Divine Authority and the Bears: The Judgment at Bethel
The account of the prophet Elisha and the she-bears, found in 2 Kings 2:23-24 of the King James Version (KJV), is one of the most stark and debated passages in the Old Testament. It immediately follows Elisha’s anointing as the successor to Elijah, demonstrating his immediate establishment as a prophet of God with undeniable authority to pronounce both blessing (healing the waters of Jericho) and judgment.
The Scene of the Mockery
The incident takes place as Elisha travels from Jericho to Bethel, a city that, though once a place of great significance to Jacob, had become a center for the idolatrous golden calf worship established by King Jeroboam (1 Kings 12).
The KJV describes the antagonists:
“And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” (2 Kings 2:23 KJV)
While the KJV uses the phrase “little children,” the original Hebrew term (na’ar qatan) has a broad range of meaning, referring to individuals from infancy all the way to young men serving in an official capacity (like servants or apprentices). Given the nature of the taunt and the scale of the resulting judgment, many scholars conclude this was a large group of adolescents or young men perhaps associated with the pagan cult of Bethel, who assembled to publicly insult the prophet of the Lord.
The Taunt and the Challenge
The mocking was not simply an insult against Elisha’s lack of hair. In the context of the narrative, the cry “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head” was a challenge to Elisha’s prophetic office. It was a clear, sarcastic reference to the recent ascension of his mentor, Elijah, who had been taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.
By telling Elisha to “Go up,” the mockers were demanding he prove his claim to Elijah’s power by duplicating the miracle—or, more likely, telling him to “be gone” and join his predecessor in death or obscurity. This taunt was therefore not mere childhood mischief, but a blasphemous rejection of the God whose authority Elisha represented, happening in a city already steeped in organized apostasy.
The Consequence of Scorn
Elisha’s response was not a personal fit of rage, but a prophetic act of judgment “in the name of the LORD”:
“And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.” (2 Kings 2:24 KJV)
The severity of the punishment—the mauling of forty and two individuals by two she bears—underscores the seriousness of mocking a divinely appointed messenger.
The purpose of this dramatic intervention was two-fold:
- To Vindicate the Prophet’s Authority: It provided an immediate, public demonstration that Elisha carried the Spirit and power of the LORD, silencing opposition at the very beginning of his ministry.
- To Deliver a Warning to Israel: The judgment served as a powerful sign to the rebellious Northern Kingdom that scorning God’s covenant and His prophets would result in the curses promised in the Law (Deuteronomy 28), where wild beasts are listed as a tool of divine judgment. The incident thus establishes Elisha as a key figure in the ongoing conflict between the true worship of the LORD and the prevailing idolatry in Israel.