2 Kings 2 (WK) - Bible Truth Library

little children.The words {nëârim ketannim} not only signify little children but young men; for {katon} signifies not only little, but young, in opposition to old; and {näâr} signifies not only a child, but a young man grown to years of maturity:

thus Isaac is called {näâr} when twenty-eight years old, Joseph when thirty-nine, and Rehoboam when forty.

These idolatrous young men, having heard of the ascension of Elijah, without believing it, blasphemously bade Elisha to follow him.

The venerable prophet, from a Divine impulse, pronounced a curse "in the name of the Lord," which was immediately followed by the most terrible judgment; thus evincing the Source from which it flowed.

Job 19:18• ¹⁸Even youngsters despise me;{HR}I rise, and they speak of me. (Job 19:18)

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Job 30:1,8‑31• ¹And now at me they laugh, younger in days than I,{HR}Whose fathers I had disdained to set with the dogs of my flock!
⁸Sons of folly, sons of no-name, who were whipped out of the land.
⁹And now I am become their song, and I am their bye-word;
¹⁰Abhorring me, they get far from me,{HR}And even withhold not spittle from my face.
¹¹For he hath loosed my cord, and humbled me,{HR}And they have cast away the bridle before my face.
¹²On the right riseth up a brood; they push aside my feet,{HR}And cast up against me their destructive ways;
¹³They tear up my path, helping on my downfall;{HR}They have no helper;
¹⁴They come as [through] a wide breach,{HR}Under the ruin they roll onward.
¹⁵Terrors turn on me; they pursue like a storm my dignity,{HR}And my prosperity like a cloud is gone.
¹⁶And now my soul poureth itself out upon me;{HR}Days of suffering hold me fast;
¹⁷The night pierceth my bones, and my gnawers rest not.
¹⁸With great violence is my clothing changed;{HR}It girdeth me as the collar of my vest.
¹⁹He hath cast me into the mire,{HR}And I am become as dust and ashes.
²⁰I cry to thee, but thou dost not answer me;{HR}I stand, and thou dost look fixedly at me.
²¹Thou art changed to a cruel one towards me,{HR}With the strength of thy hand thou warrest against me.
²²Raising me on the wind, thou makest me borne off,{HR}And in my very substance desolvest me.
²³And I know thou art bringing me to death,{HR}And to the house of assembly for all living.
²⁴Surely there is no prayer when he putteth forth the hand,{HR}Though they cry out, in his destroying.
²⁵For have I not wept over one whose day is hard?{HR}Was [not] my soul sad over the needy?
²⁶Yet when I looked for good, evil came,{HR}And when I waited for light, darkness came.
²⁷My bowels are made to boil, and are not silent;{HR}Days of affliction have overtaken me.
²⁸I am going as blackened without the sun;{HR}I stand up in the assembly, I cry out.
²⁹Of jackals am I become brother,{HR}And companion of ostriches.
³⁰My skin off me is black,{HR}And my bones are burned with heat,
³¹And my harp is [turned] to wailing,{HR}And my pipe to the voice of weepers. (Job 30:1,8‑31)

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Prov. 20:11• ¹¹Even a child is known by his doings,{HR}Whether his work [be] pure, and whether right. (Prov. 20:11)

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Prov. 22:6,15• ⁶Train up the child in accordance with his course;{HR}And when he is old, he will not depart from it.
¹⁵Folly [is] bound in the heart of a child:{HR}The rod of correction shall drive it far from him. (Prov. 22:6,15)

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Eccl. 11:10• ¹⁰{i}Then remove discontent from thy heart,{HR}And put away evil from thy flesh;{HR}For childhood and youth are vanity.{/i} (Eccl. 11:10)

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Isa. 1:4• ⁴Ah! sinful nation; a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children corrupting themselves. They have forsaken Jehovah; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they are estranged backward. (Isa. 1:4)

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Isa. 3:5• ⁵And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honourable. (Isa. 3:5)

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Jer. 7:18• ¹⁸The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. (Jer. 7:18)

mocked.

Gen. 21:9• ⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. (Gen. 21:9)

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2 Chron. 36:16• ¹⁶{i}But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy.{/i} (2 Chron. 36:16)

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Job 30:1,8‑9• ¹And now at me they laugh, younger in days than I,{HR}Whose fathers I had disdained to set with the dogs of my flock!
⁸Sons of folly, sons of no-name, who were whipped out of the land.
⁹And now I am become their song, and I am their bye-word; (Job 30:1,8‑9)

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Psa. 35:15• ¹⁵But in my halting they rejoiced and were gathered together;{HR}The slanderers were gathered together against me,{HR}And I knew it not; they reviled and were not silent, (Psa. 35:15)

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Isa. 57:3‑4• ³But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
⁴Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth, [and] draw out the tongue? [Are] ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, (Isa. 57:3‑4)

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Gal. 4:29• ²⁹But as then he that was born according to flesh persecuted him that was according to Spirit, so now. (Gal. 4:29)

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Heb. 11:36• ³⁶and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea and of bonds and imprisonment. (Heb. 11:36)

Go up.

2 Kings 2:11• ¹¹And it came to pass as they still went on, and talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 Kings 2:11)

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Matt. 27:29‑31,40‑43• ²⁹{i}and having woven a crown out of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and, bowing the knee before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!{/i}
³⁰{i}And having spit upon him, they took the reed and beat [him] on his head.{/i}
³¹{i}And when they had mocked him, they took the cloak off him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify.{/i}
⁴⁰{i}and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou art Son of God, descend from the cross.{/i}
⁴¹{i}[And] in like manner the chief priests also, mocking, with the scribes and elders, said,{/i}
⁴²{i}He saved others, himself he cannot save. He is King of Israel: let him descend now from the cross, and we will believe on him.{/i}
⁴³{i}He trusted upon God; let him save him now if he will [have] him. For he said, I am Son of God.{/i} (Matt. 27:29‑31,40‑43)

• Little boys, representing unintelligent, mocking, unbelieving people, come forth from Bethel just at the moment when the prophet is going to meet God in His house, in the place of His unchangeable promises. What an anomaly! Children, created to give praise, mock the man of God! those of an age characterized according to God’s thoughts by trust and respect for such who are above them insult the prophet! (“Elisha, or Christ in the Spirit: 2 Kings 2:13-25” by H.L. Rossier)

• “Go up, bald head!” they cry out to him, because in his person he is showing signs of decrepitude, of old age (just as the remnant in the Psalms, Psa. 71:9,18), and of reproach. Yet nonetheless the law declares such a man to be clean and not defiled (Lev. 13:40-41). Those of whom God should have expected simplicity of faith reject the representative and witness of the Messiah, identified with the feeble, bowed down remnant, and make fun of his appearance. (“Elisha, or Christ in the Spirit: 2 Kings 2:13-25” by H.L. Rossier)

• “Go up, bald head!” they say. They do not believe in Elijah’s having been taken up. Folly like this is not even proper for children! Where is the promise of His coming? Is not the world the same today? These insults are so much the more odious in that they are directed at the Spirit of Christ, come back in grace and not in judgment as Elijah. (“Elisha, or Christ in the Spirit: 2 Kings 2:13-25” by H.L. Rossier)

J. N. Darby Translation

And he went up from thence to Bethel, and as he went up by the way, there came forth little boys out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go upa, bald head; go up, bald head!

JND Translation Notes

Others, "Come up."

W. Kelly Translation

And he went up from thence to Bethel, and as he went up by the way, there came forth little boys out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald head!

WK Verse Note

(Note: Words in italics have been inserted from the J. N. Darby translation where the W. Kelly translation doesn’t exist.)