[Gail White]

I confess to being endlessly fascinated with the story of King Saul, who seems to me to be the most maligned man in the Bible. It's been my observation that novelists love the David story and playwrights love the Saul story, and if I get one more incarnation, I will write a story with Saul as the tragic hero.

[Mark McDonnell]

Update: Kings 2

Occasionally, I may read something that I just have to share.

2:22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
2:23 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.
2:24 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.

I’ve no doubt that Bible scholars will claim there’s more than meets the eye here — symbolism etc, mistranslation perhaps — but as a high school teacher with a bald patch that’s been expanding since my early 30s, I think I’ll read this one literally. You go Elisha! That’ll teach ‘em!


(I know this post has usurped the thread for Annie. Somehow, I think she might approve)

[Julie Steiner]

Clearly it's a prophetic foreshadowing of the English homonyms "bare" and "bear," Mark.

I'm struck by the anticlimactic next line:

2:25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

I guess Carmel and Samaria would have seemed pretty ho-hum, after the bloodbath in Bethel, but they are dutifully recorded anyway.

I wonder how fast each bear would have to be moving to each catch and kill (on average) 21 feisty youngsters. And how long it took to count their bodies. I assume one would just count the heads and ignore the rest of the body parts that the tare-ifying she-bears tare.

I'd also really like to learn more about the apparent alliance between the two she-bears. Do female Syrian brown bears typically hang out together, and possibly even co-parent? Or could that be considered part of the miracle? Wikipedia doesn't say, but they seem to be blond and petite, with white claws:

The Syrian brown bear's fur is usually very light brown and straw-coloured. ... It is the only known bear in the world to have white claws. It is a rather small bear. ... The Syrian brown bear weighs up to 1,102 lb (500 kilograms), and measures from 101–140 cm (40–55 inches) from nose to tail.

... The Syrian brown bear is the bear mentioned in the Bible. The protectiveness of a mother bear towards her cubs is cited proverbially three times (2 Sam. 17:8; Prov. 17:12; Hos. 13:8) in the Hebrew Bible. The Syrian brown bear is also mentioned in 2 Kings 2:23-25 mauling 42 young men who were threatening Elisha.

As I recall, Rudyard Kipling's "The Female of the Species" has a lot to say about she-bears, too.

[Jack Land]

Originally Posted by Mark McDonnell

What a quiet shock of unexpected domestic drama the Book of Ruth is, after all the massacres and razing of cities. It serves, no doubt, to introduce the lineage of King David. I suspect he's going to be a major player.

Ruth the Moabitess is
gleaning in the fields.
A public spiritedness
of hers lends itself to
the general wellbeing
of the common good.
Hot summer days and
we know she does her
damnedest. Let fall an
afternoon freshet, and
even then she has our
best interests at heart.
So Ruth, what’s next?
The tendernightus is !