2 Kings 2:23 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Kings 2:23
And he went up from thence unto Bethel: 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.
(concretely) a boy (as active) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
city
הָעִ֔ירha.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
mocked
וַיִּתְקַלְּסוּvai.yit.ka.le.su-
H7046
to disparage · conjunction + verb, hithpael sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
said
וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּvai.Yo.me.ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
up
עֲלֵ֥ה'a.Leh
H5927
to ascend · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
head
קֵרֵ֖חַke.Re.ach
H7142
bald (on the back of the head) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
up
עֲלֵ֥ה'a.Leh
H5927
to ascend · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
head
קֵרֵֽחַke.Re.ach
H7142
bald (on the back of the head) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Chronicles 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his peopl…
Job 19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
Job 30:1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
Genesis 21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Psalms 31:18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Amos 5:5 But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come t…
1 Kings 12:28-32 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy g…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 2:19–end
Elisha had, in this respect, a double portion of Elijah's spirit, that he wrought more miracles than Elijah. Some reckon them in number just double. Two are recorded in these verses - a miracle of mercy to Jericho and a miracle of judgment to Bethel, Psa 101:1.
I. Here is a blessing upon the waters of Jericho, which was effectual to heal them. Jericho was built in disobedience to a command, in defiance to a threatening, and at the expense of the lives of all the builder's children; yet, when it was built, it was not ordered to be demolished again, nor were God's prophets or people forbidden to dwell in it, but even within those walls that were built by iniquity we find a nursery of piety. Fo…
there came forth little children out of the city--that is, the idolatrous, or infidel young men of the place, who affecting to disbelieve the report of his master's translation, sarcastically urged him to follow in the glorious career.
bald head--an epithet of contempt in the East, applied to a person even with a bushy head of hair. The appalling judgment that befell them was God's interference to uphold his newly invested prophet.
Next: 2 Kings Chapter 3
Adam Clarke on 2 Kings 2:23
There came forth little children out of the city - These were probably the school of some celebrated teacher; but under his instruction they had learned neither piety nor good manners.
Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head - עלה קרח עלה קרח aleh kereach, aleh kereach. Does not this imply the grossest insult? Ascend, thou empty skull, to heaven, as it is pretended thy master did! This was blasphemy against God; and their punishment (for they were Beth-elite idolaters) was only proportioned to their guilt. Elisha cursed them, i.e., pronounced a curse upon them, in the name of the Lord, בשם יהוה beshem Yehovah, by the name or authority of Jehovah. The spirit of their offense lies in thei…
Now according to the letter, dearly beloved, we are to believe, as we mentioned above, that blessed Elisha was aroused with God's zeal to correct the people, rather than moved by unwholesome anger, when he permitted the Jewish children to be torn to pieces. His purpose was not revenge but their amendment, and in this fact, too, the passion of our Lord and Savior was plainly prefigured. Just as those undisciplined children shouted to blessed Elisha, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead," so at the time of the passion the insane Jews with impious words shouted to Christ the true Elisha, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" What does "Go up, you baldhead" mean except: Ascend the cross on the site of Calvary? Notice further, brothers, that just as under Elisha forty-two boys were killed, so forty-two years after the passion of our Lord two bears came, Vespasian and Titus, and besieged Jerusalem. Also consider, brothers, that the siege of Jerusalem took place on the Paschal solemnity. Thus, by the just judgment of God the Jews who had assembled from all the provinces suffered the punishment they deserved, on the very days on which they had hung the true Elisha, our Lord and Savior, on the cross. Indeed, at that time, that is, in the forty-second year after the passion of our Lord, the Jews as if driven by the hand of God assembled in Jerusalem according to their