Elisha and the Two Bears 2 Kings 2:23-25
A husband and wife who work for the circus go to an adoption agency. Social workers there raise doubts about their suitability. The couple produces photos of their 50-foot motor home, which is clean and well maintained and equipped with a beautiful nursery.
The social workers raise concerns about the education a child would receive while in the couple's care. "We've arranged for a full-time tutor who will teach the child all the usual subjects along with French, Mandarin, and computer skills."
Then the social workers express concern about a child being raised in a circus environment. "Our nanny is a certified expert in pediatric care, welfare, and diet."
The social workers are finally satisfied. They ask, "What age child are you hoping to adopt?" "It doesn't really matter, as long the kid fits in the cannon."
“23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” 24 When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. 25 And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.”
In the previous verses we see where Elisha had just experienced what almost seemed like the very first rapture where Elijah was caught up to heaven without dying and this is the hope of all believers who are living in the days prior to the tribulation.
We all live with the expectation of Jesus coming with which believers in all ages have lived but someday Jesus will come back and as 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
In verse 11 we see this how Elijah was raptured and I want you to notice that he wasn’t taken up by the fiery horses and chariot but they simply came between him and Elisha.
Verse 11 “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.”
I like how it says, all this happened while they were walking along and talking. They had just visited all the places where Elijah had witnessed the great movements of God and they were probably talking about the things God had taught and Elijah would be encouraging Elisha to live in light of these truths; when all of a sudden, they were separated by horses and chariots of fire. And then, Elijah became only the second man to ever enter heaven without seeing death. Do you know who the first one was? Enoch.
So, Elisha witnessed Elijah’s rapture or catching up and he said, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” His cry focuses on the loss of Elijah, both personally and also to Israel because as far as Elisha was concerned; Elijah had been "a power that was mightier than all the armies of Israel" and his loss was absolutely devastating.
I’m sure he had to sit down for a while and contemplate what he just witnessed but then it says in verses 13 and 14, “He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 14 and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.” In other words, he repeated the exact same miracle that Elijah had performed before God took him home and this was God’s way of telling him that the work and role of Elijah had been passed on to him.
There are times in the Bible when people leave this world without dying and as I said the first was Enoch in Genesis 5:21-24 and verse 24 says, “And Enoch walked with God and was not for God took him.”
The second is Elijah and we saw how God had separated him from Elisha by a fiery horse and carriage and then He took him to heaven in a whirlwind. And the third are all the believers who are found in I Thessalonians 4:16-18 where it describes the rapture or catching up of believers when the Lord returns.
So, all three, two individuals and the church of the last days are removed from this life to eternal life and the one thing all three have in common is that they all walked with the Lord and those who walk with Him in time will walk with Him throughout eternity.
After Elijah was taken up it says the sons of the prophets kept asking Elisha if they could go look for Elijah’s body and it almost seems like they continued bothering him until out of a sense of frustration he said, go ahead; and they went searching for three days and found nothing and when they returned he said, didn’t I tell you not to go?
And then this event was followed by the healing of the waters of Jericho. It says, the men of the city came to Elisha and said, the city is beautiful but the water is useless both for drinking or even watering the land. Jewish tradition says people making a great profit by selling fresh water to the townspeople of Jericho, and this miracle would put them out of business.
This problem came from the time Joshua cursed the city back in Joshua 6:26 and it had been rebuilt in the days of Ahab but remained unproductive because the water was still under a curse and then Elisha performed a miracle of healing these waters that not only removed the curse but allowed a new era to begin.
If you think there are a lot of miracles in the account of Elisha you’re right because there are exactly twice as many miracles performed by Elisha then there were by Elijah. And yet, Elisha wasn’t recognized the same way.
And maybe, that has to do with their differences of personality and style. Elijah was more of a loner and spent his life away from people but Elisha spent most of his life in the company of the prophets and was the head of the schools of the prophets. The majority of the miracles performed by Elijah were associated with death and destruction but Elisha’s were miracles of healing and restoration. Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire but Elisha fell sick in old age and died a natural death. So, if Elijah was a prophet of judgment, then Elisha was a prophet of grace.
