2 Kings

Jehoahaz's son Jehoash ruled for sixteen years (798-782 b.c.) and was remembered for his oppression of King Amaziah of Judah (see 14:1-14). During his reign Elisha was dying from an illness, and Jehoash came to his bedside and wept. Elisha instructed him to strike the floor with his arrow. After he struck the floor three times, Elisha predicted that the Lord would give him three victories over the Arameans. The Lord granted those victories over the Aramean king, Ben-Hadad, who succeeded his father Hazael.

God honored both the life and death of the great prophet Elisha. A dead man was brought back to life when his body was placed in the tomb with Elisha's bones.

Amaziah (14:1-29). Amaziah (796-767 b.c.) pleased the Lord during his reign as his father Joash had done. He executed his father's assassins (see 12:20-21) and defeated the rebellious Edomites. His arrogance, however, brought him defeat by Jehoash of Israel. Jehoash broke down the walls of Jerusalem, raided the temple treasuries, and took hostages. Ironically, like his father's, Amaziah's rule ended by a conspiracy of assassins in Lachish.

Jeroboam II (14:23-29). The kingship of Jeroboam gave Israel one of its greatest periods of political stability and territorial growth (793-753 b.c.). The prophet Jonah advocated the expansionistic policies of Jeroboam. The Lord gave Israel a respite from their woes through Jeroboam, but Jeroboam too followed in the wicked ways of his namesake. The prophet Amos condemned the greed and immoral decadence of Israel during Jeroboam's reign. (See "Amos.")

Azariah (15:1-7). Azariah's coregency and reign totaled fifty-two years (792-740 b.c.). Azariah, also named Uzziah, was contemporary with Jeroboam II, giving Israel and Judah their greatest periods of prosperity. The Lord struck Azariah with leprosy because he offered incense in the temple (see 2 Chr. 26:16-20). He shared his rule with his son Jotham.

Zechariah to Pekah (15:8-31). After Jeroboam's death his kingdom deteriorated rapidly. Zechariah ruled for six months and was killed by Shallum. This ended Jehu's dynasty in the fifth generation as the Lord had foretold (10:30). Shallum ruled only one month before he was assassinated in the ruthless coup of Menahem from Tirzah.

Menahem held his crown for ten years (752-742 b.c.). He paid tribute to the Assyrian monarch, Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 b.c.), called by his Babylonian throne name "Pul" in the Bible. The annals of Tiglath record the heavy taxation Menahem endured.

Pekahiah inherited his father's policies of appeasement toward Assyria. After a two-year reign (742-740 b.c.), the commander of Israel's armies, Pekah, engineered an anti-Assyrian coup, murdering the king. (The name Pekah is a shortened form of the name Pekahiah.) His reign was twenty years (752-732 b.c.). Perhaps during this period Pekah ruled from Gilead independently of the Samarian regime until the death of Pekahiah. Eventually the anti-Assyrian policy of Pekah failed when Tiglath annexed portions of Israel and deported its citizens. Hoshea usurped the throne with the backing of Assyria (see 17:1-6).

Jotham (15:32-38). Jotham, who coreigned with his father, Azariah, ruled for sixteen years (750-732 b.c.). His reign pleased the Lord, except that he left the high places for sacrifice. Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Aram collaborated to threaten Jotham at the end of his rule. The prophets Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah were his contemporaries.

Ahaz (16:1-20). Ahaz (735-715 b.c.) was one of the most wicked of kings in Judah's history. He committed the horrible atrocity of human sacrifice and promoted the practice of sacrifice at the high places (see 2 Chr. 28). Ahaz inherited the political problems of his father. The coalition of Rezin and Pekah marched against Jerusalem to force Judah to join in their war against the encroaching armies of Assyria. But Ahaz, against the counsel of the prophet Isaiah (see Isa. 7:1-17), sought the aid of Tiglath-Pileser and bought his intervention with the temple and royal treasuries. Assyria's war resulted in the capture of Damascus (732 b.c.), the humiliation of Samaria (15:29), and the vassalage of Ahaz to Tiglath.

To comply as a dutiful vassal, Ahaz replaced the bronze altar of the Lord in the temple with a replica of the Assyrian altar Tiglath erected in Damascus. He also removed other features of the temple which were offensive to the Assyrian monarch.

Hoshea (17:1-41). Hoshea's (732-722 b.c.) pro-Assyrian policies (15:30) had saved Samaria, but it was at the high cost of vassalage to Tiglath and his son Shalmaneser V (727-722 b.c.). Hoshea tested Shalmaneser's strength and recruited the aid of So, king of Egypt. Hoshea was imprisoned, and Samaria endured a three-year siege led by Shalmaneser and completed by his brother Sargon II (722-705 b.c.). Samaria's destruction in 722 b.c. sounded the end of the northern state of Israel.

While secular history gives political and military causes for a nation's demise, the inspired historian gave religious reasons for the fall of Samaria. The lengthy commentary on Israel's sins exonerated God but also warned Judah not to imitate their northern kin.

