Elisha and the She Bears

Growing up as a kid what was your favorite Bible Story. Many of you probably were read to from a Kid’s Bible like this one. I often read stories to my two girls ages two and three from this very book. They like reading strange stories like Jonah and the big fish. Or times when Jesus performed awesome miracles.

As you have gotten older you have hopefully noticed that all of the stories in the Bible are not written in your old kid’s Bible. And for good reason right? And tonight’s strange story is no exception.

In fact I would venture to guess that many here tonight have never heard of this strange story. Because it is not one that is regularly told in a Bible class or sermon.

In fact I have been in the church my entire life and to my knowledge I have never heard the story taught in Bible class. After all I think I would remember a class titled Elisha and the She Bears.

So what in the world is this story all about why have many people never heard it before. Well, lets find out. Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Kings 2.

Before we we read the strange story about theses she bears let me get you up to speed about what is going on in 2 Kings.

Often times in the Bible God used prophets to speak on his behalf to his people.

One of the prophets that God used was named Elijah.

You see, Elijah was was nearing the end of his tenure as a prophet so he was mentoring his successor, Elisha. And as we will see in our text Elisha knew that his mentor was about to leave him.

Let me ask you have you ever had to take over leadership for someone before? Especially for someone who was well known, loved and good at what they did. Maybe you had to become the captain of your sports team, or a team project at school.

It can be a daunting task, right?Did you ever have doubts that you could do as good of a job as the leader before you? Well if you have you are not alone. Elisha the prophet chosen to take the place of Elijah doubted that he could live up the expectations that Elijah had for him.

Because of this Elisha did not want Elijah to leave. In fact more than once he was reminded that Elijah was going to be leaving him and he just tells these son’s of the prophets as the text calls them to keep quiet. He says quit reminding me that my mentor is leaving me. You don’t think I know this by now.

So in 2 Kings 2 starting in verse 9 Elijah, knowing that he is about to leave ask Elisha if there is anything else that he can do for him before he leaves.

So Elisha says well there is one thing. Would you please give me a double portion of your spirit. You see Elisha wanted to make sure that he had Elijah’s and God’s blessing to move forward as the new prophet of God.

Soon after this request we have another strange story in the Bible. Elijah tells Elisha that he will know if his request for this double portion is granted to him if he is able to witness him leave the earth before his very eyes.

And in 2 Kings 2:11-12

2 Kings 2:11–12 ESV

And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Can you imagine talking with your best friend and mentor and then all of a sudden you are separated from him and you watch him as he leaves earth. Pretty crazy right?

So since Elisha was able to witness this strange event he new that he was going to be blessed by God as the next prophet. And if we kept reading in the text we see that most of the people recognized him as the next prophet.

So now we come to 2 Kings 2:15 and following. We are getting closer to reading about these so called she bears. But it is important that we just don’t skip ahead to the good part of the story or bad part depending on how you want to look at it.

Before we can read about these she bears we need to understand that there are going to be two events that are linked together to show that Elisha is in fact the successor to Elijah.

Let’s read about the first one. 2 Kings 2:15-22

2 Kings 2:15–22 ESV

Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.” But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him. And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?” Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

The first event to confirm that Elisha has succeeded Elijah as the prophet is the curing of the waters at Jericho.

Here we see a people who blessed Elisha as the new prophet and then soon after Elisha blessed them by curing there diseased water.

Now let’s keep reading and see how this next event also shows the people that Elisha is in fact the next prophet of God.

2 Kings 2:23–25 ESV

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Wow the people of Bethel were not quiet as receptive of Elisha being the next prophets as those in Jericho were.

They didn’t welcome him with open arms but instead what did they call him. Baldhead.

Now, I have been pretty fortunate in my family becasue I am one of six boys and the majority of my brothers are either completely bald or going bald. You see I want to hang on to my hair as long as possible so that I don’t get welcomed like Elisha did.

After all how would you like it if someone meeting you for the first time greeted you by calling you balled and telling you to get lost.

You see it is very clear that these people wanted nothing to do with Elisha.

So now there are a few questions we need to answer to fully understand what is taking place here.

Why call him Baldhead. Its obvious that it was an insult. By why not use another insulting name.

The text seems to be indicating that this was another way for these men to deny that Elisha was the next prophet.

2 Kings 1:8 ESV

They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

In 2 Kings 1:8 we see that Elijah the prophet was a hairy man so taunting Elisha as a bald man would be an insult to show that he is not a prophet like his mentor Elijah.

2. The next question we need to answer is were these really little kids that got mauled by these two she bears?

Most