2 Kings 2, we'll take a bit of a break from our study in Matthew. The Lord willing, we'll return to Matthew 27 next Sunday, but this morning we're going to look at 2 Kings 2. And I'll begin reading in verse 1. And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
Then Elisha said to Elisha, Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?
And he said, Yes, I know. Keep silent. Then Elijah said to him, Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.
So they came to Jericho. Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today? So he answered, Yes, I know. Keep silent.
Then Elijah said to him, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan. But he said, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. And 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
And Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water. And it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. And so it was when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elisha, ask, what may I do for you before I am taken away from you? Elisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.
So he said, you have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if not, it shall not be so. Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them.
And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried out, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen. So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed over. Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.
And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him. Then they said to him, Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, You shall not send anyone.
But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send them. Therefore they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days, but did not find him. And when they came back to him, for he had stayed in Jericho, he said to them, did I not say to you, do not go? Then the men of the city said to Elisha, please notice the situation of this city is pleasant as my Lord sees, but the water is bad and the ground barren.
And he said, bring me a new bowl and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. Then he went out to the source of the water and cast in the salt there and said, thus says the Lord, I have healed this water. From it there shall be no more death or barrenness." So the water remains healed to this day according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
Then he went up from there to Bethel and as he was going up the road some youths came from the city and mocked him and said to him, go up you bald head, go up you bald head. So he turned around and looked at them and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths. Then he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
Amen. Let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word. We do acknowledge that all scripture, including Old Testament passages like these, are given by inspiration of God. We acknowledge their profitability for us and pray that today, by the power of your spirit, We would learn of God in this passage, that You would cause us to stand in awe, to appreciate Your sovereignty, Your power, Your majesty, Your excellence and Your glory. As well, our Father, may You cause us to be a humble people under Your mighty hand.
And in your time, would you lift us up? We ask that you would deal mercifully and graciously with any and all who have come here this morning that are outside of Christ, those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, those who are unbelievers. We pray that today would be the day of salvation. We know that You are able in Your sovereign power to make men willing, and we pray that You would do such things for the demonstration of Your amazing grace and Your goodness and Your kindness and Your love.
We would pray, Father, that sinners would hear the preaching of the Word today, not just here, but throughout the earth, that Your Word would run swiftly, that it would be glorified, that it would not return unto You void, but accomplish the purpose for which You sent it. To that end, God, we pray for the ministry and the power of your Holy Spirit. We come to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, and we pray that even now we know the presence of the Holy Spirit, that you would help us as we come to this passage of Scripture, that you would inform and instruct our minds and hearts, that you would encourage us, that you would challenge us, that you would lay us low as need be. We ask that you would forgive us for our sins and our transgressions.
Wash us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and cause us to stand amazed that you are the God who indeed forgives, that you are a God who does cleanse, a God who does receive unto himself guilty, vile, helpless sinners because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. And we come to you now in and through his most blessed name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as we come to this particular passage, I think it is very instructive for us, and I think there are three reasons why we ought to look at this passage this morning. In the first place, instructional. We ought to know what the scripture says. We ought to know what's in the Bible.
We, along with Paul, in 2 Timothy 3, confess that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. In that context, when Paul writes that, he has primarily in his mind the Old Testament Scriptures. Well, 2 Kings 2 is part of that body of literature. We need to know what's in there.
Secondly, apologetically. You will probably not doubt that a lot of people have problems with this particular chapter. They teach, at least within the professing church, some teach that what we have here with Elisha is owing more to folklore and stories and things that were sort of made up to support the prophet and give him more of a popular appeal. Well, that's certainly not the way these stories are to be read or understood.
But apologetically as well, this instance of the two bears troubles a lot of people, certainly outside of the church, but then as well within the context of the church. So it's important for us to know what the Bible is speaking to here, to understand what's happening. so that we may indeed be able to defend God's Word. Now, I know that there are those who say God's Word needs no defense, and I agree with that, and I certainly affirm that. But there is those occasions, or are those occasions, when persons ask questions, and in the language of Peter, we need to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us.
But primarily, I think the instruction that this chapter holds out to us is practical. And by practical, I don't mean, kids, don't be naughty or bears will get you. I mean, I think that's the temptation to get to when we come to 2 Kings 2. We put the fear, hopefully, of God in the hearts of our children and say, now you be good, don't steal cookies, don't do anything nasty, don't say ill things, or bears are going to come and get you.
When I say practical, I mean theological. There's a lot that this chapter teaches us about God, and that's how we're going to approach it this morning. by way of application, but by way of exposition, the chapter breaks down into two main sections. First, the translation of Elijah in verses 1 to 12, and then secondly, the manifestation of Elisha in verses 13 to 25. Now Elijah was a larger-than-life prophet.
I mean, he was a man who came from God. He just appears in 1 Kings chapter 17. Elisha, the Tishbi, stands before godless Ahab and tells him there's going to be drought in the land. Well, here Elijah is taken back up to heaven. in a glorious and in a wondrous display of the majesty and sovereignty of God.
And so then we see the manifestation of Elisha, his successor, a prophet who comes after him. But
The Translation of Elijah
let's look first at this translation. Note the plan of God in verse 1. It says, it came to pass when Yahweh was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. So God had purpose to do this, and everybody in the chapter knows about this.
Elisha, according to verses 2, 4, and 6, understand that this is Elijah's lot, as well these sons of the prophets in verses 3 and 5. They as well know that Elijah is going to be taken up by God into heaven. So it is God's purpose, it is God's plan. Now
The Journey to the Jordan
note their journey to the Jordan. Elijah wants to be alone, according to verse 2a. Then Elijah said to Elisha, stay here please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel. We don't know why he wanted to be alone.
