2 Kings 2:15–24
15 Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
19 Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” 20 He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” 22 So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
23 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 up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. (ESV)
Ever since Joe Rogan mocked this story on his podcast, rivers of ink have been spilled in response. So let's attempt a rigorous and plausible explanation of what is happening here.
Comparison
In order to understand the story of the bears, it is necessary to realize that this is just a part of a larger story that began at the beginning of the chapter. The intent of this story is to contrast the actions of the representatives of two similar and neighboring cities in their responses to Elisha. The writers use specific parallels at key points in the story to demonstrate different responses and the resulting outcomes.
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Jericho |
Bethel |
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Sons of the Prophets. The children of the prophets and priests in Jericho. “Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them.”
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Sons of the priests. Immature and rebellious children of the prophets and priests in Bethel. “Unruly youths came out of the city…” |
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Came out of the city as a group to meet Elisha on the road. “And they came to meet him”
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Came out of the city as a group to meet Elisha on the road. “came out of the city” |
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Greeted Elisha with respect. “and bowed to the ground before him”
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Greeted Elisha with scorn. “… and jeered at him.” |
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Acknowledged his authority. "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” |
Claimed that Elisha had no mantle of authority. “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
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Elisha asked God to bless them. “He said, ‘Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water’” |
Elisha asked God to curse them “And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD.”
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The result of Elisha’s action was that God healed the children of Jericho by purifying their water. “From now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”
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The result of Elisha’s action was that God harmed the children of Bethel by unleashing bears. “Two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.” |
1. Let's look at the larger context. This is a brief scene from the story of Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind and his spirit being passed on to Elisha, his servant. Elisha literally and figuratively takes up the mantle of Elijah as a prophet of God to Israel. Some of the people of Israel, like the residents of Jericho, acknowledge that Elisha had now taken Elijah's place. Others, like those in Bethel, did not.
2. The translation refers to "small boys" who came and jeered at Elisha. This is undoubtedly a mistranslation. The meaning here of na'ar qatan is likely a combination of child, servant, and subordinate. Several other uses of this phrase in the Old Testament convey meanings other than "small boys", as we discuss below in #6. The word qatan may have the meaning 'immature.' The meaning likely conveyed here is that of young men of between 16 and 24 years old. These were likely students in the temple of Bethel, and sons of the group of priests and prophets who worked there.
3. The Temple of Bethel was set up as a location for worship that was a northern kingdom alternative to the Temple in Jerusalem. Bethel was also notorious for the worship of other gods such as Baal. Considerable animosity existed between these two religious centers and while the temple at Bethel acknowledged the power of Elijah, who famously defeated the prophets of Baal, they were not willing to extend that honor to Elisha, his successor. The jeering of the young men likely reflected the sentiments of their fathers.
Jericho was the first city destroyed by the Israelites when the entered the promised land, and Joshua laid a curse on whoever rebuilt it. This poisoned water may have been a residual part of that curse, which was lifted when Jericho honored the prophet Elijah and God healed the water.
4. Elisha's reception in the two cities, Jericho and Bethel, are presented in direct contrast.
When Elisha was passing through Jericho, "the sons of the prophets" went out to greet him, to assist him and welcome him into the city. This is juxtaposed with the sons of Bethel, who reviled him. It is key to understand that these represented similar groups from each city. Jericho would not have sent out 8-year-olds to greet Elisha. Neither did Bethel.
In Jericho, the leaders of the city asked for his help to purify the water there. Specifically, the water was making the land unfruitful and causing miscarriage. Elisha purified the water, and in doing so ensured that the people would continue to produce children. The children of Jericho were saved from the poisoned water.
On the other hand, when Elisha passed by Bethel, rather than being invited in he was driven away. He issued a curse and the sons of the city were attacked by bears. The phrase of the text indicates they were torn with the ferocity of mother bears protecting their cubs. Since these were the young men of the temple, the children of Bethel would have been seriously damaged by the loss of so many.
5. A lot of amusement has been derived from the jeers of the mob of young men. They shout two things, actually. "Go up" is a little unclear but the general feeling is that the young men of Bethel are taunting Elisha to "go away" and not enter the city of Bethel. They are threatening violence if he should attempt it. At the same time, they are telling Elisha to follow his master up to heaven.
