“Dark Devotion” (Ray Patchett and Steve Messer)
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, 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.
We lived in Ethiopia for a number of years when it was very stable politically. Soon after we returned to Australia, Ethiopia’s wise and gifted president died and we were worried that the power vacuum would create upheaval. Thankfully, a transition occurred without much incident.
2 Kings 2 is filled with the tension and concern of what might happen to the northern kingdom Israel upon the departure of the powerful and bold prophet of Yhwh, Elijah – whose very name reflects his ministry – Yhwh is my God. Who
will now contend with the prevalent Baal worship? As we’ve seen, a major reason for the book of Kings is an explanation for the exile of the northern Israel and then southern Judah, interpreted in light of the covenant terms outlined in Deuteronomy.
This chapter as a whole is the transition from the prophet Elijah to Elisha, who boldly desires a double portion of the ‘spirit of Elijah’ (2:9), which he receives (2:13-15). Elisha’s first action is one of healing (2:19-22), reflecting his name – my God saves. Jericho was a cursed place (Joshua 6:26; 1 Kings 16:34), but now through Elisha Yhwh brings healing/grace and restores its toxic water supply. If only Israel would listen to his word and receive his grace!
But, as the next incident shows they had no place for God’s word by its new voice, Elisha. Bethel was an important centre of the northern kingdom and was one of the two locations where a golden bull was set up (1 Kings 12:25- ), which is ironic because Bethel means ‘house of God.’ Many youths (maybe early teens) purposefully came out of town with the sole purpose to mock or ridicule Elisha. Their taunt seems to operate on a number of levels.
Firstly, by calling him ‘baldy’, beyond the sheer rudeness of speaking to a superior that way, they are saying, you are no Elijah (who was hairy 1:8). Secondly, the ‘go up’ taunt makes sense when we look at the same use of this phrase in the first part of this verse. Elisha was ‘going up’ (from Jericho to Bethel), then ‘going up’ by the way past Bethel and now the boys are basically saying ‘keep going up,’ in the sense that there is no place for you here. Maybe Australians would say (minus the expletives), ‘keep going useless loser.’
The explanation for Elisha’s subsequent curse on them in the name of Yhwh is outlined by Leviticus 26:21-22
(21 a “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And a I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.)
Further, the number forty-two may refer to the later recorded incident of forty two relatives of the Baal worshipping family of Ahaziah being slaughtered (10:12-14), in accordance with Yhwh’s previous word by Elijah. And certainly the idea of ‘torn’ refers to the torn kingdom of Solomon and its ongoing consequences (e.g. 1 Kings 14:8).
Even at the time of Jesus (Yhwh saves), the one who is God’s word, the response of Israel was one of mockery, one of the most staggering taunts being He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. (Mat 27:42 ESV)