August 8 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

2 Kings 2:19-25

¹⁹And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
²⁰And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
²¹And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
²²So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
²³And he 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.
²⁴And 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.
²⁵And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

Devotional:

This is one of those portions of Scripture we might have a desire to read quickly and not think about too much. But God has put it there and we should try to learn His reason for doing so.

First of all we must note that a better translation of verse 23 employs the term 'young lads' rather than 'little children.'

Second, we must look at the context. Elijah was a prophet of God in a day when God's truth was being denied on all sides. God honored His prophet by using him to perform the miracle of dividing the Jordan. God took him to heaven in a chariot. Then his successor, Elisha, was also enabled to divide the Jordan and afterwards to heal the waters of Jericho.

It was then, as Elisha was walking along the road toward Bethel, that a gang of teenagers began to make fun of him. Elisha pronounced a curse on them, surely at the bidding of God, and God underlined His displeasure at the disgraceful treatment of His prophet (and thus of Himself) by sending out from the woods two bears who 'tare forty and two of them' (2:24). Notice, there is no evidence that they met their death at this time.

This punishment at first blush seems harsh. But it is really a striking picture of the unity of God with His people. It is an evidence that those who harm us are insulting our God. What is done, in fact, to the least of one of God's people is done unto Him.

The appellation 'bald-head' is often grasped upon and emphasized, as though it was purely because these youths were making fun of Elisha's bald head that they were punished. But that was a term of contempt in the East. Any word or behavior which would express reproach would have been equally heinous in the sight of God, because it would have been an affront to Him and to His prophet.

Young people are to respect their elders. This story tells us so. But we should be careful to see the more significant implications. Young people, as well as older ones, need to respect God Himself!