Gotta admit - I really don't feel like doing this right now.
Reading for June 21
2 Kings 1:1-2:25
Hey - I finished another book. That's encouraging!
OK, some interesting things in here. The current king of Israel, Ahaziah had fallen off his balcony and injured himself. He asked his men to go and consult with Baal-Zebub to inquire if he would get better or not. Early early on in this project, I looked into who Baal actually was and it turned out that many believed him to actually be Satan, and their reasoning must have come from this chapter in 2 Kings where Baal is called Baal-Zebub...as in Beelzebub, and I think Baal is pronounced "Bail" so the progression makes sense. And I'm starting to see a few things line up that would not so much prove that Baal is actually Satan, but they definitely lend some credibility to the theory.
1) He's called Baalzebub, that one should be obvious
2) He is written about as if he were real, not a pretend god that the people made up. God often instructs people to avoid following Baal specifically and seems to get the most angry when his people turn and worship old Baalsy.
3) Similar to #2, but he is the clear adversary of God here in the Old Testament. While we never get any details or stories about Baal actually doing things or influencing the world in any physical way, there certainly is something appealing about him if people keep giving up on God to worship him.
So the king of Israel was consulting with the devil himself. My, how the chosen have fallen. Elijah asks him, "Is there no God in Israel that you have to consult with the devil?"
Obviously this ends badly for Ahaziah, 100 of his men are killed by fire from heaven that Elijah commanded from God, and Ahaziah dies in his bed, never recovering from his injury.
The second chapter of Kings focuses on the passing of the prophet torch from Elijah to Elisha. Let's call them Jah and Sha to make it easier. So Jah tells Sha that he is about to die and Sha is visibly upset about it happening. Jah asks him what he can do for him before he dies and Sha asks for a "double portion" of Jah's spirit. I'm not quite sure what this means, but it sounds awesome.
The final scene is absolutely ridiculous. I feel like I would have been in a huge uproar about this a couple of months ago, but at this point its so out of control, I just laughed.
So Elisha was walking through the woods when a group of "youths" - I would assume tween aged - started taunting Sha calling him "bald head". I guess he was bald. I also guess that cue balls hadn't been invented yet as to allow for a more creative insult. Well, since these kids made fun of Sha, he asks God for vengeance and...well, here's how it plays out:
Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
Like - really? You're gonna maul a bunch of kids for being a little snarky? Wow. I included verse 25 in there just to show the blase attitude Sha seemed to portray.
"Hey look at those bears go! Wow those kids are definitely dead. Wooh. That's nasty! Welp! On to old Mt. Carmel! Doo de doo de doo!"
What a jerk.
Acts 13:42-14:7
A neat little tidbid here. Paul and co are being interrogated about their preaching from the Jewish leaders, specifically about their consorting with the Gentiles - and they bust out this quote"
" 'I have made you[a] a light for the Gentiles,Guess where that's from? If you guessed the Gospels you are wrong. I thought the same thing - but this is from Isaiah - as in Old Testament. The predictions and intentions were there, but the actions were still not quite there yet...Interesting.
that you[b] may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'[c]"
Psalm 139:1-24
Love this:
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
Proverbs 17:19-21
19 He who loves a quarrel loves sin;
he who builds a high gate invites destruction.
20 A man of perverse heart does not prosper;
he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.
21 To have a fool for a son brings grief;
there is no joy for the father of a fool.
Blammo.
In closing, I would like to ask for your prayers for Jilly. She is in San Francisco right now and has step throat - and she's working a 6AM to 9PM day, every day until Friday. Please pray for a quick recovery, or at least quick pain relief. It's definitely gotta suck being away from home and having such an awful illness. I love her and will be praying for her, but would you please pray for her as well?
Thanks friends. Remember you can submit prayer requests in the comments or at brandonamurray@gmail.com
Gnite.
I looked up the baldhead story, cuz on face value, it does seem laughably absurd. Here are two internet commentaries I found..
ReplyDeleteExplanation # 1:
http://www.gotquestions.org/Elisha-baldhead.html
Answer: There are a few key issues we must understand in regards to this account of the youths cursing Elisha. The text reads, “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!’ 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.” It seems unbelievable that God would cause two bears to maul a group of children for making fun of a man for being bald.
First, the King James Version has done us a disservice by translated the term as “children.” The Hebrew word can refer to “children,” but rather more specifically means "young men." The NIV, quoted here, uses the word “youths.” Second, the fact that the bears mauled 42 of the youths indicates that there were more than 42 youths involved. This was not a small group of children making fun of a bald man. Rather, it was a large demonstration of young men who assembled for the purpose of mocking a prophet of God. Third, the mocking of “go on up you baldhead,” is more than making fun of baldness. The baldness of Elisha referred to here may be: 1) natural loss of hair; 2) a shaved head denoting his separation to the prophetic office; or more likely, 3) an epithet of scorn and contempt, Elijah not being literally bald. The phrase “go up” likely was a reference to Elijah, Elisha’s mentor, being taken up to Heaven earlier in 2 Kings chapter 2:11-12. These youths were sarcastically taunting and insulting the Lord’s prophet by telling him to repeat Elijah’s translation.
In summary, 2 Kings 2:23-24 is not an account of God mauling young children for making fun of a bald man. Rather, it is a record of an insulting demonstration against God’s prophet by a large group of young men. Because these young people of about 20 years of age or older (the same term is used of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:7) so despised the prophet of the Lord, Elisha called upon the Lord to deal with the rebels as He saw fit. The Lord’s punishment was the mauling of 42 of them by two female bears. The penalty was clearly justified, for to ridicule Elisha was to ridicule the Lord Himself. The seriousness of the crime was indicated by the seriousness of the punishment. The appalling judgment was God’s warning to all who would scorn the prophets of the Lord.
Explanation # 2 :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.carm.org/bible-difficulties/joshua-esther/why-did-god-kill-42-lads-merely-saying-elisha-was-bald
Why would God allow two bears to kill 42 young lads simply for saying Elisha was bald? Let’s take a look. Elisha was traveling from Jericho to Bethel when a group of young men verbally accosted him. 42 is a large number of people, and they were probably an organized group who had gone out to challenge Elisha. Their mockery implied a malicious intent; especially when the culture of the time insisted on showing respect to their elders. Furthermore, the statement “go up you baldhead!” has cultural significance. First of all, “go up” is probably a reference to Elisha’s predecessor, Elijah, ascending to heaven (2 Kings 2:11). In other words, they are stating they want Elisha gone; and since Elijah had gone on to the “next world,” the implication is they wanted Elisha dead. Also, the epithet ‘baldhead’ was one of “contempt in the East, applied to a person even with a bushy head of hair.” 1 Lepers had to shave their heads, so such a statement could easily have been a deliberate and malicious insult, something dangerous in a mob that can quickly get out of hand.
Given the challenge of the youths, their intimidating number which could constitute a mob, their veiled threat, the contemptuous attitude, and the fact that Elisha was the prophet of God, the Lord allowed the youths to be destroyed.