And now, we finally get to the part I want to spend some time on. In the passage I read we see he comes to Bethel and we might wonder why he was even going there. After all, Bethel was one of the places Jeroboam had set up the altar in opposition to the altar of God and his goal was to draw the people away from the worship of Jehovah for fear they might break their allegiance with him and go back to the worship of Jehovah and obviously the crowd who met him were committed to the worship of idols and wanted nothing to do with him or his God.
So, I’m sure Elisha wasn’t exactly expecting a warm welcome when he got there but these people thought they’d just make fun of him and obviously, the level of disrespect he received was typical of the attitude of the general population in Bethel toward anyone who spoke for God.
And this is not the first time this happened because scripture tells us in 2 Chronicles 36:16 that the Lord warned Judah before they went into exile and it says, ‘But they mocked God’s messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.’
It says they scoffed at His prophets and the word translated "scoffer" in English can mean "one who mocks, ridicules, or scorns the belief of another." In Hebrew, the word "scoffer" or "mocker" can also mean "ambassador."
So, a scoffer is one who not only disagrees with something but considers himself to be an ambassador for the opposing idea and he can’t rest until he demonstrates the foolishness of any idea that’s not his own. A scoffer voices his disagreement, ridicules all who stand against him, and actively recruits others to join his side. In the Bible, scoffers are those who choose to disbelieve God and His Word. They say in their hearts, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1), and make it their ambition to ridicule those who follow Him.
The Bible has a lot to say about scoffers. Proverbs 3:34 says that God "scoffs at the scoffers, yet He gives grace to the afflicted." We are warned not to even waste time with those who ridicule our faith. Proverbs 13:20 says, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."
I know we can’t totally escape scoffers because they were not only active in Jesus' day and they’re still here today. Jesus told His disciples in John 15:18-19, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you"
We’re told ‘to be ready to answer anyone who asks a reason for the hope we have within us’ but when we’re no longer communicating the word and become the one who are being influenced by others, we need to shake the dust off our feet and move on.
We shouldn’t be surprised at people scoffing or making fun of our faith because second Peter 3:3 warns us that "in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires." And 2 Timothy warns us that scoffing is going to increase as we near the time of Jesus return.
I’m always amazed at how anyone feels free to belittle Christians in the media but we never hear a word about Muslims or any other religion.
What are we to do with scorners and scoffers? We are to ignore them. Proverbs 9:7 says, “He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.”
Look again at verse 23, “And 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.”
So, he’s not even in the city but approaching it and a group of what it says are children meets him but in fact, most translaters say the word translated children actually indicates that these people were from twelve to thirty years old and many believe they may have been students of the false prophets, who held sway over the people of Bethel.
Look again at what they said to him at the end of verse 23, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” There are two things here, first they say, “Go up, go up” and what they referring to is Elijah’s acension into heaven and they’re saying this to Elisha to imply that he’s no Elijah.
And then second they call him a bald head and there may be more to this than their referring to his lack of hair because Elisha was probably in his twenties and we know this because he has about sixty years of ministry to go.
I know it’s not easy to listen to people make fun of you for losing your hair. I went to a barber last week and told him I wanted a haircut and he said, “Sure, which one?” I told my wife what he said and she tried to cheer me up by saying, “You might be losing your hair, but think of how long a bottle of shampoo is going to last.” I was kind of embarrassed about my hair falling out and asked my doctor if he had anything to keep it in and he gave me a paper bag.
So, there might be other reasons why he was referred to as a bald head and the first may have had to do with the fact that most Jews would shave their heads to express their sorrow on the death of a loved one. And then second, it could have been that they were making fun of him by comparing him to Elijah because Elijah was known as a hairy man. In 2 Kings 1:7 it says of Ahaziah, “And he said unto them, what manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? 8 And they answered him, he was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, it is Elijah the Tishbite.” And then third, this term bald head can also carry a secondary meaning of being "empty headed" or stupid.