There are many reasons that commentators offer, perhaps to evidence his humility. He doesn't want anybody else to be around. He's going to go this alone. As well, to prevent Elisha's grief.
He knows the strong bond that he maintains with his younger successor, and he wants to prevent that grief. Or some suggest it was to test Elisha's affection. Will Elisha nevertheless come with Elijah at this particular time? We don't know because the text doesn't tell us.
We do know, however, that Elisha is persistent. He wants to remain on with Elijah to the very end. It's kind of like a time of fellowship with a brother or a sister in Christ, and the hour is getting late, but you don't want it to end. You don't want to get gypped of any of the good resources that that brother brings to your soul.
You've had those seasons. You've had those times. You may have it in public worship. And so Elisha wants to milk this for all it's worth, as Gil says, being determined to see the last of him and to have the benefit of his company in conversation.
His heavenly discourse and instruction from Him as long as He could and in hope of receiving a blessing from Him at parting." It's a good way to value our Christian friendships. It's a good way to value Christian society. It is a good thing to want to jealously hold on to that for as long as we can. Now, note these sons of the prophets that are indicated here in Bethel.
Notice in verse 3, it says, "...the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel." They are located as well at Jericho. We see these sons of the prophets or schools of the prophets. And again, Gil explains, these schools were perhaps founded by Elijah as a nursery for religion and to check upon the idolatry of the times. Now what's happening at least governmentally at the time of Elijah and Elisha is a great time of wickedness in Israel.
You have the northern kingdom of Israel and their leaders have basically plunged them into idolatry. You have a whole host of wicked men that are running the nation into the ground, and yet the prophetic movement continues, and they continue to call the government officials to repentance. They continue to give guidance from the Lord to the nation. You seek God's great mercy, Though the people are running headlong into idolatry, God nevertheless provides them prophets and gives them the spoken word of God Almighty.
So these sons of the prophets, they come along and notice what they say. Verse 3, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I know. Keep silent.
This happens a series of times. Elisha knows, and everybody's reminding him, and Elisha reminds everybody, I know, keep silent about it. This is a painful time for Elisha. He doesn't want to see Elijah go.
He loves this man. He's been a servant to this man. In fact, he's identified in the next chapter as the one who poured water on the hands of Elijah. You see, Elisha wasn't this man who was always chomping at the bit, who needed this prestige.
He wanted Elijah to go so there would be room for him. No, he deferred. He poured hands on the water of Elijah. He loved the man.
He didn't want to hear about the fact that he was going to be translated into heaven away from him. That's the gist or the vibe that he does here. I know, keep silent about it. And then notice what we have in terms of the specific locations involved.
They go from Bethel to Jericho to Jordan. I'm sorry, Bethel to Jericho to Jordan. One commentator says the trip from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho on the Jordan retraces the first movements Israel made in the promised land. And the parting of the Jordan may also remind readers of the crossing of the Red Sea.
He's going to go on to develop this in a moment, but it's not only the crossing of the Red Sea, but there was also a similar parting of the River Jordan during Joshua's time in Joshua chapters 3 and 4. But Howe says, such a scenario calls attention to the similarities of Elisha's succession of Elijah and Joshua's succession of Moses. Now, you need to keep this in mind, because I'm going to argue today that one of the things that we are seeing in this particular chapter, bears and all, is an affirmation, a confirmation, an authentication of the fact that Elisha is God's man, speaking God's word in the name of God. You see, at this particular time it wasn't the case that anyone could blog and get a hearing, or anyone could post YouTube videos and get a hearing.
If some came and proclaimed to speak in the name of Yahweh of Israel, they had to be vetted. They had to be affirmed. They had to be confirmed. They had to be authenticated.
And the two miracles that are done in this particular chapter, vis-a-vis a healing miracle and then a cursing miracle, connect Elisha to Moses. It connects Elisha to the prophetic tradition. It connects Elisha in a way wherein God is saying that even through the means of these bears, you need to listen to my man. You need to give ear to him because he is my man.
He is the legitimate successor of Elijah the prophet. You see, when Elijah goes, the nation is now destitute, and so they want the mouth of God. And so these miracles affirm that he is, in fact, the mouth of God. So this parting of the Jordan here reminisces to Joshua, but as well to the Red Sea.
And as he says, such a scenario calls attention to the similarities of Elisha's succession of Elijah and Joshua's succession of Moses. Therefore, the text stresses the continuity of God's message and God's messengers in Israel's history and places Elijah on par with Moses. It's a beautiful thing. You've got to read the Bible this way.
Yes, it's a beautiful narrative in terms of what God is doing in the history of Israel, but think backwards and think forwards and see how it connects to redemptive history, that which has preceded and that which does follow. And then as I said, some take this passage and they say, well, it's obviously folklore because, you know, these two stories at the end where he heals the water and he curses the children. This is just folklore. It's just sort of stuck on at the back of this particular chapter.
But it is intriguing from an apologetic standpoint that the cities that Elijah and Elisha go to, Bethel, Jericho, are the same way that Elisha goes on his own. If it is some folklore appended, which it's not, those details would not be spot on. But then notice specifically at verse 7. It says, 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water, and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. Now the mantle was some sort of a prophetic, or rather some sort of a garment. It didn't give them magic power. It wasn't some sort of an amulet.
