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Uncovering Scripture: God wasn't laughing
The story you were never taught in Sunday school.
George Sisneros
October 02, 2025
"When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so they would never be out of his sight, never be someplace where they couldn’t hear him speak. They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust."
May you be covered in His dust.
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We’re just 3 days away from starting Romans together.
While we wait, I’m sending something a little different.
Tonight and tomorrow night (Guatemala time), I’ll send you one story from Scripture written in the same style as my new book, Uncovering Scripture: The Gospel of Luke.
Not taken from the book, but written the same way—slowing down to notice what we usually miss.
Inside, I walk through every chapter of Luke the same way.
One story at a time.
Uncovering Scripture: God wasn’t laughing
Most people skip this story.
Maybe because it’s uncomfortable.
Maybe it doesn’t fit the version of God we’re used to.
But it’s in the Bible.
It’s not hidden.
And it’s not a mistake.
“God wasn’t laughing”
You probably know the part when Elijah is taken into heaven.
The chariots. The whirlwind.
Elisha standing in awe.
He picks up Elijah’s cloak and walks back alone.
The waters of the Jordan part for him.
The other prophets see it and say, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.”
Everyone knows:
God is with this man.
And then comes the part we skip.
Or quietly explain away.
“He went up from there to Bethel. While he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, ‘Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!’”
It sounds like a childish insult.
A bunch of kids being dumb.
But this wasn’t harmless playground teasing.
The Hebrew word for “boys” (na’arim qetannim) can refer to youth or young men—teenagers or even those in their early twenties.
And there weren’t just a few of them.
There were forty-two.
A mob.
They weren’t just mocking Elisha’s appearance.
They were taunting God’s prophet.
They were saying, in effect,
"If you’re really a prophet, why don’t you float off to heaven like Elijah did?"
It was spiritual sarcasm.
And it happened in Bethel, a city long soaked in idolatry, where golden calves had once been worshiped.
A city that had taught its people, and its sons, to sneer at the Word of the Lord.
They weren’t teasing a man.
They were scorning a holy God.
So Elisha stops.
Turns.
And curses them in the name of the Lord.
Then…
And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys."
In ancient Israel, and still today, a mother bear is a well-known image of wild, protective aggression. When a mother bear thinks her cubs are in danger, she becomes dangerous, even more so than a male bear.
We also see it in Proverbs 17:12 “Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.”
That’s how terrifying she-bears were considered. They were used to describe the worst kind of danger.
The audience would've immediately understood: This is judgment. This is holy.
No warning.
No second chance.
No gentle “lesson.”
Why?
Because this wasn’t about ‘kids’ joking.
It was about contempt.
They laughed at the presence of God.
They mocked what was holy.
They saw spiritual authority and treated it like a meme.
And God made it terrifyingly clear:
You don’t get to mock the things of God and walk away untouched.
That’s not the God we bring up in small group.
And it’s probably not the God we share in our testimony.
But it IS the God of Scripture.
And this moment was a warning shot.
When a culture raises sons who sneer at truth,
who spit on reverence,
who joke about sacred things.
Judgment comes.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Elisha keeps walking.
He keeps going to Jericho. To the hurting. To the ones who need truth.
He doesn’t give up the mission.
And neither should we.
God’s Character Revealed:
1. God is Holy
“He cursed them in the name of the Lord.” (v.24)
Mocking what is sacred is never harmless. God doesn’t laugh it off.
2. God is Powerful
“Two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.” (v.24)
Even wild animals obey His judgment. No part of creation is outside His command.
3. God is Just
There is no apology in the text. No hint that God went too far.
His justice may unsettle us—but it never errs.
This story is about reverence.
The kind many of us have forgotten.
We say “God is love.”
We say “God is kind.”
And both are gloriously true.
But where is the fear of the Lord?
We’ve made Him safe.
Gentle even.
We joke about hell.
We roll our eyes at conviction.
We treat Scripture like an opinion and obedience like an option.
But when those boys laughed at God’s prophet,
God sent bears.
And it’s a warning to every Christian who has grown numb.
God won’t be mocked.
Not by the world.
And not by His own people.
This story may feel offensive.
But maybe that’s the point.
Because only when we recover reverence can we recover worship.
And the kind of faith that still trembles.
If you’ve been with me from the beginning, you know I’ve never charged for anything I share here. It’s always been free.
This is the first time I’ve ever put a price on something so, zero pressure.
On Saturday, we’ll start walking through Romans together—and that will always stay free.
But every purchase of Uncovering Scripture: The Gospel of Luke helps lighten the load so we can keep creating—and keep showing up for our family.
I’d be honored if you grabbed a copy.
See you tomorrow night.
I love you,
George
Uncovering Scripture
PS: If a friend shared this Bible study with you and you’d like to receive it straight to your inbox, just click HERE to subscribe—it’s free and always will be!
George Sisneros is a full-time missionary in Guatemala and the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.
He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 26 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.
In 2024, George and his wife expanded to Cuba, joining forces with nine pastors committed to transforming lives through the gospel.