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Never Make Fun of a Bald-Headed Prophet

by Jerry Ousley  
8/26/2011 / Christian Living

When I was in high school I hung around with a group of guys who were considered "losers." I hung with them because I was considered a "loser" too. I was curly-headed, small and skinny. There was another guy who was slightly taller than me who also was curly-headed and thin named Obi. Then there was Mark. I'm not certain why he was considered a "loser" other than he liked to tell corny jokes all the time. Finally there was Pee-Wee. He was the smallest of all of us and sometimes even got picked on by other "losers." Some boys would push him around, sometimes so hard that they physically knocked him to the ground. The great thing about Pee-Wee was that even when someone pushed him around, hit him or knocked him to the ground he'd always have a smile on his face. I wasn't sure why until years later after we had all become adults.

I didn't see Pee-Wee for about ten years after high school, and when I did I was simply amazed. I was contemplating joining the U.S. Army at the time and the recruiting Sergeant took me to see one of his recent recruits who had just finished basic training. He drove me to his house and when he knocked on the door and it opened up there stood Pee-Wee; only he wasn't this small framed kid anymore. In fact the only reason I recognized him was that big smile spread across his face. It was Pee-Wee alright but he had taken a growth spurt. Man had he ever! Instead of looking down I now had to look up to be eye to eye with him. His once small frame now resembled that of a professional wrestler. Pee-Wee was no longer a little kid a bully would push around. I was certainly glad that during high school I had never picked on him because I wouldn't have wanted him to suddenly get the yearning for revenge, know what I mean? It was then that I also realized why he smiled all the time; somehow I think Pee-Wee must have known that the day would come when he could have his revenge. All those guys who shoved him and knocked him to the ground made him smile because he knew that the day would come when if they pushed him he would be so rock solid that their own push would knock them to the ground!

People have a tendency to compare themselves to others, putting them down in order to make them appear bigger, smarter or better off. It's wrong of kids and children but it is even worse when it happens with adults and let me tell you, after all the years I worked in factories I know that this sort of thing goes on beyond high school.

We read about an incident in the Bible where a group of young men made fun of Elisha. They called him "bald-headed." 2 Kings 2:23-24 says, "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!' So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears come out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths." Now on the surface this may sound like a cruel thing to do on the part of Elisha. But let's read between the lines a bit and see if we can discover just exactly what took place here. Something occurred to make these young men make fun of Elisha and call him names. First they weren't really children as it has been suggested to us elsewhere. They were young men. The same Hebrew word used to describe them in this passage was also used in reference to Jacob when he was twenty-eight years old. We should also remember that by Jewish tradition a man wasn't really considered to be a man until he had reached the age of forty. So these young men were old enough to know what they were doing.

Secondly it has been suggested that they were making a living by carrying water to the people of the town because the water supply had gone bad (this is purely speculation but could well be the explanation. The water had gone bad as we read in verses 19-22). When Elisha, by the power of God, healed the water supply suddenly the source of income for these young men was taken away.

Whatever the case something certainly happened to make them angry at Elisha because they mocked him telling him to "go up" (as Elijah had done in the chariot of fire). When they did the prophet spoke a curse upon them and two female bears came from the woods and mauled forty-two of them. The point is that we need to respect God's people. We should never speak evil against one another. And we should always have a respect especially to those who have been called of God to His service. We should do this because we never know when female bears may be lurking about and if they are it is never wise to make fun of a bald-headed prophet!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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