He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!” He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in Yahweh’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.
Show the surrounding paragraph
2 Kings 2:23-24 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!” He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in Yahweh’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths. He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
Parallel Translations
-
He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!”
He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in Yahweh’s name. Then two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.
-
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: 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.
And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Show all 3 translations
-
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el; 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 baldhead; go up, thou baldhead.'
And he looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tore forty and two children of them.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (53)
- 2 Chronicles 36:16 (v23) but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people,…
- Acts 13:9-11 (v24) But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him, and said, “You son of the devil, full of all…
- Hosea 13:8 (v24) I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a…
- Amos 7:17 (v24) Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your…
- Acts 5:5 (v24) Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and died. Great fear came on all who heard these things.
Show all 53 cross-references
- Acts 5:9 (v24) But Peter asked her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried…
- Genesis 9:25 (v24) He said, “Canaan is cursed. He will be a servant of servants to his brothers.”
- Exodus 20:5 (v24) you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on…
- Deuteronomy 28:15-26 (v24) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
- Judges 9:57 (v24) and God repaid all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads; and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came on them.
- 2 Samuel 17:8 (v24) Hushai said moreover, “You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, like a bear robbed…
- 1 Kings 13:24 (v24) When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also…
- 1 Kings 19:17 (v24) He who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.
- 1 Kings 20:36 (v24) Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As…
- 2 Kings 1:10-12 (v24) Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!” Then…
- Nehemiah 13:25-27 (v24) I contended with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not…
- Job 19:18 (v23) Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
- Job 30:1 (v23) “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.
- Jeremiah 28:16 (v24) Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken…
- Jeremiah 29:21-23 (v24) Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a…
- Lamentations 3:65 (v24) You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them.
- Mark 11:14 (v24) Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.
- Mark 11:21 (v24) Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.”
- Acts 8:20 (v24) But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
- Genesis 21:9 (v23) Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
- Judges 9:20 (v24) but if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of…
- Psalms 31:18 (v23) Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
- Proverbs 17:12 (v24) Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
- Proverbs 28:15 (v24) As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people.
- 2 Corinthians 10:6 (v24) and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is made full.
- 1 Kings 12:28-32 (v23) So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and behold…
- Job 30:8-31 (v23) They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land. “Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a…
- Psalms 35:15 (v23) But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t…
- Proverbs 20:11 (v23) Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.
- Proverbs 22:6 (v23) Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
- Proverbs 22:15 (v23) Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
- Ecclesiastes 11:10 (v23) Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
- Isaiah 1:4 (v23) Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have…
- Isaiah 3:5 (v23) The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man,…
- Isaiah 57:3-4 (v23) “But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes. Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a…
- Jeremiah 7:18 (v23) The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to…
- Hosea 4:15 (v23) “Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As…
- Hosea 10:5 (v23) The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who…
- Hosea 10:15 (v23) So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed.
- Amos 3:14 (v23) “For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will…
- Amos 4:4 (v23) “Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
- Amos 5:5 (v23) but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come…
- Amos 7:13 (v23) but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”
- Matthew 27:29-31 (v23) They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him,…
- Matthew 27:40-43 (v23) and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”…
- Galatians 4:29 (v23) But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
- Hebrews 11:36 (v23) Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
- 2 Kings 2:11 (v23) As they continued on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v24 Perceiving their malicious heart against the Lord and his…
Perceiving their malicious heart against the Lord and his word, he desireth God to take vengeance of that injury done unto him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv23–24 2Ki 2:23 And he went up from thence unto…
2Ki 2:23 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.
Ver. 23. And he went from thence unto Bethel.] Which was now a place of strange composition; for there was at once the golden calf of Jeroboam, and the school of God. Physicians are of most use where diseases abound.
Read full note →
There came forth little children.] Nuzzled up by their wicked parents in idolatry and contempt of a faithful ministry.
Go up, thou bald head.] Or, Ascend, as they say - but who can think it? - thy master Elijah did. Thus these mistaught brats, and, because they had nothing worse to upbraid him with, they twit him with his baldness: loading that head with scorn which God had crowned with honour.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv23–24 He went up from thence unto Beth-el, to the…
He went up from thence unto Beth-el, to the other school or college of prophets, to inform them of Elijah’s translation and his succession into the same office; and to direct, and comfort, and stablish them, as he saw occasion.
Little children; or, children, or young men; as this Hebrew word oft signifies, as Gen 22:5,12; Ge 41:12; 2Ch 13:7; Isa 11:6. It is more than probable they were old enough to discern between good and evil as their expression showeth.
Read full note →
Out of the city; Beth-el, which was the mother city of idolatry, 1Ki 12:28,29; Ho 4:15; 5:8, where the prophets planted themselves, that they might bear witness against it, and dissuade the people from it; though, it seems, they had but small success there.
Mocked him, with great petulancy and vehemency, as the conjugation of the Hebrew verb signifies; deriding both his person and ministry, and that from a profane contempt of the true religion, and a passionate love to that idolatry which they knew he opposed.
Go up; go up into heaven, whither thou pretendest that Elijah is gone. Why didst not thou accompany thy friend and master to heaven? Oh that the same Spirit would take thee up also, that thou mightest not trouble us nor our Israel, as Elijah did!
Thou bald-head; so they mock his natural infirmity, which is a great sin.
