Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Kings 2:19–25, “And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. 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. 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. And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.”
Once the trainee prophets realised that Elijah had, in fact, gone up to heaven and wasn’t going to be there any more, they brought their problems to Elisha. They lived in an area near the Dead Sea where the water was salty and the ground was barren from the salt. Apart from that, the place had a very nice outlook. Elisha told them to bring him a container of salt and he poured the salt into their water supply. After that, miraculously, the water turned fresh and the land was no longer barren. These people were able to grow decent crops and make a good living from there land. Elisha set off to go north. As he was leaving that place some young men came and started to mock Elisha and blaspheme against the Lord. They said, “Go up you badly head.” Elisha had shaved his head in mourning for Elisha’s entry into heaven. They were mocking him for saying that Elijah was dead and had gone up to heaven. In reality they were telling Elisha to go up to heaven himself before they would believe that the Lord had taken Elijah up to heaven. This was a serious case of blasphemy against the Lord God of Israel and the Lord punished them Himself. The Lord didn’t wait for the religious or civil leaders to judge and punish these young men because He knew the serious state of moral and religious decline that had taken hold of Israel. The Lord brought bears out of the bush and the young men were killed, according to the Law of the Lord. Elisha went to Carmel, the site of Elijah’s challenged to Israel to serve the Lord and then he went to Samaria, where he was to continue his ministry against the severe religious decline in Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment