In honor of Father's Day tomorrow, here is an episode on male pattern baldness. Well... something like that.
So did Elisha really call out two she-bears to maul a bunch of little children because they laughed at him being bald? Let's find out.
Enjoy the show!
A more scholarly exegesis of "the small boys being mauled by bears" tale is presented by Dr. Keith Bodner in his book, Elisha's Profile in the Book of Kings: The Double Agent. The small boys are mauled and thus taken away from their parents in a city that worships idols and hates Yahweh, in contrast to the previous scene that took place in a Yahweh-worshiping city where Elisha "healed the waters" so that the land may bear "fruit" and the women give birth to children. And the number of children mauled, "forty-two," corresponds to Jehu's destruction of "forty-two" relatives of king Ahaziah. Thus, Elisha finishes "the job of overthrowing the house of Omri." So the story is about politico-religio disputes of its day, per Dr. Bodner's insightful reading. https://books.google.com/books?id=JXsQAAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA160&ots=XPqr9X_yq4&dq=keith%20bodner%20elisha%20bears&pg=PA160#v=onepage&q&f=false
ReplyDeleteNote, there’s nothing in the story about the “small boys” (as translators agree in translating those Hebrew words) being tall, muscular, dangerous, or violence-driven young adults. Nor, for instance, is any mention made of them carrying weapons. Nor would it be unusual in an honor/shame driven society for small boys to suffer divine wrath—see the Flood story, the killing of the first born of Egypt, Numb. 31, the slaughter of the Canaanites, or even Yahweh’s murder of King David’s child.
Brett Palmer did a youtube critique of apologetic excuses here https://youtu.be/Se_9YPOnLOE Brett pointed out that Leviticus specifically warned that those who forsook Yahweh worship would be “cursed” by having their “children taken away from them by wild beasts.” The Elisha story was factionalized or embellished for politico-religious reasons, as Bodner points out, to fit the bill of just such a curse.
Again, I can not reiterate enough that in an honor-shame conservatively religious society the upholding of the honor of the Deity is more important than the lives of children. Rev. William Einwechter authored an article titled, “Stoning Disobedient Children” (Chalcedon Report, Jan. 1998), in which he argued that disobedient kids above the age of 13 should be stoned to death to preserve God’s honor and keep civilization healthy. And Christians of all stripes have some factions within their midst that endorse training children to be obedient via reminding them about hell combined with the use of corporal punishment. One major radio based evangelical minister endorses corporal punishment quite heartily. Dare to discipline. Some sell paddles with Bible verses on them. Some have camps and psychiatric centers that claim they can cure disobedience, even gayness, in one's children. One such clinic was investigated after they held down children and shouted at them over and over, "Do you know how you are making God and your parents feel?" Sometimes kids are beaten with rods or switches till they are bruised and bloody, some even die at such camps, or at church groups, from corporal punishment. Examples here https://edwardtbabinski.us/scrivenings/2012/suffer-children-to-come-unto-me-jesus.html