DUMB WAYS TO DIE

#9: 42 Youths –Dying As Delinquents

A Truly Bizarre Account

2 Kings 2:23-24 -- 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!” 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.

The Furor Of Atheists and Agnostics

“I feel sorry for you that you have to use the bible [sic] and its psychopathic, narcissistic, murdering god [sic] as your moral compass in life instead of using your own brain.” -- Internet Atheist

Internet Bible Critic

“No sane person would attempt to justify the homicide of 42 people of any age or gender simply for slinging verbal insults…their behavior warranted a stern lecture and some lashes, not death by the hand of God.”

Drive-By Theology

Knee-jerk reactions to unusual Bible accounts.

Removing texts from their immediate context to make scathing judgments against God.

No desire to understand – only to judge.

Plausibly Approaching The Issues

Early translations: Little Children Did God slay 42 little children for

sassing a prophet? Word study: QATON = Little,

lesser Genesis 1:16 -- God made the

two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

Genesis 9:24

“When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.”

Genesis 19:11

“They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with

blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves

trying to find the doorway.”

ISV: 2 Kings 2:23

“Later, Elisha left there to go up to Bethel, and as he was traveling along the road, some insignificant young men came from the city and started mocking him. They told him, ‘Get on up, baldy! Get on up, baldy!’”

Word Study: Na’ar = Youth

Genesis 14:24 – “I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eschol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

Joshua 6:23 “So the young men who were spies

went in and brought out Rahab and

her father and her mother and

her brothers and all she had; they also

brought out all her relatives and

placed them outside the camp of Israel.”

Important Elements

Bethel was a center for pagan idolatry. “Go up” – a reference

to the ascension of Elijah. Essentially – do what your master did and get out of here.

Bald head – was a highly offensive verbal attack.

Bible Thoughts On Baldness

Isaiah 3:17,24 –”Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs, And the Lord will make their foreheads bare….Now it will come about that instead of sweet perfume there will be putrefaction; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp.”

The Curse – Antithesis to Blessing

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 – “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God…and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments….”

Who Sent The Bears?

We have no reason to believe that Elisha either called for or had the power to summon the bears.

God apparently saw reason to send the bears to maul this group of young men.

Our God Of Righteousness

Psalm 1:5-6 – “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Psalm 9:8

“And He will judge the world in righteousness;He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.”

Psalm 19:9 – “…The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.”

Proverbs 18:5

“To show partiality to the wicked is not good, nor to thrust aside the righteous in judgment.”

God’s View vs. Our View

John 7:24 – “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

Destroyed For Lack Of Knowledge

Hosea 4:6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”