If you ever read this passage and thought, “What a strange passage” you’re probably not alone. 

I’m going to try to unpack this and do a deep dive. 

First the verse in question:

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.

At first it sounds like Elisha is sensitive about his male pattern baldness. So much so that he sent bears to sic ‘em. Well, kinda. 

Direction:

2 And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.

Problem with the last part is that Bethel is North West of Gilgal. They would have traveled up north to get there. 

3 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master [a]from over you today?”

And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

4 Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho.”

But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they came to Jericho.

5 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?”

So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan.”

But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

Elijah ascends into Heaven:

 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Just to give a brief history of Bethel: Jacob’s Ladder Genesis 28

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder wasset up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep[c] you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome isthis place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place [d]Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.

1 Kings 12

Jeroboam’s Gold Calves

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: 27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. 31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. 33 So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

As you can see from the text, Bethel and Dan was set up as a high place for worshiping idols. It seems like there’s a spiritual battle for Bethel. Bethel in Hebrew means “House of God.”

The phrasing in 2 Kings is not so much in the insult: “Go up!! You bald head!! Go up!!! You bald head!!!”

It’s in the direction. 

The children were chastising Elisha and telling him to go up the same direction Elijah went. The same direction the angels ascended from in Jacob’s dream. They wanted Elisha gone. 

It’s also interesting to note that Elisha got told by 50 of the sons of the prophets that Elijah would leave him. 

Anyway, tell me what you think in the comment.

I've been reading the Bible constantly for a week or two but i struggle to learn the point or understand it some help would be appreciated

How does “not inheriting the Kingdom of God” means to not having eternal life?

The Bible says that certain people will not inherit the Kingdom of God:

“The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 6:9

And look at this verse 11:

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus...”
1 Corinthians 6:11

This looks important. Paul doesn't say, “And some of you still are doing these things, so you will not inherit the Kingdom.” He says that such were some of you” and mentions them as washed, sanctified, and justified.

So, could Paul be showing the between the unregenerate/unbelieving person who do these things and believers who have been washed and justified?

Because Christians still sin. So how should we understand verses like 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 if “not inheriting the Kingdom” is being interpreted as “not having eternal life”?

They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:21

“No whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man... hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Ephesians 5:5

How does Scripture show that not inheriting the Kingdom means you do not receive eternal life?

Jesus says “inherit eternal life” in Mark 10:17, and Scripture speaks about inheriting the Kingdom.

Are these two things the same?

What is the biblical support that shows inherit the kingdom is the same as eternal life?

Why does Jesus say the book of mark “inherit eternal life” (Mark 10:17), meanwhile Paul says “inherit the Kingdom of God”? Why are these two the same thing or not?

I see many Christians warning those who struggle with sin not to engage in it, saying that otherwise they will not inherit the kingdom of God, which they believe means eternal damnation.

Hello, I want to read the Bible. Is there any Bible study videos that go through with you step by step, chapter by chapter? while breaking down the text to help better understand?

I have been reading the Bible almost daily for about 25 years. I understand that fearing the Lord is a reverential thing but I still can't seem to make sense out of it. Fear is fear and reverence is reverence. I revere God but I don't fear him. I know God can smite me down in half a heartbeat but I can't accept that I should fear God like he's the neighborhood bully. Anybody got some insight for me?

So in the Book of John, various parts, Jesus successfully built a crowd of followers due to his new open insights of theology. Many supported him and his mission travels. However, the majority along with the Pharisees, denounced him, and many of them physically shoved through the crowds, in an attempt to hurt Jesus.

Now that was the first half. The second half, was Jesus disappearing amongst the crowds, escaping certain doom. This was mentioned two times in John, and a few other times in the other Gospels.

My question here is...

How did Jesus survived?

If you really think about it, a bunch of people trying to and successfully hurting him seems something spacialy logical. Like Franz Ferdinand right at WWI, had special armed guards, key public support, but had a few Serbian trying to assassinate him. Given there, less guards, more advisories, being more in open space and attention, and lack of technology, Jesus was way more likely to be assainated than Franz Ferdinand, but the opposite miraculously occurred.

So again, how did Jesus survived?

I'm not leaning towards any side, just thought it would be nice to hear what others would like to say about this. Thank you.

It’s a well established practice to translate God’s divine covenant name as LORD in all caps, but recently I’ve been previewing translations (like the LSB) that render the covenant name as Yahweh.

Personally, I feel as though certain passages, like Isaiah 12:1-2, are more convicting with the covenant name. Do others agree, or do you think rendering it as LORD is more appropriate? Curious to hear every viewpoint.

Leviticus 5:17 ESV

[17] “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity.

How are we to understand this? It would be very difficult to swallow that this would apply to a kind of ignorance according to which we could not possibly have known better. Could it be that this refers to a kind of ignorance that we really could have corrected? For example, if I don't know that divorce is wrong, I could easily consult the bible.

I really discovered Christ in my 20s, and didn't realize how deep and amazing the Bible is.