Go up, thou baldhead: the repetition shows their heartiness and earnestness, that it was no sudden nor rash slip of their tongue, but a scoff proceeding from a rooted impiety and hatred of God and his prophets.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv23–24 And he turned back, and looked on them,.... With…
And he turned back, and looked on them,.... With a stern countenance, thereby reproving them, and in order to intimidate them, and make them ashamed, and cause them to leave off, but to no purpose; they repeated their mockeries with great vehemence:
and cursed them in the name of the Lord; moved thereunto, not from passion and a spirit of revenge, but by an impulse of the Spirit of God:
Read full note →
and there came forth two she bears out of the wood; which are fiercest, and especially when bereaved of their whelps, as these might be; the wood seems to be near to Bethel, perhaps in the wilderness of Bethel, of which see Jos 8:15, and Reland (y) thinks it is the same with the wood of Ephraim, Sa2 18:6, though the Jews, to increase the miracle, say (z) there was no wood at all, and, if there was, that there were no bears in it; but though those creatures are mostly in northern countries, yet there were of them in Judea, see Sa1 17:34.
and tare forty and two children of them; it seems there were more than these; but such a number of them they tore to pieces and destroyed; which was very extraordinary, and was an awful punishment for their wickedness, which they knowingly and willingly committed, and of their parents in them, who had trained them up in such impiety, and put them upon it, and sent them out to do it.
(y) Palestin. Illustrat. p. 378. (z) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 47. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv23–24 To Beth-el - To the other school of prophets,…
To Beth-el - To the other school of prophets, to inform them of Elijah's translation, and his succession to the same office; and to direct, and comfort, and stablish them. Children - Or, young men: as this Hebrew word often signifies. It is more than probable they were old enough to discern between good and evil. The city - Beth-el was the mother-city of idolatry, where the prophets planted themselves, that they might bear witness against it, and dissuade the people from it; though, it seems, they had but small success there. Mocked him - With great petulancy and vehemency, as the word signifies; deriding both his person and ministry, and that from a prophane contempt of the true religion, and a passionate love to that idolatry which they knew he opposed. Go up - Go up into heaven, whither thou pretendest Elijah is gone. Why didst not thou accompany thy friend and master to heaven? Bald-head - So they mock his natural infirmity, which is a great sin. The repetition shews their heartiness and earnestness, that it was no sudden slip of their tongue, but a scoff proceeding from a rooted impiety and hatred of God and his prophets. And very probably it was their usual practice, to jeer the prophets as they went along the streets, that they might expose them to contempt, and if possible drive them out of their town. Had the abuse done to Elisha been the first offense of the kind, they might not have been so severely punished. But mocking the messengers of the Lord, was one of the crying sins of Israel.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v23 Verse 23. There came forth little children out of…
Verse 23. There came forth little children out of the city] These were probably the school of some celebrated teacher; but under his instruction they had learned neither piety nor good manners.
Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.] עלה קרח עלה קרח aleh kereach, aleh kereach. Does not this imply the grossest insult? Ascend, thou empty skull, to heaven, as it is pretended thy master did! This was blasphemy against God; and their punishment (for they were Beth-elite idolaters) was only proportioned to their guilt. Elisha cursed them, i.e., pronounced a curse upon them, in the name of the Lord, בשם יהוה beshem Yehovah, by the name or authority of Jehovah. The spirit of their offense lies in their ridiculing a miracle of the Lord: the offense was against Him, and He punished it. It was no petulant humour of the prophet that caused him to pronounce this curse; it was God alone: had it proceeded from a wrong disposition of the prophet, no miracle would have been wrought in order to gratify it.
Read full note →
"But was it not a cruel thing to destroy forty-two little children, who, in mere childishness, had simply called the prophet bare skull, or bald head?" I answer, Elisha did not destroy them; he had no power by which he could bring two she-bears out of the wood to destroy them. It was evidently either accidental, or a Divine judgment; and if a judgment, God must be the sole author of it. Elisha's curse must be only declaratory of what God was about to do. See on 2Kg 1:10. "But then, as they were little children, they could scarcely be accountable for their conduct; and consequently, it was cruelty to destroy them." If it was a judgment of God, it could neither be cruel nor unjust; and I contend, that the prophet had no power by which he could bring these she-bears to fall upon them. But were they little children? for here the strength of the objection lies. Now I suppose the objection means children from four to seven or eight years old; for so we use the word: but the original, נערים קטנים nearim ketannim, may mean young men, for קטן katon signifies to be young, in opposition to old, and is so translated in various places in our Bible; and נער naar signifies, not only a child, but a young man, a servant, or even a soldier, or one fit to go out to battle; and is so translated in a multitude of places in our common English version. I shall mention but a few, because they are sufficiently decisive: Isaac was called נער naar when twenty-eight years old, Ge 21:5-12; and Joseph was so called when he was thirty-nine, Ge 41:12. Add to these 1Kg 20:14: "And Ahab said, By whom [shall the Assyrians be delivered into my hand?] And he said, Thus saith the Lord, by the YOUNG MEN, בנערי benaarey, of the princes of the provinces." That these were soldiers, probably militia, or a selection from the militia, which served as a bodyguard to Ahab, the event sufficiently declares; and the persons that mocked Elisha were perfectly accountable for their conduct.
