Problematic Passages Week 2

Elisha: prophets and baldness and bears…oh my!

Good morning, today we are continuing our series called Problematic Passages, in which we discuss some of the stories or situations that can be hard to understand…especially for those who are young in the faith or those who are not yet believers. If you are like me, sometimes I can read a story in the Bible and just shake my head, wondering what the person or people were thinking at the time…other times, I can actually identify with the situation. For most of us today, it is very difficult to take off our 21st century “New Covenant” lenses to be able to understand why certain things happened.

Last week we examined the story of Tamar in Genesis. If you were not here or haven’t seen it on YouTube, I would encourage you to check it out when you get the chance. Today’s story also takes place in the O.T., in the book of 2nd Kings Chapter 2. This is an interesting story that takes a great deal of context to fully understand…and even then, it still seems pretty bizarre. All of that said, I still think this is one of the most misunderstood passages in scripture.

Let’s begin by reading the passages, then we will go back and fill in the context of what was going on, but first, let’s pray.

PRAY

2nd Kings 2:23-25

“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 He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.” NASB

I also want to read these passages from the NIV

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria. NIV

OK, now, if we were to read these passages all by themselves, like we just did and had no context behind the situation, it appears as though Elisha was walking down a road when a group of young men, or boys, as the NIV puts it are out having fun, come across Elisha and started making fun of him being bald…maybe Elisha was having a bad day, so he curses these boys and has 2 bears come out of the woods to attack them.

I wanted to read the two different versions, because there are some important differences between the two. Typically, the difference in versions do not matter too much…as long as the translation is credible…but in this story, some of the wording in the NIV seems to be much different than the NASB. For example, in the NASB, the crowd says to Elisha “go up, you baldhead” while the NIV says “get out of here, baldy,” maybe on the surface it may not seem like a big difference, but in reality, according to what was actually recorded in Hebrew, there is a big difference. We will get into why this difference matters in a bit.

First though, let’s go back and look at some of the context that surrounds this story. First, the books of 1st and second kings are all about, guess what…the kings of Israel and Judah. We know that Saul was the first king of Israel, then David…then Solomon, right. Well, not long after Solomon died, the nation of Israel split into two nations, The northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Once the split occured, each nation had their own king. The nation of Judah followed the line of David while the northern kingdom of Israel followed the line of a guy named Jeroboam. By the time our guy, Elisha comes onto the scene, the kingdom’s had been divided for some time, a few decades.

Most of the kings after Solomon were very wicked in God’s site. They would erect idols and encourage idolatry. In fact, king Jeroboam had built a large idol in the town of Bethel…where the interaction between Elisha and the young men took place.

1 Kings 12:26–33

26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. 27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” 28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31 And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. 32 Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

The town of Bethel had been, for a long time, one of the two main sites of idol worship in Israel. In these passages we can see how fearful he was, that the people would return to the Southern kingdom of Judah and pledge their allegiance to Rehoboam…who was King over Judah in the South. As a result of this fear, Jeroboam set up idols for the people to worship. If the king could get people to worship these idols, then they would be loyal to them and not return to Judah. He set up two major sites where the people could offer sacrifices and worship…one of them was Bethel. Jeroboam even went so far as to put priests in these locations. It is clear from these passages that the town of Bethel was an evil place, filled with wickedness and idolatry. By the time Elisha arrives on the scene, Bethel had been the seat of idolatry for a long time. So, that is a little back ground about the town of Bethel…obviously not a Godly place at all.

Now, let’s take a look at what brought Elisha to that area to begin with.

2nd Kings 2: 1

“1 And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

In scripture, the name Elisha is most always associated with the name Elijah. In fact, when telling the stories of Elijah and Elisha, it’s easy to get confused who did what. If you do not know the full story of Elijah, he is a great person to study. Today, I do not have the time to fully explain who Elijah was…but it is fair to say that Elijah was Elisha’s mentor. Here in 2nd Kings 2, Elijah is about to be taken up to heaven, we do not know exactly WHY God choose to do this, but that’s what happens. In this chapter, we have these two prophets walking along, in the area of Bethel.

Although we do not know how, the people in that area knew that Elijah was going to be taken up into heaven by God. This is important to know, because of what happens later. Again, we don’t know how or why the people found out…only that it was not a secret. Elisha knew this as well and was probably concerned that it could happen soon.

