Context Missing?

Okay, we've got to be missing something. For our family scripture study tonight, we just read about Elisha and how he sicced two she bears on forty-two little children (or "youths") because they made fun of his bald head. There has to be more to this story, because there's no way God was okay with killing so many people whose only crime was mocking the prophet for being bald. Mockery is not, and should never be, a capital offense, especially since Elijah mocked the priests of Baal in our readings last week. There has to be something we're missing, some element that explains this, because otherwise, this makes no sense. We know that lives are sacred, not to be casually tossed aside in response to some insults. It's a shame we don't have more context for this and other Bible stories, because taken on its own, at face value, it just doesn't make much sense.