can you justify this verse...?

Question

Elisha Is Jeered
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
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God sent 2 bears, to kill 42 children for calling elisha "baldhead"...? i thought god was loving...

1 Corinthians 11:14
Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him

so how then would calling a man baldhead be an insult when its closer to a compliment.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20kings%202:23-24;&version=31;

sorry thought i put it up

Answer 1

Who told you that God was loving? I though that the Bible said that God was a judge. Why do you believe only part of the Bible?

This is an old argument. So, you are implying that God was cruel for sending a bear to save an old man from a gang of harassing teenagers who were threatening his life? The Hebrew term that was translated into the King James English as "children" actually meant "young man", which could imply anyone from his early teens to late twenties. And by saying "Go on up" they were telling him literally to go to Heaven (that is, to die).

Would you think that God was loving if he had done nothing and allowed an old man like Elisha to be beaten to death by a gang? (If 42 were killed, then the implication was that some of them escaped. So the gang was probably much bigger than 42 guys. It may have been over a hundred).

God intervenes to save an old man's life, and you say that he is unloving. If God had done nothing and simply let Elisha die, then you would still say that God was unloving.

No matter what God does, you are going to find fault with him. You critics cannot ever be satisfied, as Jesus said.

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...This account has occasioned much criticism by skeptics, charging Elisha with petulant cruelty in sending bears to kill the little children who were taunting him. Actually, it was God who sent the bears, not Elijah. The fact is, however, that Elisha did not curse little children at all. The Hebrew word for "children" used with the phrase "little children" can be applied to any child from infancy to adolescence. The word for the 42 "children" torn by the bears, however, is a different word, commonly translated "young men." Actually, both words are used more often for young men than for little children. The situation evidently involved a gang of young hoodlums of various ages, led by the older ones, with all of them no doubt instigated by the pagan priests and idolatrous citizens of Beth-el. The bears which suddenly emerged from the woods "tare" (not necessarily fatally in all cases) 42 of the older hooligans. The jeering exhortation to "go up, thou bald head," was both a sarcastic reference to Elijah's supposed ascension, as well as an insult to God's prophet. This was actually a challenge to God and could not be excused. So God made good—in miniature—on a warning issued long before: "And if ye walk contrary unto me. . . . I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children" (Leviticus 26:21-22). It can be a dangerous thing, for young or old, to gratuitously insult the true God and His word. HMM

Answer 2

God is indeed a loving God. In this instance the children mocked Elisha to go on up, because they heard the story of Elijah who had been translated into heaven. They didn't believe and saw this as a mocking opportunity against Elisha. If Elisha didn't stopped the mockery they would have continued and so hindering his evangelistic mission. The children by so doing didn't have reverence for God. If Elisha would have let them continue the people would have taken him and most of all God as a joke. God is not a God to be mocked. Even the angels in heaven when they worship God and call upon Him, veil their faces.

Answer 3

Sounds like an early form of a street gang got some rough justice from a twice anointed, no nonsense prophet of God.

What do you think the 42 of them might have done to Elisha if the bears hadn't come?

Do you think Elisha would have survived?

Answer 4

Research the history of that time period. Perhaps "Baldhead" was a great insult in those times. Besides that he was a prophet of God. BUT>>>> ALL I know is that scripture has me cracking up each time. "GO ON UP YOU BALDHEAD!"

Answer 5

To judge anything, whether it's a negative or positive judgement requires understanding. There are many things I don't understand in the Bible, and that's one of them. There are many things that I didn't understand previous that I DO understand now. If I had judged based on a lack of understanding or if I had prejudged the Bible and SEARCHED for validation, I would never have come to an understanding later, and I would have been bitter to the end.

Answer 6

I would hate to fathom what God would have done for Elisha if the children called Elisha beefytits or fruityass.

Answer 7

I think they were bullies, and God doesn't like bullies, neither do I, so as far as I'm concerned, its pretty fair. Gotta feel bad for those poor bears though, only 2 of them and all those kids, must have had to chase a few of them down.

Answer 8

I've heard people say, "Be careful, the Lord may strike you dead for saying that!" and look at Acts 5:1-11 where Ananias and his wife Sapphira were stricken dead after they lied over a land deal. So, I am careful in what I say!

Answer 9

lmao its funny as hell i can tell you that


EDIT:leave peoples beliefs alone you BALDHEAD lmao that is so funny to me lol!!!!!!!! no seriously lol let people believe what they want or bears will eat you for bein such a baldhead

lol GOD RULES!!!!

i really wish people would stop tryna make god seem evil

your all bein a buncha baldheads

Answer 10

God will not be mocked, Elisha was a holy prophet of God. You don't mess with God's best, period.