2 Kings
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1: After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2: Now Ahazi'ah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Sama'ria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, "Go, inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of Ekron [that is, the Philistines], whether I shall recover from this sickness."
3: But the angel of the LORD said to Eli'jah the Tishbite, "Arise, go to the messengers of the king of Sama'ria, and say to them, `Is there no God in Israel that you wish to inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of Ekron?'
4: Therefore thus says the LORD, `You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone, but shall surely die.'"
When the king asks what kind of man this was, Elijah is described the following way:
8: They answered him, "He wore a garment of haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins." And he said, "It is Eli'jah the Tishbite."
John the Baptist is later described this way.
17: So he died according to the word of the LORD which Eli'jah had spoken. Jeho'ram, his brother, became king in his stead in the second year of Jeho'ram the son of Jehosh'aphat, king of Judah, because Ahazi'ah had no son.
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Elijah tells Elisha to wait while he goes first to Bethel, then Jericho, then the Jordan. Elisha refuses each time, proof that Elisha is a worthy successor:
8: Then Eli'jah took his mantle, and rolled it up, and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.
This, like the later parting of the water by Elisha, refers back to Moses and Joshua parting the waters.
11: And behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Eli'jah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12: And Eli'sha saw it and he cried, "My father, my father! the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!"
"The chariots of Israel" are the power of God.
14: Then he took Elijah's mantle and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Eli'jah?" And when he had struck the water, the water was parted and Eli'sha crossed.
This means that Elisha has inherited the spirit of God, just like Elijah. Today we say a successor has inherited the mantle of a predecessor. Elisha in. v. 14 repeats the similar acts by Moses and Joshua in parting the waters & crossing over.
4-5
16: In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jeho'ram the son of Jehosh'aphat, king of Judah, began to reign.
18: And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD.
19: Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant.
20: In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king of their own.
It's implied that Edom revolted (v. 20) because Jehoram did "evil in the sight of the LORD." (Edom is south of Judah, a common enemy; the story of Jacob and Esau [Edom] explained the conflict between these rivals.)
1: Then Eli'sha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
2: And when you arrive, look there for Jehu and bid him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner room.
The prophet party (led by Elisha) has decided to take over, to reclaim the nation for Jehovah (the traditional religion), by killing the kings of both kingdoms. Anointing confirms Jehu as king.
3: Then pour the oil on his head, and say, `Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.'"
16: Then Jehu mounted his chariot, and went to Jezreel, for [Israel's King] Joram lay there. And Ahazi'ah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.
22: And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace can there be, so long as the harlotries and the sorceries of your mother Jez'ebel are so many?"
"Peace" without "law" is no peace. Jehu kills both kings.
30: When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jez'ebel heard of it. She painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out of the window.
31: As Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?"
Jezebel calls Jehu a "Zimri," because Zimri had assassinated (killed) a king, just like Jehu has.
32: And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs [unsexed men] looked out at him.
33: He said, "Throw her down." They threw her down. Her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.
35: When they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
36: When they came back and told him, he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Eli'jah the Tishbite, `In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jez'ebel;
37: and the corpse of Jez'ebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jez'ebel.'"
By trickery, Jehu kills the whole House of Ahab, including the Ba'al prophets, as predicted by God. There seems to be criticism of Jehu's actions, which was politically motivated.
31: But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD the God of Israel with all his heart.
36: The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Sama'ria was twenty-eight years.
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2: But Jehosh'eba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahazi'ah, took Jo'ash the son of Ahazi'ah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be slain, and she put him and his nurse in a bedchamber.
3: And he remained with her six years, hid in the house of the LORD, while Athali'ah reigned over the land.
Jehoiada, the priest, protects the boy:
12: Then [Jehoiada] put the crown upon him, and they said, "Long live the king!"
13: When Athali'ah heard the noise of the guard and of the people,
14: she tore her clothes, and cried, "Treason! Treason!"
15: Then Jehoi'ada the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army, "Bring her out between the ranks; and slay with the sword anyone who follows her."
18: Then all the people went to the house of Ba'al, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they slew Mattan the priest of Ba'al before the altars.
21: Jeho'ash was seven years old when he began to reign.
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6: In the ninth year of Hoshe'a the king of Assyria captured Sama'ria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria.
This is 722 BCE: the fall of the northern kingdom; note the "theodicy" in v. 7:
7: And this was because Israel had sinned against the LORD.
24: And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, etc. and they took possession of Sama'ria, and dwelt in its cities.
34: To this day they do according to the former manner.
This is an attack on Samaria, because "they do" according to non-Jews. So Samaritans were scorned by Judahite Jews (from Judah). Samaria had by post-Exilic times developed a syncretistic religion, influenced by many immigrants (see v. 33 above), no longer recognizably a Jewish religion, at least according to Judah's priests.
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This begins the third and final part of 2 Kings: focused only Judah's kings, because there is no more northern kingdom. Hezekiah (next king) and Josiah are the only two kings in the books of Kings that are praised. Political success was not the standard used by the D writer; the only standard was based on religious values, to uphold traditional and centralized monotheism. The winners write the history books. Judah outlasted the northern kingdom, so it wrote the history of both kingdoms; the view we get is the view of Judah's historians. 2: Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.