But is it not possible that these forty-two were a set of unlucky young men, who had been employed in the wood, destroying the whelps of these same she-bears, who now pursued them, and tore them to pieces, for the injury they had done? We have already heard of the ferocity of a bear robbed of her whelps; see at the end of 2Sa 17:28. The mention of SHE-bears gives some colour to the above conjecture; and, probably, at the time when these young fellows insulted the prophet, the bears might be tracing the footsteps of the murderers of their young, and thus came upon them in the midst of their insults, God's providence ordering these occurrences so as to make this natural effect appear as a Divine cause. If the conjecture be correct, the bears were prepared by their loss to execute the curse of the prophet, and God's justice guided them to the spot to punish the iniquity that had been just committed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv23–24 2Ki 2:23. He went up from thence unto Beth-el…
2Ki 2:23. He went up from thence unto Beth-el — To the other school of the prophets, to inform them of Elijah’s translation, and his succession to the same office; and to direct, and comfort, and establish them, as he saw occasion. And — there came forth little children — The word נערים, negnarim, here rendered children, often evidently signifies, and is translated, young men, or lads, as Gen 22:5; Gen 22:12; Gen 41:12; Gen 43:8; 2Ch 13:7, and that even when the epithet קשׂנים, ketannim, little, is, as here, added to it: see 1Ki 3:7, and Isa 11:6. Here Dr. Waterland renders the words, young lads. It is more than probable they were, at least, old enough to discern between good and evil. They came out of the city, that is, Beth-el, the mother city of idolatry, where the prophets had planted themselves that they might bear witness against it, and dissuade the people from it, though, it seems, they had but small success there. These youths, it appears, did not meet with Elisha by accident, but went out with a design to insult him, knowing him to be a prophet of the true God, an advocate for his worship, and an enemy to the idolatry of the place; and having imbibed the prejudices of their parents against the true religion. They likewise went in a body, which showed that their motive was malice, and their going out not casual: from whence some think it probable that they went out, not only to deride the prophet, but likewise to prevent his entering into the city. They feared he would be as zealous against their idolatries as Elijah had been, and by this insult they intended to free themselves from his remonstrances. And mocked him — With great petulancy and vehemency making game of him, as the word יתקלסו, jithkallesu, here used, signifies; deriding, probably, both his person and ministry, and that from a profane contempt of the true religion, and a passionate love of that idolatry which they knew he opposed. And said unto him, Go up, thou bald-head, go up, thou bald-head — Thus mocking his natural infirmity, which was a great sin, and repeating the words to show their earnestness, and that their scoff was no sudden slip of the tongue, but proceeded from a rooted impiety, and hatred of God and his prophets: and very probably it was their usual practice to jeer the prophets as they went along the streets, that they might expose them to contempt, and, if possible, drive them out of the town. Many commentators think, that by this expression, עלה, gnalee, Go up, ascend, which they repeat, they intended to make a jest of the ascension of Elijah, which no doubt they had heard of: as if they had said, “Go up, ascend into heaven, whither thou pretendest Elijah is gone. Why didst thou not accompany thy friend and master to heaven?” thus shutting their eyes against an astonishing miracle, which seems to have been wrought, partly at least, to reclaim them, as well as to the two other signal miracles recently wrought, and, no doubt, spread abroad through the country, namely, of both Elijah and Elisha’s dividing the waters of Jordan, and passing through on dry ground. Perhaps, however, as the story mentions his going up, or ascending, the rising ground, unto Beth-el, and going up by the way, they might only mean, Go along, by the expression, Go up, or ascend, and might not allude to Elijah’s ascension. Be this as it may, their abuse of a prophet whom God had so evidently accredited, and marked out as the successor of Elijah, whose miracles had been so many and so wonderful, was a most heinous sin, and a manifest insult offered to the true God, and was accordingly punished as such by him, all whose ways are just and holy, and who never exceeds the degree of sin in the measure of punishment, but always in the present world punishes the guilty infinitely less than they deserve.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv23–24 As Beth-el was the older seat of the calf-worship…
As Beth-el was the older seat of the calf-worship 1Ki 12:32-33; 13:1-32, a prophet of Yahweh was not unlikely to meet with insult there.
By the way - i. e. “by the usual road,” probably that which winds up the Wady Suweinit, under hills even now retaining some trees, and in Elisha’s time covered with a dense forest, the haunt of savage animals. Compare 1Ki 13:24; and for the general prevalence of beasts of prey in the country, both earlier and later than this, see Jdg 14:5; 1Sa 17:31; 2Ki 17:25; Amo 5:19, etc.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv23–24 Bald-head. It is not know whether Eliseus was really…
Bald-head. It is not know whether Eliseus was really bald, or only wore his hair short, like the priests of the Lord, and the monks at present. It may also be a term of reproach, of which the emperors Julius Cæsar, Domitian, and Otho, were very sensible. Cæsar wore a crown of laurel, and Otho a sort of false hair, to hide this deformity. (Suetonius) Quod summum formæ decus est, periere capilli. (Petronius) (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v23 there came forth little children out of the city--that…
there came forth little children out of the city--that is, the idolatrous, or infidel young men of the place, who affecting to disbelieve the report of his master's translation, sarcastically urged him to follow in the glorious career.
bald head--an epithet of contempt in the East, applied to a person even with a bushy head of hair. The appalling judgment that befell them was God's interference to uphold his newly invested prophet.
Read full note →
Next: 2 Kings Chapter 3
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv23–24 THE MOCKING CHILDREN CURSED, 2Ki_2:23-25.
THE MOCKING CHILDREN CURSED, 2Ki_2:23-25.
