Parson to Person - Does God hate children?

From there Elisha went up to Bethel?some youths came out of the town and jeered him, ?Go on up, you baldhead! Go on up, you baldhead!? Elisha?called down a curse on them in the name of Yahweh. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths?Elisha went on to Mount Carmel and ?Samaria. -2 Kings 2:23-25

Jesus said that all of what we call the ?Old Testament? points to him (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47). In a passage such as 2 Kings 2:23-25 it is hard for me to see how bears mauling youths point to Jesus or the gospel?

A pastor from King?s Church London, Andrew Wilson, wrote an article in the January 2017 Christianity Today on this passage and reminded me how to see Jesus in this brief story.

This is my summary of the passage and the article.

First, the youths are not elementary school children. The word for ?youths? is also used of Isaac at his sacrifice (Genesis 22:12), Joseph at age 17 (Genesis 37:2), Joshua when he was Moses? aide (Exodus 24:13), Abimelech?s armor-bearer (Judges 9:54), Solomon when he was married and king (1 Kings 3:7), and army men (1 Kings 20:14-15).

Further, these ?youths? were from Bethel, the site where Jeroboam set up golden calves for idol worship (1 Kings 12:26-29; 13:1-10).

Baldness in that era was rare, and Elisha was as young as the idol apprentices from Bethel. Thus it is unlikely the ?youths? are insulting Elisha?s haircut.

Even if this large gang of ?youths? were taunting Elisha?s receding hairline, they were really claiming he was spiritually impotent since his master, Elijah, had just been taken ?up? to heaven (2 Kings 2:1-11), and Elisha should ?get out of here? also.

The context then is not a handful of six-year olds on a playground, but an entire company of blasphemous apprentice prophets-priests in a spiritual power encounter with the young Elisha who was about their same age.

These idolatrous prophet-priests are completely unrepentant. Hear the contempt in their twice-repeated insult. We should be thinking that Elisha is in the same situation as Elijah when he confronted the 400 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:16-46).

We should also be thinking that Elisha is in the same position as Elijah in having to confront Samaria.

Samaria, the capital of the splintered northern kingdom, did not have one good king in its history. The most recent king sent two captains and two companies (50 men each) to strong-arm Elijah. Elijah had to call down fire from God to destroy them (2 Kings 2:9-12).

The third captain and company of 50 men showed respect for Elijah and Yahweh and their lives were saved (2 Kings 1:13-15). Yahweh is the personal name for God that emphasizes that he makes covenants with his people and keeps those covenants.

We should be thinking that Elisha is in the same position as Elijah. The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha (2 Kings 2:15). Those that oppose Yahweh will be destroyed. Those that seek Yahweh will experience the reversal of the curse against them.

Look at the passage immediately preceding our text. The folks at Jericho (2 Kings 2:19-22) sought out Elisha to deal with the curse of bad water. Elisha (ultimately Yahweh) reversed the curse and the water was healed!

God is faithful to His Word, to His promises, both blessings and curses. For those that do not repent of their mocking, scoffing, and despising God, there is no remedy (2 Chronicles 36:16).

The curse, since Adam and Eve, is ultimately death. Leviticus 26:21-22 points out that the curse will be carried out at times by wild animals such as Elisha?s bears.

But God is just as loving and faithful with His blessings for those that do repent.

Now we can begin to hear the gospel and the work of Jesus come into this context.

Elisha?s name means ?God saves.? Jesus? name, like Joshua?s before him, means ?Yahweh saves.?

Another way to see Jesus and the gospel is to ask, ?what happened at this location before and later??

Before Elisha, Joshua led God?s people across the Jordan River and defeated idolatrous Jericho with trumpets.

Elisha crosses the Jordan and defeats idol worshipers with bears.

Jesus is baptized in the Jordan, and defeats temptation and Satan quoting Scripture.

In each case, Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus, God sent a forerunner to alert anyone listening to his coming salvation. Moses was the forerunner for Joshua. Elijah was the forerunner for Elisha. John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus.

I am astounded by God?s love. God goes out of his way to make his love clear to us.

In Elisha?s context, are we going to be like the folks from Bethel and jeer God, or like the folks from Jericho and seek healing from the curse?

God?s Word makes sense. God loves children. Idolatry not so much.