3: He did right in the eyes of the LORD, like David his father had done.
4: He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashe'rah.
1: Manas'seh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2: He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
Manasseh must have done something right, since he reigned for 55 years! But the D writer doesn't see it that way, since Manasseh opposed the Jerusalem party (centralized worship, strict monotheism). He submitted to Assyria, but blended religions. Manasseh is condemned and is actually said to be the cause of Judah's fall! A bogus Prayer of Manaesseh was written to "explain" why Manasseh reigned for so long. The prayer is based on the fact, reported in 2 Chronicles, that Manasseh was captive in Assyria for a few years. This is the short Prayer:
The writer of 2 Chronicles mentioned this prayer to explain why Manasseh had a long rein. But the D writer of Kings dismisses Manasseh completely and predicts doom for Judah (the "measuring line of Samaria" means the same judgment, doom, as Samaria, which fell in 722):
10: And the LORD said by his servants the prophets,
11: "Because Manas'seh king of Judah has committed these abominations,
13: I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Sama'ria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
14: And I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies."
18: And Manas'seh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza.
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1: Josi'ah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
Because Josiah ruled so young, it's likely the priests shaped his rule to their ways.
2: And he did right in the eyes of the LORD.
8: And Hilki'ah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD."
11: And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.
Chronicles tells another story, showing that Josiah started reforms before the book was found. Here the book is found first, followed by reforms. The book is the Book of the Law, considered to be all or part of Deuteronomy. Whether it was "found" or planted to seem like it came from Moses, is another matter.
3: And the king made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people joined in the covenant.
Note the Deuteronomist phrase, also in the Shema, "with all his heart and all his soul." Now Josiah starts another purge of foreign idols:
4: And the king commanded to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Ba'al, for Ashe'rah, and the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5: And he deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Ba'al, to the sun, and the moon, and the host of the heavens.
The student can see that Judah's religion was no longer pure but a syncretisic mix of many gods. This syncretism continues in modern Christianity (Christmas trees, candy canes, angels, Santa Claus, even December 25, the day of the sun god, Sol Invictus).
21: And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant."
22: For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah;
23: but in the eighteenth year of King Josi'ah this passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
25: Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.
26: Still the LORD did not turn from his wrath, because of Manas'seh.
Though Josiah is given high approval ratings, the D writer explains why Judah fell and puts the blame on Manasseh's idolatry!
27: And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah out of my sight, as I removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem."
Note: the Lord defeated Israel and will defeat Judah, not foreign nations.
31: Jeho'ahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
32: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all his fathers had done.
Egypt was gaining strength and had enough influence to depose Judah's king and replace him with one of her own choosing. Egypt now receives "tribute" money:
33: And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid upon the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34: And Pharaoh Neco made Eli'akim the son of Josi'ah king in the place of Josi'ah his father, and changed his name to Jehoi'akim.
35: And Jehoi'akim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh.
1: In his days Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoi'akim became his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.
2: And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chalde'ans [Babylonians], and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which he spoke by his servants the prophets.
3: Surely this happened because of the sins of Manas'seh,
6: Jehoi'akim slept with his fathers, and Jehoi'achin his son reigned in his stead.
8: Jehoi'achin was eighteen years old when he became king; he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
9: He did evil in the sight of the LORD.
11: And Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it. . . .
12: The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign,
13: and carried off the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon had made, as the LORD had foretold.
14: He carried away all Jerusalem, and the princes, ten thousand captives, and the craftsmen and smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the land.
15: And he carried away Jehoi'achin to Babylon,
17: And Babylon made Mattani'ah, Jehoi'achin's uncle, king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedeki'ah.
18: Zedeki'ah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
19: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like Jehoi'akim.
20: And Zedeki'ah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
25
1: And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came with his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it.
4: Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all the men of war fled by night.
5: But the army of the Chalde'ans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and his army was scattered.
7: They slew Zedeki'ah's sons before his eyes, and put out his eyes and bound him in chains, and took him to Babylon.
8: In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, Nebu'zarad'an, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9: And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down
10: and the walls around Jerusalem.
11: And the rest of the people Nebu'zarad'an carried into exile.
God's Temple is destroyed. The captivity of the Jewish people is called the Babylonian Captivity and lasted 50 years, before the Persian king Cyrus defeated Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, under Persia's toleration of foreign gods.
12: But some of the poorest were left to be vinedressers and plowmen.
22: And over the people who remained he appointed Gedali'ah the son of Ahi'kam, son of Shaphan, governor.
24: And Gedali'ah said, "Do not be afraid because of the Chalde'an officials; and serve the king of Babylon."
Gedaliah is assassinated because he's only a puppet ruler.
26: Then the people, small and great, and the captains of the forces arose, and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chalde'ans.
27: And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoi'achin king of Judah, Evil-mero'dach king of Babylon graciously freed Jehoi'achin king of Judah from prison.
29: And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table.
The Deuteronomist History ends on a hopeful note, with the liberation of King Jehoiachin.
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