We pass from a miracle of blessing to a miracle of cursing. The one was wrought in the element of inanimate nature; the other, in that of human life. The one was wrought on unconscious water for the temporal benefit of the surrounding country; the other, on conscious and responsible persons to vindicate the honour of Jehovah, and teach a salutary moral lesson. “The offence of the mocking children, involving, as it did, a blasphemous insult upon one of the Lord’s most signal acts, made a near approach to what in the New Testament is called the sin against the Holy Ghost. It became the Lord to vindicate his own honour among a people governed by sensible dispensations of judgments and of mercy; and it became him to vindicate the character and authority of his anointed prophet at the outset of his high career.” — Kitto.
Read full note →
23. Unto Beth-el — Whence he had lately come down with Elijah, and where was a school of the prophets. 2Ki_2:3.
Little children — Youths; persons who had attained to youthful manhood, as distinguished from the middle aged and the old. The word נערis often used for a youth, without determining at all his exact age, and with קשׂן, little, means a young man who has not arrived at maturity, a lad. Compare 1Sa_20:35; 1Ki_11:17. ילדים, rendered children in 2Ki_2:24, is often used in the same sense, and in 1Ki_12:8 is applied to the young men who had grown up with Rehoboam, in contrast with the old men who had acted as the counsellors of Solomon. So that by little children, here, we are not to understand infantile or irresponsible children, but young persons from fifteen to twenty or twenty-five years old. Some have plausibly conjectured that they composed the school of some teacher in that city. If so, the school was probably established to offset and counteract the influence of the school of the prophets in that place, and to advance the interests of the calf-worship, which had its principal seat at Beth-el. The pupils of such a school would naturally soon learn to mock and scoff at every holy person and thing connected with the true worship of Jehovah. They were, as Kitto says, “a rabble of young blackguards.”
Go up — That is, ascend into heaven. They had heard of Elijah’s ascension, and were taught to treat the story with ridicule; and now when Elisha, the most distinguished follower of Elijah, is approaching the town, they go out on purpose to meet him and treat him with derision.
Bald head — If Elisha were really bald headed, it was not the result of age, for he was yet a comparatively young man. But the word might have been applied to Elisha out of pure contempt, and not because he was actually bald. The term “was one of great indignity with the Israelites — baldness being usually seen among them as the effect of the loathsome disease of leprosy. It was a term of contempt, equivalent to calling him a mean, unworthy fellow, a social outcast. In this sense it is still used as a term of abuse in the farther East, and is often applied as such to men who have ample heads of hair.” — Kitto.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–24 23–25. Elisha curseth the mocking children and some of…
23–25. Elisha curseth the mocking children and some of them are destroyed (Not in Chronicles)
23. from thence unto Beth-el] Going back by the same way which he had come some days before with Elijah.
Read full note →
there came forth little children] The margin of R.V. gives ‘young lads’. The word in the original is that which Solomon uses in his prayer at Gibeon (1Ki_3:7), ‘I am but a little child’. This was at the time when he had just been elevated to the throne. So that although the word may mean ‘a little child’ it is not necessary nor possible in the present passage to understand by it anything but such young persons as were well aware of the outrage and wickedness of their conduct.
Go up, thou bald head] As the prophet drew near to the city these youths recognised him by his garb for one of the Lord’s prophets. It may be that he was wearing Elijah’s mantle. Such a man would be thought fit sport for the children of the Baal-worshippers of Bethel, and they were most probably set on and encouraged in their mockery by their parents. Their home education and all the associations of the place would have given them a contempt for the true servants of God. The fault of what they did lay as much in their surroundings as in themselves. It would seem that Elisha was prematurely bald, for he lived a long time after Elijah’s assumption, and this physical defect the insolent youths seized upon at once as a ground for ridicule. Elijah, the hairy man, had probably long shaggy locks, and so the contrast between the two would be marked at once.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–24 (23) Went up.—From Jericho, in the plain, Elisha goes…
(23) Went up.—From Jericho, in the plain, Elisha goes now to visit the prophetic community established at Beth-el, the chief seat of the illicit cultus.
By the way.—The way par excellence; the highroad leading directly up to the gates of the town.
Read full note →
Little children.—Young boys (or, lads). Na’ar is not used rhetorically here, as in 1Ch_29:1; 2Ch_13:7. The boys who mocked Elisha might be of various ages, between six or seven years and twenty. “Little children” would not be likely to hit upon a biting sarcasm, nor to sally forth in a body to insult the prophet (2Ki_2:24).
Mocked.—Hab_1:10. In Syriac and Chaldee the root implies “to praise, and to praise ironically,” i.e., to deride.
Go up.—Not “as Elijah was reported to have done;” for the Bethelites knew no more of that than the prophets of Jericho. The word obviously refers to what Elisha was himself doing at the time (2Ki_2:23). He was probably going up the steep road slowly, and his prophet’s mantle attracted attention.
