Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When he turned round and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, November 5, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Okay. Couldn’t not call this out. I mean come on, people. Some village kids make fun of Elisha for being bald and God sends a couple of bears to kill them? Forty-two of them? Seriously. I’ve been a professional substitute teacher. You can imagine the stuff I’ve had to deal with in that capacity. Elisha needed to grow a thicker skin, for crying out loud. They were CHILDREN!
Where on earth did this story come from? Was it just some cultural folk take we’re not privy to? Is the number 42 significant in some way? Why 2 bears? Why she-bears? Is it kind of a dig at Elisha? He’s on his way to revisit the scene where 450 prophets of Baal were killed by Elijah and he just takes out 42 small children. I’m so sorry but I’m laughing out loud right now as I’m ruminating on this. It’s so not funny. And yet, it just leaves me shaking my head in wonder.
Are there stories in the Bible that leave you utterly bewildered? How do you think about those stories?
