“Those Devilish Bethel Boys!” – FBC Morning Light (6/8/2023)

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're in 2 Kings 1 -2, so starting another book of the Bible today, and then Acts 25 and Psalm 114. Today I'm going to do something I don't think I've ever done on any of these broadcasts yet.

I'm just pretty much going to read an explanation regarding a passage of Scripture, and one that really causes us some trouble when we come to it. It's the last few verses of chapter 2 in 2 Kings. So let me remind you of what this passage says, and then we're going to talk about it because it's like, wow, this seems really over the top.

So here's the passage. It says, And so he, that is, Elisha, went up from there to Bethel. That name, Bethel, we often pronounce it Bethel, but Bethel means house of God. And as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city, and they mocked him and said to him, Go up, you bald head.

Go up, you bald head. So he turned around and looked at them and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths. Then he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

What do you make of this cursing of Elijah, these young people who have ridiculed or mocked him, and then they end up being mauled by a couple of bears, 42 of them losing their lives? What do you make of that?

Does that seem to be a little extreme? Maybe Elijah or Elisha is just a little touchy about his baldness or something? Let me read this explanation. This is from an individual, let's see, his name is Gary Miller, I believe.

His bio says he is the principal of Queensland Theological College in Australia, and he served also as a pastor in Ireland for a number of years. Let me read you his take on this, and I found it to be very helpful and beneficial, and I think you will as well.

He says, at the end of the second chapter of 2 Kings, we read the shocking climax of the vicious she-bears. As he retraces his steps, Elisha passes through Bethel, the notorious center of false worship in Israel.

That's an important point to notice. The house of God had become a false center of worship in Israel. At that moment, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. Now, he writes, this is not a couple of bored children using inappropriate language to an adult.

There are at least 42 of them. The word for small boys, this is the way it's translated in the ESV, can equally mean youth, which in the context seems to make much more sense. In other words, these are like teenage young men.

This is a mob of hostile youths. Think about one of the...he didn't write this, this is my insertion here, but think about the mobs that are forming often in the city of Chicago these days. I was talking to someone recently that said this is the fad for the coming summer.

Young people are going to be texting each other and forming like flash mobs that go down the streets and just cause trouble to people. This is the kind of young people these are, these 42 youths. He goes on to say, this hostility is also reflected in their abuse.

Go up, you bald head. Go up, you bald head, is an interesting choice of language. This is not an innocent teasing of a follicle-challenged stranger, for a start. For a start, Elisha's head would have been covered, so this is a deliberate targeted insult.

In the light of the fact that Elijah was quite hairy, it becomes obvious that the youths are in fact denying Elisha as the true successor to Elijah. You see what they're doing? Elijah was a man who was quite hairy, Elisha apparently is not, so what they're saying is, you're not the true successor to Elijah.

Therefore, they are denying that he speaks the word of Yahweh. When they tell him to go up, they may be telling Elisha to go up to worship Baal, and if not, they are certainly telling him to get out of town.

In any case, this is clearly a rejection of the one who brings the word of Yahweh. It's still a shock, however, when rather than rebuking them or threatening to report them to their parents, Elisha curses them in the name of the Lord.

Elisha does not swear at them, he announces a covenant curse, a curse like that in Leviticus 26, verses 21 and 22. This is what it says, quote, if you are contrary to me and will not listen to me, this is the Lord speaking, I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins, and I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.

These are, end quote, these, Miller writes, are covenant bears. In the matter-of-fact style that our writer seems to reserve for particularly gory incidents, we are told that, quote, two she-bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys, end quote.

So, as lions dealt with prophets who would not hear Yahweh's words, Mike Gottemoeller spoke about this last Saturday, so now these covenant bears deal with this latest outbreak of contempt. Is this a shocking incident?

Yes, it is. As Matthew Henry says, quote, let the hideous shrieks and groans of this wicked, wretched brood make our flesh tremble for the fear of the Lord, end quote. But this incident is also one that fits perfectly with the flow of 2 Kings 1 and 2, in which we see very clearly how God not only works in the darkness, but will not be silenced, continuing to speak through his prophet.

It is the response to this prophetic word that determines whether God's people experience blessing or curse. Ah, and that final sentence is one that would, should resonate with us and we need to take with us through the day.

It is the response to this prophetic word that determines whether God's people experience blessing or curse. How are we responding to God's written word, to his written revelation? Are we responding with the disdain of those 42 yous?

So, well, we can experience some kind of a curse. Or are we responding with acceptance, warm, ready acceptance? Therein we find great blessing. All right, well, I hope this was helpful to you to understand that particular scene in that chapter.

So let's pray and ask God's blessing on the day. And so, our Father, we do thank you for this challenge to our own hearts to consider how we respond to your prophetic word. May we respond in a way that blessing will come, and not curse, we pray.

In Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. All right, well, listen, have a good rest of your Thursday. I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.