Thou bald head.—Baldness was a reproach (Isa_3:17; Isa_15:2), and suspicious as one of the marks of leprosy (Lev_13:43). Elisha, though still young—he lived fifty years after this (2Ki_13:14)—may have become bald prematurely.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv23–24 And he went up from thence unto Bethel. The…
And he went up from thence unto Bethel. The ascent is steep and long from the Jordan valley to the highlands of Benjamin, on which Bethel stood, probably one of not less than three thousand feet. The object of Elisha"s visit may have been to inform the "sons of the prophets" at Bethel (ver. 3) of the events that had befallen Elijah. And as he was going up by the wayi.e. , by the usual road or pathway, for, in the strict sense of the word, roads did not exist in Palestinethere came forth little children out of the city. "Little children" is an unfortunate translation, raising quite a wrong idea of the tender age of the persons spoken of. On the other hand, Bishop Patrick"s assertion that the words are to be "understood of adult persons, who had a hatred to the prophet," is quite untenable. Naarim ketanaim would be best translated (as by our Revisers in the margin) "young lads boys, that is, from twelve to fifteen. Such mischievous youths are among the chief nuisances of Oriental towns; they waylay the traveler, deride him, jeer him are keen to remark any personal defect that he may have, and merciless in flouting it; they dog his steps, shout out their rude remarks, and sometimes proceed from abusive words to violent acts, as the throwing of sticks, or stones, or mud. On this occasion they only got as far as rude words. And mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head! go up, thou bald head! It has been maintained that the scoff of the lads contained an allusion to the ascension of Elijah (Patrick, Pool, Clarke), of which they had beard, and was a call upon Elisha to follow his master"s example in quitting the world, that they might be no longer troubled with him. But it is not at all apparent that the lads even knew who Elisha was they would probably have jeered at any aged person with whom they had fallen in; and by "Go up" they merely meant "Go on thy way; "the force of their jeer was not in the word" aleh, but in the word kereach, "bald head." Baldness was sometimes produced by leprosy, and then made a man unclean; (Lev_13:42-44) but the boys probably flouted the mere natural defect, in which there was no "uncleanness", (Lev_13:40, Lev_13:41) but which they regarded as a fit subject for ridicule. Their sin was disrespect towards old age, combined, perhaps, with disrespect for the prophetical order, to which they may have known from his dress that Elisha belonged.
Vers. 23-25.
Read full note →
Ridicule.
he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going," etc. These verses lead us to consider ridicule in three aspects.
I AS INFAMOUSLY DIRECTED.
1. Directed against an old man on account of his supposed personal defects. "Go up, thou bald head!" This meant, perhaps, "Go up, as Elijah has gone, if thou canst; we want to get rid of thee." Though baldness of the bead is not always a sign of age, Elisha was undoubtedly far advanced in years. Nothing is more contemptible or absurd than to ridicule people on account of constitutional defects, whether of body or mind. Direct the shafts of ridicule, if you like, against defects of moral character, against vanity and pride, sensuality, but never against constitutional defects, that is impious; for no man can make one hair white or black, or add a cubit to his stature.
2. Directed against an old man of most distinguished excellence. Elisha was a man of God, and everything concerning him shows manifestations of a godly character. To ridicule a good man is not only more impious, but more absurd, than to laugh to scorn the very sun in its brightness.
3. Directed against a man engaged in a mission of mercy. He was Heaven"s messenger of mercy to his country. He came to Bethel to bestow wise counsels on the sons of the prophets in their seminary, and to bless all who would listen to his counsels. How often has ridicule been thus infamously directed! Christ himself was once its victim; ay, its chief victim. "They that passed by wagged their heads." They put on him a "crown of thorns.
II MALEVOLENTLY INSPIRED. The animus in this ridicule was that of an intolerant religion. There were two schools of religion in Bethel, two rival sects; one was the religion of the true God, and the other that of idolatry. One of Jeroboam"s calves was there established as the object of worship. There is no malevolence so inveterate and ruthless as that inspired by false religion and rival sects. Perhaps these children had not this infernal passion to any extent, but were the mere instruments of their intolerant parents. Probably their parents sent them out now to meet the prophet, and put the very words into their mouths, taught them by what notes, grimaces, and attitude they should ring them out. This ridiculing the men of God was one of the crying sins of Israel. "They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets." These children were but the echoes and the instruments of their parents" religions malignant intolerance.
III TERRIBLY PUNISHED. "And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
1. They were punished by the will of the prophet. He "cursed them." Perhaps there is no arrow more poignant than that of ridicule. One might have thought, however, that one of Elisha"s moral strength and stature would not have felt it at all, especially when directed by children. But he knew their ridicule was but the ridicule of their mothers and fathers, and perhaps of the townspeople in general, who were all about him; and his righteous indignation was kindled. The more loving a man is the more fierce his wrath rages when set on fire. The "wrath of the Lamb" is the most tremendous wrath in the universe.
3. They were punished by the justice of God. The prophet"s indignation was righteous, and, because it was righteous, the justice of God sanctioned it by causing "two she bears out of the wood to tear forty and two children of them." This was a tremendous homily of Divine justice to the whole population a sermon that would thunder in the hearts of the fathers, the mothers, and the neighbors.
CONCLUSION. Take care how you use your faculty of ridicule. It is a useful faculty in its place. Satire is the east wind of thought. Scorching sarcasm has withered to the roots many a noxious weed; satire has humbled to the dust, has struck to the earth, many a proud and haughty soul. Elijah used it on Carmel"s brow, Job used it to his arrogant friends, and Paul to the conceited members of the Corinthian Church. Ridicule, rightly inspired and directed, is
A whip of steel, that can as with a lash Imprint the character of shame so deep, Ev"n in the brazen forehead of proud sin, That not eternity shall wear it out. (Randolph.) D.T.
Vers. 23-25.
The mockers at Bethel.