So, if they were saying, why don’t you go up to wherever Elijah is; this would be kind of hard to take because Elijah had been a father figure to Elisha and they were making fun of the fact he was dead.
And don’t forget, this came right after Elijah's ascendance into heaven and Elisha was called by God to be the spiritual heir to Elijah. In other words, he was the new prophet and to harrass him was not only rejecting his authority but it was also rejecting the authority of God.
So, this wasn’t just a silly prank but a bitter insult. Their attitude was the same as those who dressed Jesus in purple, crowned Him with thorns, and cried, hail, King of the Jews!
II So, we see their action and then his reaction.
Elisha didn’t run away, argue or plead with them, he didn’t defend himself or even complain to God. He simply cursed them in the name of the Lord and then God stepped in and acted by sending two she-bears.
We all know that bears are scary. I heard a story about this Christian cowboy who lost his New Testament while he was mending fences out on the range. Three weeks later, a bear walked up to him carrying the New Testament in its mouth. The cowboy couldn't believe his eyes. He took his New Testament out of the bear's mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and said, "It's a miracle!" "Not really," said the bear, "Your name is written inside the cover."
There are four other times when God judges people like this in scripture. The first was when someone went gathering sticks on the Sabbath and it’s recorded in Numbers 15. It doesn’t sound like a major crime but God told them not to do it but this guy did it anyway and when the people got together God said, “Take him out and stone him to death.”
And then second, Nadab and Abihu were the sons of Aaron and they were to lead the people in worship but in Leviticus 10 it says they decided to offer strange fire before the Lord and they and all their followers were killed.
And then third, there was a man in Deuteronomy 25 whose brother had died and according to the law he was to impregnate his sister-in-law so his brother would have offspring but this guy refused to do it and God killed him.
And then fourth, in the New Testament in Acts 5 we have the account of how Ananias and Sapphira were involved in the local church and they wanted to look like they as spiritual as everyone else, so they sold their home but kept some of the money and took the rest to the apostles; and then Peter asked them individually if that was everything and they both said yes, and God killed them.
Now listen, God doesn’t kill everyone who works on the Sabbath, is involved in false forms of worship, refuses to obey the law or even gives less then they said they would but He did these things to specifically point out that His word wasn’t something to trifle with; but does that mean He’ll always do it? No, but it also doesn’t mean that anyone is getting away with anything because there’s coming a day when everyone will stand before Him and give account of every word that’s ever been said and every deed that’s ever been done.
It’s amazing to see the number of writers who get all bent out of shape about the fact that God used two bears to kill these forty-two men but they forget that He drowned around four billion people in the days of Noah, He used an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrians in one night, He annihilated the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah and one day the Bible says He will throw all unbelievers in hell for the rest of eternity.
I’ve heard someone say that Jesus spoke of hell around 71 times but He only spoke of heaven 17 times and that’s because people need to hear the bad news so they’ll wake up to the good news.
Jesus said in Luke 12:4-5 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him.”
What was He saying? There is a hell, and God has the power to send men and women to it, but no one needs to fear hell if they fear God. He says, “Yes, I tell you, fear God!” Listen, no one who has a healthy fear or reverential trust in God will end up in hell.
The reason the Bible speaks of people being “thrown” into hell is so, no one will willingly go there, once they get a picture of what hell really is. I mean, no one standing on the shore of the lake of fire is going to jump in. They won’t choose it, and they don’t want it; but if they have chosen to live in sin, the consequence of sin is death and the end result of death is going to be punishment in the lake of fire.
