Why were 42 children slayed by the bears for saying Elisha was bald?

[Benadam]

3 He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” 24 When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25 From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and then returned to Samaria.

There were more than 42. 42 were mauled. Don’t know if that meant killed. To me I see a type of Christ’s in Elijah and a type of the Church in Elisha. The 42 boys represent the enemies of the Church .

other enemies of God symbolized by the number 42

2 Kings 10

for the Lord has done what he said through his servant Elijah.” 11 So Jehu killed all who were left of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his leaders, close friends, and priests, until he left him no survivor.

12 Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, 13 Jehu met relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah and said, “Who are you?” __They answered, “We are kin of Ahaziah; we have come down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” 14 He said, “Take them alive.” They took them alive, and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two in all; he spared none of them.__

Rev 11: 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months.

Rev 13: 5

he beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

2 she bears two witnesses in rev.?

Rev 11
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth.” …

42 months equals 1260 days

 

[catholic1seeks]

with that face, I’d let it be my demise

 

[catholic1seeks]

Is the moral of the story that we ought to curse others in the name of the Lord? Did Elisha wish badly upon them? What is the point for us readers? I’m not doubting the historical nature by asking this question, I’ll leave that up to Scripture scholars.

But I guess my issue is rather that it seems hard to square what God wants from us, via Jesus’ teachings, and the example given by Elisha.

 

[Zaccheus]

How do we understand the Bible verse 2 Kings 2:23-25.

First, they weren’t children, they were youths-- in context, they were young men.
Second, they weren’t just pointing out he was bald, they were insulting him.
Third, if 42 were killed, then there had to be at least 42 that were yelling insults. More likely a lot more. That many men gathered in one place all shouting insults at one person-- that’s a mob.

What happened here was an aggressive crowd of young men going out of their way to shout insults at the prophet of God.

 

[Zaccheus]

If we’re just going to add to scripture to say that this was a gang of young men threatening the life of Elisha, why not just add that they had machines guns too?

Nobody’s adding to scripture here. They’re correcting the modern error of thinking those who mocked the prophet were just children.

 

[Spyridon]

the moral of the story that we ought to curse others in the name of the Lord? Did Elisha wish badly upon them? What is the point for us readers? I’m not doubting the historical nature by asking this question, I’ll leave that up to Scripture scholars.

The moral of the story (tropological) meaning is that we should respect our elders, and even more so respect our religious elders, because if we treat either of them hatefully or disdainfully we can call down upon ourselves the curse of mortal sin, which kills and tears at our soul like a bear tearing flesh.

 

[Spyridon]

What happened here was an aggressive crowd of young men going out of their way to shout insults at the prophet of God.

And given the context of the story, it’s highly likely that they were doing more than just insulting him. They were likely expressing their wish for him to be gone from the face of the earth like Elijah - I.E. they were expressing their wish for him to die.

 

[Curious11]

Children? Really, God?! He couldn’t have sent an angel to warn them?

This is a God of love and mercy?

 

[Curious11]

I don’t understand how Elijah somehow gets the blame instead of God?

 

[catholic1seeks]

Read the other responses on this thread. They weren’t children.

Revelation is suited to the cultural and moral level of distant times and thus describes facts and customs, such as cheating and trickery, and acts of violence and massacre, without explicitly denouncing the immorality of such things. This can be explained by the historical context, yet it can cause the modern reader to be taken aback, especially if he or she fails to take account of the many “dark” deeds carried out down the centuries, and also in our own day. In the Old Testament, the preaching of the prophets vigorously challenged every kind of injustice and violence, whether collective or individual, and thus became God’s way of training his people in preparation for the Gospel. So it would be a mistake to neglect those passages of Scripture that strike us as problematic. Rather, we should be aware that the correct interpretation of these passages requires a degree of expertise, acquired through a training that interprets the texts in their historical-literary context and within the Christian perspective which has as its ultimate hermeneutical key “the Gospel and the new commandment of Jesus Christ brought about in the paschal mystery” - Pope Benedict XVI

 

[Curious11]

Aha. So Christians denounce relativism, but justify evil deeds in the Bible appealing to relativism.

 

[Zaccheus]

Children? Really, God?! He couldn’t have sent an angel to warn them?

This is a God of love and mercy?

Except they weren’t children. They were young men. People read ‘youth’ and come to a mistaken conclusion.
And yes, our God is a God of love and mercy, He is not however, a weakling God. Attack His prophets and He will protect them.

 

[Curious11]

Protect them from “young men” calling him bald? Very brave of him, considering his humongous effort to save his people from the Holocaust. I guess his prophet being called bald was more of an offense for him.

 

[Reuben_J]

It seems you do not read the explanation of the context.

They were not children but a mob of youth.

Given the background, Elisha was prophet Elijah’s successor who condemned their pratice of idolatry, these Bethel’s youth were doing more than calling him bald, it was harrassment to a detractor perhaps to discourage him to preach there and ti eventually to get rid of him from Bethel.

 

[Curious11]

And that warranted immediate intervention, but the Holocaust didn’t? How is God good or logical?

 

[Reuben_J]

Not sure what you meant by the holocaust. Can you explain on that?

In the early history of God’s chosen people, there were many instances where God intervened. The purposes were mainly so that God’s plan could be achieved through these small group of people in a very hostile surrounding, of which prophet Elijah and Elisha were part of.

 

[Curious11]

you meant by the holocaust

Hitler’s brilliant plan to murder 6 million Jews as if they were worthless cattle. I guess that wasn’t reason enough for God to strike Hitler dead, lucky for him he didn’t insult a prophet. You’ve got a regime whose final solution is to wipe out the entirety of God’s chosen people. How much more hostile can an environment get?!

 

[BlackFriar]

The views I am expressing …are infallible.

Yes your Holiness

 

[Reuben_J]

Reuben_J:

you meant by the holocaust

Hitler’s brilliant plan to murder 6 million Jews as if they were worthless cattle. I guess that wasn’t reason enough for God to strike Hitler dead, lucky for him he didn’t insult a prophet. You’ve got a regime whose final solution is to wipe out the entirety of God’s chosen people. How much more hostile can an environment get?!

Oh, I see. So now I hope you can see that they are two different things altogether - In Elisha, God was interevening for the purpose of ultimately delivering his message through the Messiah. Jesus Christ was the Messiah, and so the plan of God’s salvation of eternal life was being accomplished.

There is no more to be done now that the message of salvation has been revealed. It is then up to each and every individual to believe, and accordingly pay for the consequence for the choice they make.

Hitler would have to be accountable for his action, as is everyone of us, on the last day.

Context is very important, not what we want.

 

[HarryStotle]

And that warranted immediate intervention, but the Holocaust didn’t? How is God good or logical?

So, clearly, God is not good or logical in the sense of being limited to your use of logic or your standards of good, so basically your argument amounts to expressing your disagreement with God’s judgement in this case. Okay.

However, what you don’t have access to, but presumably God does, are the repercussions of every thought, word and deed of every human being down through all time. That would mean his moral judgements are far more informed than your moral judgements, not even considering your lack of moral authority due to your limited grasp of moral ends and ethical truths to begin with.

In addition, you have no inkling of what it means for a human being to come into or go out of existence or what it takes for God to bring into being, in all the senses of what that means, a human person. Nor do you know what happens after a human being dies bodily in this life and what God could or could not do to or with that human person. Ergo, your judgement on the matter, as against God’s, is not only uninformed but groundless.

Your post, then, is not a scathing argument against God’s actions, but an uninformed venting of your emotional state. You can continue if you wish, but keep in mind that your perspective is rather illogical and morally unsustainable, all things considered.