Six ways to encounter God here
A passage is not only to be understood; it is to be lived with. Choose how you want to meet God in 2 Kings 2:23, and Living Bread opens it right there.
The passage in its setting
Meeting God in a verse begins with hearing it where it lives, in the flow of 2 Kings 2. Read it slowly, and let the focal verse settle into its own context.
21 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.
22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
23 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.
24 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.
25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.
The web of Scripture around it
Where this passage echoes across the Bible, from the cross-reference graph, 14 connected Scriptures. Each one is a door to meet God there too.
- 2 Chronicles 36:16
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
- Job 30:1
But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
- Job 19:18
Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
- Psalms 31:18
Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
- Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
- Genesis 21:9
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
- Amos 5:5
But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
- Isaiah 57:3
But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
- Amos 7:13
But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.
- Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
- Hosea 4:15
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
- Matthew 27:29
And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
- Hebrews 11:36
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
- Hosea 10:5
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, becau…
More to meet God in 2 Kings
How it points to Christ
Every Scripture ultimately leads to Jesus. See how the whole Bible points to Him in Christ in all Scripture, then meet Him for yourself.
