WHEN THE BIBLE DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

2 KINGS 2:23-24 This makes it look like Elisha is heartless and that God doesn’t like children. But Jesus said let the little children come onto me, then Jesus blessed them Mark 10:13-16. So which is it God loves children in the new testament but hated them in the old testament???

When I read this, it left me with a check in my spirit, that I don’t understand something. Something isn’t flowing with the nature and character of God. When you read the bible, it needs to be interpreted with the history and culture of that era. In 2 Kings 2:23-24 there is some culture that needs to be accounted for, children was used to represent different classifications of people (Children of God) (The Children of Isreal). When the word children was used in the bible it could represent --- Adult Children; Teenagers; or Youth.

Now lets go back and try to understand 2 Kings 2:23-24 little children out of the city, little children don’t leave the city, they are with their families. These were young adults. On this occasion Elisha was returning from beyond Jordan where Elijah had been caught up in a chariot of fire and taken to heaven. News of this event had spread like wildfire over the countryside. Many people knew about it as Elisha returned to Bethel. Probably the news media of the day carried the news about Elijah. I am guessing there was a headline about the prophet and the chariot of fire. There was also a school for false prophets at Bethel. It was, of course, an imitation of the school of prophets in Judah. It was in this atmosphere that the children of Bethel were educated. They were godless. If these “children” were beginners, primaries, juniors, or even junior high young people, I would have to admit that Elisha was rather cruel because what happened would be contrary to the teaching of the rest of Scripture. “Little children” is naar or nahar in Hebrew. It is used of Isaac when he was twenty–eight, of Joseph when he was thirty–nine, also for the Sodomites who attacked the home of Lot. You will find it used in other places in Scripture, and it does not refer to little children as we think of them. The hoodlums who were taunting Elisha were young men, not little children. You will find this word used in many places in Scripture, and in every other place it is translated “young men.” This was a crowd of young fellows.

They were students of the false prophets. They were a gang that mocked and ridiculed Elisha. They said, “Go up, thou bald head.” What did they mean by that? They were telling him to do the same thing Elijah had done. They were saying, “Why don’t you take off like Elijah did?” They were ridiculing the truth in Scripture that God will take a people out of this world. After they mocked Elisha he looked at them and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Elisha looked at them and used the name of the Lord. You can look at your circumstance and pronounce a curse against it in the name of the Lord and it will dry up. Because of the spoken words ( we must speak to the situation Mark 11:23-24 ) and using the name of the Lord Phil 2:9 the she bears tore up 42 of them. God glorified Himself. News of the she bears spread instantly in a godless community, installing the fear of the Lord in the community and school of false prophets. Now I hope these passages make sense now and reflect the nature, character, and Glory of God.

Some information was taken from: McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: History of Israel (1 and 2 Kings) (electronic ed., Vol. 13, p. 165). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.