In the second phrase, the men call him 'Bald head'. This is a characteristic Jewish play on words. The prophet Elijah was notorious for being a hairy man. Elijah had a wild, almost feral appearance with wild hair on his head, arms, and legs. In addition, he had a rough woven cape that he wore about his shoulders, a hairy mantle that gave him an even wilder appearance. This is the same mantle that he passed on to Elisha when he was taken by the whirlwind. In this time, hairiness was associated with personal power and spiritual authority. (For example, in the book of Judges, Samson lived with a Nazarite vow to never cut his hair and as a result had amazing strength. Elsewhere, God commands Ezekiel to shave his head to represent how Israel had broken faith with God and He would remove his protection from them.)
The young Bethel priests are declaring two things: that Elisha has lost his master, and that he has not gained Elijah's mantle of authority. He is impotent, bereft of his power. In response, Elisha shows them that he has been given the spirit of Elijah, and invokes God to punish them however it is appropriate.
6. Na'ar Qatan. The following is taken from Bible commentators at 1517.org:
The word na‘ar, which is often rendered as children/boys, has a broad range of meaning. It can denote everyone from baby Moses (Exod. 2:6) to fully-grown Absalom (2 Sam. 14:21). A na‘ar can also designate a servant (Gen. 22:3), armor-bearer (Judges 9:54), king’s official (2 Kings 19:6), and—significantly for us—a priest (1 Sam. 2:17).
The Hebrew adjective, qatan, means little, young, or immature. The question is: how young? This same Hebrew combination, na‘ar qatan, is used to describe an adult rebel named Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:17). Likewise, when Solomon takes the throne at about the age of twenty, he describes himself as a na‘ar qaton (1 Kings 3:7). Obviously, he and Hadad were not elementary-aged, little boys!
Thus, at a bare minimum, we can say it’s highly unlikely the people who mocked Elisha were “little children” or “small boys.” It’s much more probable that [a] these were young men and [b] they were called na’ar not in reference to their sex (male) but their office (servants). Taken from https://www.1517.org/articles/the-misunderstood-story-of-bear-attacks-a-bald-prophet-and-forty-two-mouthy-kids
My own take away from this is that the phrase is used to denote offspring - sons. And these sons were not fully mature, following the pattern of Solomon and so around the age of 20. The better translation here might be (punks) "subordinate young male children of the priests and clerics of the Bethel Temple", with the word choice intentionally designed to disparage them with the connotation of also being immature and rebellious.
They were the sons of the priests from the temple of Bethel and therefore the ultimate in "preacher's kids." This is in direct comparison with those who greeted Elisha in Jericho, "Sons of the Prophets," a title that conveys dignity and respect.
7. What about bears, though? One of the curses described in Leviticus 26 as judgment upon Israel’s covenant breaking is this:
And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted (Leviticus 26:21-22).
This is exactly what happens to the people of Bethel. The wild beasts bereave them by tearing their offspring, making them few in numbers. The situation was a classic example of the Old Covenant: accept God's prophet and receive blessings - the gift of offspring; reject God's prophet and receive the curses of the loss of them.
8. The narrative specifies a specific number of 42 people were punished by God through the bears. In Biblical numerology, the number 42 is used specifically in relation to punishment and suffering. This number is specified in the text to indicate that this was not simply a random occurrence but a deliberate punishment against the city of Bethel for its unwillingness to accept God's chosen prophet.
This is clear in Revelation 11:1-2 where we are told that the gentiles, "shall trample upon the holy city for forty-two months"
Later, "And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months" and "authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation".Revelation 13:5-7
The period of 42 months often takes different forms, such as being expressed in years, or days,
In Revelation 12:5 in the narrative of the Woman and the Dragon, "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." In this context, simple math shows us 1260 divided by 30 days in a Jewish month is 42, to represent 42 months. The passage immediately rephrases this as "time, times, and half a time" to represent one year, plus 2 years, plus half a year, which is 3 and a half years or 42 months.
This particular configuration of 42 is also found in Daniel 7:25 "He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. This phrasing is found later in Daniel 12:7, and also appears in 9:26 as "half a week" where a week refers to 7 years and so half a week is 3.5 years, or 42 months.
In 1 Kings 17, Elijah prays to stop the rain for three years and many days as a punishment for turning to idols. In the New Testament, Jesus in Luke 4:25, and James 5:17 clarifies that this was three and a half years, or 42 months.
In Numbers 33, we are given a list of encampments from Egypt to Canaan, which count up to 42 encampments. When we add the 40 years the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness to the 2 years it took them to travel from Egypt to Kadesh barnea, we reach 42 years of travel to the promised land.
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