2nd Kings 2: 9-14

“9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” 10 He said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” 11 As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. 12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

Both Elijah and Elisha knew that Elijah was about to be taken away…perhaps in another sermon I will tell you my opinion on why God did this, rather than let Elijah die a natural death. Anyway, before Elijah was taken away, he asked his young apprentice what he would like…kind of a, hey, I’m about to leave for good, what is one last thing I can do for you. Elisha replied, give me a double portion of the spirit that is on you…modern day, we would say, give me a double portion of your anointing. In other words, Elisha had seen God work through and use Elijah, so he wanted even more than what Elijah had.

Elijah then told him that if he sees him, as God is taking him away…then it shall happen. What Elisha asked for was a pretty big deal…I think Elijah simply left it up for God to decided by saying what he did. Elijah probably t thought, if the young man’s heart is pure in his request, then God would allow it....and it turns out that God took Elijah up almost immediately.

There are lots of other smaller detail to the story that you can read on your own, the purpose of this narrative is to give you context to what happens in vs. 23-25. Elisha ends up getting the “double portion” he asked for. Again, there are a ton of things I could talk about in regard to this portion of 2nd Kings, for today thought, let’s focus on our story.

So, Elijah is now gone and Elisha assumes his role as prophet. We can only imagine how overwhelming it was for Elisha to see a chariot come out of heaven and swoop up the mentor that he cared about so much.

Continuing on, starting in vs. 15-22 of the chapter, Elisha is officially recognized at Elijah’s successor by those who were there when Elijah was taken up by God. Pretty much right away Elisha is asked to perform a miracle. A towns water had gone bad, so the men of the town came to Elisha, asking him to fix it…so he did. And that brings us up to our particular passages where Elisha is walking through the town of Bethel and is confronted by a rowdy group of young men. So, keep in mind a few things, first, that the town of Bethel is the main center of idolatry in Israel and second, that Elisha had just lost his mentor.

So, now that we know some of the context behind the story, let’s break down the verses we are looking at today.

2nd Kings 2:23-25

“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 He went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.”

Now we have a better understanding of the mindset of Elisha when he was approaching the town of Bethel, we also know more about the town of Bethel…that is was the center of idolatrous worship. Remember the difference I pointed out in the beginning, according to the NIV, the crowd says: Get out of here, baldy…but the NASB says “go up you bald head.” The reason that the NIV translated it “get out of here, baldy” is because our English language does not have a proper way to explain what the young men were saying to Elisha. The NASB stuck with the most literal translation…but even that doesn’t make much sense, without explanation.

In reality, when the mob of young men approached Elisha, they were mocking his mentor, Elijah…who had gone up in a chariot. These guys were saying to Elisha that he needed to “go up” just like his mentor. These young men were mocking the fact that Elijah had been taken up by God and in a sense, saying to Elisha that they wished he was gone as well. I think most of us know that if there was one thing God did not like, it was people mocking His prophets. God normally dealt with this in a pretty harsh manner.

Four other things we need to understand about these passages:

First, vs. 23 said that the young men “came out from the city,” and that when Elisha looked behind him... he saw them. This is important because it tells us that these young men were not merely standing far off. Came out from the city means that they were pursuing Elisha, apparently from behind. More than likely, they were coming after him, in order to confront Elisha close up.

The second important thing to keep in mind is the sheer number of people that came out of the city to confront Elisha. There were at least 42 of them and probably more. This was not a small group of young boys, as is the common perception with this story. This was a group of upwards of 50 young men, aged anywhere between 16 to 20 years old. Imagine walking down the street and all of a sudden dozens of teenagers come out, start threatening you and mocking you. It is very possible and in my view, logical to conclude that Elisha was afraid that things might get out of control, perhaps he even feared for his life in this moment…thus, calling down a curse on the large group he was protecting himself. However, even it that is not the case, Elisha and he didn’t fear for his life…it’s no doubt that this was a VERY stressful situation.

Thirdly, to us it may seem that the term “baldy” is no big deal, but most scholars believe that the large group of young men were not simply making fun of a guy going bald, rather, the insult was more akin to a racial epitaph. In other words, the group was mocking the actual office of prophet hood, not just a guy who had no hair.