Jesus used several illustrations in Matthew 13 to describe describe the end of the age and in the last one He described hell. It starts in verse 47, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Fire has two effects in scripture. For the Christian fire is a purifier. We see this when Daniel’s three friends were thrown into the burning fiery furnace; it says the fire didn’t harm them but it simply burned their ropes away. In Isaiah 6 we see the seraphim touching the unclean lips of the prophet with a live coal from the altar and there’s no pain involved buy it says it purges his sin; and then in 1 Corinthians 3:13 tells us the believers works are tested by fire and just the garbage is burned away. So, fire is a purifier for the believer.
We also see the effects of fire on the unsaved and it’s not testing but torture. There’s no purging of sin but punishment.
Hell is described in scripture as a place of physical suffering, a place of darkness, misery and pain. Several times Jesus describes hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The weeping is not tears of repentance but tears of frustration because the suffering never ends. Listen, hell is a place without hope.
And then we see there are also degrees of suffering as people are judged according to their words as well as their works. So, it’s both the things they’ve said and the things they’ve done. One writer said, “Hell will have such severe degrees that a sinner, were he able, would give the whole world if his sins could be one less.”
Jesus also said this punishment would be forever. In Matthew 25:46 He said, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” So, those who are in hell will be there as long as those who are in heaven.
The Bible talks in terms of two categories for all mankind: there are believers and unbelievers, sheep and goats, wheat and tares, we are either in Christ or we’re in Adam, we’re in the Spirit or we’re in the flesh, we are of the good tree or of the bad tree, we are either on the narrow road or we’re on the broad road and we are on our way to either heaven or we’re headed for hell. So, have you decided which way you’re going?
On his first furlough in Britain after his years of missionary work in China, Hudson Taylor spoke to a crowded meeting in Edinburgh. He told them how once he had stood on a wharf waiting for the boat to pick them up for a trip on the river and a man fell into the river but no one moved; no one batted an eyelid. No one did anything to rescue him. There was no stir, nothing but a casual interest as people watched this man drown. They looked and listened as he cried for help, but no one did anything because they were so used to seeing people die they had a sense of fatalism seared into their conscience.
The Scottish congregation were shocked to hear of this incident, and then Hudson Taylor said, “You seem to be very upset by their refusal to do anything to rescue a drowning man from physical death, but what about your indifference to the spiritual death and hopelessness of thousands and thousands who die every year and never hear about the sacrifice of God’s Son.
There are people who’ve been saved, baptised and tithe every penny they’ve ever earned but they’ve either never shared their faith with anybody or can’t remember the last time they did. And yet, four times, in every gospel, Jesus gave us the great commission. In Matthew 28:18-20 it says, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.' 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:' 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' This wasn’t a suggestion; it was a command.
So, in this passage we see that when Elisha had cursed these men and two she-bears ran onto the scene and started tearing these people apart and the judgment that fell was sudden, public, appalling, and final. There was no warning but they came out of the woods and started killing everyone they could. Several writers suggested there were probably a lot more than those who were killed but the bears could only catch forty two.
This scene could be described as really gross but as the 18th Century French writer Nicolas Chamfort once said, “A man must swallow a toad every morning if he wishes to be sure of finding nothing more disgusting before the day is over.”
And listen, we don’t read is what happens next but I’m sure the parents and relatives of those who died would have to come and gather their remains at this awful sight and then they’d probably have some kind of service to commemorate their deaths.
These young men said, we want to see the same power that had taken Elijah up in a whirlwind and God granted them their wish.
So, 2 Kings 2:23-24 is not an account of God using bears to kill people for making fun of a bald man but it’s a record of people insulting God’s prophet and how God dealt with them as He saw fit. The seriousness of the crime was indicated by the seriousness of the punishment.
25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria. Mount Carmel was a great place of victory ofor Elijah and maybe Elisha just wanted to think about the power of God and the things He had done in the past.
Before the new prophet would continue on to Samaria, he had to yake some time at Carmel where he could remember how God had worked in the past. He knew he would never have the charisma of Elijah, but he also knew that the power God displayed through Elijah could be done through him as well.
