Elisha And The Two Bears Series

Look again at verse 23, “And he went up from thence unto Bethel: 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.”

So, he’s not even in the city but approaching it and a group of what it says are children meets him but in fact, most translaters say the word translated children actually indicates that these people were from twelve to thirty years old and many believe they may have been students of the false prophets, who held sway over the people of Bethel.

Look again at what they said to him at the end of verse 23, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” There are two things here, first they say, “Go up, go up” and what they referring to is Elijah’s acension into heaven and they’re saying this to Elisha to imply that he’s no Elijah.

And then second they call him a bald head and there may be more to this than their referring to his lack of hair because Elisha was probably in his twenties and we know this because he has about sixty years of ministry to go.

I know it’s not easy to listen to people make fun of you for losing your hair. I went to a barber last week and told him I wanted a haircut and he said, “Sure, which one?” I told my wife what he said and she tried to cheer me up by saying, “You might be losing your hair, but think of how long a bottle of shampoo is going to last.” I was kind of embarrassed about my hair falling out and asked my doctor if he had anything to keep it in and he gave me a paper bag.

So, there might be other reasons why he was referred to as a bald head and the first may have had to do with the fact that most Jews would shave their heads to express their sorrow on the death of a loved one. And then second, it could have been that they were making fun of him by comparing him to Elijah because Elijah was known as a hairy man. In 2 Kings 1:7 it says of Ahaziah, “And he said unto them, what manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? 8 And they answered him, he was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, it is Elijah the Tishbite.” And then third, this term bald head can also carry a secondary meaning of being "empty headed" or stupid.

So, if they were saying, why don’t you go up to wherever Elijah is; this would be kind of hard to take because Elijah had been a father figure to Elisha and they were making fun of the fact he was dead.

And don’t forget, this came right after Elijah's ascendance into heaven and Elisha was called by God to be the spiritual heir to Elijah. In other words, he was the new prophet and to harrass him was not only rejecting his authority but it was also rejecting the authority of God.

So, this wasn’t just a silly prank but a bitter insult. Their attitude was the same as those who dressed Jesus in purple, crowned Him with thorns, and cried, hail, King of the Jews!

II So, we see their action and then his reaction.