2 Kings 2 (KJV) - Bible Truth Library

little children.The words {nëârim ketannim} not only signify little children but young men; for {katon} signifies not only little, but young, in opposition to old; and {näâr} signifies not only a child, but a young man grown to years of maturity:

thus Isaac is called {näâr} when twenty-eight years old, Joseph when thirty-nine, and Rehoboam when forty.

These idolatrous young men, having heard of the ascension of Elijah, without believing it, blasphemously bade Elisha to follow him.

The venerable prophet, from a Divine impulse, pronounced a curse "in the name of the Lord," which was immediately followed by the most terrible judgment; thus evincing the Source from which it flowed.

Job 19:18• ¹⁸Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me. (Job 19:18)

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Job 30:1,8‑31• ¹But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
⁸They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
⁹And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
¹⁰They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
¹¹Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
¹²Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
¹³They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
¹⁴They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
¹⁶And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
¹⁷My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
¹⁸By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
¹⁹He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
²⁰I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
²¹Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
²²Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
²³For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
²⁴Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
²⁵Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
²⁷My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
²⁸I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
²⁹I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
³⁰My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
³¹My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. (Job 30:1,8‑31)

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Prov. 20:11• ¹¹Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. (Prov. 20:11)

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Prov. 22:6,15• ⁶Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
¹⁵Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. (Prov. 22:6,15)

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Eccl. 11:10• ¹⁰Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity. (Eccl. 11:10)

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Isa. 1:4• ⁴Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (Isa. 1:4)

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Isa. 3:5• ⁵And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. (Isa. 3:5)

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Jer. 7:18• ¹⁸The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. (Jer. 7:18)

mocked.

Gen. 21:9• ⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. (Gen. 21:9)

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2 Chron. 36:16• ¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. (2 Chron. 36:16)

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Job 30:1,8‑9• ¹But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
⁸They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
⁹And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. (Job 30:1,8‑9)

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Psa. 35:15• ¹⁵But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not: (Psa. 35:15)

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Isa. 57:3‑4• ³But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
⁴Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, (Isa. 57:3‑4)

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Gal. 4:29• ²⁹But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. (Gal. 4:29)

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Heb. 11:36• ³⁶And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: (Heb. 11:36)

Go up.

2 Kings 2:11• ¹¹And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 Kings 2:11)

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Matt. 27:29‑31,40‑43• ²⁹And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
³⁰And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
³¹And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
⁴⁰And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
⁴¹Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
⁴²He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
⁴³He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. (Matt. 27:29‑31,40‑43)

• Little boys, representing unintelligent, mocking, unbelieving people, come forth from Bethel just at the moment when the prophet is going to meet God in His house, in the place of His unchangeable promises. What an anomaly! Children, created to give praise, mock the man of God! those of an age characterized according to God’s thoughts by trust and respect for such who are above them insult the prophet! (“Elisha, or Christ in the Spirit: 2 Kings 2:13-25” by H.L. Rossier)

• “Go up, bald head!” they cry out to him, because in his person he is showing signs of decrepitude, of old age (just as the remnant in the Psalms, Psa. 71:9,18), and of reproach. Yet nonetheless the law declares such a man to be clean and not defiled (Lev. 13:40-41). Those of whom God should have expected simplicity of faith reject the representative and witness of the Messiah, identified with the feeble, bowed down remnant, and make fun of his appearance. (“Elisha, or Christ in the Spirit: 2 Kings 2:13-25” by H.L. Rossier)

• “Go up, bald head!” they say. They do not believe in Elijah’s having been taken up. Folly like this is not even proper for children! Where is the promise of His coming? Is not the world the same today? These insults are so much the more odious in that they are directed at the Spirit of Christ, come back in grace and not in judgment as Elijah. (“Elisha, or Christ in the Spirit: 2 Kings 2:13-25” by H.L. Rossier)

J. N. Darby Translation

And he went up from thence to Bethel, and as he went up by the way, there came forth little boys out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go upa, bald head; go up, bald head!

JND Translation Notes

Others, "Come up."