So I woke up at 3:11am this morning & felt prompted to get out of bed & read my Bible. I immediately went to 2 Kings 2 which is where Elijah is taken up to heaven & Elisha's solo ministry begins.
Now I personally know why I am suppose to be studying the ministry of Elijah & Elisha now so it was not surprising to me why I ended up reading this. What did surprise me is some things that I haven't "caught" before when reading the same passages such as 2 Kings 2:23-24 NLT which states: "Elisha left Jericho & went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, a group of boys from the town began mocking & making fun of him. "Go away, baldy!" they chanted. "Go away baldy!" Elisha turned around & looked at them, & he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods & mauled forty-two of them."
I don't know about you but I thought that was just plain weird! Then I read my footnote for those two verses & it helped put things into perspective for me. This comes from the Life Application Study Bible, NLT.
"This group of boys was from Bethel, the religious center of idolatry in the northern kingdom, & they probably were warning Elisha not to speak against their immorality as Elijah had done. They were not merely teasing Elisha about his baldness, but showing severe disrespect for Elisha's message & God's power. They may have also jeered because of their disbelief in the chariot of fire that had taken Elijah. When Elisha cursed them, he did not call out the bears himself. God sent them as a judgement for their callous unbelief.
These young men mocked God's messenger & paid for it with their lives. Making fun of religious leaders has been a popular sport through the ages. To take a stand for God is to be different from the world & vunerable to verbal abuse. When we are cynical & sarcastic toward religious leaders, we are in danger of mocking not just the person but also the spiritual message. While we are not to condone the sin that some leaders commit, we need to pray for them, not laugh at them. True leaders, those who follow God, need to be heard with respect & encouraged in their ministry."
