2 Kings 2:19-25
Elisha Performs Miracles
19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.”
20 And he said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’” 22 So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”
24 So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
25 Then he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
After taking up the mantle of his mentor Elijah, the prophet Elisha began performing supernatural acts to glorify the LORD whom he spoke for and served as his master before him. He was told that the water was bad and the land barren, meaning the people of that city were starving and dying of thirst or of the sickness from drinking the polluted water. Elisha had them enact a simple remedy given him by the wisdom of God’s Spirit in him; he had them provide a bowl and salt which he poured into the source of the water, a spring. The water was made palatable from that moment onward and the earth fruitful because of the purified water source for their crops. This miracle was the God-given wisdom applied with insight of the Spirit placed in Elisha as requested (2 Kings 2:9) when Elijah was taken up into heaven in the chariot of fire. When he was disrespected by teenagers on his way to Bethel, they were held accountable for disrespecting the LORD whose messenger he was as God sent bears to teach them a lesson not to touch those so anointed of the LORD. This seems excessive to us as we read of the bear attack, yet when we consider it was God’s name they blasphemed by insulting and reviling His mouthpiece, it seems appropriate to hold them accountable as a warning lesson to others that they may heed those bringing the word of the LORD to them. Elisha then went on to Mount Carmel, and then back to Samaria. Certainly, we are not to be punished as those teens were when we malign the ministers of the gospel, but this extreme lesson should;d engender respect for those God calls (1 Timothy 5:17, Philippians 2:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, Hebrews 13:7, 17) and uses for our edification in the church; all outside the church are judged by God and accountable to Him (1 Corinthians 5:12) and not us. We are there to respect the servants of the Lord as we serve God through hearing Him through their words of wisdom on how to live for Him and one another. This example is given for us to explain why we should respect the servants of the Lord and not malign them, for in so doing we malign the Lord who sent them for our good.
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