Scoffers Judged

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 2min
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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• BibleTruthPublishers.com
Only at Bethel do we find Elisha calling down judgement upon his foes (2 Kings 2:23-2423And 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. (2 Kings 2:23‑24)). Grace derided and rejected must of necessity be avenged, whatever the dispensation may be. Men in Christendom are in even graver peril than the young people of Bethel. “Little children” is an improper and misleading translation. In many other Old Testament passages the same Hebrew word is rendered “young men.” The offenders were similar in character and years to many who stand loutishly at our street corners today, with no respect for either God or man. Bethel (“house of God”) had truly become Bethaven (“house of folly”) when God’s venerable servant could be pursued with the mocking cry: “Go up, thou baldhead; go up, thou baldhead.” Not one of Jeroboam’s priests intervened to protect God’s witness; how, indeed, could it be expected! What cared they for the wonderful story of God’s rapture of His despised prophet! As little did they care for the new witness whom God had raised up in his stead. Accordingly, Elisha turned back, and looking upon his tormentors, he “cursed them in the name of Jehovah.” The chronicler adds, “And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.” Whether “tare” means killed or simply injured is not stated. It is a solemn thing to join issue with God. The heavy judgement of 2 Kings 1, when two captains with their fifties were destroyed for their impiety, had no deterrent effect upon the scoffers of Bethel. How often is the rod of God unheeded! But however long drawn out this longsuffering may be, the judgement of God upon rejecters is sure in this dispensation as in every other.