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. And he
turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the Name of the
Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare
forty and two children of them. 2 Kings, Chapter 2, verses 23-24.
This
passage addresses hateful children who torment others. Elisha didn’t
say, “Oh, poor children. They must have parents who haven’t paid
enough attention to them.” When Elisha cursed them for tormenting
him, God had a bear come and destroy them. Although, this passage
demonstrates an extremely dramatic consequence for the inappropriate
taunting behavior of the children, I think it’s important for us to
note how this situation was handled.
What
would happen today? Have we become so accustomed to rude and
tormenting behavior from children that hearing they behaved this way
doesn’t seem out of place? Isn’t that scary? I’ve seen too
many talk shows where kids have been suicidal or wanted to seek
revenge because they have been tormented for years by their peers at
school. Are we allowing our children to grow up to be rude,
insulting and insensitive to others? I don’t think we would want
God to deal with our children the same way that He did with the
children in the passage.
Maybe
we need to take a more active role in making sure our children are
raised to respect others. Maybe there would be less violence in
schools if everyone was committed to enforcing appropriate guidelines
with their children from infancy on. Something to think about!
Because this is an example of how I’ve applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn't necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
This is a connection I've made from this Bible passage. Please share your connections.
Please click on comments below to share your suggestions. Thanks! Debbie
