2Kings 2:23-4 Miraculous?

[CaliforniaSun]

I just finished reading "Maneater" by Lamar Underwood. It is a collection of tales of deaths by wild animals. There was a large section devoted to death by bear mauling. An average attack was estimated between thirty to ninety seconds (assuming the bears maul continuously without lag time).

Amazon.com: Man Eaters: True Tales of Animals Stalking, Mauling, Killing, and Eating Human Prey (9781585741977): Lamar Underwood: Books

Reading this brought to mind 2Kings 2:23-4:

Summarized: Elisha gets ticked that some juevenile delinquents are ridiculing his bald head, and sends the judgment of god down in the form of two female bears (species unknown) to teach these kids a lesson, killing forty-two of them.

Now, taking an average of forty-five seconds per mauling, per bear, gives an average time of 15'5" of elapsed time to sufficiently kill forty-two boys.

My question is this. Human nature would compel most people to run when confronted with a life or death situation. For this story to have happened as described in the bible, it would have been a miracle for forty boys to have stayed in a location while their comrades were systematically being mauled one after the other?

 

[Upisoft]

Well, as you said they were learning a lesson. Who is running away from that?

 

[selfinflikted]

Run? I thought you were supposed to play dead when bears attack

 

[CaliforniaSun]

Run? I thought you were supposed to play dead when bears attack

Yes, this does seem to work. If they don't perceive you to be an immediate threat, there is a chance they may back off during an attack.

 

[Jro]

Well, it doesn't say how long it took the bears. Perhaps it occurred over a matter of several weeks, with the female bears paying each boy a visit in turn.

 

[Blayz]

Well, it doesn't say how long it took the bears. Perhaps it occurred over a matter of several weeks, with the female bears paying each boy a visit in turn.

A delicious extra spice of terror to the killing. God would have made a great Wes Craven.

Also, You don't need to out run a bear, you just need to out run the other person.

 

[Jro]

A delicious extra spice of terror to the killing. God would have made a great Wes Craven.

Also, You don't need to out run a bear, you just need to out run the other person.

Unless the bear is very fast and very hungry, in which case you have to outrun the bear also.

 

[Seamus Riley]

perhaps they were smarter than the average bear?

 

[CaliforniaSun]

Well, it doesn't say how long it took the bears. Perhaps it occurred over a matter of several weeks, with the female bears paying each boy a visit in turn.

But this begs the question. Why wait around at all? And a literal reading does indeed imply rather sudden and rapid killing.

 

[Lion Hearted Man]

Run? I thought you were supposed to play dead when bears attack

Well in this situation, all you got to do is out-run several of your 39 comrades and you're in the clear, hah

 

[Jro]

But this begs the question. Why wait around at all? And a literal reading does indeed imply rather sudden and rapid killing.

Well they may have been waiting around at home. The bear might have killed each individual relatively quickly, but accomplished the entire task over a relatively leisure filled summer.

 

[CaliforniaSun]

Well they may have been waiting around at home. The bear might have killed each individual relatively quickly, but accomplished the entire task over a relatively leisure filled summer.

Kind of like Ghost and the Darkness.

 

[AV1611VET]

My question is this. Human nature would compel most people to run when confronted with a life or death situation. For this story to have happened as described in the bible, it would have been a miracle for forty boys to have stayed in a location while their comrades were systematically being mauled one after the other?

Proverbs 19:5 ¶ A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

 

[Jro]

Kind of like Ghost and the Darkness.

Yes except with a bear instead of a ghost and in the day light instead of at dark. So not like what you said at all.

Edit: I'm willing to concede, god MAY have used Val Kilmer instead of a bear.

 

[Lion Hearted Man]

Proverbs 19:5 ¶ A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

But what if he really was bald? Then it's not a lie, but merely an observation. In poor taste, perhaps...but not a lie...

 

[CaliforniaSun]

But what if he really was bald? Then it's not a lie, but merely an observation. In poor taste, perhaps...but not a lie...

It was their misfortune to have made fun of Elisha on a bad day. I mean, how were they to know god had his back.

 

[AV1611VET]

But what if he really was bald? Then it's not a lie, but merely an observation. In poor taste, perhaps...but not a lie...

Who said what they were chanting was the lie that brought their judgment upon them?

Maybe they were students trying to push evolution on creationists for years, until God got tired of it?

Ecclesiastes 7:17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

 

[juvenissun]

I just finished reading "Maneater" by Lamar Underwood. It is a collection of tales of deaths by wild animals. There was a large section devoted to death by bear mauling. An average attack was estimated between thirty to ninety seconds (assuming the bears maul continuously without lag time).

Amazon.com: Man Eaters: True Tales of Animals Stalking, Mauling, Killing, and Eating Human Prey (9781585741977): Lamar Underwood: Books

Reading this brought to mind 2Kings 2:23-4:

Summarized: Elisha gets ticked that some juevenile delinquents are ridiculing his bald head, and sends the judgment of god down in the form of two female bears (species unknown) to teach these kids a lesson, killing forty-two of them.

Now, taking an average of forty-five seconds per mauling, per bear, gives an average time of 15'5" of elapsed time to sufficiently kill forty-two boys.

My question is this. Human nature would compel most people to run when confronted with a life or death situation. For this story to have happened as described in the bible, it would have been a miracle for forty boys to have stayed in a location while their comrades were systematically being mauled one after the other?

II King 2:

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.
2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
2:25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

What you did not read in these verses are time. Do you know how much time was involved in any of these three verses? It is certainly not as short as your calculation shows. How much time was there between the curse and the appearance of two bears? How much time it took to get the children killed?

So, your question is not a valid one.

 

[Seamus Riley]

correct juvenissun, this is not a question that is really going to challenge anything. its much too easy to explain the phenomenon. assuming it took around 15 minutes, why did they stand there? shock. did they run? bears run faster. the text shows the boys followed him out of the city into the woods. the hike itself could've been hours. bears will catch you. does tare or maul necessarily mean "to death"? if not, then perhaps one could even shave off a considerable amount of time from the assumed 15 minutes.

 

[Jro]

Perhaps it was 'tare or mall' and the bears just wanted to enforce a light tax and shopping experience.

Maybe in between the lines, it says either a) these children were actually demons so it was really ok, or b) baldo sat everyone down and delivered a lecture to everyone explaining that making fun of people can be very hurtful then he dressed up as a bear and took everyone to the mall.