inform the sons of the prophets there about what had transpired in Transjordan. On the outskirts of the city the prophet was waylaid by a gang of ruffians[516] who viciously mocked him. They jeered Go up, and this may be an allusion to the recent rumor that Elijah had ascended to heaven. These unbelieving urchins were urging Elisha to imitate his master. They also ridiculed the premature baldness of the prophet when they addressed him as O baldhead.

[516] The unfortunate translation little children (KJV) has given a very wrong impression of this passage. The Hebrew literally means young men,

The juvenile delinquents continued to follow behind, hooting and jeering at this man of God who now was the official representative of God on earth! Having endured this mockery and potential personal danger as long as he could, the prophet turned and calmly cursed these hoodlums in the name of the Lord. This cursing consisted of pronouncing a negative prophecy against them. He may have said something like this: Thus says the Lord: May evil and calamity fall upon you! Under the Law of Moses, God's ministers were required to curse the disobedient (Deuteronomy 27:14-26). Elisha had no way of knowing what would befall them as the result of his curse. That was left in the hand of God. In order to teach these young men a lesson, and at the same time vindicate His prophet in the eyes of the inhabitants of Bethel, God stirred up two she-bears to come out of a near-by woods and attack the offenders. These angry bears tore forty-two of these fellows. It is not said how far they were injured, whether fatally or not. But the punishment came from the Lord, not the prophet, and there can be no doubt that the Lord of all the earth did what was right (2 Kings 2:24). This frightening example of God's wrath was no doubt intended to serve as an unforgettable lesson to that new generation which was growing up in contempt of God and true religion.

From Bethel, Elisha went up to Mt. Carmel where presumably another group of the sons of the prophets was located. The purpose of his trip was doubtlessly the same as for his trip to Bethel, viz., to share with these men of God his firsthand knowledge of the exodus of Elijah. Having completed this mission, the prophet returned to the capital at Samaria (2 Kings 2:25). Elisha did not choose to imitate the semi-ascetic life-style of his master, but stayed for the most part in the capital working with and through the various kings.