Why did God send two bears to kill 42 children?

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I came by this on a website. I’m not so sure what to think or what to say, so perhaps you can interpet it?

This happened in: 2 Kings 2:23-24 (King James Version)

23And 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.

24And 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.
 
We have to remember that these young guys (not little children) were Israelites who should have had the deepest awe for a prophet of God. But Israel has fallen into idol worship and so these guys attacked God’s prophet who rendered immediate judgment so that Bethel, their particular area of Israel, would know that God would no longer tolerate their idolatry demonstrated by the hatred with which these young men treated the prophet.
 
I’m going to do my best to give you a quick explaination on my blackberry before I go back to work in 10 minutes.

Essentially the verses don’t give us enough information to understand what is going on fully. Apparantly 2 bears killed over 40 people, how in the world is that possible? First the word children can be translated to mean young adult.

In order for 2 bears to somehow take out over 40 people there must have been hundreds among hundreds of people up against him, and he must have been in some serious danger from those mocking him. My explaination is it had to be self defence and God protected him from an army of young adults who meant him harm.
 
We have to remember that this is the very place where Jeroboam had set up the golden calves and that the northern kingdom had been practicing idol worship. Israel broke the Covenant oath that they had sworn and therefore triggered the covenant curses which included the unleashing of wild beasts (Lev 26:22). That combined with the fact that this gang of 42 youths are threatening God’s prophet who has a very important mission to carry out, meant that God sent these beasts to protect his prophet and at the same time bring about the covenant curses. We must also remember that covenant curses are meant to be redemptive and meant to move God’s people to repentance He is not doing this because he is bloodthirsty and likes to kill people as Ezekiel points out:

Ezek 18:23
23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
 
KingJohn said:
Why did God send two bears to kill 42 children?

I came by this on a website. I’m not so sure what to think or what to say, so perhaps you can interpet it?

This happened in: 2 Kings 2:23-24 (King James Version)

23And 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.

24And 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.
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I think God sent the two bears to kill the young people in order to show us that it is a mortal sin to mock God’s servants. I know it doesn’t sit easy with us that often God sentences people to death in the Old Testament, but it is His right to do so, since He has the right to give life and to take it. Although He does not permit us in the New Covenant to kill sinners, it happened a lot in the Old Testament by His permission and sometimes by His command, and that is His prerogative. He does it to teach us not to do the things they were killed for.
 
From the Haydock Commentary (FYI this passage is from 4 Kings in the Douay-Rheims)

Ver. 23. Bald-head. It is not known whether Eliseus was really bald, or only wore his hair short, like the priests of the Lord, and the monks at present. It may also be a term of reproach, of which the emperors Julius Cæsar, Domitian, and Otho, were very sensible. Cæsar wore a crown of laurel, and Otho a sort of false hair, to hide this deformity. (Suetonius)

Quod summum formæ decus est, periere capilli. (Petronius) (Calmet)

Ver. 24. Cursed them. This curse, which was followed by so visible a judgment of God, was not the effect of passion, or of a desire of revenging himself; but of zeal for religion, which was insulted by these boys, in the person of the prophet, and of a divine inspiration; God being determined to punish in this manner the inhabitants of Bethel, (the chief seat of the calf-worship) who had trained up their children in a prejudice against the true religion and its ministers. (Challoner) — The boys themselves were not so little as not to be aware of the insult they were offering to a minister of the God of Juda; and probably they acted thus out of hatred to him, at the instigation of their idolatrous parents. (Sanctius) (Calmet) — Lord. He called on him (Menochius) to revenge his own cause, (Haydock) “that the people might learn to take care of their souls, by the fear of death.” (St. Augustine) (Du Hamel)
 
KingJohn said:
I came by this on a website. I’m not so sure what to think or what to say, so perhaps you can interpet it?

This happened in: 2 Kings 2:23-24 (King James Version)

23And 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.

24And 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.
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I am not an expert on the OT but I will try from a different angle. As Christians, we are not obliged to treat the OT text literally. The book is inspired by God and carries His message. The two bears story could be treated allegorically and be a warning sign to those who make fun of the messenger.
 
Not only did the boys insult a man of God, they did this deed in the House of God which is otherwise known as Bethel.
 
dronald said:
Take a look here and tell me what you think:
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I really don’t know. Indeed, I saw other comments on the various meanings of “naar” in the Bible (little boy, teenager, young adult, adult) and that the context is decisive. Some claimed that, since Joseph in Genesis was called a “naar” when he was 30 years old, maybe these ones could have been 30 years olds too. But 30 years olds don’t jump around someone shouting “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head”. Children and teenagers do that, but adults don’t.

On the USCCB site, the translation says “some little boys” and the explanatory note is: “This story probably was told to warn children of the importance of respect for prophets”.
usccb.org/bible/2kings/2/
 
I wonder if this was one event of 42 killed children; or a longer couple of events totaling 42? Also what is the symbolism of two female bears, as opposed to two male bears?
 
vames said:
How is that? In the Vulgate it says “pueri”, and “puer” means child, boy who had not yet reached puberty.
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The OT was mostly written in Hebrew and the Hebrew word here is נַ֫עַר (transliterated Naar)

This can mean: Lad, adolescent, young man, fellow, servant or attendant.

Here are some examples of how the RSVCE translates this word:

Judges 8:13–15 (RSVCE)

13 Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. 14 And he caught a young man(naar)of Succoth, and questioned him; and he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. 15 And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are faint?’”