It wasn't some sort of a holy horseshoe or, you know, a four-leaf clover or something like that. It was rather representative of the fact that God's men wore it. And so Elijah wears it, he throws it into the river, and it splits, it goes apart. Now, they cross over it, and
The Ascension of Elijah
we learn of the ascension of Elijah in verses 9 to 12. So Elijah says, ask what I may do for you before I am taken away from you. And he says, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. He doesn't say this in some proud way.
He's not saying, I want to be better than you are, Elijah. I want to be more notoriously famous than you are. You see, that is not what is driving Elisha. He has no doubt witnessed Elijah's God-blessed ministry in terms of power and authority and preaching and activity, but there's been little effect or little notable results.
You still have the kings running the nation into the ground. You still have the people on the streets worshiping these false idols, so he wants a double portion of Elijah's spirit, specifically for ministry. John Gill says he doesn't ask from a spirit of vanity and ambition to be greater than his master, but from an eagerness to promote the glory of God. You see, this is why ministers ought to desire gifts and abilities.
Not so they can have big churches or notoriety or the most hits on YouTube. Who cares about the most hits on YouTube? Who cares on whether you get five thumbs up on a post? If this is what is defining ministry in our day, it is more desperately wicked than we can even begin to imagine.
You know what ought to define the ministry of the gospel today? Is the ministry of the gospel. In other words, was the word of God effectively, accurately preached? You see, those five thumbs up are all the notoriety in the world is nothing compared to the approval of God.
Isn't this what Paul tells Timothy he is to court? Study to show yourself approved onto the Facebook community, the YouTube people. I just kind of envision a bunch of moles living underground watching YouTube. The YouTube, I know we all watch YouTube.
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That's the mark of the prophetic ministry in the Old Covenant and the pastoral ministry in the New Covenant. And so he wants these gifts not for the glory of his name, but rather for the glory of his God. So Gil says, not from a spirit of vanity and ambition to be greater than his master, but from an eagerness to promote the glory of God and the interest of religion, to reclaim the Israelites from their idolatry and establish the true religion, which he might observe Elijah was not able to do with that measure of grace and gifts that he had.
And it was probably a statement of true humility. I need a double portion. If I'm going to conduct myself in at least a little bit like you, I'm going to need double what you had. You see, not only is it not vain and ambitious and give me twice, but he's acknowledging, Elijah, you're such an eminent man.
You're such a godly man. You're such a faithful man. You're such a disciplined man. You're such a consistent man.
For me to fill those shoes, I'm going to require double of what God has given to you. No ambition here, no vain conceit, no desire for vainglory. Now note the translation of Elijah, verse 11. The famous painting of this shows Elijah on a chariot being absconded into heaven.
That's not what happens. The chariot separates Elijah from Elisha. Elijah is caught up in this whirlwind and goes to heaven bodily. Gloriously, wondrously typical of what our Lord Jesus is going to do when He comes in the first advent.
But it is a glorious display of the power of God. He's taken up into heaven a fitting end to a fitting servant of a glorious God. And then
Elisha's Response
note the response of Elisha. It's beautiful. Elisha saw it and he cried out, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen. It's a beautiful way to ascribe praise to God for Elijah.
What's the strength of an army? It's the chariots and the horsemen. Any good that is going on in the Northern Kingdom, any power that is going on in the Northern Kingdom, it's not owing to Ahab. It's not owing to Ahaziah.
It's not going to be owing to Jehoram. It is rather owing to the fact that there was a godly prophet among us. In other words, what drives the kingdom? It's the word.
It's not the politics of the particular leader. It's not the savvy in terms of battle of the particular leader. Whatever prestige we have as a northern kingdom, and there was still some to be sure, it is owing to the fact that God's prophet was among us and that God's prophet spoke the truth to us. As the chariot and its horsemen drive the armies in battle, so did Elijah the prophet.
What a great, great epitaph at his funeral of sorts. Obviously, he didn't die. He was translated bodily into heaven. But what a glorious thing that caused to reflect on that statement of that bystander at John Knox's funeral.
He neither feared nor flattered any flesh. What a good way to get buried. What a good way for Elijah to go back up into it or to go up into heaven with this testimony that insofar as the Northern Kingdom had any dignity, any power, any ability among the nations around them, it was because God's man was in their presence. It's a beautiful ascription of his praise to God for this man.
Of course, he's sad that Elijah has gone. He tears his clothes, but now notice,
The Manifestation of Elisha
broadly speaking, the manifestation of Elisha in verses 13 to 25. And there's three things we want to observe here. The prophet's mantle, the prophet's blessing, and the prophet's curse.
The Prophet's Mantle
First, the prophet's mantle in verses 13 and 14 says, he also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed over." You see what Elisha is doing here? He knows that though God's man died, or God's man is not present, it's not the case that God isn't present.
Where is God? Where is the Lord God of Elijah? This is a bit of a representation. He now possesses the mantle.
He now casts the mantle into the same river. And what happens? God divides the river. What is God affirming through this particular situation?
He's affirming that Elisha is indeed the right successor of Elijah. It is a dramatic, wonderful, powerful display of the transfer of the prophetic ministry from Elijah to Elisha. Now, notice the sons of the prophets recognize this in verse 15. Now, when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.
You see what's happening? Before you threaten your kids with bears, brethren, get this passage right. The bears and the water is indication that he's God's man. You see this in the ministry of the Lord Jesus.