Lastly, people often assume that everyone died, when that is not what the text says, at all. It says that the bears “tore up,” or a better word for this is mauled, which is different than killed. If the bears had killed the young men, that’s what the text would have said…I’m sure some of them were killed, while some of them were hurt really bad or mauled, while some of them got away…it says the bears mauled 42 of them, meaning there were probably a lot more than that. I’m sure that some of the group simply scattered and ran away.

OK, that is the full context of Elisha’s encounter. It’s not quite as simple as it appears on the surface. Anytime you put someone in a situation, in which they potentially fear for their life, things can turn ugly. Additionally, in the O.T., God relied on the prophets to be His mouthpiece to the nation of Israel. God did not take it lightly when someone mocked or attacked His prophets…the people who did such things, did so at their own peril.

I think it is clear from all of the context surrounding these passages that these young men were not merely, light-hardheartedly, ribbing Elisha. Often, that is how the story is portrayed…that Elisha simply can’t take a joke, except the evidence and the context do not point to that being the case. In a story like this, as with most scripture, God judges the heart, not just the actions. In my view, the reason that Elisha did what he did was because he discerned the wicked heart of these individuals. They held contempt in their heart for both Elisha and Elijah As I said, God did not take that lightly, as these men were God’s mouthpiece at the time. Elisha was a threat to the idolatry that was pervasive in the town of Bethel. While the actual words and threatening manner in which this group approached Elisha was bad, it was their heart that was offensive to God.

So, what can you and I take away from this story? What principles are present that can translate to today, without taking things way out of context?

Well, thankfully, we live under the New Covenant of Grace today…that said, God does not change, still today, God desires a pure heart above all else…

So, how can we be sure that our hearts are pleasing to the Lord? How many of our decisions, if held up to the perfect light of the Father would be washed away, due to impure, selfish or prideful motives? It’s not my goal to cast any condemnation here, as I am pointing this at myself just as much. Those of us who claim to live for Christ should always be on the lookout for areas of our life that have not been fully submitted to the Lord....because we all have those areas. When we make a confession of faith to the Lord, our heart becomes cleansed…that is the free gift of salvation…but purity of heart is something that occurs as we submit the different areas of our life to God. This is why it says in

Acts 15: 8-9

“8 And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”

A clean heart is something that can only be done by God…the blood of Christ cleansed our hearts. As I said, this is the free gift of salvation, that we can not earn by being “good enough.” However, you do not have to be around Christians very long to discover, that just because they have a clean heart…doesn’t automatically mean they have a pure heart…meaning pure speech, actions and thoughts. This is why you can have a genuine believer that struggles with pride, greed, selfishness, control and various other things.

In my experience, there are 2 areas of our life we must bring under subjection to God, in order to assure that our hearts our pure.Before I mention these things, I want to say that I am mainly speaking with believers here. If a person has not experienced the cleansing power of salvation, that is what should come first…the Bible says that our hearts are deceitfully wicked…meaning that we are inherently sinful people, in need of a savior. I wanted to make that clear. That said, for those who call Christ their Lord, here are 2 areas that we must bring under subjection:

Speech

Thoughts

I originally had 3 areas, our speech, thoughts and actions…but I got to thinking that our actions are normally determined by our thoughts and speech. Therefore, if we are able to bring our words and thoughts and submit them to t he Lord, our actions, or the things we do will follow suite. For example, a Christian who struggles with certain actions, like pornography do so, in large part, because of they way they think…they have lust in their hearts. Their thinking leads to the action of consuming pornography. Or, take a person who has a tendency to spout off and say mean things to others…perhaps that person has been working on their anger or pride internally, but because their tongue has not been brought under subjection, they continue to say things they shouldn’t. Most of us have experienced times where we say things, before we even have the chance to fully think it through. I do not have time to go into these areas in depth, so I will do a quick overview.

1. Our Speech

Luke 6: 44-45

“44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

The expository commentary puts it this way...

Those who are good, whose hearts are transformed by God’s grace, bring forth what is good. Conversely, those who are wicked are rotten trees, and thus evil comes from their hearts. The words we speak reveal what is in our hearts and display our true character.

The way we speak matters. The language we use indicates what is in our hearts. This is why sarcasm can be so bad. This is an area I struggle with the most, I’d say. I tend to use sarcasm when I want to say something hurtful…but I say it in a joking manner, so I can then proclaim…oh, I’m just joking.

