Ephrem the Syrian : "He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, "Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!" After Elisha had settled the matters concerning his disciples in Jericho, he moved to his dwelling place in Bethel, and during his journey the facts, which the Scripture places here, happened to him. It seems that the impudence of the children resulted from the teaching of their parents, because they were iniquitous and hostile to Elijah and all his disciples. And we may also think that they had been sent by their masters to repeat what they had learned. The word proclaimed according to Elisha by the disciples of Elijah, their fellow citizens, with regard to the ascension of their master grieved the people of Bethel a great deal. That is why, I suppose, those children did not only mention his baldness but also found further insults, which they said before him to outrage his fame, so that nobody might believe his word, if he repeated in Bethel what he had told and about which he had convinced many people in Jericho. In fact, they had meditated on this evil thought and said, "This is the reason for his coming." Now, Elisha, even though he was upset by the effrontery of the children, was much more enraged by the craftiness and the iniquities of their parents, and he corrected both by a harsh and terrible sentence: he punished the former, so that they might not add to their iniquity by growing up to adulthood; the latter, so that they might be corrected and cease from their wickedness. He, who had blessed the children of Jericho and benefited them to the highest degree for their faith, because, after seeing that he had divided the Jordan through his word, they had said that the spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha, decreed this bitter sentence against the people of Bethel. Indeed, the people of Bethel did not believe, when they heard from children of prophets who were in their city, the news of the ascension of Elijah."Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys." On the day the Lord sent Elijah to anoint Elisha, he said that he would have taken revenge through him on the children of Israel, who had revolted against him, that is, those who escaped from the sword of Hazael and Jehu, Elisha would have caused to perish. This is, therefore, the beginning of the punishment: the word pronounced against the iniquitous began to be fulfilled. — ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 2:20 Maximus of Turin : What should we say of the merits of Elisha? This, first of all, is praiseworthy—that he wished to outdo his father in grace, asking that more be given him than he knew that the one who possessed it had. He is, to be sure, covetous in his request but deserving in his merits. For while he demands from his father more than he had, he made him stand out by his own merits more than he was able. For this same Elisha came to Jericho after the ascension of his master and was asked by the townspeople to remain in that city. And when they said to him, "The town is in a good location, but the waters are bad and sterile," he ordered a clay vessel to be given him and, going to the source of the waters, he threw the salt that was kept in it into the waters, saying, "Thus says the Lord: I have cleansed the waters; neither death nor sterility shall come from them. And the waters have been cleansed up until this day." See how great, then, are the merits of Elisha! His first stay in his children's city results in much fruitfulness, because in doing away with the sterility of the waters he makes many people the object of his benefaction. For in accomplishing this Elisha did not cleanse a single person or offer healing to a single household, but he restored the people of the whole city. For if he had done this later the city would have remained without an inhabitant; everyone would have grown old, afflicted with sterility. Therefore Elisha cleansed the people as well when he cleansed the waters, and in blessing the spring of waters he showed favor to the spring, as it were, of souls. For as, by his blessing, water came forth from the earth's hidden channels, so also healthy offspring came forth from the hidden organs of the womb. For Elisha blessed not only those streams alone that were contained in the bowels of the springs but also those that were eventually going to flow later and were still concentrated in the earth's damp soil. Hence Scripture says that Elisha gave a blessing at the source of the waters so that the prophet's sanctifying act might seize the water as it distilled, before the bosom of the spring concealed it. Therefore, since the holy apostle Paul says that "these things happened to them as a figure," let us see what the true meaning is of this figure—that is to say, what that city is that suffers sterility and what the vessel means and also why sprinkled salt should confer health. In the same apostle we read that this is said of the church: "Rejoice, you sterile ones who do not bear; break forth and shout, you who do not beget." The church, then, is that sterile city that, because of the bad condition of the waters before the coming of Christ (that is to say, because of the sacrilege of the Gentile peoples), was unable to conceive children for God in its sterility. But when Christ came, taking on a human body like a clay vessel, he cleansed the bad condition of the waters; that is to say, "He cut off the sacrileges of the peoples," and immediately the church, which used to be sterile, began to be fruitful. - "Sermon 84.3-4"