RE: The bear story

(jfern@connecti.com)
Thu, 31 Aug 95 06:59:00 CDT

"At first reading, the breif account in these three verses is very
troubling. A prophet calling on bears to maul children? But, in this
instance, historical background an precise translation help cast the event
in a different light. Bethel was a hotbed of Baal worship, and its residents
were engaged in a life-and-death struggle with true prophets of God. When
the youths called out, "Go on up you baldhead!" they were likely refering to
what just happened to the prophet Elijah-- they were calling for Elisha to
vanish into the sky, or in other words, to die. Furtheremore, the word
translated youths usually refers to young people in their late teens. In
actuality, a large gang of teenagers was threatening a prophet's life.
Elisha cursed them, but there is no indication he actually called for a bear
attack."

If they were children why were they not with their parents or in school?
These "youths" were of age to understand and know how to poke fun at God and
the man they knew was doing the work of God. God judged them then, they had
their chance but they chose not to take it, which is one of the reasons why
we are so fortunate to live in the age a a grace dispensation.

If we skim over to Ezekiel 18:32 we find that God does not take pleasure in
the death of anyone. I encourage you to read Ezekiel 18:25-32. I also
suggest that you read Matthew 7:1 and apply that to the Lord, not just your
brother.

In Him,
-JDF-
----------
From: David McFadzean
To: jfern
Subject: The bear story
Date: Tuesday, August 29, 1995 16:02PM

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road,
some
youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!"
they
said. "Go on up, you baldhead!"
24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the
name
of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of
the
youths.

OK, you say that the 42 youths deserved to get mauled because they called
someone a "baldhead"? Nice religion!

--
David McFadzean dbm@merak.com
Memetic Engineer http://www.merak.com/~dbm/
Merak Projects Ltd.