When Jesus does his signs and wonders, is it to impress the multitudes? Is it to demonstrate his uncanny ability over the elements when he says to the wind and the waves to be still? Is it to demonstrate that he's better than any eye surgeon when he heals those who are blind? Is it to demonstrate that he's a master of the culinary arts to take a few loaves and a few fish and to feed a great...
It is to affirm and confirm that he's God's man. When signs and wonders come in the Bible, you see, people look at the Bible, they say it's all about miracles. Yes, there's a lot of miracles in the Bible, but miracles are given at particular seasons. And those particular seasons are when God is speaking.
So take, for instance, Moses. He was a mouthpiece for God. He does signs and wonders. Take the prophets.
They are mouthpieces for God. They do signs and wonders. Take the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a mouthpiece for God.
He does signs and wonders. You take the apostles, they are mouthpieces for God, they do signs and wonders. The signs and the wonders confirm the presence of God's man. They're not the end.
It's not the case that we say, wow, the signs and the wonders, but rather we say God is speaking to us. Does everybody follow? You got people hankering after the signs and wonders today, not listening to God. You get this with people sometimes, the Lord spoke to me.
Now there's probably a context where we can justify such language, but it needs to be qualified, it needs to be distinguished. If somebody says, the Lord spoke to me, and they mean he gave me new revelation. The question I always wanna ask is, have you read the whole Bible? If they say no, that's really problematic, isn't it?
Why in the world would God tell you something new if you don't know who Amos the sheep breeder was? Why in the world would God tell you something new if you couldn't explain who Obadiah the prophet was? Do you get my point? Everybody with me?
We're doing a little bit of theology in our theological treatment of the word here. The miracles in this chapter affirm the presence of God's word. That's the emphasis, and the sons of the prophets get that. But they don't know how far that even goes.
Notice in verse 15, the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. They came to meet him. They bowed to the ground before him. Then they said to him, look now, there are 50 strong men with your servants.
Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, you shall not send anyone. He knows what's happened. I submit that these prophets did not see Elijah taken up into the whirlwind.
When that chariot comes and divides the two men, whatever is happening there in terms of visionary experience or the eyesight involved, I don't think these prophets knew that. And it wasn't unlike God to spirit away Elijah. 1 Kings chapter 18, this was Obadiah's concern. Maybe he'll spirit him away and I'll be stuck holding the bag before Ahab. So these prophets don't know that, but Elisha does know that and Elisha tries to discourage it and the prophets weary him.
And finally he says, okay, go ahead and look for him. No doubt they were looking for the body of Elijah to try and bury it and give it that proper respect. Davis makes the wise observation they should have listened to his wisdom. You're going to go out and busy yourself looking for a body that's not there.
Not only is he the mouthpiece of God, but he's a wise man and should pay attention to what he has to say. It'll save you bouncing around from hilltop to hilltop trying to find the dead body of Elijah that's not here because he was translated into heaven. So that's kind of what's going on there.
The Prophet's Blessing
Let's go to the prophet's blessing. Verses 19 to 22, then the men of the city said to Elisha, please notice the situation of this city is pleasant as my Lord sees, but the water is bad and the ground barren. This begins sort of an ongoing emphasis by God in terms of tending to the needs of his people. You're going to say, well, the two bears really doesn't seem to fit that flow of thought, but just bear with me for a moment.
When we get to chapter 4 specifically, we'll see how Elisha embarks on a series of miracles from chapter 4, verse 1, all the way to chapter 6, verse 23. And we have a really intriguing thing there in that first one. It's about a widow who has two sons. Her husband dies, he didn't fear the Lord, they've got debts, and the creditors are gonna come and they're gonna seize my sons.
So Elisha gives her endless oil. Well, there is an end when the vessels come to an end. She's never named. We wouldn't know her if we bumped into her today.
This nameless woman who had a particular desperate need, God fills. Isn't that like our God? The chapter before it, the prophet says, I'm not even gonna listen to you, Jehoram, king. I'm not even going to acknowledge you, Jehoram, king.
I wouldn't do anything for your benefit unless it was for Jehoshaphat who's standing by your side. But when it comes to this nobody that has nothing that's about to lose her two sons, Yahweh stoops to bless. We get to the next miracle in that particular section and it's a Shunammite woman. And this Shunammite woman has been barren, and so what happens?
She is now given a child. We noticed on Wednesday night that this Shunammite woman that was barren fits a biblical motif. You see this all throughout the Bible. The woman that was formerly barren that then gives birth to someone significant in redemptive history.
The interesting thing there in 2 Kings 4 is that that Shunammite woman's son doesn't have any significance to him whatsoever. He doesn't go on to lead armies into battle. He doesn't go on to reign over the nation. He doesn't go on to do any grand redemptive thing.
But it was simply God giving kindness to a woman in need. You see, there's people out there, and kids, you've got to be aware of this. They'll say, that Old Testament, it's filled with some bad and nasty things. You can't trust what God says back there because it's judgment, it's wrath, it's fury.
In fact, your pastor's gonna be preaching about these bears that actually maul these pathetic, innocent little children. You can't listen to that sort of thing. You know how much grace and goodness and kindness and mercy is displayed in these narratives? So here we have a display of that.
Notice the problem. God stooping to help the problems of a people. The water is bad and the ground barren. Davis says, suffers from miscarriages.
Better picks up the sense of the verb. Moreover, when Elisha announces God's healing of the waters, he assures townsfolk that the water supply will no longer cause death or miscarriage. The problem is far more serious than unproductive land. There was something lethal in the water supply, causing fatalities in livestock and humans.