We need to remember: first, God has not changed nor has His power diminished. Second, the job we’ve been called to do isn’t finished and there’s still a lot to do. Third, God has created each and everyone of us for a purpose and that purpose is to get saved and live for Him.
The problem we all face today is sin; and sin is so sinful that it’s no longer described as sin. Adultery is referred to as an alternative lifestyle, homosexuality is a normal expression of love, killing those who are old and sick is considered to be an expression of compassion and there’s no longer any inhibition about taking drugs because it’s just as normal as tobacco or alcohol.
In his book and film, “Peace Child,” missionary Don Richardson told about the wicked practice of the Sawi tribe before he brought the gospel to them. They extolled deception as a virtue. They would lure an outsider into their midst as a friend, who didn’t suspect their treachery. They would treat him as a king and feed him well, but they were literally fattening him for the slaughter.
At the opportune time, when the victim thought that the Sawi tribal leaders were his friends, they would sadistically smile and kill him, and then they would eat him. When Richardson first told them the story of Jesus, they thought that Judas was the real hero because he used deception to kill Jesus.
Sin confuses our values and gets us to change the labels and see it as something much more acceptable. It’s no longer lust, you’re just looking, it’s not adultery; it’s just a fling. It’s not perversion; it’s an alternate lifestyle. It’s not stealing; it’s just taking what the company owes you and doesn’t pay you enough. You’re not angry; you just have a short fuse. And it’s not gossip; you’re just sharing a prayer concerns. We need to hate sin enough to stop making excuses for it because sin leads to death.
Listen, God is a God of grace. He invites and then He invites us again and again but there’s coming a time when He realizes He’s wasting His time and says, here’s you’re final invitation. Someone asked me, how do you know it’s the final one? And the answer is simple, no one does, so, respond to the one before you.
Ernest Hemingway loved to write about the country of Spain. In his short story, The Capital of the World, Hemingway tells of a father and son who had stopped talking to one another. Things got so bad that the son left home. After several years, the father wanted to mend the relationship and so he looked everywhere for his son. When he came to the capital city of Madrid, he decided to go to the newspaper office and take out a big ad in the newspaper that said this: “Paco, please meet me at 12 noon tomorrow in front of the newspaper office -- all is forgiven. I love you. Your Father.”
The next day at 12 noon, there were 800 men named Paco standing in front of the building! There are a lot of people needing forgiveness. Let me ask you, are you one of them?
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There was a young illiterate couple named Dave and Carol. Dave and Carol had recently confessed faith in Jesus Christ and were baptised. And wanting to be more involved in the activities of the church, they regularly attended the Sunday School class for young married couples. And they learned that in this particular Sunday school class, the men all had the same shirts which they would often wear during certain group activities. Wanting to be part of the group, Dave was eager to get HIS matching shirt, so Carol made one for her husband. But after the next meeting, Dave came home with a look of disappointment on his face. He had his shirt, but at the meeting he noticed that all the men had little emblems on their shirts and Dave’s was plain.
So, Carol, undaunted by her inability to read, sewed three words which she copied from a sign in a store window across the street and Dave wore it at the next meeting. But this time he came home bubbling with joy. He said all the men really liked the inscription that Carol had put on his shirt. They said it so aptly described the wonderful change they had seen in his life. It turned out that his wife had written, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT."
D.L. Moody once said: "God is so anxious to save sinners He will take anyone who comes. He will take those who are so full of sin that they are despised by all who know them; who have been rejected by their fathers and mothers, who have been cast off by their wives and their husbands. He will take whose who have sunk so low that upon them no eye of pity is cast."
A missionary physician in one of China’s hospitals cured a man of cataracts. A few days later 48 blind men came to the doctor from the remote areas of China, all holding on to a rope that was guided by the man who had been cured. He had led them this way, walking in chain 250 miles to the hospital. Listen, he had found the answer to his worst problem in life and couldn’t wait to share it with others.
If you found the answer but never told anyone, what would that say about you?