Do our words reflect the character of Christ, whether we are at home, in the car, on the phone or in conversation with others? Scripture talks much about the power of the tongue.

Proverbs 18:21

“21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Notice here that we have a choice in the words we use…either life or death. As I was writing this sermon, I was thinking to myself that I’ve never really taken the time to pray over my speech. I had to stop what I was doing and do that, and as I was doing that a particular verse came into my thought…although I didn’t know exactly where it was. So I looked it up. It is:

Psalm 141:3

“3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Would that we all take a moment to pray this every morning when we wake up and start the day in order that our speech become pleasing to the Lord.

2. Our Thoughts

I saved this one for last, as it is the main battleground for most people. It is our thought life that often drives the rest of who we are. Earlier I used the example of pornography and that the reason people struggle with that is because of the way they think. There are many examples of how our thought life can affect us. If we our thoughts are born of pride and arrogance, that will be manifest in our actions. If we are overly rigid in our thinking, that will come across in how we treat others. If we harbor resentment in our minds, it will come through, no matter how much you try and hide it. There are so many great passages that deal with our thought lives and unfortunately I do not have time to cover them all. I had to chose one that best fits the topic. That said, on your hand out I have listed a number of passages that are on the topic.

Romans 8: 5-8

Col 3: 1-4

Ephesians 4: 22-32

2 Cor. 10:5

Much like our speech, our thought lives can either bring life or death. Think about how many times we have allowed our minds to wonder to places they shouldn’t be. Think about the times when someone says something you don’t like…and while you may remain silent, in your mind you have much contempt for them. I realize that there is no easy way for us to bring our thoughts under control,but it is vital that we do so. Scripture actually has some great instruction for those who battle with an ungodly thought life, whether that is negativity, lust, pride, or any number of fleshly things. Most are very familiar with these passages and know them, yet do not actually apply them.

Philippians 4: 8-9

“8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

There is a good reason that scripture talks so much about how we think. I think the church is often so focused on getting a person to act right that we neglect what I believe to be the most important part of our life in Christ…how we think. Paul lists about 8 things for us to think about and then follows up with a command in vs. 9

(1) true, (2) honorable, (3) just, (4) pure, (5) lovely, (6) commendable, (7) excellent, or (8) worthy of praise. The best way for us to think about these things is to fix our eyes squarely on Christ, because he perfectly lived out all of them. He is the fullness of goodness, truth, and beauty. In other words, Christians should stay away from all that is false, dishonorable, unjust, impure, ugly, improper, inferior, or unworthy. So, Paul says, now that we know what to think, he says that we are to “practice these things.”

I wonder how many of our day to day problems would solve themselves is we were to put these instructions to use? How much stress and contention in our lives is cause by our fleshly thought life? If you ever wanted to take the time to do your own word study, Philippians 4:8 is a great place to start. You can take each of the words and look them up, cross reference them with other passages, in order to draw out the depth of these instructions.

Let’s wrap up.

In our story today, the prophet Elisha has gotten a bad rap for his actions. People often misunderstand the full context behind the story. Elisha was put into very unique situation with unique circumstances. I’m not saying that Elisha couldn’t have done something less…violent, but we must take into account the time, place and culture. While we do have to make a few leaps of logic, I think it’s more than safe for us, given the rampant idolatry in Bethel, that these young men had devious intentions and were not just lightly teasing, rather, they were mocking God and His chosen mouthpiece. As I said before, I believe that God saw wickedness in their hearts.

As a follower of Christ, I desire to have a pure heart before the Lord. I want my innermost desires and motives to aligned with my heavenly Father. Although this is not always an easy task, there are things we can do to put us on the right trajectory to meet that high calling. A truly pure heart requires that we bring our words and thoughts under the authority of Christ.

Matthew 5:8

“8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

My challenge for you today is to have that same desire. I can struggle in these 2 areas, no different than you. We must all work on these things on a daily basis. This upcoming week I would like for us to meditate on some of the verses I mentioned today. They are all in the handout. Every day when you wake up, be intentional about dedicating your speech and thoughts to the Lord. Be intentional about thinking on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praise worthy. Be intentional about the words you say and ensure they are life giving, to yourself and to those around you.

If you need to repent in this area, now is the time.

Let’s Pray.