Tuesday, June 15 - Miriam

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is 2 Kings 2 & 4.

So the majority of today's reading was talking about miracles.  I love reading about miracles.  Big ones or little ones - it makes no difference.  I just love the fact that God can do literally ANYTHING.  He can purify fouled waters.  He can make one small flask of oil fill jars and jars.  He can bring the dead to life.  He can cause animals who ordinarily would be just as happy to leave alone and be left alone to demonstrate his intolerance of the disrespect shown to his prophet. 

On a more personal note, he can allow a tiny baby to remain in its mother's womb until He knows it is just the right time for him to be born - even though the medical professionals (and everyone else) think it is much too early.  But that baby can thrive and grow and do amazingly well for having been born so prematurely.  I'm talking here about my sister's baby, who was born at 25 weeks gestation.  All babies are a miracle, really, but he got a couple of extra miracles.  The doctors and nurses at the hospital told the residents that it is almost unheard of for such an early preemie to not need intubation to help him breathe (especially as he's a boy) and he did so well that he was allowed to go home almost a month earlier than expected - he's surpassed all expectations and we're so thankful.  He was originally due this past weekend - he's now 7 lbs and doing very well.

Anyway, getting back to the Bible reading, I read the story of the boys who make fun of Elisha and are then mauled by bears and was somewhat taken aback.  It seemed fairly extreme consequences for what initially seemed to me to be a bit of name-calling.  Here is what Bob Deffinbaugh had to say about this story, taken from The Life and Times of Elisha the Prophet - Elisha's Accreditation.  It really helped me to understand the story better.  I hope it does the same for you.

2 Kings 3:23-25
He went up from there to Bethel. As he was traveling up the road, some young boys came out of the city and made fun of him, saying, “Go on up, baldy! Go on up, baldy!” When he turned around and saw them, he called God’s judgment down on them. Two female bears came out of the woods and ripped 42 of the boys to pieces.  From there he traveled to Mount Carmel and then back to Samaria.

It was, indeed, a long, hot twenty-five mile trek from Jericho (some 1300 feet below sea level) to Bethel (which was 2,000 feet above sea level). Bethel was not just any Israelite city, either. Bethel was one of two cities that Jeroboam had designated as places of worship for the northern kingdom of Israel when Solomon’s kingdom was divided between his son Rehoboam and his enemy, Jeroboam. Jeroboam feared that these two kingdoms might be tempted to re-unite because of the one central place of worship (Jerusalem) which was located in Judah. And so Jeroboam made a bold move—he established two places of counterfeit worship in Israel. One was in Dan, at the northern edge of Israel. The other was in Bethel, at the southern edge of Israel, a mere 12 miles from Jerusalem. One of the golden calves Jeroboam had provided for Israel to worship was placed in Bethel (see 1 Kings 12). This was a very pagan place, where God and His Word were no longer revered. The disrespect which Elisha received by these young Bethel boys was typical of the attitude of the general population in Bethel toward any true prophet of God.


The term used by our author to refer to these young men is one that is quite flexible. It is used of a young child, but it can also refer to what we would call a “young man.” It is apparent to me that these are not “little boys” who accost Elisha, but “young men.” My junior high school teacher, Chet Dombroski (I can remember some things), used to call fellows like this “local toughs.” This was not a group of little boys; it was a gang of young trouble-makers. Remember, we know that 42 were injured. That means that the smallest number for this “gang” was 42, and there could have been others who were fortunate enough to escape from the bears. This could have been a very intimidating confrontation for Elisha. The “bad boys of Bethel” got what they deserved. Would they try to bully Elisha? Then let them face two mother bears and see what real intimidation feels like.

There are various explanations of the words these young men spoke to Elisha, but I think we can be certain of several things. First, these young men were both hostile and insulting to the prophet. The expression “bald head” is no compliment, but rather a most offensive insult. We do not know for sure what they meant by the words, “Go up,” either. Were they challenging Elisha to do what Elijah had just done (“Go up” into heaven?)? It’s possible, but I rather doubt it. After all, even the prophets who looked on from a distance were inclined to think that Elijah was “taken up” by a windstorm. I think the essence of what these boys were chanting was something like this: “Keep on going up that road!” In more contemporary terms, these young men were shouting for Elisha to “Get out of town!” These young men, like the rest of those who lived in Bethel, did not want Elisha around. They did not want to hear “the word of the Lord.”

Let me remind you that Elisha did not personally harm any one of these trouble-makers. Elisha pronounced a curse on them, but in and of itself, that is not an act of violence. By pronouncing a curse, he left judgment where it should be—in the hands of God. We are intended to conclude that the two she bears attacked the young men simply because Elisha pronounced a curse on them. This is true, but we must also see that it was God who brought about the judgment these young men deserved. If we do not like the judgment that was executed here, then we have a problem with God. I believe that God “tried these young men as adults” (in today’s legal language) and found them guilty. Thus He carried out their rightly-deserved punishment by means of the bears.

These were not innocent little boys, naively teasing a prophet in an inappropriate fashion. Elisha was not needlessly harsh, nor was God. God’s judgment was poured out on those who rebelled against God, who disobeyed His Word, and who mocked His servants, the prophets. If there was one lesson that the people of Bethel learned that day, it was that they must reverence God and His spokesmen.


There is another couple of paragraphs that provide references to God's warnings in the past to the Israelites about sending wild animals against them and their children if they refused to obey Him.  If you're interested in those passages, you can check them out in the commentary.

This story got me thinking how pastors and elders of our churches may not be prophets the way Elijah and Elisha were, but they are still chosen and/or appointed by God (provided the church seeks God's will when it comes time for a new pastor/elder/deacon etc. to be chosen).  We may not always agree with them, but we should always show them respect as representatives of God.

Tomorrow's reading is 2 Kings 5-8:15.