This miracle, in contrast with the preceding, is one of judgment. Its apparent severity has made it a stumbling-block to many. The deed is one in "the spirit of Elias" in the harsher sense, and leaves a painful impression. But the painful aspect of the miracle need not be made greater than it is, nor must it be overlooked that the occasion was one when some display of the "severity of God" was necessary.
I NATURE OF THE SIN. Elisha, going up to Bethel, was assailed by a band of young people from the city, who mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, thou bald bead!
1. The mockers. These were not, as the text might lead us to infer, "little children" of six or seven years of age, but "young lads," boys and young men, who had come to the age of responsibility. They came out of Bethel once a patriarchal sanctuary, but now a focus of Israelitish idolatry and had evidently been trained in utter ungodliness.
2. The mocking. Either Elisha was actually bald in which case there was added to profanity the ridiculing, so common to boys, of a physical defect or, as some have thought, "bald head" is a synonym for "leper," this being one of the signs of that disease. In either case there was manifested a spirit, contracted probably from their elders, of bitter hatred of the pure religion of Jehovah, and reviling of its prophets and professors. Levity, ridicule, and profane reviling of the pious and their ways is something on which God must always put the brand of his stern disapprobation.
II AGGRAVATIONS OF THE SIN. These must be considered in forming a fair judgment on the case. They enable us also better to draw out the lessons of the offence. There was:
1. Dishonor to a sacred place. Bethel means "the house of God." It was one of the places where God had recorded his name. (Gen_28:16-19) Now it was Beth-avert, "the house of the idol". (Hos_10:5) The jeering outburst of impiety of these young men of the city was only a symptom of the iniquity which abounded in it. God was dishonored in a holy place.
2. Dishonor to a sacred person. Elisha was God"s prophet, and, in some sense, the living representative at that time of the prophetic order. In him, mockery was heaped on all God"s servants, and on true religion in general. He was known and eminent as the successor of Elijah, and probably it was on this account that he was singled out for these hostile manifestations.
3. Dishonor to a sacred subject. It is not certain, but it is the view of some, that in the words, "Go up, thou bald head!" there is allusion to the recent translation of Elijah. Sacred places, sacred persons, and sacred things are all to be honored, and contempt poured on any of them is insult done to God.
III PUNISHMENT OF THE SIN. After bearing the contumely for a time, Elisha, doubtless by God"s inward direction, turned round, and pronounced a curse on these youthful mockers. The curse was God"s, not his, as shown by the effect immediately given to it. "There came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two of them." How many escaped we are not told, nor whether all these forty-two were actually killed. But as connected with Elisha"s curse, the event was an awful and unmistakable warning, both to those who escaped and to the population of the city. Had these she-bears issued from the wood without the previous word of Elisha, no one would have wondered at forty-two of this band of youths being attacked and slain. It would have been a "calamity." Here the event is the same, and it is the same Providence which is concerned, only the hidden reason of the dispensation comes to light. The whole incident teaches in a very emphatic manner the responsibility of youth. "I take this story as teaching us what I think we very much need to be taught, namely, that the faults of our youth, and those which are most natural to us at that age, are not considered by God as trifling. You may hear grown-up people talk in a laughing manner of the faults which they committed at school, of their idleness, and their various acts of mischief, and worse than mischief.
And when boys hear this, it naturally makes them think it really does not matter much whether they behave well or ill they are just as likely to be respectable and amiable men hereafter. I would beg those who think so to attend a little to the story in the text" (Dr. Arnold, quoted by Rev. T.H. Howat). J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v23 And he went up from thence unto Beth-el.
2Ki_2:23-24
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el.
Read full note →
Elisha and the naughty children
;--
I. The event as regards the transgressors. They were the children of a small town among the hills, in one of the extremities of the land of Canaan, called Beth-el; the inhabitants depended chiefly for their living upon their flocks of sheep and the produce of the earth.
1. Wickedness arising from unexpected quarters. The children of Beth-el.
2. That there is a great responsibility connected with a family. Considering the tendencies of our nature to evil, and the bad examples around, us, nothing but strong common, sense, strong parental love and the fear of God, will enable parents to wash their hands from the blood of their offspring.
3. That neither age nor position exempts sin from being punished. The bears destroyed forty-two children of Beth-el. Rich and poor, high and low, old and young must be punished for their transgressions. God is no respecter of persons.
II. The event as regards the prophet.
1. It is dangerous to persecute Gods people. No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper, whether it be the stocks or the burning faggots, the Pope or the drunken vagabond. Seeing godly men in trouble, we might think that God is angry with them, but that is a great mistake.
2. That religion does not deprive man of the right of self-defence. Some people seem to think that a Christian must endure every species of injustice without uttering a word of protest.
3. That the kindest nature when aroused is the fiercest. In reading the history of the prophet we are struck with the generosity of his nature. (W. Alonzo Griffiths.)
