What really happened with Elisha and the bears? In 2 Kings 2, a crowd of youths mocks the prophet Elisha, and two bears maul them — a passage many find puzzling. In this sermon, Dr. Toby Holt explains what was actually happening and what it teaches us about God.

Questions this sermon answers:

1. What was so sinful about the mocking? This was no harmless teasing. A gang of young men contemptuously rejected God's appointed prophet — and, through him, God Himself.

2. Why was the judgment so severe? Because the offense was against the LORD's messenger and message. To despise God's prophet was to despise God.

3. What does this reveal about God? That He is holy and not to be mocked. He takes seriously the honor of His word and those who bear it. "So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths." — 2 Kings 2:24 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.