Endo

In 2 Kings 2:23-24, 42 people are mauled by bears for insulting the prophet Elisha. Various Bible translations call the mauled people "children" "young boys" "little youths" and the like. Christian apologetic sites all seem to make the argument that this is a mistranslation, and that these were actually young adult men.

Anyone here know more about the subject? The Hebrew word in question is "na'ar", which can apparently mean young men or boys, modified by the adjective "qatan" meaning "little" or "young".

James Brown

Sending bears to slaughter children--real, actual, too-young-to-vote-or-buy-beer children--as punishment for teasing is cruel.

Sending bears to slaughter full-grown, legal adults as punishment for teasing is a sign of the benevolence of Jehovah.

outhouse

either way it is mythology and not a literal event

Endo

I agree, of course, but it would still be nice to get an educated interpretation of the passage.

Duvduv

The Talmud in tractate Sotah says that Elisha was punished with illness for having cursed them, despite his great status as a prophet and heir to Elijah.

Commentators explain that the young ones were young adult men who were of "small" faith and "menuraim" (from na'ar/ni'er "cast off") - had thrown off the commandments and thought that God had abandoned them. They did not believe in Elisha, belittled his miracles and scoffed at him when he cured the bitter water.

Endo

Which commentators, though? And why do all the bible translations get this wrong? How do the Jews translate this passage?

sotto voce

What a damn shame. Western societies could do with a few of those bears.

Toto

Elisha and the bears - the animated version on Friendly Atheist

from a comment: (in response to this blog post)

sotto voce

Wouldn't it, just. There are so few who have actually read the Bible.

Now even if these mockers were small children (and the arguments against that are technical, even commonsense, rather than due to bias), it makes no difference. If there were 42 small children mocking an adult, let alone a prophet of God, their parents had no right to breathe, let alone breed, in Israel.

Endo

Fortunately, it seems that most Christians aren't quite as bloodthirsty as you, hence the throng of apologetics trying to cast this verse in a more positive light.