The tearing of forty and two children by two she-bears
Elisha had started for Beth-el on prophetic business. As he was passing out of Jericho, he was followed by a crowd, not of innocent little children, but probably of servant boys. The phrase here translated little children was applied to himself by Solomon when he was twenty years of age (1Ki_3:7); and by Jeremiah to himself when he was old enough to enter upon the prophetic office (Jer_1:6-7); and it was applied to Joseph when he was at least seventy years of age (Gen_37:2). These deriders were boys old enough to know what they were about, and old enough to have respect for the prophetic office. Probably they had had a pecuniary income from the business of fetching water into Jericho, so long as the water in the city was bad. As soon as Elisha healed the spring of the waters of the city, the occupation of these lads was gone. They were enraged at that. They were more interested in their pecuniary income than in the health of hundreds of citizens, old and young. Their cry after Elisha was not disrespect for old age. They did not call him Bald-head. He was not old. There is no evidence that he was baldheaded; but, if so, those boys probably would not have known it, as there is no proof that they ever had seen his uncovered head. He could have had no artificial baldness. That was forbidden (Lev_21:5, Num_6:5). Because of the miracle of the healing of the water, and the consequent loss to them of their gain, they cried after him, Go up, thou shaver! Go up, thou shaver! It is to be remarked that he had performed the miracle as the ambassador of Jehovah, and that when those boys cried out after him they were insulting Jehovah. The prophet did not take it as a personal offence He did not curse them in his own name. He cursed them in the name of Jehovah; and ii they had not committed any great sin against Jehovah he would never have visited them with so frightful a retribution. They, themselves, were murderously selfish and impious. They watched the prophets going out, and went out in a body for the purpose of insulting him as a prophet. It was justice that visited their sins upon them, and it was so connected with the miracle, that it seemed to be simply poetic justice, that whatever the punishment of their sins should be, it should be manifest as being of a kind with their sins. That is the principle which reigns throughout all intelligent moral government. They desired the death of others that they might make money. There is no lesson in this passage of respect for old age. There is no exhibition of bad temper on the part of the prophet. There is nothing of cruelty in the conduct of Jehovah. That God abhors selfishness, and that when human selfishness sets itself in opposition to the movements of Gods unselfish mercy and loving-kindness, then lie will administer to it a severe rebuke; this is the lesson. Selfishness and irreverence are the sins against which this narrative is levelled. If it be said that it is not likely that so many lads so large as these would have been torn, as represented in the text, it may be replied that she-bears, robbed of their whelps, are described as especially ferocious; and that when these lads heard the malediction pronounced by a prophet who had wrought the great miracle of cleansing the waters in their town, and then saw immediately two ferocious bears rushing toward them, their guilt and peril united to demoralise them, and while they were in this condition so many of them were hurt. It is to be noted that not one of the wicked boys is said to have lost his life. None perished, while many were punished. The story, instead of setting forth Jehovah as a cruel deity, actually presents him as a God who administers justice mercifully. (Sunday Magazine.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v23 2Ki_2:23. Little children—see note on נַעַר in 1Ki_3:7; same…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
2Ki_2:23. Little children—see note on נַעַר in 1Ki_3:7; same word as in 1Ki_12:8; 1Ki_12:10; 1Ki_12:14, young men. נְעָרִים describes ages from children to young men inclusive. Possibly these youthful revilers in sceptical Bethel, scoffing at Elisha’s report of Elijah’s translation to heaven, derisively taunted him, bidding him likewise “go up.” Baldhead—an Eastern epithet of contempt used regardless of the person being bald or old. Baldness was a mark of shame (Isa_3:17; Isa_3:24); priests were forbidden to shave (Lev_21:5). Their destruction was appalling, but rendered necessary by the profanity of the town. Had no judgment followed this insolent contemning of Jehovah in the person of His newly-designated prophet, it would have confirmed the people in their defiance and impiety.—W. H. J.
Read full note →
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki_2:23-25
THE DOOM OF THE SCOFFER
I. The scoffer reveals a spirit of hatred and opposition to that which is good. Bethel was the headquarters of the great apostasy—the home of idolatry. Here schools were established, in imitation of the schools of the prophets, to instruct the people in idolatrous practices, and to inflame their hearts with hatred towards Jehovah and His worship. Where people are taught to despise and detest that which is good, no wonder they are ever ready to indulge in profane, contemptuous, and splenetic scorn.
1. Scoffing is too common a sin of depraved youth. “There came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him.” We are not to understand infantile or irresponsible children, but those who had attained to youthful manhood, as distinguished from the middle-aged and the old. Perhaps these young people were the pupils of a teacher of the calf worship at Bethel, and, meeting with Elisha as they came from school, they assailed him with the contempt and ridicule in which they had been too well instructed. Wicked and badly trained youth take delight in holding the truth up to derision and mockery; they make sport of the holiest things, and glory in their own wickedness—“Fools make a mock at sin.” The scoffer is the lowest type of depravity; “the seat of the scornful” is the nearest seat to hell.
2. To scoff at the servants of God is an insult to God himself—“Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” It is not likely that Elisha was really bald-headed, as he was then comparatively young. The word was applied to him out of pure contempt, and in a way that would be most insulting. It was “a term of great indignity with the Israelites—baldness being usually seen among them as the effect of the loathsome disease of leprosy. It was equivalent to calling him a mean and unworthy fellow—a social outcast. In this sense it is still used as a term of abuse in the farther East, and is often applied as such to men who have ample heads of hair.” These profane mockers had heard that Elijah had been taken up to heaven, and they sneeringly expressed their wish that Elisha might share the same fate, and they would be well rid of him. But the sequel shows that Jehovah regarded the insult to His servant as directed against Himself. He is jealous for the character, reputation, and influence of His servants; he that “toucheth them, toucheth the apple of His eye” (Zec_2:8).
