The secret of going from curse to life
2 Kings 2:14-25
Towards the end of my gap year in a Christian youth hostel in Haifa, I discovered that my visa was not renewed in time. The temporary manager, whose responsibility this was, forgot to submit the paperwork. Instead, he sent me off to Jerusalem and then Tel-Aviv to try my luck at various immigration offices. Each time I was rudely told off and sent away empty-handed. It was distressing, as that year was so life-giving and such an amazing learning experience that I was desperate to stay for another few months. When the missionary couple who normally ran the hostel came back from furlough, the husband pulled every string to have immigration reconsider my case, but the outcome was still uncertain. Waiting my turn at the Haifa immigration office, I frantically prayed. The official, who probably saw the strain on my face, stamped the visa into my passport and said with a sympathetic smile, ‘All right?’. After I walked out of the building, I felt like God has given me a new lease on life.
God continues to offer life
Talking about ‘the God of second chances’ has become such a cliché that it is difficult to give a fresh sense of its wonder. Yet, God continues to offer life to those who turn to Him despite Israel’s resistance throughout Elijah’s ministry. Elisha is given the same powers as his predecessor (2 Kings 2:14), which is now recognised by the other prophets (2 Kings 2:15). Their lack of discernment and fruitless search for Elijah against Elisha’s advice (2 Kings 2:16-18) further underlines the latter’s authority. Through him, God continues to extend the choice for life. In the first incident that follows, Jericho finds healing and blessing. When Joshua entered the land, Jericho was erased and placed under a curse (Josh 6:24-26) whose effects continued into Ahab’s reign (1 Kings 16:33-34). Yet, when the city folk humbly approach the prophet for help (2 Kings 2:19), Elisha’s ministry brings purification and healing (2 Kings 2:20-22). Thus, the people who were once cursed are now given a second chance because they sought out the prophet and, by implication, the God he served.
The alternative
On the other hand, Bethel had a proud history of being the place of Jacob’s encounter with God (Gen 28:12-19). Later, however, it became the alternate worship site to Jerusalem, complete with a golden calf (1 Kings 11:25-29). While Elisha’s response of cursing the lads for taunting him seems harsh to us, the issue is more serious than we moderns appreciate (see ‘For Interest’ below). Their mockery undermines the authority of God’s emissary and is an implicit rejection of God. Thus, the two episodes create a contrast. The city that originally resisted God and was cursed, now submits and receives life. The place that saw God’s presence but turned to idolatry and now belittles God’s envoy will reap a curse and death.
Our decisions and their consequences
What these incidents highlight are the reversals that take place for those who repent and turn to God and those who refuse and mock Him. There is an offer of hope here even for those who have a prehistory of being under a curse and a warning for all who think they stand and appeal to their pedigree or past experiences with God. The picture that emerges is stark and black-and-white, though in everyday life the decisions may not be as dramatic or their consequences immediately obvious. Nevertheless, these vignettes describe an ultimate reality, the sum of our choices and their result. For some, the issue is indifference or cynicism towards God. For others, it is animosity towards representatives of God (whether pastors, Christians or the Church in the abstract), who are seen justly or unjustly, as inadequate, unloving, or hypocritical. Even Christians may be reluctant to ask God for help despite knowing that ‘the water is bad and the land is unfruitful’ (2 Kings 2:19). We may know ultimate salvation yet live with harmful influences in a kind of shadowland of death and be hesitant to seek God out. Our reasons may be manifold: lack of faith, fear of the upheaval that might come if we hand over the reins to God, shame that makes us reluctant to admit that our life is not on track. May we choose the fullness and flourishing that God offers again and not be satisfied with a half-life.
For interest – Why is mocking Elisha so bad?
First, we do not tend to appreciate the seriousness of the issue because mocking authority figures in our contexts is so commonplace. However, in the ancient world verbal abuse and mockery of such persons were considered destabilising to the structure of society, which was put in place by God. See, for instance, Paul making this point explicit from a much later era (Rom 13:1-2). Thus, striking or cursing parents was worthy of the death penalty (Exod 21:15, 17) and so was consistent disobedience to them (Deut 21:18-21). Likewise, cursing God or king called for capital punishment (Exod 22:28; Lev 24:15-16). The point to take from these examples is not that we should imitate the exact punishment. Rather, we should note that the severity prescribed here indicates an ideal of respect and obedience to authority that is a far cry from our permissive attitude today. Thus, mocking Elisha in our reading undermined not only his authority but was also an insult to God who sent him.
Second, mocking Elisha’s baldness may have been intended as a slur on his godliness because hairiness, as Cogan and Tadmor point out, was associated with asceticism. This, as they explain, is evident from the Nazirite vow in which persons made a special commitment to God (whether life-long or for a period), which involved not cutting one’s hair (Num 6:5). Notably also, Elijah was a hairy man (2 Kings 1:8).[1] The implicit comparison may have left Elisha wanting and inadequate as God’s servant.
Third, we tend to picture the incident as involving children, which makes their death particularly horrifying for us. However, the age of ‘the young lads’ (neʾarim ketannim; 2 Kings 2:23) is uncertain. Naʾar (‘lad’) could refer to infants (Exod 2:6) but also to fighting men (1 Kings 20;15), though qaton (‘little’) here suggests someone younger. Nevertheless, the terms are somewhat fluid. Solomon refers to himself as a ‘young lad’ (naʾar qaton; 1 Kings 3:7, NASB ‘little child’) early in his reign, though this may be exaggeration for effect. He is possibly married by this stage (1 Kings 3:1, if the account is chronological) and certainly a king with authority. Likewise, the category of ‘children’ (yeladim) used in 2 Kings 2:24 (NASB ‘lads’) may be more fluid than our definition. For instance, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam takes counsel from ‘the children who grew up with him’ (Hebrew yeladim; NASB ‘young men’; 1 Kings 11:8, 10) when he becomes king. Since he was forty-one then (1 Kings 14:21) and these men would have been his contemporaries, this is hardly what we would call children. Even if the mockers are children as we would think of them, we must recognise that the kind of disrespectful behaviour that is common and tolerated today was simply unacceptable then.
Being aware of our cultural perspectives as opposed to the ancient writer’s is important, so that we do not read meanings into the text that was never intended. None of us would want others to twist our words into something we never even thought of, and so we must extend the same courtesy to the writer here. If we do not, we shall end up distorting the message (e.g. that Elisha is vindictive about his appearance and overreacts or that God is unnecessarily harsh and cruel).
Finally, the narrator does not just tell us everything that happened in Elisha’s life but deliberately chooses incidents to make a point (compare the gospels that select events from Jesus’ life with a purpose; John 20:30-31). Likewise, we need to read the events in Kings with a birds’ eye view in mind rather than as isolated incidents. Here, the juxtaposition of a positive and negative example invites comparison not only in how people relate to the prophet, but to the God whom he represents.
[1] Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings, AYB (New Haven: Yale UP, 1988), 28.
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