Bears in the Bible

2 Kings 2:23-24, “Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” 24 When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.”

This is a favorite Bible verse of skeptics.  It sounds very clear on the surface, doesn't it?  Elisha was traveling to Bethel, and mocked and teased by some young people.  He then curses them, and a couple bears show up and tear them apart.

Awesome.

What makes for really interesting reading is how this passage is justified. 

To read it one way, using varying translations and possible cultural and contextual clues, this was a mob of angry young men (upwards of 30 years old) who were casting death threats on Elisha.  So the bears were sent as a defensive measure against a certain attack.

Other commentaries claim that when Elisha "saw" the children, he saw they were totally wicked, and would grow up to be evil, and that somehow justifies their destruction.  Killing children before they grow up to be evil adults.

One article even goes on to say how Satan loves to attack the word of God, and "isn't it sad" when some of those attacks come from inside the church itself.  Reading between the lines:  "Don't question it!"

It's an interesting verse, for sure.  If you have already presupposed the nature of God as kind and loving and just, then it's necessary to do some mental gyrations to incorporate the brutal slaying of young people into that mindset.

In my own reading, I find it interesting that he was traveling to Bethel and while he was on the way, he was mocked.  Its important that he was in transit, and not at his destination.  In the various translations that I spot checked, he always "turned back" or "turned around" before cursing them.  Meaning, he was beyond them on his travel from A to B.  From a literal reading, they weren't blocking his path or intimidating him.  They were behind him.  To that end, it really feels more like an act of vengeance for mocking him, or God, or whatever.

Of course, I don't believe the event actually happened.  But it's an interesting little study.