Hence, when verse 19 says the land miscarries, I take land as a cipher for its occupants, i.e. livestock and people. It wasn't just the change that we went through a few years ago here in Chilliwack, where award-winning water became water like everywhere else. That's not what's in view here. It's not the case that now they went to the faucet, they got a cup from the tap, they drank it, and they smelled and tasted a bit of ammonia.
That's not what's going on here. This water was lethal. This water killed. This water was poisonous.
And so know what God does through the prophet. The prophet says, bring me a new bowl and put salt in it. Again, something completely contrary and opposite to the way that we would understand things. You don't put salt in water to fix it.
You don't put salt in water to purify it. You don't put salt in water to make it potable. Rather, you try to get out the impurities and certainly keep out the salt. But it's the fact that God is speaking that heals the water.
Notice, he says they brought it to him, and then in verse 21, he went out to the source of the water, cast in the salt there, and said, thus says the Lord, I have healed this water. From it there shall be no more death or barrenness. It's the power of the spoken word. It's not magic.
It wasn't as if this bowl or this salt had some sort of magical properties, and once it was cast in, it was a hocus-pocus transaction, and everybody drank water until they were content. No, it's the power of God. God often uses symbols or emblems or tangible things in order to convey and to demonstrate His excellence, His glory, and His power. So we see the prophet's mantle.
It evidences that He is indeed the true prophet of God. The sons of the prophets interpret it that way. We see this blessing from God, which indicates that Elisha is a true prophet. But brethren,
The Prophet's Curse
anyone who's read the Old Testament knows that there are two specific things that end the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. They are blessings and they are cursings. I know we don't like those ones as much, do we? We would like to sanitize the Bible.
Get rid of nasty things like bears running around mauling children. Get rid of these cursings. Can't we just all love? No, we can't, and that's why cursings are in the Bible.
We don't love God as we ought, and we certainly don't love one another as we ought, and if we continue impenitent, then God is going to judge us. Oh, I don't like that concept of judgment anymore either. They're so antiquated. You gotta be progressive.
Jump on the love train, is what we're told today. Everything's about love, love, love, love, love. God is love, they cite that. Yes, he is.
But all that is in God is God. He's not only love, He is justice, He is righteousness, He is holiness. Why do we forget that sort of description of who God is? Notice, the prophet not only blesses in the name of Yahweh, but he curses.
And I don't mean he says a bad word. Notice the situation in verse 23. Then he went up from there to Bethel. And as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him and said to him, go up, you bald head, go up, you bald head.
Now there are several things that we ought to investigate before we render verdict on this being. A terrible description that we should never entertain as reasonable people. In fact, there is one commentator who makes this statement. He says, this murderous response to the boy's mockery is morally scandalous.
Is it meant to suggest that Elisha does not make responsible use of his prophetic powers? That after turning death to life at the spring, he now spreads death? The early rabbis were so outraged by this story that they felt constrained to assert it never really happened. Their formulation, neither bears nor forest, became idiomatic in Hebrew for a cock and bull story.
That fellow's not alone. People really struggle. You may struggle with what's written here. I'm not going to ask you, okay, every hand raised, and everybody tell me who doesn't like this story in their Bible.
If you were going to undertake a revision, wouldn't you leave out the end of 2 Kings 2? You don't need to raise your hand. I'm not going to make a public example of you. But before you continue with that verdict, consider the facts of the narrative.
You still may not like it anymore, but hopefully you'll at least appreciate what's going on in the first place, the location. Then he was going up from there to Bethel. Now, Bethel changed dramatically under King Jeroboam. In 1 Kings chapter 12, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who becomes sort of a benchmark for wickedness in the northern kingdom, and at times in the southern kingdom, this man institutes calf worship.
Cath worship, cat, bull, calves. And he makes two locations and one of them is in Bethel. It has become a central place where calves are worshipped. Secondly, we need to consider the lads in view.
Notice, we don't know precisely how old they are. One man says that the term is used to describe somebody from 12 to 30 in general. Now certainly, we'll all say, yeah, they're probably 25. That makes more sense to us.
Most commentators put them much younger on the scale. They weren't two, they weren't three, but they weren't probably 25 either. But notice something unique about the language at the end of verse 24, where we see the actual mauling statement. It says, and two she bears came out of the woods and mauled 42, notice, of the youths.
This implies or infers that there were more than 42. Of the youths there, 42 of them met their end at the hands or paws of these she-bears. What does that indicate? It indicates we're dealing with a mob. were dealing with a large group of enemies against God and against His prophet.
But then notice their movement, or their intent rather. Look at verse 23. He came up from there to Bethel, and as he was going up the road, some youths, notice, came from the city. See, the way I envision it is that Elisha was not walking down Yale Road and some guys at 7-Eleven started to accost him.
That's not what's happening. Elisha's on the outskirts of the city and these young men go to him. There is intent. They have a purpose.
They have malice of forethought. They're not there as guys hanging out at the 7-Eleven saying, look at that guy's bald head. No, there is specific intent. And then when we look at what they say in particular, we see the offensiveness of it.
Not the necessary reference to his bald head, though that's not nice. You shouldn't mock somebody or make fun of somebody that doesn't have a head of hair. That's not cool. But when they say, go up, it could mean one of two things.
They had heard about Elijah who had gone up, or it could just be go up out of our city. Thank you very much. We don't want the prophet of God anywhere near us. These are not harmless, innocent, playful little things, but rather, in the language of Davis, who I think is right, they are responsible young lads expressing abuse, contempt, and hostility toward Yahweh's representative and knew they were doing so.
