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¿Question #227729?
Blinko: Why isn’t there Numbers 42 in the Bible?

PolarDad: @Kyle-Well done finding a verse. I was thinking about it but hadn't found one yet. By the way, lots of folks like to refer to that scripture but don't really see what is happening in it. First, they weren't little kids but the Hebrew word is used for young men...possibly in their twenties. The same word is used by Solomon when describing himself while he is already king (1 Kings 3:7). The fact that the bears mauled 42 "of the young men" means there was an even larger gathering than just 42. The taunt about his baldness may or may not have been about his lack of hair. Some scholars believe it might have been a reference to his position as a prophet. I'm not sure I completely follow there but the chant "Go up" is pretty definitely a reference to what occurred only a few verses prior when Elijah was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. That said, the picture is this...a mob of young men taunting God's new prophet urging him to die or at least disappear from the Earth like his predecessor had just done. An attack on God's prophet would have been considered an attack on God Himself. This is still a challenging passage but not as ridiculous as a bald guy having a bear attack a bunch of kids for making fun of his baldness.
pricero1: It's hidden behind a cistern in the Vatican.
Woelf: 42 does at least make an appearance - check out 2 Kings 2:23-24. It's one of the many stories they don't teach in Sunday School for some reason.