“And [Elisha] 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. 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.” – 2 Kings 2:23-24 (KJV)
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” 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 youths. – 2 Kings 2:23-24 (NIV)
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,(A) 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. – 2 Kings 2:23 – 24 (English Standard Version)
Vanuit Jericho ging hij naar Bethel. Terwijl hij over de weg liep, scholden enkele kleine jongens uit de stad hem uit en riepen: “Kaalkop, Kaalkop!”
Hij draaide zich om en vervloekte hen in de naam van de HERE. Onmiddellijk kwamen twee beren uit de bossen tevoorschijn en doodden 42 kinderen. – 2 Koningen 2:23-24 (in Dutch, because I can!)
God is not a god of proportional responses. In this little story, we have a group of children making fun of one of God’s prophets because the man is balding. Well, being folicly challenged myself, I can understand why the man might feel a little put-upon at that. On the other hand, summong a pair of bears to tear forty-two children into tiny parts doesn’t exactly seem like a good, well-reasoned response to me.
But, hey, what do I know? I’m just a mere mortal with my own well-developed sense of justice and righteousness. For all I know, it’s pefectly acceptable to kill a bunch of little kids for making fun of someone. After all, I seem to recall Leviticus made a similar statement
Now I suppose one could make the argument that the children weren’t actually killed, per se. They were just mauled. I’m sure that, medical science being what it was back in the day, the children no doubt recovered completely and suffered no infections or trauma from their horrible experience.
The morality of the Bible is really badly broken, and this is a fine example of that. I know the apologists like to say that these weren’t children, but young men. You know what? I don’t care. If someone mocks me for my lack of hair, I don’t have the right to do anything to them aside from call them names back. I can’t attack them. I can’t kill them. I can’t release wild animals to devour them. Nothing. And that’s perfectly fine, because I’m a mature adult in a rational society.
Unlike, apparently, God.
May 15, 2008 at 7:35 am
God didn’t send any beasts on the kids. The man did. =/
I really see nothing in that passage stating that God sent those bears. Just that guy said, “God damn” and the bears attacked.
L2comprehend reading, kthnxbaidieinafire.
May 15, 2008 at 7:41 am
Oh, so they were magic bears who, just coincidentally, happened to be in the area when one of God’s prophets was in a bitchy mood? No, not buying it. At the very least this was one of God’s agents and he refused to do anything to prevent this.
May 15, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Levi’s comment is very interesting. It’s so common to hear religious people say things like “I prayed to God , asking for his help with X and then Y happened, which just goes to prove God is real”. And yet, when an example is given of this in the Bible, Elisha cursing the children in God’s name and the children being attacked by bears, Levi puts it down to coincidence.
I don’t believe a God made bears attack children, but I do think the writer of the story was making a direct link between the appeal to God and the bear attack with the intention of instilling fear in the reader.
May 15, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Well, and at the very least, if God didn’t approve of the behavior shown, we’d exect to see the Metatron standing up before the press and saying, “Of course God is disapointed at the course of actions Elijah took in his name, and wants to make it clear that he neither sanctions nor favors these actions.”