II. The scoffer may rouse the indignant threatening of the gentlest nature. “And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord.” How unlike the gentle, kindly, tender-hearted Elisha, as we have so far been led to regard him! It is more like the fierce outbreak of the fiery Eljah, the prophet of denunciation and wrath. But even the placid spirit of Elisha is aroused when the honour of His God is concerned. He cursed (the mocking youths, “not from personal resentment, but under a Divine impulse, without which no prophet ever dared to pronounce a curse. He cursed, and that was all. He did not punish.” The servant of God may patiently endure the scoffs and frowns and persecution of the world when they refer to himself only; but when the character of his God is maligned and His grandest work derided, the meekest become bold in vindicating the Divine glory. When Terantius, captain to the emperor Adrian, presented a petition that the Christians might have a temple to themselves in which to worship God apart from the Arians, the emperor tore the petition in pieces and threw it away, bidding the soldier to ask something for himself and it should be granted. Terantius modestly gathered up the fragments of the discarded petition, and said, with true nobility of mind, “If I cannot be heard in God’s cause, I will never ask anything for myself.”
III. The scoffer is sometimes signally punished. “And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood and tare forty and two children of them.” The offence, writes Kitto, involving as it did a blasphemous insult cast upon one of the Lord’s most signal acts, made a near approach to what in the New Testament is called the sin against the Holy Ghost. It became the Lord to vindicate His own honour among a people governed by sensible dispensations of judgment and of mercy; and it became Him to vindicate the character and authority of His anointed prophet at the outset of His high career. The pride, irreverence, and heartless disregard of the scoffer, will sooner or later meet with due recompense.
Hear the just doom, the judgment of the skies:
He that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies;
And he who will be cheated to the last,
Delusions, strong as hell, shall bind him fast.
LESSONS:—
1. Not the least evil of idolatry is that it produces a race of scoffers of the true God.
2. A scoffer is hardened against ordinary rebukes.
3. But erelong the scoffer meets with the just punishment of his sin.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki_2:23-24. The demoralizing effects of idolatry upon the young. I. It trains them in false ideas of God. II. It destroys their appreciation of the truly good. III. It inflates them with basest impertinence. IV. It exposes them to confusion and suffering.
2Ki_2:23. Young people are always ready to make wanton sport of any peculiar appearance which they do not understand. The unripe behaviour of the young generation which is growing up, always forms a shadowy reflection of the shallow opposition in moral and religious ideas which exists in public opinion. The separate bearers and supporters of the truth which is deep, and hence misunderstood by the masses, are, for the most part, objects of blind scorn to wild youth. That which found expression against Elisha has also fallen upon many in later times. He who, in the exercise of his calling, goes up to perverted Bethel, must expect it.—Cassel.
2Ki_2:24. As Elisha was not silent, so also now a faithful servant of the Lord may not keep silent if young people are brought up badly and godlessly. He ought not to let pass unnoticed their wickedness and impudence, and their contempt for that which is holy. It is his duty to warn them and their parents of the Divine punishment. Woe to the watchmen who are dumb watch-dogs, who cannot punish—who are lazy, and who are glad to lie and sleep.—Lange.
—O fearful example of Divine justice! This was not the revenge of an angry prophet, it was the punishment of a righteous judge. God and His seer looked through these children at the parents, at all Israel: he would punish the parents’ misnurturing their children, to the contemptuous usage of a prophet, with the death of those children which they had mistaught. He would teach Israel what it was to misuse a prophet: and if he would not endure these contumelies unrevenged in the mouths of children, what vengeance was enough for aged persecutors?—Bp. Hall.
—So Dr. Whittington, returning from martyring a good woman at Chipping-Sadbury, was gored by a bull. Dr. Story, who narrated that he had burned so many heretics, was hanged at Tyburn for treason. Hemingius tells of a lewd fellow in Denmark, who, showing great contempt against a preacher, as he passed out of the church, was brained with a tile falling on him. Luther tells of another who, going to the fields to look to his sheep, after he had railed most bitterly against a godly minister, was found dead—his body being burned as black as coal. “Be not ye mockers, lest your bands be increased.”—Trapp.
2Ki_2:25. The uses of retirement. I. Is sometimes sought by the most active spirits. II. Affords an opportunity for study and preparation. III. Gives new strength to grapple with sin in its greatest strongholds.
—Whither dare not a prophet go when God calls him? Having visited the schools of the prophets, Elisha retires to Mount Carmel, and, after some holy solitariness, returns to the city of Samaria. He can never be a profitable seer that is either always or never alone. Carmel shall fit him for Samaria; contemplation for action. That mother city of Israel must needs afford him most work.—Bp. Hall.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v23 went up from there to Bethel
went up from there to Bethel
The phrase "went up" is used her because Bethel is higher in elevation than Jericho.
Read full note →
Go up
The young boys wanted Elisha to go away from them and expressed this by saying "go up." AT: "Go away" (See: Idiom)
baldhead
A bald person does not have any hair on their head. The young boys were mocking Elisha for having a bald head.
forty-two of the boys
"42 of the boys" (See: Numbers)
translationWords
Bethel
mock
call
curse
Carmel
Samaria
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v23 2:23 The group of boys could have been young…
2:23 The group of boys could have been young adults; the Hebrew term has a wide range of meanings, at times being used of a young adult still unskilled in his profession, such as when Solomon petitioned the Lord for wisdom because he was young and inexperienced (1 Kgs 3:7). Joshua’s spies at Jericho were designated by the same term (Josh 6:22-23). • To call someone baldy was disrespectful. The young men told Elisha to go away (literally go up), mocking Elisha’s God-given position as successor to Elijah.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.