Elisha is the New Prophet

Today I read 2 Kings 2 and I have to say that the more I read the Old Testament, the less I feel I know about God and the Gospel in general.  This is the chapter where Elijah is translated and even though I have read this chapter before, I don't recall before today that the reason Elijah was translated in such a fashion, a chariot of fire going into heaven, was in answer to a request that Elisha made to have a double portion of the Spirit of the Lord.  I did not remember that at all, Elijah told Elisha that if he saw himself, Elijah, translated then his request would be granted.  I'm not sure why I never picked up on that before today.

The rest of the chapter is establishing Elisha as a prophet of God.  He parts the river Jordan, just as Elijah did in the early part of this chapter.  He heals brackish waters.  And in what is probably one of the most surprising stories in all of the scriptures, he kills 42 teenagers who make fun of him.  This is yet another story where I maintain that there just has to be more to the story than what is written here.  What is written is that while Elisha is walking, some youths come out and say, "Go thou up bald head."  So essentially they are making fun of the fact that Elisha is bald.  So Elisha turns back and curses them.  In response, 2 female bears come out and kill 42 of them!  Talk about your anger management issues.  And God allows it!  So like I said, I have always felt there has to be more to this story than what we are told.  It just doesn't make sense otherwise.  Everything I know about Heavenly Father just tells me that He would not allow even His prophet to wantonly slay 42 people, youths even, just for being mocked.  This story has always seemed strange to me in that regard.  Like so many other things in the Old Testament, I'm sure we'll know one day.  Until tomorrow.