The High Cost of Mocking God Text: 2 Kings 2:23-25
Introduction: A Culture of Contempt
We live in an age that has made a high art of mockery. Our comedians, our late-night hosts, our academics, and our politicians have all mastered the sneer. Contempt is the air we breathe. And the primary target of this contempt, whether they know it or not, is the God of the Bible and His appointed representatives. They mock the church, they mock biblical morality, they mock the very idea of revealed truth. They see a bald man coming up the road, and their first instinct is to jeer. They believe their words are without consequence, that they can revile the things of God and pay no price. They think the universe is a grand joke, and that they are the ones telling it.
This passage in 2 Kings is a bucket of ice water in the face of our smug and insolent generation. It is one of those hard passages that modern, effeminate evangelicals want to quietly shuffle past. It is raw, it is violent, and it is utterly offensive to our therapeutic sensibilities. We are told that God is love, which He is, but we have refashioned that love into a form of sentimental indulgence. Our god is a cosmic grandfather who pats us on the head and chuckles at our "high-spirited" rebellion. But that is not the God of Scripture. The God of Scripture is a consuming fire, and He will not be mocked.
What happened outside of Bethel was not a case of a grumpy prophet overreacting to some harmless schoolyard taunts. This was a covenantal showdown. This was a public challenge to the authority of God at a critical moment in Israel's history. Elijah, the fiery prophet of judgment, had just been taken up into heaven in a whirlwind. The prophetic mantle had fallen to Elisha. The question on everyone's mind was this: "Is the transfer legitimate? Does this new fellow, Elisha, carry the same authority from Yahweh?" The events here provided the answer in a terrifying and unambiguous way.
This is not a story about God's hatred for children. It is a story about God's hatred for insolent rebellion, particularly when that rebellion is nurtured and encouraged by a culture of apostasy. This is about the gravity of despising God's Word and His messengers. And it is a warning that still thunders down to us today. When a culture teaches its children to mock the things of God, that culture is storing up for itself a terrible judgment.
The Text
Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young boys came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!”
Then he looked behind him and saw them. And he cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.
And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
(2 Kings 2:23-25 LSB)
The Confrontation at Bethel (v. 23)
We begin with the setting and the provocation.
"Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young boys came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, 'Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!'" (2 Kings 2:23)
First, notice where this happens. Bethel. The name means "House of God." This was the place where Jacob had his vision of the ladder to heaven, where God confirmed His covenant with him. It was a place of divine revelation. But by this time in Israel's history, Bethel had become a center of idolatry. It was one of the two cities where Jeroboam had set up a golden calf to keep the northern kingdom from going to Jerusalem to worship. Bethel had transformed from the House of God into a house of apostasy. It was ground zero for the state-sponsored rebellion against Yahweh. Elisha is walking right into the enemy's headquarters.
As he approaches, a group comes out to meet him. The text says "young boys" or "lads." We must not picture a group of innocent toddlers. The Hebrew word used here, na'ar, can refer to a wide range of ages, from an infant to a young man of military age. Given that there were at least forty-two of them, this was not a small band of preschoolers. This was a gang of youths, a mob of young men, likely teenagers or in their early twenties. This was an organized, public demonstration.
And what do they say? "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" This is not simple name-calling. This is a sophisticated, theological taunt, dripping with venom. The term "baldhead" was an insult, a term of contempt. It signifies weakness and impotence. But the key is the phrase "Go up." Where had Elijah just gone? He had "gone up" to heaven in a whirlwind. These young men are not just making fun of Elisha's appearance. They are mocking the succession of the prophetic office. They are saying, "You think you're the new Elijah? Why don't you 'go up' just like he did? Disappear! We don't want you or your God here." It was a direct challenge: "If your God is real and you are His prophet, then prove it by ascending to heaven. Otherwise, get out of our apostate town." They were despising the prophet and, through him, the God who sent him.
The Curse and the Consequence (v. 24)
Elisha's response is not personal pique. It is an official, prophetic act.
