We would like to tell you this time about a story that appears in the Holy writings , but which we are sure you have never heard of. This story has as its protagonist the prophet Elisha and some children who lost their lives for making fun of him . It is a somewhat cruel story, in which you yourselves will have to decide if God or the prophet had something to do or the boys were simply in the least indicated place.
Elisha was a Hebrew prophet who lived in Israel during the years 850 and 800 BC. C. The many miracles he performed are narrated in the Second Book of Kings, a volume that is part of the Bible. According to his contemporaries, he was a person with enormous physical and mental strength who suffered from baldness, a detail that in the legend that we are going to discover will be very important as you will later prove . In this article, we will talk about a particular legend that happened in the town of Bethel. If you want to know the terrible story of the prophet Elisha and the children who mocked him, you just have to continue reading these lines.
Prophet Elisha | Some taunts that cost very expensive
The prophet Elisha was a figure of tremendous relevance, he was a man who advised kings and helped to decide wars with the miracles he performed. It was said of him that he was the authentic predecessor of Jesus, since they were similar in character . Because of all the good things he did in life, the story that we are going to narrate you surprises even more. According to the 2nd Book of Kings 2: 23-24, when the prophet was about to enter the city of Bethel, a mob of 42 boys came out of a cave and insulted the prophet. It seems that the most repeated insult was "bald", something that deeply offended the prophet Elijah who turned his head towards the children and cursed them in the name of Jehovah . According to the Sacred Scriptures, two bears instantly appeared that literally tore apart each of the 42 children who insulted the prophet.
This chilling story leaves many questions that we will try to answer. Did the prophet Elijah want to kill the children? Was it chance that the bears came out of the cave at that moment? Was an insult really a reason to lose his life in this way?
Due to the high number of people who verbally confronted the prophet Elijah, he could think that he was at a clear disadvantage and that if they happened to go a step beyond the insults, he could see his life seriously threatened. So that God would intercede to save the physical integrity of the prophet Elijah by seeing the crowd of people who insulted him for no reason . In addition, the respect that existed at that time towards the elderly was much greater than what exists today. Some insults that today may seem harmless, in those times were a serious offense.
Another curious thing that we must keep in mind about this story, is that the meaning itself of the insult is not the same as in our times. The mockery that is collected in the Holy Scriptures is "go up, bald," the children referred to with the word "go up" to Elijah ascending to the heavens or in other words to die.
In addition, in antiquity to call a man "bald" was considered in those years as a serious insult even if that person had hair. This was largely because the lepers, who abound at the time, were forced to shave their hair. So as you will have verified, the provocation had much more seriousness than at first could seem . Some consider that all these aggravations together could make God take the decision to destroy the boys, although that was not the intention of the prophet Elijah. Evidently, The Holy Scripture you have to know how to interpret them and not do it literally. It also depends on how believing each person is. If this story really happened, it could not be as it is reflected in the Bible . Perhaps there was an incident with a bear that prowled that city and soon religious authors adorned the story to increase the fame of the prophet Elijah.
It may seem that with this terrible story the fame of the prophet is quite dirty, but we would like to remind you again that Elijah, according to the Bible, made a lot of very positive miracles throughout his life.
Now we would like to know your opinion about this intriguing article about one of the most outstanding prophets of antiquity. Do you think this legend about the prophet Elijah is possible? Do you think it's fine for an insult to die 42 boys? Do you think that this legend has been written in the form of a moral to have respect for our elders? We are looking forward to your comments, Feel free to write us!