Commentary on 2 Kings 2:23 - 24

Kirk Straughen

(Investigator 217, 2024 July)


“He [the prophet Elisha]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.” (2 Kings 2:23 - 24).

In this passage of scripture, quoted from the Revised Standard version it is clear that, if taken literally: God kills (or at the very least severely injures) children. Some apologists may attempt to deflect blame by claiming that it is Elisha who killed the children by his curse. This, however, is untenable as the act is clearly brought about by the intervention of divine power which comes directly from God.

Other apologists may attempt to justify the brutality by claiming that it is a punishment for insulting the prophet - the mouthpiece of God, and therefore it is a response to a personal insult to God. But if this is the case then it is a very poor reflection on God. Is God’s ego so fragile, so debased that he has to kill children to relieve the affront of childish insults? This behaviour is more in keeping with the actions of a psychopathic Middle Eastern tyrant than the actions of an all-wise, all-powerful and loving God, or his representatives for that matter.

How can this passage of scripture be explained? In my opinion the answer is most likely found in the psychology of its author: People with authoritarian personality traits abhor being ridiculed as they perceive this as a threat to their authority and prestige. Humor that makes fun of an individual can undermine the image they have of themselves, and authoritarian personalities are particularly sensitive to this. Therefore, people with authoritarian personalities often seek to eliminate the perceived threat to their ego and this can lead to extreme violence - behaviour to which they are often predisposed:

“Because they are full of hatred, authoritarians need to punish others. They are likely to advocate for capital punishment, for harsh punishment for all offenders … Authoritarians are regularly assaultive and violent and even more often—sometimes constantly—in a state of barely suppressed near-violence.” (1)

People create gods in their own image. Kindly people create a kindly conception of God; brutal people create a brutal conception of God. In my opinion this is illustrated in the unedifying 2 Kings 2:23 - 24.

Did the event described in 2 Kings 2:23 - 24 actually happen? If God exists and is an all-wise and loving deity then I think that we can be sure the answer is no.

Notes

1.    What You Can Expect From an Authoritarian:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/rethinking-mental-health/201711/what-you-can-expect-authoritarian

Bible (Revised Standard Version)

Why Trump — and other authoritarians — can’t take a joke:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/19/why-trump-other-authoritarians-cant-take-joke/


 
BEARS and The Bible

Anonymous

(Investigator 217, 2024 September)


Israel like Africa

Elisha served as prophet for over 50 years, starting about 850 BCE, in ancient Israel. Near the start of his ministry two "she bears" mauled 42 youngsters who were harassing him. (II Kings 2:24) Is this plausible?.

Ancient Israel's dangerous wildlife was like 19th century Africa:  Lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, hyenas, hippos, camels, wild horses, zebra, crocodiles, ostriches, wolves, wild dogs, hornets, large birds of prey, poisonous snakes, scorpions,  spiders, disease-carrying insects, and bears.


Bears North America

Wikipedia lists more than 200 known fatal bear attacks in North America since 1784 by Black bears, Brown bears and Polar bears.

The attacks include cases of 2 or 3 people killed in one attack by one bear. In 2022 a bear attacked a "group" of soldiers, the actual number not stated, with one death. Many attacks were by female bears when the female perceived threat to her cubs. Some bears were predatory and without provocation pulled people out of tents or smashed into cabins. People often fled but the bear chased and caught them or climbed a tree after them. One bear in 2005 killed two adults in a tent but was distracted by three others on a raft and chased them downriver for 800 meters. Most attacks occurred when people appeared suddenly or were noisy or displayed "vigorous activity". The maximum children killed in one attack is three.


Syrian Brown Bear

The Syrian Brown Bear was common anciently throughout the Middle East and still survive in mountain forests around the Caspian Sea. They eat a range of vegetation, grains, nuts and small mammals. Their young are born in winter usually in a cave or hollow of a tree.

Syrian Bears are smaller than North American bears. But their behavior toward humans is similar. Adults can weigh 250kg and can be as dangerous as lions if sensing threat to their cubs:

Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. (Proverbs 28:15)

Better to confront a she-bear robbed of its cubs than to confront a fool immersed in folly.(Proverbs 17:12)

I Samuel 17:37 mentions lion, bear and Goliath the Philistine giant  in order of danger, implying bears can be more dangerous than lions. Especially when cubs are involved. (Hosea 13:8)

Young's Analytical Concordance confirms the bears (in II Kings 2) were "she bears" which therefore acted as she bears with cubs would act. The 42 youngsters were not necessarily all killed. The King James Bible says "tare" [=  "torn"]; the NIV Bible says "mauled".


Ferocious Bears

The age range the Hebrew word na'ar refers to is child to "young man". But would 20-year-olds chase someone and yell "you baldhead", "you baldhead"? Or is it what kids would do? 

The intention for recording Elisha's bear experience might be merely as another event in his eventful life. Alternatively it perhaps suggests that God guarded Elisha from wild animals like He may have guarded  David. (I Samuel 17:34-37) Baldness was not, in the Scriptures, regarded negatively unless the exposed skin was diseased in which case quarantine was commanded. (Leviticus 13:4-44) Deliberate self-induced baldness, however, was banned. (Leviticus 21:1-5; Deuteronomy 14:1) The "baldhead" chant could imply that Elisha's appointment to ministry was invalid and he's a fraud. Such allegations the bears, by subduing the harassment, refuted.

Critics might ask whether the bear attack was coincidence or whether the Bible writer implies God stirred the bears into action. The Bible doesn't say. However, the location was west of the Jordan near Jericho, an area of hills, narrow rocky valleys, in ancient times forested, and the bears did what threatened she-bears naturally do.

Plausible is that two bears each with cubs, nested a short distance apart among trees and out of sight. Elisha walking quietly got past safely. The crowd of noisy young ruffians yelled insults when situated between the two bears. Responding to perceived threat, movement and noise, the bears charged out in front and behind the crowd. Pandemonium, with people screaming and trampling each other in attempts to flee, would have exacerbated the bears' ferocity.

The Bible gets the circumstances of location, bear-gender, noise, movement and threat, and bear-response correct. Therefore, if one bear in America can kill three people, possible also is the Elisha scenario of two bears mauling 42 juveniles caught between them.

Straughen speculates that the author of II Kings 2:24 was a "Middle Eastern tyrant" of "authoritarian personality". This is as silly as dismissing American bear attacks as stories invented by authoritarian reporters. Bear attacks have lately also increased in Japan, and are unrelated to reporters' character, more than 200 attacks in 2023 with six people killed.

Objective analysis of II Kings 2 considers bear behavior and assesses whether the scenario is physically possible. This we have done, and it is.


Ethical Lessons

In Elisha's time the Law of Moses and the Proverbs were available as Scripture. If the crowd had observed the following proverbs, the bear attack might not have happened:

Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent. (Proverbs 11:12)

Those who mock the poor insult their Maker... (17:5)

Foolish children are a grief to their father... (17:25)

Elisha, despite his overall reputation for mildness, "cursed" the provocative crowd, perhaps forgetting that:

Fools show their anger at once, but the prudent ignore an insult. (Proverbs 12:16)

Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense. (19:11)

Perhaps more forbearance by Elisha was desirable, but we don't know all the circumstances. One theme of the Bible is that no human is perfect. (Romans 3:23)


REFERENCES:

Cansdale, G.S. 1970 Animals of Bible Lands, Paternoster

Pinney, R. 1964  The Animals in the Bible, Chilton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America.html

https://www.worldlandtrust.org/species/mammals/syrian-brown-bear/