Israel sinned against the Lord and disregarded the warnings of the covenant made with their fathers. They made the golden calves of Jeroboam, erected the Asherah pole, committed human sacrifices, worshiped the stars, and practiced sorcery. The Lord removed Israel from the land because they sinned like the Canaanites whom the Lord had removed before them.

Through a policy of resettlement, the Assyrians subjugated the conquered nations of their empire. The nations transplanted in Samaria worshiped the Lord in name but also worshiped their own national deities. Their mixed worship alienated them from the Jews (Ezra 4:1-3; John 4:4-9,39-40).

The final section of Kings traces the survival of Judah after Samaria's collapse. From the perspective of the biblical writer, the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah brought sweeping moral and religious reforms which prolonged Judah's existence for another hundred years. However, this period also saw Judah's most wicked king, Manasseh (chap. 21). Because of Manasseh's heinous sins, Jerusalem fell under God's final judgment of expulsion.

Hezekiah (18:1-37). The account of Hezekiah's career is also recorded in 2 Chronicles 29-32 and Isaiah 36-39. The three sources do not always give a sequential chronology of the events in his reign since the authors gave a thematic presentation of his career.

Hezekiah, unlike his father, Ahaz, trusted the Lord throughout his reign (715-686 b.c.) and introduced radical reforms by removing the high places, destroying idolatrous symbols, and centralizing worship in Jerusalem. Although he inherited vassal status from Ahaz, Hezekiah rebelled against Sargon (see Isa. 20:1) and his successor Sennacherib. The sacred historian gave Hezekiah the highest commendation (2 Kgs. 18:5).

The account of Sennacherib's invasion is also told in Isaiah 36-37. When Sennacherib became king (705-681 b.c.), Hezekiah, with the encouragement of Egypt, rebelled against Assyria. Sennacherib responded (701 b.c.) by surrounding Jerusalem. The Assyrian's annals report that he had Hezekiah caught "like a bird in a cage." Hezekiah paid a handsome tribute, but it did not appease Sennacherib for long.

Sennacherib sent a delegation from his headquarters in Lachish to negotiate a surrender. The Assyrians ridiculed Hezekiah's dependence on Egypt and his hope in the Lord. They addressed Hezekiah's representatives in Hebrew, refusing to speak in the Aramaic language of diplomacy so that the people of Jerusalem would understand their threats.

God Delivers Jerusalem (19:1-37). When Hezekiah heard the report of the Assyrians' threats, he consulted Isaiah for a word from the Lord. Through the prophet the Lord promised to deliver Hezekiah by a rumor that would distract the Assyrians. Meanwhile, Sennacherib's attention had turned to the fortress of Libnah and the approach of an Egyptian army led by Tirhakah. Sennacherib sent a letter, threatening Hezekiah a second time not to ally himself with the Egyptians.

Hezekiah took the letter before the Lord and prayed for God's deliverance, knowing that the Lord alone could save him. Isaiah announced the Lord's response, prophesying the salvation of Jerusalem and end of Sennacherib's reign. That night the Lord slaughtered the armies of Assyria, forcing Sennacherib's retreat to Nineveh. Several years later, as the Lord had foretold, Sennacherib's sons assassinated him in an effort to save their crumbling kingdom.

God Heals Hezekiah (20:1-21). Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the Lord sent Isaiah to tell the king to prepare to die. But Hezekiah prayed earnestly, and the Lord through the prophet Isaiah promised to prolong Hezekiah's life for fifteen years. The Lord encouraged the king by a sign, causing the shadow of the king's sundial to move backward ten steps. The thanksgiving hymn of Hezekiah is preserved in Isaiah 38:9-20.

Merodach-Baladan, the king of Babylon (721-710 b.c.), sent a delegation to congratulate Hezekiah for his recovery. Merodach-Baladan is known from ancient annals as Marduk-apla-iddina II, a chieftain of southern Chaldea who led a successful rebellion against Sargon. Although recounted in Kings after Sennacherib's invasion (chap. 19), his visit actually occurred before.

Merodach-Baladan sent envoys to learn of Judah's strength and lure Hezekiah into an alliance. Isaiah condemned Hezekiah for his sinful pride in openly displaying his treasuries. The prophet continued with a divine oracle in which he prophesied that Judah's treasures and people would be carried away to Babylon (see 25:21b).

Manasseh and Amon (21:1-26). Remarkably, Hezekiah bore a son (Manasseh) who would undo all that he had achieved in turning Judah back to God. During his fifty-five year reign (697-642 b.c.), the longest in Judah's history, Manasseh committed every pagan atrocity. The historian remarked that Judah "did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites" and blamed Manasseh for the eventual fall of Jerusalem (21:12-15; 22:16-17; 24:3-4). Although Manasseh experienced a short imprisonment in Assyria (2 Chr. 33:10-13), Assyrian records show that he was loyal for most of his reign.