Now, parents, guess where they learned this? I had the encouraging thing happen this past week. Someone said, our daughter prays for you. You know what that tells me?
Praise God. There's a four-year-old little girl who prays for me. But it also tells me that most likely their parents or her parents do too. Because she wouldn't have just learned that on a whim unless she heard them or they had exhorted or encouraged her to pray for your parents.
Why are these wretched little boys running out of the city to mock the prophet of Yahweh? It's because their parents are terrible human beings. You want to take a morally practical lesson from this message today? Deal with your kids.
Do not let them rise up and mock the prophet of the living God. Do not let them call somebody baldhead, baldhead, get out of our town. We don't want the word of God that you've got. These kids had learned this kind of religion.
These kids had it ingrained in them. These kids learned from their youth the catechism of wickedness and idolatry. Who made you? The calves that King Jeroboam erected in Bethel.
What else did these calves make? All things. Why should you glorify these castes? Because He made me and He takes care of me.
Kids, what do we think of Yahweh? We hate Him. What do we think of His prophets? We hate Him.
They're not standing around 7-Eleven taking a pot shot at a bald man. They are running out of the city, going after the prophet of God, and essentially screaming at Him to stay off our turf. Brethren, that's the way the text ought to be read. I don't think I've abused it.
You see all that? There's 42 of them. They go out of the city. They tell them to go up, get out, go away.
We don't want you here. Parents, you exercise a great deal of influence on your kids. You can either rear them to fear God, or at least to know they ought to fear God. You can't change their hearts.
And to revere God's men. Speak ill of the prophet of God most high? Teach your kids respect, brethren. Now note the curse.
He pronounces it in verse 24a. So he turned around, looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of Yahweh. And two female bears, or she-bears, I like the way the King James renders it better, two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths. This is heavy, isn't it?
I don't know if you heard it on the news a couple of weeks ago. There was a bear in a man's kitchen in Coquitlam going through his refrigerator. He said they shot the bear because obviously if it knows how to get into a refrigerator, you don't want to mess with that bear. Bears are terrible, aren't they?
Always wondered why we have teddy bears. Why have small little tokens of things that would rip you apart? I don't understand it. They're so cute and cuddly.
No, they're not. Do not treat bears the way you treat teddy bears. This is terrifying, isn't it? You see, it's just here that people are like, I just can't accept this.
OK, the kids were bad. They should have got a timeout. They should have got a bit of a corporal punishment. But come on, Yahweh's going overboard with these she-bears.
Well, at least you're on the right track if you answer Yahweh. It's not Elisha. He wasn't a bear trainer. It wasn't that he had a leash and they were connected to these she-bears in the woods and if they got out of line, he kind of gave them a yank.
It was God who sent the bears, brethren. If you've got problems with these bears, you've got problems with God. It's just like in the previous chapter in 2 Kings 1. Ahaziah sends his soldiers to get Elijah.
He doesn't send his soldiers to get Elijah so that they can golf together or so that they can eat pizza together. He sends his soldiers to get Elijah probably to kill him publicly and make an example of him. And Elijah says, if I am the prophet of God, then fire is going to come down and consume these men. Well, brethren, Elijah didn't make the fire.
Elijah didn't manufacture the fire. Elijah simply pronounced the imprecation, if I am indeed the prophet of God, then fire will come down and consume your man. It does that twice. God sent the fire.
God sent the bears. If it raises up in your heart to say this is ungodly, it is unholy, it is unrighteous, it is a murderous assault upon innocent little children, your problem is with God. I love the way Davis explains this. We must size up these bears correctly.
They were covenant bears. the covenant curse of Leviticus 26, 22. Remember, I mentioned that earlier. The prophet both blesses and he curses. Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, those are divine instructions for entering the land.
You go into the land, you do what you're supposed to do, blessings will accrue to you. You go into the land, you don't do what you're supposed to do, cursings will accrue to you. This is the application of one of these curses. It's just here that we go, that's just not good, that's not good, that's not wise.
Why in the world would we have a problem with God fulfilling His word? See, we like when God fulfills his word and it results in blessing, don't we? We like when God answers our prayers in the affirmative. I think we're very much fair weather fans.
As long as God is performing well for us, we're gonna be his worshiper. Soon as trials or sorrows or difficulties or hardships come, we're ready to say, forget it, I'm gonna go join the Buddhists. Because they're happy. These are covenant bears.
God had spoken to this very specifically. Leviticus 26, 22, "...I will let loose the wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children." God's just fulfilling His Word in 2 Kings 2. He says, Davis explains this episode, covenant infidelity, hatred of Yahweh's representative, and perhaps persisting in Bethel's perverse worship has brought the covenant curse. Had Elisha been wronged to curse, listen, you have a problem with the passage.
And even if you don't listen, if he had been wronged to curse, one would assume that Yahweh would not have fulfilled the curse. It's the same with Elijah and the servants of Ahaziah. If I'm a prophet, then the Lord will send fire out. The fact that God sends fire, the fact that God sends she-bears, indicates that God is perfectly okay with these prophets' imprecations, these prophets' prayers, these prophets' curses upon the detractors.
He goes on to say that Yahweh did so validates Elisha's curse. Here is not an irritable prophet, but a judging God. And then Matthew Henry, in much the same way, but a bit of an older perspective, says this. The prophet must be justified, for he did it by divine impulse.
Had the curse come from any bad principle, God would not have said amen to it. You get that, right? Some would say, well, you can't read providence that way. You can when it's the prophet of God.
