Usually when a bear attacks a group and gets hold of ONE person, it doesnt take a nab at them and try to get ” points” by attacking the highest number possible. It grabs one and tears him or her to shreds while ALL the others run for safety. With the information set in front of me , this doesnt make sense. HOW does a group of 42 ALL get “tared” by only 2 bears ?

"'Little children' is an unfortunate translation by the King James version. The Hebrew expression neurim qetannim is best rendered 'young lads' or 'young men.' From numerous examples where ages are specified in the Old Testament, we know that these were boys from twelve to thirty years old. One of these words described Isaac at his sacrifice in Genesis 22:12, when he was easily in his early twenties. It described Joseph in Genesis 37:2 when he was seventeen years old. In fact, the same word described army men in 1 Kings 20:14-15…these are young men ages between twelve and thirty."

2. Bald or not bald?

In 1 Kings 19:19, Elisha was the same age as those young adults. When he was called upon he was still living with his parents and plowing the fields with the oxen. When Elijah anointed him to be his successor, he kissed his parents goodbye. That’s pretty unusual if he was an old man that was balding. He was certainly a young adult. The epithet baldhead may allude to lepers who had to shave their heads and were considered detestable outcasts. Also in that culture, it was custom for men to covers their heads so it would be hard to tell if Elisha was bald or not. Even is Elisha was bald, there are 2 words in Hebrew that mean bald: bald in the front or bald in the back and they were using the word for bald in the back. This meant that at least 42 of them were surrounding him.

3. The Warning: In Leviticus 26:21-22, God warned anyone that was hostile to Him, infliction would be done to them 7 times more and wild animals would take their children. So that would imply that those young adults weren't simply just teasing as you think they were but were meaning hostility towards God! There has been many accounts of prophets being ridiculed or threatened but nothing happened so it was definitely more than just poking fun of. Also, just because they were young, does NOT mean that they were innocent.

4. Looking at 1 Kings 19, Elijah was weary, scared for his life, and so hopeless that he wanted to die because some of the evil Israelites wouldn't listen

and were trying to kill him. So God knew it was too much for Elijah to take on so he sent him to Elisha to be his successor to fulfill the rest of the job. Now when the responsibility was shifted to Elisha, do you think that the Israelites and Baal worshippers were going to forget and just be nice and respectful to Elisha? Of course not!! If they were trying to kill Ezekiel for being a prophet then what makes you think they were going to let Elisha off the hook? History has shown that they weren’t too fond of prophets and Elisha, could've been endangered! Remember how the prophets were being treated. Prophets didn’t have an easy job to start off with as some of them were being killed off, stoned, sawed in half, (Hebrews 11: 35-40)

3. Look at the Setting:

The setting took place around Bethel. Bethel at that time was the most anti-Jehovah place out there was the a major Baal worship site at one point. Baal worshippers would sacrifice their own children by throwing them into the fire while having orgies. Those were detestable in God's eyes. In 1 Kings, Jeroboam attempted to make Bethel the capital of idolatry worship and blasphemed God. He even instituted an idolatrous feast in correspondence to the Feast of the Tabernacles and set up idol images. Bethel thereafter became increasingly associated with heathen worship—hence the denunciations by Amos and by Hosea, who called it "Beth-aven" [house of wickedness] So that pretty much tells you the nature of the people that lived there.

Also, Elisha just finished performing a miracle by restoring the water supply there since the land was under an age old curse and was unproductive! Elijah was just seen being carried way from God. An awesome event took place in front of the eyes of the people, showing the Baal worshippers the true God and His powers. The insults were obviously made towards God and his prophets, not just some petty insult. Think about it: WHY WOULD SOMEONE PLACE AN INSULT OR RIDICULE SOMEONE AFTER THEY JUST WITNESS GOD'S POWER AND HAVING THEIR WATER SUPPLY FINALLY RESTORED AFTER MANY YEARS?

In my opinion, if that event took place in front of me, I would be thankful and then convert!

