Bible-believers: What Are Your Thoughts On This Passage?

[Mr. Ofo Oao]

Another translation puts it, " so use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal abode."

Well the Amplified Bible puts it like this:

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings)."

Just doesn't sit right with me.

Peace.

 

[Mr. Ofo Oao]

Elisha's power was twice as strong as Elijah's.

Maybe he used his power to prevent the children from moving, or to make the bears faster and stronger.
​

Well if there is a hell, I don't know whether or not a prophet would go there for cursing little children, but Jesus said suffer the little children, so.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

Playing Devil's Advocate a moment (hehe,) loss of our head hair is a natural thing for many older people. Thus, it's by God's design. To make fun of bald people is to make fun of God's design of human beings and thus God itself. So ya, kill the little blighters.

 

[Penelope]

Elisha's power was twice as strong as Elijah's.

Maybe he used his power to prevent the children from moving, or to make the bears faster and stronger.
​

Well if there is a hell, I don't know whether or not a prophet would go there for cursing little children, but Jesus said suffer the little children, so.

Jesus Blesses Little Children
15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

 

[hobelim]

Another translation puts it, " so use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal abode."

Well the Amplified Bible puts it like this:

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings)."

Just doesn't sit right with me.

Peace.

I can see why it doesn't sit right.

The way I see it Jesus said this after saying you cannot serve God and money which implies that using worldly wealth for righteous reasons, in particular for helping people, will insure the reward of the righteous which is eternal life or permanent existence, an eternal abode.


Jesus was just making it clear that he did not expect people of wealth to despise their wealth or to throw it all away and become destitute but to use it for righteous purposes. Many people of wealth never sold their soul or did anything evil to get it and have a sincere desire to serve God. Jesus just gave them a sense of direction..

 

[hobelim]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

Playing Devil's Advocate a moment (hehe,) loss of our head hair is a natural thing for many older people. Thus, it's by God's design. To make fun of bald people is to make fun of God's design of human beings and thus God itself. So ya, kill the little blighters.

If I am right and the she bears represent two pissed off Jewish women who tore up the 42 children for mocking a bald man I bet the children would have preferred to have been killed by bears.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Another translation puts it, " so use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal abode."

Well the Amplified Bible puts it like this:

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings)."

Just doesn't sit right with me.

Peace.

I can see why it doesn't sit right.

The way I see it Jesus said this after saying you cannot serve God and money which implies that using worldly wealth for righteous reasons, in particular for helping people, will insure the reward of the righteous which is eternal life or permanent existence, an eternal abode.


Jesus was just making it clear that he did not expect people of wealth to despise their wealth or to throw it all away and become destitute but to use it for righteous purposes. Many people of wealth never sold their soul or did anything evil to get it and have a sincere desire to serve God. Jesus just gave them a sense of direction..

Can't serve two masters. If serving God that takes up most of your time. If making money that does. Can't do both. Nor is accumulation of monetary wealth valued by Scripturalist Christianity. Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

Playing Devil's Advocate a moment (hehe,) loss of our head hair is a natural thing for many older people. Thus, it's by God's design. To make fun of bald people is to make fun of God's design of human beings and thus God itself. So ya, kill the little blighters.

If I am right and the she bears represent two Jewish women who tore up the 42 children for mocking a bald man I bet the children would have preferred to have been killed by bears.

Unless that was the one and only time Jewish women are referred to metaphorical as bears, I've always taken it literally.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

Playing Devil's Advocate a moment (hehe,) loss of our head hair is a natural thing for many older people. Thus, it's by God's design. To make fun of bald people is to make fun of God's design of human beings and thus God itself. So ya, kill the little blighters.

If I am right and the she bears represent two Jewish women who tore up the 42 children for mocking a bald man I bet the children would have preferred to have been killed by bears.

Unless that was the one and only time Jewish women are referred to metaphorical as bears, I've always taken it literally.

Raises an interesting question though, were bears native to that part of the world? Seems out of place to me.

 

[Mr. Ofo Oao]

I can see why it doesn't sit right.

The way I see it Jesus said this after saying you cannot serve God and money which implies that using worldly wealth for righteous reasons, in particular for helping people, will insure the reward of the righteous which is eternal life or permanent existence, an eternal abode.


Jesus was just making it clear that he did not expect people of wealth to despise their wealth or to throw it all away and become destitute but to use it for righteous purposes. Many people of wealth never sold their soul or did anything evil to get it and have a sincere desire to serve God. Jesus just gave them a sense of direction..

Well if the KJV and the Amplified Bible use the word "unrighteous" mammon, it doesn't sit right for me.

I would think that Jesus would not try to harass people who reject him into accepting him. Please do not harass me. I'm not interested in becoming Christian.

Peace.

 

[hobelim]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

Playing Devil's Advocate a moment (hehe,) loss of our head hair is a natural thing for many older people. Thus, it's by God's design. To make fun of bald people is to make fun of God's design of human beings and thus God itself. So ya, kill the little blighters.

If I am right and the she bears represent two Jewish women who tore up the 42 children for mocking a bald man I bet the children would have preferred to have been killed by bears.

Unless that was the one and only time Jewish women are referred to metaphorical as bears, I've always taken it literally.

Excellent question. There were very small brown bears that lived in caves in the highest altitudes that have since become extinct in Israel..

Not likely they were hanging around Bethel a large city at the time.

 

[hobelim]

I can see why it doesn't sit right.