custom to celebrate the Passover. We read in history that three million Jews were then gathered in Jerusalem; eleven hundred thousand of them are read to have been destroyed by the sword of hunger, and one hundred thousand young men were led to Rome in triumph. For two years that city was besieged, and so great was the number of the dead who were cast out of the city that their bodies equaled the height of the walls. This destruction was prefigured by those two bears that are said to have torn to pieces forty-two boys for deriding blessed Elisha. Then was fulfilled what the prophet had said, "The boar from the forest lays it waste, and the beasts of the field feed on it," for as was indicated, after forty-two years that wicked nation received what it deserved from the two bears, Vespasian and Titus.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Baldness — From natural causes was uncommon (2 Kings 2:23; Isa. 3:24). It was included apparently under “scab” and “scurf,” which disqualified for the priesthood (Lev. 21:20). The Egyptians were rarely subject…
Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Elisha — God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19). His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint him as his…
Forest — Heb. ya’ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance. Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Eccl. 2:6; Isa. 44:14; Jer. 5:6; Micah 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest of…
Baldness · .Elisha — .Elisha
Beth-El · .The young men of, mock Elisha — .The young men of, mock Elisha
Children · Often wicked and rebellious — Often wicked and rebellious
Children, Wicked · Punishment of, for: Mocking of a prophet — Punishment of, for: Mocking of a prophet
Derision · .The evil children of Beth-el — .The evil children of Beth-el
Elisha · Mocked by the young men of Beth-el — Mocked by the young men of Beth-el
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Mocking · General references
on 2 Kings 2:23
And he went up from thence unto Bethel,.... From Jericho, which lay in a plain, to Bethel, situated on an hill, and therefore is said to go up to it; hither he went, to acquaint the sons of the prophets with the assumption of Elijah, to condole their loss of him, and to comfort and encourage them, and confirm his own authority among them as a prophet in his stead:
and as he was going up by the way; the ascent to the city:
there came forth little children out of the city; the word for "children" is used of persons of thirty or forty years of age; and though these are said to be "little", they were so well grown as to be able to go forth out of the city of themselves, without any to guide th…
The judgment of God upon the loose fellows at Bethel. Elisha proceeded from Jericho to Bethel, the chief seat of the idolatrous calf-worship, where there was also a school of the prophets (Kg2 2:3). On the way thither there came small boys out of the city to meet him, who ridiculed him by calling out, "Come up, bald-head, come," etc. קרח, bald-head (with a bald place at the back of the head), was used as a term of scorn (cf. Isa 3:17, Isa 3:24); but hardly from a suspicion of leprosy (Winer, Thenius). It was rather as a natural defect, for Elisha, who lived for fifty years after this (Kg2 13:14), could not have been bald from age at that time.
Kg2 2:24
The prophet then turned round and curse…
The group of boys could have been young adults; the Hebrew term has a wide range of meanings, at times being used of a young adult still unskilled in his profession, such as when Solomon petitioned the Lord for wisdom because he was young and inexperienced (1 Kgs 3:7). Joshua’s spies at Jericho were designated by the same term (Josh 6:22-23). • To call someone baldy was disrespectful. The young men told Elisha to go away (literally go up), mocking Elisha’s God-given position as successor to Elijah.
Rashi on 2 Kings 2:23
Little boys. Void of mitzvos.21The literal meaning of נְעָרִים קְטַנִּים is “small children,” but obviously this is not the true meaning, because Elisha would never have cursed small children. The word נְעָרִים can also be interpreted as נְעוּרִים [=shaken out or empty] from good deeds. The word קטנים [=little] alludes to how small their faith was. Nonetheless, Elisha was punished for treating them so harshly. See Maseches Sotah 47a. Radak Alternatively, the boys came from a town called נַעֲרָן, which is mentioned in I Divrei Hayomim 7:28 and in Yehoshua 16:7. See below, 5:2.
“Go away, baldy!” “Go away from here, for you have made the place bald for us, [i.e.,] for until now we would be hir…
Scoffing · .Youths at Beth-el — .Youths at Beth-el
Scorning And Mocking · Exemplified: Children at Bethel — Exemplified: Children at Bethel
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
