Did Elisha Have Anger Issues – Pst Emmanuel Iren Explains

DID PROPHET ELISHA HAVE ANGER ISSUES?

The story of 42 children being mauled by bears because they mocked the Prophet Elisha has been used to conclude that God is unjust to have sanctioned Elisha’s wrath.

Some have even concluded that they got mauled by bears because Elisha cursed them out of anger, but this could not be farther from the truth.

This has been a tough passage for many Christians to handle. How is the God who is love also killing 42 kids because they insulted his prophet?

First and foremost, contrary to what you would find in the KJV translation of the passage in the book of 2 Kings 2, which is that, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, ‘ 2 Kings 2:23,

The children being referred to were not little kids in the modern-day context.

The same word used to describe children here was used to describe David when he was facing Goliath, and if you remember the passage, David was old enough to carry the fate of the entire nation of Israel. He could not have done that if he were merely a child.

Other translations, like the NKJV, render the word as youths.

‘some youths came from the city and mocked him’ 2 Kings 2:23 (NKJV)

In fact, translators like John Gill, one of the most popular theologians of the 19th Century, say that this word could be used for people as old as 30 years. Telling you that the verse did not refer to children at all.

Elisha was not cursing these youths out of anger. Rather, he was pronouncing judgment on them. The narrative is not a standalone story.

It is connected to something that happened earlier in the same region, which was a showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

The people of the city were already indignant against Elijah because he had disgraced their god, Baal.

So when they saw that Elijah was taken up, they started to mock Elisha by saying

“Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
II Kings 2:23

Basically, they were saying to Elisha, ‘go and die like your predecessor’.

What they did was more than the mischievous behaviour of a few misguided youth. If anything, it was akin to blasphemy!

Although God had made himself known to them through Elijah’s showdown, they still chose to reject God and mock his prophet.

These youths were committing an offense that had a consequence. According to the book of Leviticus, God said to the people of Israel,

“If you walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me…I will send wild beast among you, which shall rob you of your children…”

Lev 26:21-22

Elisha was not insecure about his bald head when he pronounced the curse on them.

He was simply restating what God already said he would do if the Israelites behaved the way those youth did, according to His covenant with them.

All these little details are harder to spot when you just read the text at face value; you will need to study a little deeper to find them.