Elisha and the Bears

This is Week Four of Giford's Bible Study Programme.

And he [Elisha] 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. 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.
- 2 Kings 2:23-24

Length: 3/5
Controversy: 1/5

This was one of the verses that really shocked me when I read the Bible. There just seems to be no reason for this extreme violence. I literally had to re-read the verses and context to make sure I hadn't missed something.
Christian / Jewish Responses
We get the usual word-games here. Firstly, to question whether the Hebrew word naar really means 'children' or 'young men', usually by comparison with another verse where naar is used to describe someone clearly an adult - this is slightly dubious, since in this verse the adjective ketannim ('small', 'smallest', 'young' or 'youngest') is used before naar. Then to claim that Elisha acted correctly - 'go up' is probably a reference to Elijah ascending to heaven, and having a 'bald (shaved?) head' may (or may not) be a religious symbol as well. So the Christian (and, presumably, Jewish) response seems to be that being torn apart by bears is an appropriate punishment for adults who insult priests.

It is left to the reader to decide whether this interpretation is significantly different from the 'literal' reading that so shocked me.