Genesis 14:23–24 (RSVCE)
23 that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing but what the young men (naar) have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me; let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

2 Samuel 13:28 (RSVCE)
28 Then Absalom commanded his servants (naar), “Mark when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Fear not; have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant.”

It is entirely plausable to suggest that these are not little children but are more likely a gang of young men.
 
Jerome81 said:
This can mean: Lad, adolescent, young man, fellow, servant or attendant.
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Yes, indeed. But it can also mean “little boy”, as the Vulgate understood it and as the USCCB interprets the whole passage.
As I said in #11, I don’t claim it can’t mean “teenager, adolescent” in this context; I only say that it’s hard to imagine young adults or adults over 40-50 (as Joshua in Exodus) behaving like little children so stupidly mocking a bald old man.
Not to mention that young men would have had a greater chance to defend themselves or run away from 2 aggressive bears.
 
vames said:
Yes, indeed. But it can also mean “little boy”, as the Vulgate understood it and as the USCCB interprets the whole passage.
As I said in #11, I don’t claim it can’t mean “teenager, adolescent” in this context; I only say that it’s hard to imagine young adults or adults over 40-50 (as Joshua in Exodus) behaving like little children so stupidly mocking a bald old man.
Not to mention that young men would have had a greater chance to defend themselves or run away from 2 aggressive bears.
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I think it is possible that these could have been adolescents! Even today adolescents are capable of being nasty and trying to mock people by mocking their physical features! Some people are like that. My goodness, even Tertuliian said Marcion had a melon for a head!! Jerome was mocking someone’s big nose! If even grown men are capable of acting in childish ways then I see no reason to doubt that a gang of youths could be capable of mocking a mans bald head.

Maybe there was more than 42 and maybe some did escape. All the text says is that there was some (naar) and the bears tore 42 of them. Maybe the rest escaped. I don’t think the ones that were torn could defend themselves against bears even if they were men. The bears could have caught them as they tried to escape and tore them to pieces!
 
The point of them being female bears is that as the female bear defends her cubs, so does God defend His own.

And yes, bears are fast and strong, but for 42 people to get killed, they had to be supernaturally endowed bears.

And yes, they weren’t little kids. They were a gang of young bandits.
 
After looking over the chapter, placing the quote in it’s context. Some insights can be gleaned. The prior events are important to understand the quote. The prophet Elias had planned to go to Bethel. He was taken up to heaven, and left Elisha his cloak. The other prophets, numbering fifty, searched for him but found nothing. So the taking of Elias would have been known all through the country. Elisha went to Jericho, and blessed the spring there. Since the water was causing miscarriages. After he left the incident with the youths occurred on the way to Bethel. So when the youth told him to go up, they were telling Elisha to go up where Elias went. So they’re insulting God and his Prophets. Also there showing cruelty, since Elisha had healed the spring that caused miscarriages. Given that this region was conquered by the Israelites under Joshua. We could speculate they were survivors of those people they subdued. Why else would they wish harm to the Jews in Jericho? It’s also possible that they were Bal worshippers that were glad to see Elias go. He was responsible for defeating there child sacrificing priests on Mount Carmel. :ballspin:
 
dmar198 said:
I think God sent the two bears to kill the young people in order to show us that it is a mortal sin to mock God’s servants. I know it doesn’t sit easy with us that often God sentences people to death in the Old Testament, but it is His right to do so, since He has the right to give life and to take it. Although He does not permit us in the New Covenant to kill sinners, it happened a lot in the Old Testament by His permission and sometimes by His command, and that is His prerogative. He does it to teach us not to do the things they were killed for.
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This seems counter-productive. Doesn’t it also teach us that it’s okay to kill people in this situation? The moral I got from this story was “sometimes it’s okay to kill people who mock you”

Couldn’t God have just scared them? Shown them what they were doing was wrong? He can do anything, but he chose to kill them?
 
noisia22 said:
This seems counter-productive. Doesn’t it also teach us that it’s okay to kill people in this situation? The moral I got from this story was “sometimes it’s okay to kill people who mock you”

Couldn’t God have just scared them? Shown them what they were doing was wrong? He can do anything, but he chose to kill them?
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I agree with you and would take it further. This verse and other verses in the Old Testament where God directly or indirectly kills innocent children whether pagan or not are “utter garbage”. Even worse, are Christian apologists especially fundamental Protestant Ministries who try to justify these verses. Their justification is the same as Islamists who justify and support violent acts of terror in the name of Allah, Mohamed, or the Qur’an etc. I cross out these kind of verses in my Bible and write: “rubbish - this has nothing to do with God”. Any religion that endorses violence is incapable of delivering spiritual enlightenment.
 
arte said:
I agree with you and would take it further. This verse and other verses in the Old Testament where God directly or indirectly kills innocent children whether pagan or not are “utter garbage”. Even worse, are Christian apologists especially fundamental Protestant Ministries who try to justify these verses. Their justification is the same as Islamists who justify and support violent acts of terror in the name of Allah, Mohamed, or the Qur’an etc. I cross out these kind of verses in my Bible and write: “rubbish - this has nothing to do with God”. Any religion that endorses violence is incapable of delivering spiritual enlightenment.
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Are you unaware of the fact that your very own pope has recently decreed that violence is a perfectly acceptable response to insults against religion?
 
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