Why did God send Bears to Maul 42 Boys for calling Elisha bald?
As he [Elisha] was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 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 boys. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria. —2 Kings 2:23–25 (NIV)
It seems a little out of proportion to maul 42 boys with bears just because they made fun of someone for being bald, doesn’t it? When this passage was first brought to my attention, I was really intrigued by it. Even if Elisha was in the wrong for cursing the boys, why would God follow through and actually send the bears?
Maybe Elisha was in the wrong
It’s definitely possible that the cursing was a slip in character on Elisha’s part. I viewed the situation like when a boss (God) gives an employee (Elisha) a credit card (power). The boss trusts his employee to make good decisions with that credit card, but sometimes employees make bad decisions. The boss is never happy when an employee makes bad decisions, but the credit card still gets swiped.
Maybe this was just one of those cases where a fallen human being made a bad decision even though the overall trajectory of his life was in step with following God.
Good parents let their children make mistakes
Even if Elisha was in the wrong for cursing the boys, good parents give their children room to make their own decisions and learn from them. Sometimes taking off the training wheels and letting someone fall flat on their face is the best way to teach them a lesson. Experience just one fall can often be a more effective teacher than repeating verbal instructions a dozen times.
Good people follow through on their word
In making Elisha his prophet, God chose to use Elisha as his mouthpiece to communicate with the Israelites. Elisha acted as God’s messenger, speaking to the people on behalf of God. When God’s mouthpiece had cursed the boys “in the name of the Lord,” God was kind of obligated to follow through.
The fact that God followed through on the word spoken by his mouthpiece Elisha is actually a good thing.
Following through with the bears commanded respect
God commands respect. Today’s culture really emphasizes God’s love, but there’s also an aspect of God that is absolutely terrifying. Scripture continually commands humanity to “fear God,” and when people see him or even his angels, they fall flat on the ground.
God is not to be messed with, and his name is not to be taken lightly or used flippantly. Seeing the bears come out and start mauling the boys right after Elisha had cursed them would have struck fear, awe, and respect into the hearts of Elisha, the boys, the town, and the entire nation of Israel.
The fact that Elisha’s bear mauling leaves me feeling shook and a little bit scared is good, because that’s a perfectly appropriate way for a human being to feel towards God.
God was establishing Elisha’s legitimacy
After looking at the bear mauling in context, I realized that it’s just one bullet point in the larger list of ways that God was establishing Elisha’s legitimacy. At that point in history, the Israelites had been worshiping the gods of their neighboring countries. It got so bad that Elisha’s predecessor (Elijah) was the only one left of Yahweh’s prophets while he was outnumbered by hundreds and hundreds of pagan prophets. In a time where Israel was forgetting their own God, it was really important for God to put his power on display through his one and only faithful prophet.
Earlier in the same chapter of the bear mauling, Elisha’s predecessor (Elijah) gets taken away to heaven. Elijah had been the only prophet who faithfully represented Yahweh to Israel for years and years… so when he got taken away, God really needed to make sure that Israel knew there was still a prophet of Yahweh among them. That’s where the supernatural bear mauling comes into play as just one bullet point in a long list of supernatural events which establish Elisha’s legitimacy. After Elisha’s predecessor gets taken away, here is the sequence of events that follows:
Elisha supernaturally parts the Jordan river.
Elisha supernaturally cleanses the bad water in the town.
Elisha supernaturally curses kids who get mauled by bears.
Elisha supernaturally foretells Israel’s plundering of Moab.
Elisha supernaturally duplicates oil.
Elisha supernaturally foretells sons birth (which happens).
Elisha supernaturally resurrects a boy who died.
Elisha supernaturally duplicates bread.
The list goes on, but it seems like the narrative is driving home the fact that Yahweh was still among the Israelites through his new mouthpiece, Elisha.
Conclusion
While using bears to maul kids is violent and unusual, it served as one bullet point in a long sequence of supernatural occurrences that commanded Israel to respect Yahweh and his mouthpiece (Elisha) during a time where Israel was turning away from God.
“In order to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.” The “omelet” that God was making was bringing Israel back to himself (their protector, and provider). Mauling 42 kids with bears was just one of the “eggs” that had to be broken in order to make that omelet possible.
It’s a shame that Israel had gotten to a place where 42 kids had to be mauled in order for them to remember their God.