Can anyone explain how this passage makes sense?

Question

From 2 Kings:

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.

24: 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.

25: And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

Is this the act of a benevolent all-powerful deity, to send bears to tear children to pieces for making fun of an old man's bald head?

Answer 1

If your god is a vindictive, hateful god of destruction it does. And it does fit in quite nicely with Isaiah 45:7 and with 1 Sam 15:3.

What happened to Thou shalt not kill? What is that? A guideline? A suggestion? Something to do if you're bored?

And CHILDREN are children, not adults. Any spiteful god who would condemn children for being immature is an idiot.

Answer 2

2Ki_2:24
The prophet then turned round and cursed the scoffers in the name of the Lord, and there came two bears out of the wood, and tore forty-two boys of them in pieces. The supposed “immorality of cursing,” which Thenius still adduces as a disproof of the historical truth of this miracle, even if it were established, would not affect Elisha only, but would fall back upon the Lord God, who executed the curse of His servant in such a manner upon these worthless boys. And there is no need, in order to justify the judicial miracle, to assume that there was a preconceived plan which had been devised by the chief rulers of the city out of enmity to the prophet of the Lord, so that the children had merely been put forward (O. v. Gerlach). All that is necessary is to admit that the worthless spirit which prevailed in Bethel was openly manifested in the ridicule of the children, and that these boys knew Elisha, and in his person insulted the prophet of the Lord. If this was the case, then Elisha cursed the boys for the purpose of avenging the honour of the Lord, which had been injured in his person; and the Lord caused this curse to be fulfilled, to punish in the children the sins of the parents, and to inspire the whole city with a salutary dread of His holy majesty.
(Note: Augustine, or the author of the Sermo 204 de Tempore (or Sermo 41 de Elisaeo in t. v. of the Opp. August., ed. J. P. Migne, p. 1826), which is attributed to him, gives a similar explanation. “The insolent boys,” he says, “are to be supposed to have done this at the instigation of their parents; for they would not have called out if it had displeased their parents.” And with regard to the object of the judicial punishment, he says it was inflicted “that the elders might receive a lesson through the smiting of the little ones, and the death of the sons might be a lesson to the parents; and that they might learn to fear the prophet, whom they would not love, notwithstanding the wonders which he performed.”)

It helps if you understand the historical and societal context of any given verse.

Answer 3

The Hebrew term is more accurately translated as "youths" instead of "little children". Nevertheless, times were indeed different back then, as you could be stoned to death if you did not respect your parents (see Ex 21: 15, Ex 21:17, Lev 20:9, Deu 21:18-21). I imagine a prophet of God deserved even more respect than one's own parents. Good question. I wondered the same thing myself the first time I read it.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

They made fun of a prophet of the Lord, before Jesus came to this Earth and died for our sins, we were expected to pay for our sins.
So when they made fun of a prophet of God they were basicly asking God to punish them, they were mocking God.
P.S. they were making fun of more than just the man being bald( in Jewish custom at the time not having hair on your face or head was a great insult)
Luckily Jesus came to save us from the punishment of our sin, so now we can be forgiven
God Bless:)+=

Answer 6

I just looked this passage up in the 2Kings James version and it doesn't read like that.
I don't know where you got that verse.

2 Kings
23But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

24Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

25And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Answer 7

Basically God was fulfilling a promise He made in Leviticus.

22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.

But I wouldn't worry about it. The OT is full of allegorical stories, and not meant to be taken too literally. The moral is listen to God or bad things will happen.

I think Fotios below is looking at the 23rd chapter of 2 Kings, 23rd verse...

Answer 8

Yes, this is the act of a benevolent all-powerful deity, who is showing Elisha what can happen when you have the power of God behind you .... so don't curse in God's name, you might regret it.

Did you read any of the portion of the scripture before those verses? Oh, I thought not. No wonder you don't get it lol

Answer 9

truthfully the Bible records actions of people often without comment whether they were right or wrong, there is no comment whether Elisha was right or wrong in this

as an informed guess... this happened around the days of Ahab and Jezabel who opposed God in favor of Baal. The kids were probbaly taught by their Baal aficiodo parents to scof at God and it wasnt so much scoffing at the prophet but the God he represented Just as a parent who doesnt teach his kids not to play in the street, a parent who doesnt teach his kids to fear god may be saddened in the end by the results.... it might take 20 30 years longer than in this case...

Answer 10

Even the children knew that Elijah went up in a flaming chariot.It shows what can happen when someone is grieving on losing his meal ticket and he had a double whammy of Elijah's spirit on him He was G-D's new Prophet he had to try it out.

Answer 11

My advice to you is to read the entire book of 2Kings. You cannot possible take 2 passages from that book and expect to understand it's meanaing. You can't possible pick up the bible and read it like any other book. You must pray to the Lord for Him to open the scriptures to you. You may have to read the same passage over and over again before you will understand it's meaning. If your sole purpose is to discredit the scriptures, you will fail and never understand it's message to you.