When it's the very mouthpiece of God, you must read providence that way. If it's just me or it's just you and something happens, we can't necessarily conclude with absolute certainty that that was from the Lord. That's like reading tea leaves at the local Chinese restaurant. It's like living your life in light of a fortune cookie.
And sometimes Christians fall prey to this. Well, if God does this, well, then that must mean He's favorable toward it. Not always, not necessarily, but when it's the prophet Elisha and the prophet Elijah, yeah, when God answers their prayer by fire and bear Yes, it was in fact His will. So back to Matthew Henry.
He says, we may think it would have been better to have called for two rods for the correction of these children than two bears for the destruction of them. But Elisha knew by the Spirit the bad character of these children. He knew what a generation of vipers those were and what mischievous enemies they would be to God's prophets if they should live to be men who began so early to be abusive to them. Wow, that's the proper perspective on the passage.
See, the older commentators said, that's absolutely legit. They don't lose sleep saying, well, how are we going to harmonize this with the love and the mercy and the goodness of God? Of course, these kids should have got eaten by she-bears. They cursed God and his prophet.
The surprising thing to the older commentators would have been if there were no she-bears. Have we become more enlightened? Are we more biblical? I'd suggest we're less, far less than what's represented in the likes of Matthew Henry and John Gill and thankfully Dale Ralph Davis.
So the significance of this section, mantle, blessing, cursing, is to indicate that like Moses before him, Elisha has authority under God to pronounce both blessing and cursing. He is the legitimate, authorized, approved, sanctioned successor of the prophet Elijah. God's Word continues, unabated, going forth. Doesn't mean it's always going to be received, even though Elisha speaks it, but God's Word is alive in Israel.
Well, as I said,
Application
there are several lessons, not several in the sense that you're going to be here another hour, but several in the sense that we need to run through a couple of things quickly before we close.
The Power of God
First, we ought to appreciate the power of God. Not just in the she-bears, but that's a powerful display, isn't it? I used to have a friend, he and I still have the friend, but we used to say, if you ever meet a bear on the road or a lion, you know, start reflecting on what you need to repent of. because God uses those as means or vehicles of judgment in various situations and circumstances. So if you meet a bear, you meet a lion, it's time to repent of whatever it is you've been doing wrong.
But the power of God is seen in this particular passage in the sense that it is not confined to a particular era. It is not confined to a particular era. And that's a reminder that you and I need. We look around us today and we see what at least at times appears to be a lack of the power of God.
We preach, we pray, we seek to see men saved. Men go unsaved, they go unrepentant, they go unbelieving. And so we get down, or we get discouraged, or we get, you know, melancholy. And we think, where is the power of God?
This passage displays it's not confined to an era. The God who split the Red Sea, the God who split the Jordan in Joshua chapters 3 and 4 is the same God of 2 Kings chapter 2. Though years and years have passed, years and years have transpired, that same God is over all. As well, we see that the power of God is not confined to one particular man.
And I think that speaks multitudes to our generation. In a day and age where celebrity preachers are all the rage, you probably have them on your iPod, your top five preachers that you love to listen to. I'm not condemning that. I'm not going to anathematize you.
I'm not going to say you're a terrible specimen of a human being. By all means, listen to that rather than Metallica when you're going about your day in and day out. But brethren, we put men on a pedestal. We exalt men.
Oh, did you hear what so-and-so said? Now we got to do everything they say. If they are accurately and faithfully exegeting the Word of God and it's legitimate, then yeah, do what they say. But just because so-and-so says something doesn't necessarily mean you got to change everything.
We do that, though. We put men up on a pedestal. You could see it then. A man like Elijah is gone.
What are we going to do? Imagine the faithful in the northern kingdom. The faithful in the northern kingdom, in the absence of Elijah, probably felt like they were just lost and destitute. What's going to happen?
The power of God has gone with Elijah in this whirlwind back into heaven. Davis makes this observation. The prophets likely wondered, what will we do now that Elijah is no longer with us? And if we think that, we must, like Elisha himself, verse 14, look for the God of Elijah to be with us.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, not in the charisma of his servants. God's leaders change. God's power persists. Perhaps sometimes God removes His illustrious servants so that we will not make idols of them, as though they are the only conduits of God's help.
Perhaps God deliberately displays His might through lesser instruments so that we will not be transfixed on the pizzazz of God's servants, but on the strength of God's arm. That's a passage that we should all amen. You take your five tops, you take Jim Butler, we drop dead, guess what's gonna happen tomorrow? The kingdom of God's gonna march on.
Best counsel any preacher can ever receive is don't take yourself too seriously. It's good, don't ever do it. You choke on broccoli tonight, the sun's gonna rise tomorrow morning, the people of God are gonna grieve, but you know what? God of the people will give them a mouthpiece, and God will demonstrate that it's God, not his men, not his servants, good as they may have been.
I mean, the world is probably a much worse place when, you know, a Calvin dies or a Spurgeon dies, but the kingdom has marched on. The power of God.
The Grace of God
Secondly, the grace of God. You see it conspicuously in two ways. You see it, first of all, in the provision of Elisha. If you'd been with us on our Wednesday nights, you'd know a little bit more about the contours of the Northern Kingdom at this particular time.
I gave you a bit of a piece of that. I gave you a snippet of that. But if you understood just how bad they were, you might conclude, why would God give them another prophet to speak in his name? Because God's gracious.
He's good, he's kind, he's merciful. But the other way or means by which we see the grace of God is in the healing of the waters at Jericho. Remember, Jericho is a significant spot in biblical history. A curse was pronounced by Joshua in Joshua chapter 6.