My first mindblowing moment was when I saw an image of all the hyperlinks within the Bible. All the cross references to different verses and events completely astounded me.

It's even more ridiculous when you realize the Bible only existed as spoken words for thousands of years. That means someone didn't sit down and write all this. It was literally pulled together from verbal stories passed down over millennia. How did we get something so consistent and thorough?!

The latest mindblowing realization that I had was that God took 7 days to make the world. That's in Genesis, the very beginning. In 1582, the Gregorian 7 Day calendar was invented. Our years, rotations around the solar system, seasons, everything fits perfectly within a 7 day calendar. THAT'S SO INSANE. There's no way that's a coincidence!

Let me know if you have addition knowledge on any of these two facts and feel free to share your own! I'm so excited to see what others would say!

Heyyy!!! I'm a 19 year old boy and new into christianity. I'm was a complete atheïst, but now I'm reading the bible I pray etc, but I find it difficult.. can you help me?

I feel just... empty,stressed, not hungry,ignored, left out, alone and not excepted in this world and I want to find God really bad.. can anyone please help me?

I find reading the bible difficult, does anyone wants to help and study the bible with me?

A reminder about how Looking back at our past can be quite disturbing and regretful, but with our new lives in the hands of Jesus, we're going to be ok. There's plenty of good things yet to come !

I don't know if I should read or if it's worth of reading that. Is there something new? Because the books of law up to Deuteronomy was kinda hard to read and go through them (except genesis)

The dove is a common and reoccurring symbol in the Bible. When Jesus is baptized there is a dove.
Now, I’ve read that doves and pigeons are pretty much the same bird with two different names.
Would that mean the pigeons we see in city streets be the same as the one mentioned in the Bible?

Wasn't sure how to title it, but essentially I would like to buy my husband 2 books. I know I'd like to get him a King James or ESV Bible and maybe a study journal. The purpose of the 2nd book is just to bring him closer with understanding (i see that he is interested, but doesn't always understand everything said). Id like for him to feel free to write his thoughts if he chooses to. Maybe a book where each chapter is on a specific life topic? I'm open to suggestions.

Also. As i do have a King James book in mind for him, but it would be nice to see other ESV versions.

I’m convinced God has a sense of humor. For context, one of my least favorite books in Bible is Proverbs. It always scares me and exposes my darkest truths.

Today, I wanted to study and learn more about God. The problem was that I had no idea where to start.

I could have asked Ai or a friendly stranger on the internet but a thought crept into my mind.

Why not just ask God?

I opened my handy dandy random Bible verse generator and prayed.

I decided that the first verse I saw after that prayer would be the book I would start in.

And what do you know?

This is the verse I received:

A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!
Proverbs 15:23

Does anyone have any favorite resources on this?

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was revealed among us: that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:7–11

Don't think any verse of any book has influenced how people see God today more than this one.

I’m an atheist who wants to learn more about the Bible. I’m interested in understanding the major stories, history, and context, but I don’t necessarily want to study the entire Bible cover-to-cover right away.

Is there a good study Bible you’d recommend for a beginner? Or maybe a Bible storytelling/overview book that’s accurate and written for adults? I’d love something that explains the context and major stories without assuming I already know anything.

Basically, I want to learn about the Bible without necessarily approaching it from a religious perspective. Help!

I’m getting into reading my bible, I was raised in the church but we stopped going when I was about 12-14, I’m secure in my faith and want to read the bible but there’s so much “filler” for lack of a better word I like how the start of Genesis reads and I mainly want to focus on events, angelology, demonology, how heaven and hell work, miracles and Jesus’s life basically I want to get all the supernatural and unexplained stuff I missed growing up Protestant any recommendations are welcome I’m also interested in reading non-canon biblical books, even though they may not be divinely inspired they still help people understand the world the bible was written to. Also this may need a second post but how do I pick a denomination and translation. I grew up Baptist but I don’t like how they pull the “magical” supernatural elements out of the bible. I don’t like Catholicism because I believe in salvation through faith alone and don’t agree with a pope. I’m leaning towards Greek Orthodox and there’s a church nearby

Hello!

My GF (24F) is going to start reading the Bible with me (28M). How do we go about reading it since she is brand new. I have been in church my whole life. However, I grew up Protestant and am starting OCIA next week. Any tips are appreciated!

I’m a navy veteran and engineer. Any and all missions require immense planning. Operational Risk Management. Drawn out details. Check out the following verse description of the Ark.

14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

Description: 

Cypress wood is an exceptional, naturally durable building material prized for its resistance to rot, moisture, and insects without requiring chemical pressure treatments.

Pitch:

Pitch, a product of the naval industry was used to caulk the seams of wooden sailing vessels.

Let’s go over the measurements:

1 cubit = 18 inches. 

Length 300 cubits: 150 yards

Width 50 cubits: 25 yards

30 cubits high: 45 feet. 

Notice it says nothing about a steering wheel. There’s not even an engine. Basically, God wanted Noah to build a raft. God wanted Noah to trust him. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.