2 Kings 2:23

GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON A GANG OF WICKED YOUTHS "And he went up from thence unto Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said; Go up, thou baldhead; go up, thou baldhead. And he looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two of them. And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

"There came forth young lads out of the city" (2 Kings 2:23). The RSV renders this place `small boys'; however, this is an erroneous rendition. To begin with, small boys do not roam the forest in gangs of forty or more. What we have here is the ancient equivalent of those terrible motorcycle gangs that terrorized the country during the 1960's. The New International Version renders the key words as "some youths," which is far better than the common versions. The gang that mocked Elisha might have been teenagers, a vicious group of the same character as those whose murderous and undisciplined behavior is presently being reported in the daily newspapers. The notion that any innocence whatever pertained to such a group is ridiculous.

Adam Clarke discussed this passage at length, pointing out that, "The Hebrew words here may also be translated `young men,' and they are so rendered frequently in the Bible. The word means not only a child, a servant, but even a soldier. Isaac was so-called at age 28; at age 39 Joseph was described by the same word; and Ahab's bodyguard (the militia) received the same designation in 1 Kings 20:14."[21]

Hammond also agreed that such a rendition here as "little boys," "small boys," or "little children," "Is an unfortunate translation, raising quite a wrong idea of the tender age of the persons spoken of."[22]

Therefore, we reject as totally irresponsible the snide comment that, "This story will not stand examination from any moral point of view."[23] Such opinions come from an utterly false view of God. The current fad of understanding God as a kind of fuddy-duddy Old Man who would not hurt anybody is derived from gross ignorance. The Great Deluge and the destruction of the inhabitants of Canaan upon the entry of Israel are dramatic demonstrations of God's utter abhorrence of sin and the cosmic necessity of its punishment even to the extent of destroying many who are relatively innocent.

However, in the case of this episode, the attribution of innocence to these youthful mockers of Elisha is a gratuitous insult to the true teachings of the Bible.

It should be particularly noted that Elisha did not destroy that gang of insulters. Their fatal punishment came not from Elisha but from God. It is distressing indeed that some scholars imagine their alleged morality to be superior to that of God Himself. Honeycutt wrote that, "Few interpreters would defend the morality of such a narrative."[24] One wonders how a Christian writer can thus pass judgment upon an act of God! The original temptation was founded upon the false premise that, "Ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil." Satan still deceives people with the same temptation.

"Go up, thou baldhead" (2 Kings 2:23). The gang of young adults who spoke these words were not irresponsible babes, but young men. "They were morally responsible. Both Solomon and Jeremiah were identified by the same terminology (1 Kings 3:7; Jeremiah 1:6-7). This insult echoed the words of the sons of the prophets (2 Kings 2:3-5); baldness was the mark of a leper."[25] What these young ruffians meant was that, in their view Elisha was an outcast. They also meant, "Ascend, that we may be rid of thee and that we may continue unreproved by thee in our wicked ways."[26]

"He ... cursed them in the name of the Lord" (2 Kings 2:24). This Elisha did in obedience to Deuteronomy 27:14-26, which passage "required God's ministers to curse the disobedient."[27] So, where is any blame upon Elisha? He did not summon the she-bears; God did that. As to the operation of natural laws in the execution of such Divine judgment, Adam Clarke mentioned an ancient opinion to the effect that these wicked young men had been engaged in hunting and killing bear-cubs, and that when they interrupted their hunt to make fun of Elisha, the bears, robbed of their whelps, had time to track them down and destroy them. Both the size of this gang and the question of what they were doing in the forest in such numbers are strong denials of any thought that these wicked despisers of God and his prophet were anything other than an extremely wicked youth gang. Their destruction was a righteous and moral act of God's judgment upon the wicked.