Old Testament · History · book 12 of 66 · 2 min read
The book of 2 Kings
The book that ends with both kingdoms destroyed, written by people living in the wreckage and refusing to blame anyone but themselves.
“Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
At a glance
- Chapters
- 25
- Author
- Anonymous; part of the Deuteronomistic history
- Written
- Final form likely sixth century BC
- Written for
- People in Babylon, reading how they got there
- Themes
- decline, reform, exile, accountability
What it is about
2 Kings continues the alternating royal chronicle and carries it to its end: the northern kingdom falls to Assyria in 722 BC, the southern kingdom to Babylon in 586, and the last chapter has the temple burned and the people deported.
In between are Elisha's ministry, a handful of reforming kings — Hezekiah and Josiah are the two the book admires — and a long accumulation of kings evaluated in a single sentence each. The pace is deliberate: it feels like a countdown because it is one.
What is striking is the explanation offered. A defeated nation in the ancient world normally concluded its god was weaker. This history concludes the opposite, that the covenant was broken by the people and the outcome was announced in advance.
Where to start
Chapter 22, the discovery of the law book under Josiah, which is the last serious attempt to turn it around and the closest the history comes to naming its own thesis.
The chapters worth knowing
- 2 Kings 6 — Elisha's servant shown the hills full of horses and chariots of fire.
- 2 Kings 22 — The law book found during repairs, and Josiah tearing his clothes when it is read to him.
- 2 Kings 25 — The temple burned and the people deported — the end the whole history has been counting down to.
What people get wrong about it
That it is a list of kings. It is an argument about why the exile happened, structured as a chronicle, and it is the reason the prophets who saw it coming were preserved.
Questions
How does 2 Kings end?
With Jerusalem destroyed, the temple burned and the population deported to Babylon — followed by a short note that the exiled king was later released from prison, which is the only glimmer in the closing verses.
What is the message of 1 and 2 Kings?
That the exile was the consequence of a broken covenant rather than of a weak God. Every king is measured against that standard and almost all of them fail it.