Crime & Punishment

Bronx Zoo.  Copyright 2012:  singeronthesand

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

My mother was very much a crime & punishment Christian.  The God she worshiped was sitting on His throne with a lightning bolt in His hand, ready and waiting to zap anyone who did something wrong.  Thus, this little two verse story in the Bible was one of her favorites.  Elijah, the main prophet of Israel at the time, had invited Elisha to go for a walk with him.  While strolling along, the older man indicated to the younger that he was to take over the prophetic office.  Suddenly, a firey chariot appeared in the sky, Elijah hopped on board, and he was whisked away - his mantle dropping to the ground in the process, indicating that Elisha was now God's spokesperson to the people of Israel.  Obviously the news of a spectacular event like that travels fast and furious.  Enter a group of youth who have heard the story, think it is hilarious (they probably didn't believe a word of it), and decide to jeer at the new prophet by telling him he could go to the same place as the last one.  

Nothing about the story so far is surprising:  gossip will be spread and kids will be kids.   Elisha's reaction, however, blows my mind.  I would expect a man of God to either ignore the taunters, or address them as adult and mentor, explaining his eye-witness account of Elijah's departure and admonishing them to watch their language.  Instead, he calls down a curse upon them - behavior that I would expect from Israel's enemies, not a prophet of God.  The story goes from bad to worse when the historian recording the exploits of ancient Israel records that two bears come out of the woods and maul 42 of the youth (just how many kids were there, for Pete's sake?), clearly implying that God sent the bears in response to Elisha's curse.

Mom's take on the morale of the story was clear:  talk back to your mother and God is gonna get you!  I did not believe that interpretation as a child, and I do not believe it now.  Crime and punishment gods were rampant among the heathen: they sacrificed women, children and babies in order to keep the deities happy.  The God of heaven stated for the record numerous times that He abhorred human sacrifice. What in the world would make anyone believe that He would purposely send bears to shred kids, just because one of His fallible human prophets lost his temper?