That itself only reveals 2 things:

1. They didn't worship God nor wanted to

2. They purposely wanted to blaspheme God.

4. It did not say that the bears killed 42 of them, it said that the bears mauled (to injure with claws) 42 of them. What were the 42 young men doing when the bears killed 1 of them: stand in line for their turn??? The bears probably came out and started mauling a few of them while the others were mauled in the process of fighting them off. Also, it never mentioned how many were mocking Elisha, it just said that 42 were mauled after he curse them. Now keep in mind, Elisha the young prophet, was traveling by himself in a city filled ungodly men that wanted to kill his predecessor which is a scary situation to be in. Now according to that passage, if 42 were mauled, then that would mean that there were more than 42 involved in that gang.

In conclusion, this was not just simply an account of some children hanging out and pointing out the baldness of a man in which God responded by having 2 bears kill all of them but a demonstration on judgment that happens when godless people blaspheme God and his prophets.

Just picture yourself in that place. What would you do if there was a band of a minimum of 42 teenagers poking fun of you in a town of ungodly men that wanted to murder prophets like you and you were by yourself in the middle of the road? I wonder what you would do.

First, I think the age of the "youths" or boys is really irrelevant. The words translated in English (at least in the NIV) as "youth" both times is actually 2 different Hebrew words and between the two of them it could include anyone from infancy to that of "marriageable" age – so who knows, anywhere from 2 to 16 I suppose. Again, it really doesn't matter all that much what the exact age is. If your beef with God is because he took out these "boys being boys" why is that more palatable if they're older?

Second, to say this was a sinful action of Elisha and not of God's will is really an attempt to get God off the hook. The reality is, as has been pointed out by others, God did indeed sanction this by sending the bears to maul the kids, ultimately it would be assumed to die. So ultimately, God did the killing here.

Third, this isn't simply a case of kids "just being kids" and picking on some random crotchety old man who got ticked off and said "I'll show you, you hooligans!" These kids probably knew full well who Elisha was, namely that he was carrying on the duties of Elijah in terms of trying to call the kings to repentance for turning their backs to God. So ultimately in jeering at God's representative and calling him baldhead (impotent would be a good parallel today), they were effectively saying that God has no power The kids were effectively mocking God, hence the reason for including this account. Does that give me, a pastor, the right today to call a curse upon someone who makes fun of me knowing I'm God's "representative" or even any Christian, for that matter? No. This is a descriptive incident (describing how God chose to act in this particular scenario and context) and not prescriptive (not prescribing Christians today to take it on our own initiative to follow Elisha's example).

Finally, this isn't so much about the story at hand itself but about the bigger picture of judgment coming on those who turn away from God. This story is a foreshadowing or typological (in addition to being real) of what would in a sense happen to those who chose to turn away from God. That is to say, it doesn't mean those who turn away from God will ultimately be mauled by bears, but there are consequences for denying the one true God and blessings for those who follow him. To limit that simply to the temporal sense misses the whole point. Those who follow God in Christ have the ultimate blessing of forgiveness and eternal life because Christ has died for our sins. Those who reject this do not have that inheritance.

A similar example of this "typology" would be of the prophet Hosea who had a prostitute wife. He remained faithful to his wife though she went whoring after other men just as God ultimately remained faithful to the Israelites though they often strayed and went whoring after other false gods and idols.

All that being said, I won't pretend to say I fully understand this or other similar accounts in Scripture. What I do understand is that God is a loving God, despite all the attacks to the contrary and I know this because instead of receiving the eternal punishment I deserve for my sins against a holy God I receive the blessing of forgiveness and eternal life because Christ – God in the flesh – took the punishment in my place and yours (see Romans 5:8 or John 3:16). Is there an aspect of fear in all that? Sure – a reverent respect and awe for my Father and Creator. No different than how I "feared" the punishment from my parents if I broke the rules. But just as it was with my earthly parents (and I certainly recognize this is not the case for everyone – in fact some of you reading this may have had some pretty terrible family lives growing up) ultimately it is not that fear that drives me but the peace and comfort that comes in knowing my Heavenly Father loves me so much, He's given me the 2nd chance of 2nd chances.

Here endeth my 2 cents.

I don't know what it has to do with lower standards, which do you mean? For the boys in the bible? For the culture now, then?