Joshua 6 charged them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates. 1 Kings 16 evidences that this indeed came to pass. In his days, Hyle of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram, his firstborn son, and with his youngest son, Segah.
He set up its gates according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken through Joshua, the son of Nun. So follow with me for just a moment. A place that was previously cursed, that is no doubt reaping that curse in this death water that they are consuming, is now blessed and healed by God. The amazing grace is seen in his provision of Elisha and in his provision of blessing, wherein a curse previously rested.
You get this throughout the modern church. You hear about these transgenerational curses. Basically, you hear that if you were born into this sort of family, too bad for you, that's tough. There's these transgenerational curses, and your parents were terrible human beings, so this is your lot.
You're going to be ruined. It's interesting how some of the kings were wicked, but they had good godly sons. I never understood that. And I'm not saying God doesn't work transgenerationally, but the teaching almost is there that, yeah, it's just tough luck for you.
Terrible parents, you got this, you know, rough road to hoe. Jericho was cursed, and now they get sweet water. Jericho was cursed and now they get blessing. Jericho was cursed and eventually Jesus is going to pass through there and he's going to stand at the tree where Zacchaeus is and he's going to invite him down so that he can eat at his house.
You see, God's grace is about dealing with those sorts of curses.
The Judgment of God
Thirdly, we ought to appreciate the judgment of God. though she bears ought to teach you a lesson about the judgment of God." Again, not a happy topic, not something that we want to think about before we have our Sunday lunch, but the judgment of God typically offends us more than the sin that God judges. In other words, we look at a passage like this, we say, that's terrible that these bears ate these children. I remember, and some of you probably do, when Bill Clinton was the president, this is just the time frame in the United States, there was a kid that went with his father, I think it was to Singapore, and he graffitied. Well, the law in Singapore says that if you graffiti, you get caned.
Guess what everybody freaked out about? I can't believe they're going to cane him. You know what rational people would freak out about? I can't believe he'd graffiti.
How do you interpret things? I can't believe these she bears would maul these little children. I can't believe that these wretched specimens of human beings would go out of the city in search of the prophet of God and cast aspersions on him. Do you get more offended at the judgment of God or the sin that God judges?
I think that's a legit question. You see, with reference to the death penalty, oh, the death penalty's barbaric! It's terrible! It's not terrible, but that that man brutally raped and murdered 5, 10, 15 women?
See, in this world, the death penalty is not the problem. It's those kinds of people. Now that may offend you, it may make you angry, it may make you go from here today saying, Butler crossed a line, he left the reservation. But is it the case that the judgment of God offends you more than the sin that God judges?
See, you're going to do this very thing if you're an unbeliever. You're going to say on the day of judgment, well, I don't think this is fair that you cast me off. What do you mean it's not fair? You sat in church every Sunday morning.
You came at times on Sunday night. You heard the gospel preached. You heard it from parents. You heard it in treating.
You heard it through prayer. You heard the gospel. And now God is going to visit you with the judgment associated with rejecting the gospel, and it's God's problem? Does anybody else not see how faulty this logic is?
It's God's problem that these she-bears went in and ripped up these 42 of the youths? It was the 42 of the youths! That's who the problem was. As well, the judgment of God is consistent with the word of God.
Leviticus 26, 22. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number, and your highways shall be desolate. And the last thing that we need to learn, theologically, is the fear of God. That's not so much theology proper, but our response to it.
Our response to who this God is. We ought to fear him. We ought to stand and tremble. When we see a she-bear off its leash chasing us down, we ought to have thoughts of God.
I think Matthew Henry is beautiful here. We'll close, just a moment. He says, God must be glorified as a righteous God that hates sin and will reckon for it even in little children. See, before you say, wow, it's just so mean, these little, it shows you what God thinks of sin, doesn't it?
You think of sin lightly, you're not thinking like God. Henry goes on to say, let the hideous shrieks and groans of this wicked, wretched brood make our flesh tremble for fear of God. That's the more appropriate way to approach 2 Kings 2. Not forgetting, however, that he sends sweet water to the Jerichoites who had previously been under a curse.
That sweet water of the gospel is offered to sinners today. All those who believe on Jesus, all those who look to Him will live. All those who stop or cease or desist, rather, in their mockery of God, in their mockery of God's prophets, and they bow before the Lord Jesus Christ, those who confess Him as Lord, those who believe in Him will know the blessing. They'll know the grace.
They'll know with John Newton, I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great savior. This God who sent the she bears also sent his son. And he who did not spare his son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? To the believer, life, peace, blessing, health, the Holy Spirit, but to unbelievers, eternal life.
Salvation by grace. The God of the she-bears is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent him to deal with sinners, to deal in mercy with sinners. So don't go from here today saying, well, that's just a vicious, terrible tale of she-bears in the woods. No, it's a tale of God's mercy, grace, kindness, with the right backdrop of his justice, of his judgment, of his holiness, of his wrath.
So flee. Look. and live. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your Word, and we thank you for all of Scripture, and I pray, God, that we would learn the lessons concerning God in this passage and throughout these former prophets, throughout the latter prophets, and in our New Testaments. Certainly, it is hypocritical to balk at some of the things we read in the Old Testament and then have some thought that there's a different God in the New Testament. May it be the case that we would be faithful consistent in understanding scripture, presents to us one glorious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We pray that you would go with us now, bless the hospital ministry, give us large hearts and compassion and love and kindness to minister the truth to the people in need there.
And we pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed.