Hello again, friends and family! Welcome back! It's good to be back myself. I'm all right, just been caught up in work and personal projects. You know how it is.
Work is keeping me well on my toes, but compared to how work used to be, I should be grateful. I'm happy to announce that my college debt has been paid in full (with plenty of help from Mom and even a little unofficial help from Grandma and Grandpa) so now I can keep at least part of my paycheck. Maybe now I can finally start building up a nest egg, get on my own feet. In any case, it's such a relief to have one less debt to worry about.
When I'm not working my tail off, I use art to unwind and I'm just getting back into writing. It's so fun and so therapeutic, as it's always been.
It would be really nice if I could live off my writing and art, but at least I've got a bit of a financial cushion now. Even my professors could never stress enough the importance of having a backup job, since you're a lot more likely to win the lottery than to write a New York Times bestseller.
I'm also happy to announce that I got my COVID-19 vaccination last week. Yeah, I'm well aware of how passionate some people are about that, and sadly, a couple of friendships have ended because my so-called friends read me the riot act for following my own conscience. I don't mind so much the fact that they choose not to get the vaccine as I mind how they look down their noses at me and belittle me to my face.
This isn't the first time this happened. Over the last decade or so, I've gotten roped into quite a few heated discussions about religion, politics, human rights, animal rights, and all that jazz. I've even been called an "animal murderer" just because I like meat, even though I'm against hunting for pure sport and I believe an animal must be killed quickly and humanely. Funnily enough, these hardcore vegetarians don't seem to realize that animals kill other animals; everything lives at the expense of something else, and we can't all subsist purely on plants.
That's just the trouble with the world these days. People care a whole lot more about "being right" than about other people's feelings. They'd much rather lose a close relationship than an argument.
This serves as a nice segue into today's blog post. Here, I'm doing my fifth "Big Bible Question," where I take an extremely touchy topic from the Good Book and do my best to create a quiet, peaceful study area instead of a noisy, hostile boxing ring.
Last time, for BBQ #4, I talked about why God smote the firstborn of Egypt, in the day of Moses.
For BBQ #3, I talked about who's responsible for Joseph's bondage in Egypt.
For BBQ #2, I talked about whether or not Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve Apostles, could still be considered a traitor for making Jesus Christ's soul-saving death possible.
And for BBQ #1, I talked about whether or not Ananias and Saphira, the two-faced New Testament couple, deserved to be instantly cursed to death.
Today, I shall talk about the Old Testament prophet Elisha, the successor of the celebrated Elijah. I have noticed a few colorful complaints about the following passage, 2 Kings 2:23-24: "And he went up from thence unto Beth-el: 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."
Did Elisha seriously send two bears to slaughter, or at least maul, a pack of children just for insulting him? A lot of irate modern readers seem to think so.
Well, my religious and non-religious friends, let's take this moment to calm down and reevaluate this scene with a tiny bit more logic.
Firstly, the King James Version of the Bible includes a footnote that reveals these were not small children; rather, they were teenagers or young adults, well into their 20s or possibly 30s.
This in itself proves that Elisha's targets had to be old enough to know better. Therefore, how much more deserving of their punishment would you say they were? How inclined are you to be merciful to somebody who does something wrong on purpose?
Sure, I'm a big believer in mercy myself. I believe in giving people another chance if they sincerely ask for it and work to earn it. Even so, there's a mighty fine line separating a little kid throwing a tantrum from a young adult who shamelessly mouths off. The disrespect for parents I see nowadays is absolutely incredible. If I ever spoke to my parents or grandparents like that, they would have mounted my hide on the wall before I knew what hit me.
There's a reason why one of the Ten Commandments is, "Honor thy father and thy mother." It's kind of a big deal...an ever-so-slightly bigger deal than people realize.
Secondly, Elisha was a prophet, so these infantile adults were showing terrible contempt for a holy man, for God Himself.
This is a million and one times worse than disrespecting parents.
This called for so much more than a hundred spankings.
Given just how powerful God is, how much He's done for us of His own volition, we're lucky He's so kind and loving and doesn't abuse His power. Any puny mortal who dares to insult the very Creator of heaven and earth has got the most incredible gall.
Thirdly, it's quite likely that these wild bears did not kill this insolent bunch. Note the word "tare" in the scripture; this is a strong implication that the bears caused no more damage than a few lacerations, or serious scratches. Even if the damage wasn't permanent, there's no way you can ignore a bloody gash, especially if there's a nice little scar left behind.
When the youths cursed Elisha, he gave them a little taste of their own medicine, cursing them right back. Given how a prophet's place is to bless people, you know it must be a big deal when the prophet does the exact opposite.
It's also worth noting the use of "she" in "she bears." What's the first thing you think of when you hear "Mama Bear"?
You're right: a mother bear with cubs.
And everybody with half a brain knows coming between a bear and her babies (or any mother animal and her babies, for that matter) will be the last thing you ever do.
(screencaps courtesy of Animation Screencaps)
So, it's quite possible these youths were not only guilty of disrespect for a prophet of God, but they must have done something to provoke these wild animals beforehand. I'm not so sure the "she bears" just popped out of nowhere.
Adam Clarke, a well-known Bible scholar, offered this theory: "But is it not possible that these forty-two were a set of unlucky young men, who had been employed in the wood, destroying the whelps of these same she-bears, who now pursued them, and tore them to pieces, for the injury they had done? We have already heard of the ferocity of a bear robbed of her whelps; see at the end of [2 Samuel, chapter 17]. The mention of she-bears gives some colour to the above conjecture; and, probably, at the same time when these young fellows insulted the prophet, the bears might be tracing the footsteps of the murderers of their young, and thus came upon them in the midst of their insults, God's providence ordering these occurrences so as to make this natural effect appear as a Divine cause. If the conjecture be correct, the bears were prepared by their loss to execute the curse of the prophet, and God's justice guided them to the spot to punish the iniquity that had been just committed." (Commentary, 2:486)
So, there you have it, friends.
While it's a bit of an unspoken law for young people to do foolish if not downright stupid things on occasion, it goes to show we can get more than a little carried away and we must know just who we're dealing with.
We must respect our elders, and everyone else, for that matter.
It also goes to show some lessons must be learned the hard way, with some poor fools choosing a much harder way than others.