The way I see it Jesus said this after saying you cannot serve God and money which implies that using worldly wealth for righteous reasons, in particular for helping people, will insure the reward of the righteous which is eternal life or permanent existence, an eternal abode.


Jesus was just making it clear that he did not expect people of wealth to despise their wealth or to throw it all away and become destitute but to use it for righteous purposes. Many people of wealth never sold their soul or did anything evil to get it and have a sincere desire to serve God. Jesus just gave them a sense of direction..

Well if the KJV and the Amplified Bible use the word "unrighteous" mammon, it doesn't sit right for me.

I would think that Jesus would not try to harass people who reject him into accepting him. Please do not harass me. I'm not interested in becoming Christian.

Peace.

I am not a Christian. You asked questions, I gave answers.

If you feel harassed by my answers, don't ask questions...fuck off.

 

[hobelim]

If I am right and the she bears represent two Jewish women who tore up the 42 children for mocking a bald man I bet the children would have preferred to have been killed by bears.

Unless that was the one and only time Jewish women are referred to metaphorical as bears, I've always taken it literally.

What is more likely? Two small bears managed to tare up 42 unattended children in a city and no one came out and killed the bears and none of the children managed to scream or escape or she bears was part of the vernacular lost to time or a deliberate obfuscation of the facts?

The entire Bible from the very first book of the OT to the very last book of the NT people are compared to animals and people of every culture and language have always done this, a universal imaginative use of language that continues to this day.

 

[Mr. Ofo Oao]

I am not a Christian. You asked questions, I gave answers.

If you feel harassed by my answers, don't ask questions...fuck off.

You f*ck off.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

Playing Devil's Advocate a moment (hehe,) loss of our head hair is a natural thing for many older people. Thus, it's by God's design. To make fun of bald people is to make fun of God's design of human beings and thus God itself. So ya, kill the little blighters.

If I am right and the she bears represent two Jewish women who tore up the 42 children for mocking a bald man I bet the children would have preferred to have been killed by bears.

Unless that was the one and only time Jewish women are referred to metaphorical as bears, I've always taken it literally.

Raises an interesting question though, were bears native to that part of the world? Seems out of place to me.

Working from ancient memory here, but I believe decades ago when studying this particular passage in the Bible, we researched that. And if I am remembering right, there was a Syrian brown bear common to Mesopotania (Iraq and Iran) in Biblical times and its range did extend all the way to the Mediterranean coast including Israel. It is now extinct.

I may have missed it somewhere in my studies, but I don't recall a bear being a metaphor for a Jewish woman or mother though. In fact I think it probably unlikely as I believe bears were/are not kosher for Jews.

Having said that I still take stories like Elisha and the bears as metaphorical or ancient lore--tales that get caught up into the culture just as so many stories of Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett, many who have little basis in fact, got caught up in ours. On a practical level it makes sense, much as we find in Aesop's fables, as a teaching mechanism. The generations of the Jewish history strongly supported the mitzvah to show respect to those who have attained the age of wisdom.

 

[hobelim]

Having said that I still take stories like Elisha and the bears as metaphorical or ancient lore--tales that get caught up into the culture just as so many stories of Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett, many who have little basis in fact, got caught up in ours. On a practical level it makes sense, much as we find in Aesop's fables, as a teaching mechanism. The generations of the Jewish history strongly supported the mitzvah to show respect to those who have attained the age of wisdom.

Yes, it makes sense on a practical level to use stories as a teaching mechanism but as such what is this story teaching about God and bald prophets if taken at face value? They are heartless and vengeful pricks?

Wouldn't that set the stage for anyone who aspired to become a prophet to be a heartless and vengeful prick?

Did Elisha, a prophet of God, just stand there doing nothing while watching 42 children get slaughtered by bears?

Or did Elisha just stand there and watch the 42 children being taught a lesson by the she bears most likely in charge because they got caught making fun of him while he walked by a school or whatever the ancient equivalent would be where 42 children happened to be together ?

Is the story just scare tactics and how does that teach children the mitzvah to show respect to their elders??

Bears aren't kosher? Talking serpents and donkeys aren't kosher either, neither are wolves or camels worms or a worthless louse but they are all figurative references to one Jewish person or another in scripture...

 

[mikegriffith1]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

"Little children"? They were "boys" or "small boys" in good modern translations. So they could have been in their teen years or nearly in their teen years.

Anyway, the text does not say that the bears came upon the boys because of the curse--there's no "therefore" or "and because of this." It just says that after Elisha cursed them, they were attacked by some bears. The bears may have attacked the boys if Elisha had not even been around.

But let's assume the curse brought on the bears. If so, this would reinforce the point that it's a very serious matter to mock a prophet of God.

Furthermore, we may well find out in the hereafter that the boys were eternally better off for having been taken out of this world at that time and that they ended up being saved after all.

 

[Geaux4it]

Hi,

I wanted to ask Bible-believers, what are their thoughts on this passage from the Bible. The passage is 2 Kings 2:22-25; in the passage the prophet Elisha allegedly cursed and caused the death of 42 "little children." It seems to me that a prophet of a deity that should be worshiped would be able to tolerate little children mocking him without cursing them and causing them to be killed by a wild animal, but Bible-believers what are your thoughts on the passage?:

"(22)So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. (23)And 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. (24)And 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. (25)And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."

It's called 'respect your elders'.

I support the verse. Even early societies have consequences for every action.

-Geaux

 

[Mr. Ofo Oao]

It's called 'respect your elders'.

I support the verse. Even early societies have consequences for every action.

-Geaux

Well it sounds extreme to me.