Elisha = God salvation Jesus = YHVH salvation Read KJV - Did you read - little children? Does that make YHVH sound cruel? Read YLT - Did you read - little youths? Read KJV - Did you read - he cursed them, in the name of the LORD, and two she bears tare forty-two children? Artists will paint scriptural events based on versions. Note that the paintings range from babies, to old men. Some have Elisha bald. Some have Elisha with hair. Some do not have Elisha in the scene at all. Elisha was appointed and anointed by GOD. He served as a prophet of Israel, for 60 years. He was a type of a fore runner, of Jesus, in that he performed miracles - out of the Power of God. Even when Elisha was buried, a dead man, who laid in the coffin, for a year where Elisha was to be put, rose up out of the coffin for Elisha. Two little verses, in 2Kings, tells us about Elisha being sneered. Read part of KJV - Paul wrote - no be you being strayed, God not is being nosed at. Do you mock God? How many times do you see people mocking God on social media? God is NOT mocked, or made fun of, or nosed. God will NOT have His anointed sneered (snub nosed, mocked, made fun of). Read 2Kings 2:34-24 again. Did you read - little children? Did your mind envision little kids? KJV - little children American Standard Version - young lads Bible in Basic English - little boys Darby's English Translation - little boys Douay Rheims Bible - little boys Noah Webster Bible - little children World English Bible - young lads Young's Literal Translation - little youths Does not - little children - sound like little girls, and little boys? Readers of these VERSIONS get offended at the cruelty of God for harming darling little sweet innocent children. Hebrew word - na'ar = young men - 2Kings 2:23. Hebrew word - yelel = lad, boy, child, youth - 2Kings 2:24. It's young boys, or young men. Some scriptures use na'ar for servants, or young men. Some scriptures support young men as children of wicked ones. You make the call on little boys, or young men, according to your impression from God. These were little boys who knew the difference of being disrespectful, or not. They understood that loss of hair had a meaning of disgrace. Young men who are under the influence of their parents and peers. Little boys that choose ugly paths of making fun of people. Young men who act out certain stupidity of bigger boys for laughs. They became the company they kept. Little boys who were not brought up the way they should go, so when they grow up, they would not depart from the narrowing path of God. These little boys, or young men, also knew, and understood, what the term - go up - meant. They were already taught about Elijah. They were telling Elisha to go up and rise in the heaven, like Elijah did - if he was so anointed by God. The understanding of - baldness, and - go up - might lead one to think that these were not little boys, but more on the level of - bigger boys. More like - young men. Some say that these were young boys that were becoming self righteous religious competitors, that came out in force to make fun - of Elisha. Some versions say that Elisha cursed the young boys. KJV (V for Version)- cursed them American Standard Version - cursed them Bible in Basic English - put a curse on them Darby's English Translation - cursed them Douay Rheims Bible - cursed them Noah Webster Bible - cursed them World English Bible - cursed them Young's Literal Translation - declared them vile What is curse? Search - curse. Curse = to evoke an evil omen upon. Read all that you can on Elisha, and get a feeling for his character. Do you think he put a curse on the young men? Hebrew - qalal = to slight. Elisha turned his back, and just slighted them, in the name (namesake) of YHVH. God made a decision to intervene. Remember always - YHVH is NOT nosed - nor is His anointed. KJV (V for Version)- two she bears American Standard Version - two she-bears Bible in Basic English - two she-bears Darby.s English Translation - two she-bears Douay Rheims Bible - two bears Noah Webster Bible - two she bears World English Bible - two she-bears Young's Literal Translation - two bears Hebrew - shthim dbim = two bears. God, not Elisha, evokes two bears to enter the scene. Some say it was two she-bears, who had just lost their whelps, and are out for vengeance. It could have been two older males who are mad and hungry. It could have been a mother and daughter. It could have been a father and son. It could have been a mated male and female. It could have been two bears who didn't know each other, but appeared on the scene from opposing sides. Let God impress you as to the bear gender. KJV - and tare forty and two children of them. American Standard Version - and tare forty and two lads of them. Bible in Basic English - and put forty-two of the children to death. Darby's English Translation - and tore forty-two children of them. Douay Rheims Bible - and tore of them two and forty boys. Noah Webster Bible - and tore forty and two children of them. World English Bible - and mauled forty-two lads of them. Young's Literal Translation - and rend of them forty and two lads. The word - maul - is a French word, coined around 1200 A.D. The scene happened over 2000 years before the word - maul - was created. Maul connotes - bruising, cutting, smashing. Readers think of little children being hurt. Tare = archaic term for - tear. Hebrew - baqa = to cleave, tear, open. Here are the choices - None of them died from the attacks. Some of them died from the attacks. All of them died from the attacks. How do you see it? Look at God's wrath. Look at God's perfection. God created two special bears, to instantly tear apart, and cleave, ALL forty-two of the young men on the scene. The job only took maybe a couple of minutes at best. Then the bears were not, for God took them. A normal bear would maul and scratch, and take considerable time, to cleave, therefore, the other forty young men would easily have had a good amount of time to escape. The bears probably really did have a royal blood. God created and breathed in them to do a single purpose, then took them back. Look at God's perfection, and His ways. Is anything too hard for YHVH? A person just does not snub nose God, or His anointed, and it not be noticed, then reconciled. Who do you think God punished? It wasn't just the boys - it was the parents, also. God's wrath will include collateral damage. The fathers of the young men, were probably priests, serving different gods. The young men may have been up-coming priests, to serve those gods. The young men came to Elisha, in force, to ridicule him. God consistently visits the iniquity of the adults, with punishing them through their offspring. Look how God punished Canaan, after Ham defiled the privacy of Noah. God punished Ham, by making servants of Canaan and his lineage. The adults were the source of the mockery, and their boys were taken from them, for it. This is a situation, told in scripture, about humans (parents, children), ascending upon God. The adults ascended upon God, by serving other gods than the one true God - YHVH. The young men, of those same adults, ascended upon God from the examples of their parents, and mocked the anointed of God. What's it all about? Power struggle - mockery - ascending upon God. God is incredible. Praise the LORD - forever.