In 2 Kings 2:23–24, a group of what many English translations render “small” or “little boys” mock Elisha saying, “Go up, bald head!” Elisha responds by invoking a curse, summoning two bears from the woods who devour forty-two of them.

Was Elijah just a crotchety old man who couldn’t take a bit of a joke, or is something more at play here?

Old Testament scholar Jonathan Akin joins me on today’s episode of What in the Word? to discuss.

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