(READ: 2 Kings 2:23-2523And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: 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. (2 Kings 2:23‑25); PROV. 17:12; 28:1512Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. (Proverbs 17:12)
15As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. (Proverbs 28:15); LAM. 3:1010He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. (Lamentations 3:10); REV. 13:1, 21And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:1‑2).)
KI 2:23-25{RO 17:12{RO 28:15{AM 3:10{EV 13:1-2{
THE BEAR is another beast of prey, but it is not a noble animal like the king of beasts, it does not need to kill men and animals for its food, for it cannot be termed a carnivorous creature, that is, one that is entirely a flesh eater, as it largely lives on vegetables and fruit, so that there is not the same excuse for it to slay as for the lion. The lion devours its prey, the bear kills for the sake of killing; indeed, it will not touch a man who is already dead, and men have saved their lives when hard pressed by a bear by pretending to be dead, and not even breathing when the slayer sniffed round them.
The Bible bear is the brown bear which gradually gets whitish in color as it grows older; it is still found in Palestine, although very much rarer than it used to be.
Now it is a very bad thing to kill for the sake of killing; but it is something like children saying unkind things solely for the sake of hurting. How much harm may be done, how much unhappiness caused by the unkind word intended to wound. Do not be like the bear.
The bear is indeed a slayer, it took a lamb from David's flock, but David rescued the poor little helpless creature, and the would-be killer became the killed. Later David said that if he could kill a bear without help, he would also be able to kill the dread giant Goliath, that champion of the Philistines. The secret of it all lay in his trust in God, and God gave him strength. How terrible, how fierce the bear must have seemed to the young shepherd, how sharp his claws were David knew; he probably also thought how cross it would be to have the lamb snatched from its very jaws. How strong was its paw, with one blow of which it could fell a man to the ground, yet David knowing all this took no weapon, but boldly laid hands on the great beast and killed it. What a lesson for us in the power that may be in us, if only we trust in God and go forth in His strength. Difficulties vanish and we triumph, but not by our own might; it is by the strength of One who is mightier.
There are three points to be noticed in connection with the animal we are considering, and there is also a lesson of no mean importance that thoughts of this wild brute may teach. Let me now give you my headings: (1)The bear's restlessness.
(2)Its destructiveness.
(3)Its affection for its young.
(4)A lesson in manners.
(1)the Bear's Restlessness
This dread animal is forever roving about, ready to kill for the mere sake of killing, lying in wait (Lam. 3:1010He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. (Lamentations 3:10)), ever ready for mischief, so that Solomon speaks of it as a "ranging bear." What a sad picture! It calls to my mind that well-known saying, "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." I think ranging generally implies a lack of purpose, and if you are in a restless state, having finished your lessons or other work, and feel that you do not know what to do, perhaps you copy the bear and range up and down the room, finally getting into mischief, so that you may need a word of warning, "Don't be like the bear." The bear may have been used by God as an instrument of judgment, for God can use whom or what He will-but the bear ranging about and on mischief bent may meet a very sudden fate.
It is a bad thing to be restless, to be dissatisfied. We all have our work to do, be it little or great, we can have ambition, but this should not make us restless, and we should remember that if we would do great things we must begin by doing the smaller ones. A boy said he wanted to be grown up so that he might have responsibilities, but he could not face the responsibilities of manhood unless he had first satisfactorily realized the duties of youth. We can only advance step by step, line upon line, and the boy who would be a brilliant mathematician must first master his simple arithmetic; the girl who would play the most fascinating music must first pass through the elementary stage of the art.
We cannot be spiritually great without commencing at the beginning. The knowledge of a Savior's love may bring peace and happiness, may give us the comfort of sins forgiven, but there must be a steady advance if we would learn something of the deep things of God.
Ranging without purpose does not accomplish anything good, therefore let us rather pray for purpose of heart, for true constancy. It will imply effort, self-denial, and putting others before ourselves, but it is worth it.
Think of the great contrast between those who have the meek and quiet spirit, and the roving, ranging, restless, dissatisfied people we so often meet.
(2)the Bear's Destructiveness Look at Those Terrible Claws When Next You See a Bear, and Think of the Damage They Could Perform! We Have Already Been Reminded That the Bear Kills for the Sake of Killing, It Has a Destructive Nature, It Is a Joy to It to Rend Things in Pieces, and to Bring About Destruction As Its Cruel Sport.
A terrible empire that is yet to arise, one that disowns the true God, is foretold in the Book of the Revelation, where it is likened to a beast, no beast that we could recognize, for it has no less than seven heads and ten horns, and is like a leopard, with feet of a bear and a lion's mouth. Truly a terrible monster! "The feet of a bear," with those menacing claws, surely we do not need to draw on our imagination much to understand that this means that the dread empire of the future will be a destroying one, destructive of everything that is good.
In a vision of Daniel another kingdom is compared to a bear, and though the vision itself would be beyond your comprehension, when you read that this bear is told to "Arise, devour much flesh," you will agree that again we have the thought of destructiveness.
Have you ever pulled 'a beautiful flower to pieces, have you disfigured a tree by carving initials on its old trunk, have you ever wantonly damaged some book, perhaps even torn pages from a Bible or hymn book? Few young people would be bold enough to say "No." Let me put another question, and ask if you could perfectly restore one of those things you have destroyed to its original form. This time certainly all must answer "No.”
But there is even a worse form of destructiveness that we might well consider. Have you ever laughed at a school chum for saying his prayers at night or for reading a few verses of the Bible when he gets up in the morning? Perhaps you will say this is not a form of destructiveness. Think a while! By such behavior are you not trying—without perchance realizing it—to destroy his faith, to make of no account those lessons he has learned in a christian home?
Rather let us agree to do our best to preserve that which is good, never to be destructive, but to seek to follow the One who went about undoing the works of the devil.
(3)the Bear's Affection for Its Young the Bear Has at Least One Good Point. We Have Seen Some Bad Ones, Very Bad Ones, and It Is Therefore All the More Welcome to Find That Inside That Shaggy Beast There Beats a Loving Heart. the Baby Bears Rely Upon the Protection of Their Mother, Who Does Not Fail Them; She Is Particularly Fierce When She Has Young to Care for, As Our Scriptures Have Shown Us, and Woe Betide the Man Who Ventures to Lay Hands on the Little Ones.
The mother bear's main object in life seems to be to protect her children, to shield them from all harm, and if need be to sacrifice even her life for them.
The affection of the bear for her young is mentioned in three different places in the Bible, and I think that when we get repetitions of this sort we are quite safe in assuming that special importance attaches to the subject.
But, you may object, there does not seem much to concern young people in all this, you could better understand it were I to ask your mother to consider the bear. Wait a moment! Have you no younger brother or sister? Are they never entrusted to your care? Do you protect them from evil? Do you seek to shield them from bad companions? And do you by your example help them to do that which is good?
A girl was once told to look after her younger brother and sister when her parents were out, but she was very fond of story books, so that no sooner had they left than she settled down in an armchair with one of her favorite books, and did not hear her brother leave the room. A terrible shriek rent the air? He had played too near the dining-room fire, and when his sister rushed in she found him in flames! Too late she realized her mistake, but as the little boy lay in hospital how bitterly she repented that she had betrayed her trust in a way that might easily have led to the death of her brother.
The bear has young entrusted by God to its care, and it shows real affection to them; may all of us prove our trust equally well!
(4)Manners Perhaps Never More Than at the Present Day Do We Need to Encourage Good Manners; We Often Find Instead Rudeness and a Lack of Consideration Which We Cannot but Know Is Not Right. We May Laugh at the Way That in Days Gone by Children Addressed Their Father As "Sir"; We May Say That It Is Better to Love One's Parents Than to Fear Them, and Be Aloof From Them. Certainly "Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear," but Let Us Take Care That We Do Not Go to the Other Extreme, and Copy the Example of Those Who Do Not Profess to Be Followers of the Lord Jesus.
But to return to the bear! How terrible it would be to meet the ranging bear without any weapon for defense! How awful to be unable to escape or find any help! Think for a moment of those children who met that great and good prophet Elisha, a man who had grown up in God's service. They dared to make fun of the man of God; how shocking! "Go up, thou bald head"! What a way to address any one, let alone a servant of the most High; rudeness indeed! They thought they could safely taunt the prophet, their fast young legs would soon get them away if he came after them, so on went the cry, "Go up, thou bald head," making fun of the wonderful way in which Elijah had gone up to heaven. Little did they know how near their punishment was, and perhaps we too imagine we can be rude, disobedient, make fun of God's people, or be thoughtless, without punishment. But what happened?
The very characteristic of the bear, its desire to slay, is seen in the awful finish to this story. Two she-bears came and tore forty-two of these children. If they had been two lionesses they probably would have slain two, and then delayed to eat them, thereby giving the others a chance to escape. But the bear, the wanton slayer, accounts for no less than forty-two. Think of the forty-two children, merry, careless and mischievous-then jeering at the man of God. What a sudden and terrible judgment. We must surely learn two lessons: (1) that God looks after those that serve Him, and (2) that He will not allow mockery of sacred things.
It may be you find it hard to keep from laughing at something a preacher says, or at some action of your school-teacher. If so, I would ask you to think of those children and the she-bears.
From this sad story may we desire that our manners more fit those who would seek to follow a Lord who was always gentle, good and kind.