Elisha, God’s man for the hour, anointed with a double portion of Elijah’s calling when the mantle of Elijah fell upon him as his mentor was taken away in a chariot to Heaven, was coming through Jericho on his way to Bethel.
God performed a miracle for Jericho by healing the bad water in the area and making the land fertile for them to grow crops for food.
If only they had accepted the worship of the God of Israel as easily as they accepted His blessings. God’s grace could still have made Jericho and the land of the Benjamites a blessed place to live. If only they had allowed God’s love and His Spirit to possess their hearts and change their lives, God’s mercy would have been poured out on them, but it was not to be. If only they would have trained their children to love the God of Israel instead of hating him, things could have been so different.
Their wickedness and the attitude of rebellion against Israel, against the God of Israel, and against the prophet of the God of Israel was going to come back to haunt them with a vengeance. We cannot mock God, we cannot sin against God, and we cannot continue to come against the chosen people of God for long without God’s justice falling upon us.
As Elisha left Jericho, the children, most of them were probably teenagers or a little younger, were roaming the highways in a form of a Bible times gang. It is certain that they were up to some mischief.
When they saw Elisha they began to ridicule him and persecute him. They cried out, “Why don’t you leave us alone, Baldy? Get out of our city, Baldy!”
Can you see the sins of the fathers being visited upon these youth? Can you see the results of allowing sin to remain in the camp against God’s will?
It wasn’t just Elisha that they were ridiculing now they were also ridiculing the God of Israel who had called Elisha.
We can pick on the preacher all we want. We can cut down on the leadership of the church all we want. We can complain, grumble and gripe about what goes on at the church all we want. We can gossip, spread lies, and even try to discredit our Brothers and Sisters in the Lord all we want, but at what point does our action become an offense to God? How long will God allow our attitude and our sin to go unpunished?
Matthew 18:6, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Mark 9:42, "And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea."
Luke 17:1-2, "Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
Elisha may have been an old gray haired, balding prophet of God, but he was still one of God’s “little ones”. God will not tolerate the persecution of his own children forever. Sooner or later he will rise with vengeance and every debt of sin will have to be paid in full.
Under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, Elisha looked back at these youths who were ridiculing him, and blaspheming the God of Israel. He cursed them by God’s command and then God sent two she bears into their midst.
Perhaps these youths had taken the bear cubs of these mother bears because they came out with fury and killed 42 of the youths before they could escape. That night there were a lot of families in Jericho who mourned for the loss of their children.
Mothers and dads who had taught their children to hate Israel, to hate the God of Israel, to love the idols of Jericho, and to fight against anything that Israel stood for, now began to cry and weep for those same children.
God performed a miracle for Jericho by healing the bad water in the area and making the land fertile for them to grow crops for food.
If only they had accepted the worship of the God of Israel as easily as they accepted His blessings. God’s grace could still have made Jericho and the land of the Benjamites a blessed place to live. If only they had allowed God’s love and His Spirit to possess their hearts and change their lives, God’s mercy would have been poured out on them, but it was not to be. If only they would have trained their children to love the God of Israel instead of hating him, things could have been so different.
Their wickedness and the attitude of rebellion against Israel, against the God of Israel, and against the prophet of the God of Israel was going to come back to haunt them with a vengeance. We cannot mock God, we cannot sin against God, and we cannot continue to come against the chosen people of God for long without God’s justice falling upon us.
As Elisha left Jericho, the children, most of them were probably teenagers or a little younger, were roaming the highways in a form of a Bible times gang. It is certain that they were up to some mischief.
When they saw Elisha they began to ridicule him and persecute him. They cried out, “Why don’t you leave us alone, Baldy? Get out of our city, Baldy!”
Can you see the sins of the fathers being visited upon these youth? Can you see the results of allowing sin to remain in the camp against God’s will?
It wasn’t just Elisha that they were ridiculing now they were also ridiculing the God of Israel who had called Elisha.
We can pick on the preacher all we want. We can cut down on the leadership of the church all we want. We can complain, grumble and gripe about what goes on at the church all we want. We can gossip, spread lies, and even try to discredit our Brothers and Sisters in the Lord all we want, but at what point does our action become an offense to God? How long will God allow our attitude and our sin to go unpunished?
Matthew 18:6, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Mark 9:42, "And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea."
Luke 17:1-2, "Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
Elisha may have been an old gray haired, balding prophet of God, but he was still one of God’s “little ones”. God will not tolerate the persecution of his own children forever. Sooner or later he will rise with vengeance and every debt of sin will have to be paid in full.
Under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, Elisha looked back at these youths who were ridiculing him, and blaspheming the God of Israel. He cursed them by God’s command and then God sent two she bears into their midst.
Perhaps these youths had taken the bear cubs of these mother bears because they came out with fury and killed 42 of the youths before they could escape. That night there were a lot of families in Jericho who mourned for the loss of their children.
Mothers and dads who had taught their children to hate Israel, to hate the God of Israel, to love the idols of Jericho, and to fight against anything that Israel stood for, now began to cry and weep for those same children.
They learned the hard way that we will reap what we sow. They sowed hatred, rebellion, and blasphemy into the hearts and minds of their own children and now those same children had faced God’s judgment. They parents had no one to blame but themselves.
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