"Then he looked behind him and saw them. And he cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number." (2 Kings 2:24)
Elisha turns, looks at them, and "cursed them in the name of Yahweh." This is crucial. He is not throwing a temper tantrum. He is not using profanity. He is acting as God's appointed judicial agent. He is pronouncing a formal sentence of judgment from God upon these rebels. He is invoking the covenant curses found in the law. Leviticus 26, for example, warns that if Israel breaks the covenant, God will "send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children" (Lev. 26:22). Elisha is simply saying "Amen" to God's pre-existing law. He is declaring what God Himself had already promised to do to covenant-breakers.
And God immediately vindicates His prophet and His law. "Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads." The judgment is swift, specific, and severe. Why female bears? Because she-bears, particularly if they have cubs, are notoriously ferocious and protective. God is demonstrating His own fierce, jealous protection of His honor and His servants. Why forty-two? The number forty-two is often associated with judgment in Scripture. It is a number that signifies a completed period of testing followed by judgment.
We must understand that these young men were not innocent bystanders. They were the product of a godless culture. Where did they learn this contempt for Yahweh's prophet? They learned it at home. They learned it from their parents and the apostate priests of the golden calf at Bethel. This judgment was not just on them, but on the entire community that had raised them in rebellion. This is a terrifying outworking of federal theology. The sins of the fathers were being visited upon the children because the children had embraced those sins as their own. This was a sign-act of judgment against the whole apostate system of the northern kingdom.
The Prophet Moves On (v. 25)
The conclusion of the matter is stark and simple.
"And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria." (2 Kings 2:25)
After this terrifying display of divine power, Elisha simply continues his journey. He goes to Mount Carmel, the site of Elijah's great triumph over the prophets of Baal. This is a deliberate act. He is retracing the steps of his master, demonstrating that the same power that worked through Elijah is now at work through him. From the place of apostasy (Bethel) to the place of victory (Carmel), Elisha is establishing his credentials. The message is clear: God's true prophetic authority is alive and well, and it is not to be trifled with.
The authority of Elisha's ministry has been publicly and fearsomely vindicated. The question of succession is settled. God has shown that He will stand behind His chosen servant. The word of the prophet is the Word of God, and to mock one is to mock the other. The incident served as a bloody and unforgettable warning to all of Israel: do not despise the prophetic word. God's patience has a limit, and His judgment, when it comes, is devastating.
Conclusion: Bears in the Modern Woods
So what are we to make of this today? We may not have literal bears coming out of the woods, but the principle remains eternally true. God will not be mocked. A culture that raises its children to sneer at Christ, to ridicule His Word, and to despise His church is a culture that is begging for judgment.
We are living in Bethel. Our culture is saturated with idolatry and rebellion. And we are raising a generation of mockers. We teach them in our schools that they are the product of blind chance. We entertain them with movies and music that glorify sin and ridicule righteousness. We tell them that truth is relative and that authority is oppression. And then we act surprised when they come out of the city and mock the things of God. We have sown the wind, and we are reaping the whirlwind.
The bears of God's judgment take many forms. They can be economic collapse. They can be social chaos. They can be military defeat. They can be the spiritual deadness and utter despair that comes from a life without God. When a society rejects God's authority, it does not become free; it becomes enslaved to its own lusts and is ultimately torn apart by them. The bears are always waiting in the woods.
The only escape from this judgment is the gospel. The good news is that God, in His mercy, sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the curse for us. On the cross, Jesus was mocked. He was ridiculed. He was treated with the ultimate contempt. He endured the full, ferocious mauling of God's wrath against our sin. He took the bears of judgment upon Himself so that we, the mockers, could be forgiven.
Therefore, the call to our culture is the same as the warning to Bethel. Repent. Turn from your idols and your mockery. Stop teaching your children to despise the Lord. Bow the knee to Jesus Christ, the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King. For if you honor the Son, the Father will honor you. But if you mock the Son, be warned. The God who sent the bears is still on His throne, and He is a consuming fire.