A COMMENTARY OF 2-KINGS 2:23-24.

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VERSE - 23

And he went up from thence unto Bethel.

The ascent is steep and long from the Jordan valley to the

highlands of Benjamin, on which Bethel stood, probably one of not

less than three thousand feet. The object of Elisha's visit may

have been to inform the "sons of the prophets" a Bethel (ver.3) of

the events that had befallen Elijah.

And as he was going up by the way

In other words, by the usual road or pathway, for, in the strict

sense of the word, roads did not exist in Palestine.

there came forth little children out of the city.

"Little children" is an unfortunate translation, raising quite a

wrong idea of the tender age of the persons spoken of. [Naarim

Ketanaim] would be best translated "young lads" -boys, that is,

from twelve to fifteen. Such mischievous youths are among the

chief nuisances of the towns' they waylay the traveller, deride

him, jeer him -are keen to remark any personal defect that he may

have, and merciless in flouting it; they dog his steps, shout out

their rude remarks, and sometimes proceed from abusive words to

violent acts, as the throwing of sticks, or stones, or mud. On

this occasion they only got as far as rude words.

And mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head! go up, thou

bald head!

It has been maintained that the scoff of the lads contained an

allusion to the ascension of Elijah, of which they had heard, and

was a call upon Elisha to follow his master's example in quitting

the world, that they might be no longer troubled with him. But it

is not at all apparent that the lads even knew who Elisha was

-they would probably have jeered at any aged person with whom they

had fallen in; and by "Go up": they merely meant "Go on thy way;"

the force of their jeer was not in the word [aleh], but in the

word [kereach] "bald head".

"Baldness was sometimes produced by leprosy, and then made a man

unclean (Lev.13:42-44); but the boys probably flouted the mere

natural defect, in which there was no "uncleanness"

(Lev.13:40-41), but which they regarded as a fit subject for

ridicule. Their sin was disrespect towards old age, combined,

perhaps with disrespect for the prophetical order, to which they

may have known from his dress that Elisha belonged.

 

VERSE - 24

And he turned back, and looked on them;

Rather,"and he looked behind him", and saw them. The boys, after

the manner of boys, were following him, hanging upon him, not

daring to draw too near, hooting him from behind, as ill-bred and

ill-intentioned youths are apt to do.

And cursed them in the name of the Lord.

The action cannot be defended from a Christian point of view

-Christians have no right to curse any one. Under the law, God's

ministers were required to curse the disobedient (Deut.27:14-26).

Elisha could not tell what would be the effect of his curse. It

could have no effect at all except through the will and by the

action of God.

And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood;

or, the forest; i.e. the forest, which, as all knew, lay within a short

distance of Bethel, and was the haunt of wild beasts (1-Kings 3:24).

It may be possible that the noise and actions aroused the attention of

the beasts.

And tare forty and two children of them.

It is not said how far the lads were injured, whether fatally or not.

But the punishment, whatever its severity, came from God, not from the

prophet, and we may be sure was just. For "shall not the Judge of all

the earth do right?" A severe example may have been needed under the

circumstances of the time, when a new generation was growing up in

contempt of God and of religion; and the sin of the lads determined

bent of the will against good, and preference of evil, which is often

developed early, and generally goes on from bad to worse.

 

Compiled comments from various authors. PART 1

2-Kings 2:23-25.

Ridicule -"And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going"

etc. These verses lead us to consider ridicule in three aspects.

I. AS INFAMOUSLY DIRECTED

a. Directed against an old man on account of his -supposed

personal defects. "Go up, thou bald head!" This meant,

perhaps, "Go up, as Elisha has gone, if thou canst; we want to

get rid of thee." Though baldness of the head is not always a

sign of age, Elisha was undoubtedly far advanced in years.

Nothing is more contemptible or absurd than to ridicule people

on account of constitutional defects, whether of body or

mind. Direct the shafts of ridicule, if you like, against

defects of moral character, against vanity and pride,

sensuality, but never against constitutional defects,-that is

impious; for no man can make one hair white or black, or add a

cubit to his stature.

b. Directed against a man engaged in a mission of mercy. He was

Heaven's messenger of mercy to his country. He came to Bethel

to bestow wise counsels on the sons of the prophets, and to

bless all who would listen to his counsels. How often has

ridicule been thus infamously directed! Christ himself was

once its victim; its chief victim. "They that passed by,

wagged their heads." They put on him a "crown of thorns."

II. AS MALEVOLENTLY INSPIRED

The animus in this ridicule was that of an intolerant religion.

There were two schools of religion in Bethel, two rival sects; one

was the religion of the true God, and the other that of idolatry.

One of Jeroboam's calves was there established as the object of

worship. There is no malevolence so inveterate and ruthless as

that inspired by false religion and rival sects.

Perhaps these children had not this infernal passion to any

extent, but were the mere instruments of their intolerant

parents. Probably their parents sent them out now to meet the

prophet, and put the very words into their mouths, taught them by

what notes, grimaces, and attitude they should ring them out.

