Elisha the Baldhead, the Two She Bears, and the Forty-Two Boys - Part 4
The Israelite version of drag-queen story time
If Jeroboam introduced progressive liberalism to the Kingdom of God, or we could use the word “deconstructionism” in its place, then Ahab and Jezebel elevated it to drag queen story time.
Now if you happen to be one of those who thinks that fat men dressed up like cartoon strippers parading around seductively in front of small children is a good idea, then I refer you back to my Kingdom Come series Episode 3. You have been brainwashed by a satanic population control agenda, snap out of it. Or you are a perverse pedophile. One of the two.
Between Ahab and Jezebel, one is more notorious than the other. Jezebel’s name lives in infamy from her evil reputation. The Bible says of the couple:
“There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.” (1 Kings 21:25)
Jezebel was a princess, the daughter of the Phoenician King of Tyre Ithobaal, who killed his brother to obtain his throne. In Ezekiel 28 the king of Tyre is condemned, and satan is cited as being the power behind the throne.
Jezebel’s name means, “where is the prince?” Her name was a ritual cry for the ancient near eastern chief god Ba’al, who was thought to reside over the underworld. Ba’al was a fertility god associated with the bull because of the bull’s strength and virility. The worship of Ba’al was spread to Egypt from Phoenicia by the time of the middle kingdom, around 2000 BCE. The exodus from Egypt likely occurred around 1440 BCE, over 500 years after Ba’al, or bull worship was imported to Egypt.
You will find derivations of this god’s name in the New Testament such as Baal-zebub (Lord of the Flies) or Beelzebul. In Matthew 12:24 he is referred to as the prince of the demons.
1 Kings 18 informs us that the worship of both Ba’al and Asherah were promoted by Jezebel. She was responsible for suppressing the religion of God’s true prophets by murdering them and supporting the prophets of Ba’al and Asherah, both fertility gods.
1 Kings 18:19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.”
Centers of worship for these gods were erected at what the bible calls “high places”. The illegal worship center of Bethel established by Jeroboam was a center of the worship of both Ba’al and Asherah (1 Kings 13; 2 Kings 13).
The Bible describes worshippers as “going up” to these “high places” to worship these gods. These gods were worshipped with ritual sex. Cult prostitutes, both male and female, were paid for their services of having illicit sex so that these gods would bless the worshippers. Of course this sex resulted in unwanted pregnancies, fortunately these gods also received ritual sacrifice of human babies. Sound familiar?
Psalm 106:35
but they mixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.
36 They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
38 they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus they became unclean by their acts,
and played the whore in their deeds.
This is why Jezebel is associated with sexual immorality both in Revelation 2 and in popular vernacular.
2 Kings 9:22 And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”
The very same evil described in the first article of this series from Genesis 10-11 is infecting God’s own treasured possession. Its origins are from satan and his cohorts. So you can kind of see why God didn’t like cow worship.
In response to this corruption, God raised up prophets, the head office of whom was held by a man named Elijah. Elijah and the other prophets were preachers who condemned these practices and those who promoted them. They called the people to stop getting into agreement with and participating in the evil agenda of Israel’s corrupted elite.
Ahab’s first attempt to thwart Elijah was gaslighting him. He says to Elijah in 1 Kings 18:
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.
Ahab is sowing seeds of doubt in Elijah’s mind. He is trying to convince him that he and his preaching are the problem, not Ahab and his wife. Rest assured that this is just a glimpse of what would have been ongoing public and intense psychological warfare. The people would have been caught in the middle trying to figure out whose leadership could be trusted.
The warfare escalated to the famous contest on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18 where Elijah confronts the 450 prophets sponsored by Jezebel. After he defeats them he orders that not one of them escape and has them all slaughtered. Psychological warfare turns into actual warfare, and Jezebel is so infuriated that she calls for the immediate murder of Elijah. She has murdered the prophets of God for lesser reasons, Elijah knows she means business and he’s scared. So his character cracks, and he runs.
Elijah has been fighting evil for a long time and the trauma finally gets the best of him in 1 Kings 19. The trauma of psychological warfare and actual warfare. The self-doubt that has been lurking under the surface, enflamed by Ahab’s gaslighting, is now made manifest. He runs for it believing that somehow the enemy Jezebel is more powerful than the God he just witnessed defeat 450 of her best men. Not only does Elijah want to quit, he wants to die. He’s done.
It’s time for Elijah to retire, so God has Elijah select and train his replacement Elisha. Elisha would have seen the city miles on Elijah firsthand. There’s a reason all these men of God look old in artwork. Elijah would prepare Elisha for the mental and spiritual warfare he was about to confront assuming the office of God’s chief prophet.
Which brings us to our original story in 2 Kings 2 with the boys and the bears. But there are also metaphorical wolves circling in the picture, and they mean to begin intimidating Elisha just like they did his mentor. They are sniffing the air for weakness and vulnerabilities that may not have been found in his mentor. Elisha is going to receive the mantle of prophetic leadership, and his metal is going to be tested immediately to see whether or not he’s man enough for the job.