This ridiculing the men of God was one of the crying sins of

Israel. "They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his

words, and misused his prophets." These children were but the

echoes and the instruments of their parents' religious malignant

intolerance.

III. TERRIBLY PUNISHED

"And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the

name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the

wood and tare forty and two children of them."

 

They were punished by the justice of God. The prophet's

indignation was righteous, and, because it was righteous, the

justice of God sanctioned it by causing "two she bears out of the

wood to tear forty and two children of them." This was a

tremendous homily of Divine justice to the whole population-a

sermon that would thunder in the hearts of the fathers, the

mothers, and the neighbors.

CONCLUSION. Take care how you use your faculty of ridicule. It is a

useful faculty in its place. "Satire is the east wind of thought."

Scorching sarcasm has withered to the roots many a noxious weed; satire

has humbled to the dust, has struck to the earth, many a proud and

houghty soul. Elijah used it on Carmel's brow, Job used it to his

arrogant friends, and Paul to the conceited members of the Corinthian

Church.

Ridicule, rightly inspired and directed, is

"A whip of steel, that can as with a lash

Imprint the character of shame so deep,

Ev'n in the brazen forehead of proud sin,

That not eternity shall wear it out."

(Randolph.)

 

Compiled comments from various authors. PART 2

2-Kings 2:23-25.

THE MOCKERS AT BETHEL. Its apparent severity has made it a stumbling

-block to many. The deed is one in "the spirit of Elias" in the

harsher sense, and leaves a painful impression. But the painful aspect

of the miracle need not be made greater than it is, nor must it be

overlooked that the occasion was one when some display of the "severity

of God" was necessary.

I. NATURE OF THE SIN

Elisha, going up to Bethel, was assailed by a band of young people

from the city, who mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, thou bald

head!"

a. The mockers. These were not, as the text might lead us to

infer, "little children" of six or seven years of age, but

young lads," boys and young men, who had come to the age of

responsibility. They came out of Bethel-once a patriarchal

sanctuary, but now a focus of Israelitish idolatry-and had

evidently been trained in utter ungodliness.

b. The mocking. Either Elisha was actually bald-in which case

there was added to profanity the ridiculing, so common to

boys, of a physical defect-or, as some have thought, "bald

head" is a synonym for "leper," this being one of the signs of

that disease. In either case there was; manifested a spirit,

contracted probably from their elders, of bitter hatred of the

pure religion of Jehovah, and reviling of its prophets and

professors. Levity, ridicule, and profane reviling of the

pious and their ways is something on which God must always put

the brand of his stern disapprobation.

II. AGGRAVATIONS OF THE SIN

These must be considered in forming a fair judgment on the case.

They enable us also better to draw out the lessons of the

offence. There was:

a. Dishonor to a sacred place. Bethel means "the house of God."

It was one of the places where God had recorded his name

(Gen.28:16-19). Now it was Beth-aven, "the house of the idol"

(Hos.10:5). The jeering outburst of impiety of these young

men of the city was only a symptom of the iniquity which

abounded in it. God was dishonored in a holy place.

b. Dishonor to a sacred person. Elisha was God's prophet, and,

in some sense, the living representative at that time of the

prophetic order. In him, mockery was heaped on all God's

servants, and on true religion in general. He was known and

eminent as the successor of Elijah, and probably it was on

this account that he was singled out for these hostile

manifestations.

 

c. Dishonor to a sacred subject. It is not certain, but it is

the view of some that in the words, "Go up, thou bald head!'

there is allusion to the recent translation of Elijah. Sacred

places, sacred persons, and sacred things are all to be

honoured, and contempt poured on any of them is insult done to

God.

III. PUNISHMENT OF THE SIN

After bearing the contumely for a time, Elisha, doubtless by God's

inward direction, turned round, and pronounced a curse on these

youthful mockers. The curse was God's, not his, as shown by the

effect immediately given to it.

"There came forth two she-bears out of the wood,

and tare forty and two of them."

How many escaped we are not told, nor whether all these forty-two

were actually killed. But as connected with Elisha's curse, the

event was an awful and unmistakable warning, both to those who

escaped and to the population of the city. Had these she-bears

issued from the wood without the previous word of Elisha, no one

would have wondered at forty-two of this band of youths being

attacked and slain. It would have been a "calamity." Here the

event is the same, and it is the same Providence which is

concerned, only the hidden reason of the dispensation comes to

light. The whole incident teaches in a very emphatic manner the

responsibility of youth.

"I take this story as teaching us what I think we very much

need to be taught, namely, that the faults of our youth, and

those which are most natural to us at that age, are not

considered by God as trifling.... You may hear grown-up

people talk in a laughing manner of the faults which they

committed at school, of their idleness, and their various acts

of mischief, and worse than mischief. And when boys hear

this, it naturally makes them think it really does not matter

much whether they behave well or ill-they are just as likely

to be respectable and amiable men hereafter. I would beg

those who think so to attend a little to the story in the

text" (Dr. Arnold, quoted by Rev. T.H. Howat).-J.O.


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