Such wickedness yielded the fruit of more violence. Amon (642-640 b.c.), the son of Manasseh, was assassinated by palace officials after only two years on the throne.

Josiah (22:1-20). Josiah (640-609 b.c.) began to reign at age eight after the assassination of his father. In his eighteenth year of reign (621 b.c.), Josiah initiated repairs on the temple Manasseh and Amon had neglected. The high priest Hilkiah recovered the book of the law among the rubble of the temple.

When the book was read before the king, he feared the Lord's wrath and sent a delegation to the prophetess Huldah to inquire of the Lord concerning Judah's fate. She prophesied that the Lord would destroy Judah for its idolatry but that Josiah would not witness it because he had repented. Scholars generally agree that this "book" was Deuteronomy or some part of it.

Josiah's Reforms and Death (23:1-30). Josiah renewed the covenant with the Lord and celebrated the Passover in an unprecedented way. He removed all evidence of pagan worship and centralized worship in Jerusalem. As the prophet had predicted (1 Kgs. 13:32), Josiah tore down the shrine at Bethel, which Jeroboam had erected three centuries earlier. The biblical writer gave Josiah the highest commendation of all the kings: "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did." Jerusalem enjoyed a national revival under Josiah. However, it came to a crashing halt when the king was killed at Megiddo by Pharaoh Neco. Josiah had attempted to block Neco's efforts to aid the faltering Assyrians in their last stand against Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian armies.

Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim (23:31-37). Necho deposed Jehoahaz, Josiah's son, after only three months and imprisoned him in Egypt. He set up in his place another son of Josiah, the puppet king Jehoiakim, also called Eliakim (609-598 b.c.).

Jehoiachin and Zedekiah (24:1-20). The balance of power turned to the Babylonians in 605 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar defeated the combined armies of Egypt and Assyria at Carchemish in North Syria. After three years of vassalage to Nebuchadnezzar (605-602 b.c.), Jehoiakim attempted an insurrection that failed. Jehoiakim resisted the word of the Lord by burning Jeremiah's scroll that foretold Judah's subjugation to Babylon (Jer. 36:29). The historian attributed Judah's continued subservience to the wickedness of Manasseh, whose reign grieved the Lord.

Jehoiachin, Jehoiakim's son, was eighteen when he ascended the throne at his father's death (598 b.c.). He too rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. He deposed the young king after only three months (see Jer. 52:31-34). At that time the temple and palace were stripped (see 2 Kgs. 20:17), and the king's household as well as the city's leading citizens were exiled (see Jer. 22:24-30). Nebuchadnezzar installed Matta-niah, Jehoiachin's uncle, as king and renamed him "Zedekiah."

Destruction of Jerusalem (25:1-30). Zedekiah (597-586 b.c.), in spite of Jeremiah's warnings (see Jer. 37-39; 52), led a final rebellion against the Babylonians in 588 b.c. After a lengthy siege and resulting famine, the city fell in July 586 b.c. Zedekiah fled but was captured and taken to Nebuchadnezzar's headquarters in Riblah. There Zedekiah witnessed the execution of his sons before he was blinded and led to Babylon for imprisonment Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian commander, raided the city, confiscated the temple furniture, and burned Jerusalem to the ground (25:8-21). Gedaliah was appointed governor but was assassinated in an anti-Babylonian coup. For fear of Babylonian reprisals, many of the Jews fled to Egypt.

The final paragraph of the book indicates how the sacred historian responded to the catastrophe. He saw in the improved conditions of King Jehoiachin's imprisonment a message of hope. Babylon's ruler, Evil-Merodach (561-560 b.c.), released Jehoiachin from prison and placed him under house arrest, where he drew a royal stipend from the Babylonian treasury (25:27-30). Although Jerusalem was no more, Israel still had its king. If God so pleased, Judah could be restored to its land.

Ethical and Theological Significance. Again and again 2 Kings warns against the dangers of compromise. Those who compromise their witness for selfish gain risk God's judgment. Gehazi's attempt to profit financially from Elisha's healing ministry is a stern warning to Christians that the gospel is not a "mask to cover up greed" (1 Thess. 2:5).

In 2 Kings dependence on other gods led to death for both individuals and nations. If our security rests on our own wealth or military might, we are trusting in a house built on sand (see Matt. 7:26). The failures of the kings of Israel and Judah remind Christians to fix their trust on God alone.

The kings of Israel and Judah often sought to preserve national security at the expense of their distinctive religious convictions. The people God freed from Egyptian slavery should have avoided political situations that compromised their freedom to worship their God. Baptists have championed a free church in a free state as the best setting for Christians to exercise their discipleship.

The tragic end of the nations of Israel and Judah demonstrates the awful consequences of sin. However, no catastrophe is so great that God cannot work through it to give hope to His people.

House, Paul. R. 1, 2 Kings. New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995.

McNeeley, Richard I. First and Second Kings. Chicago: Moody, 1978.

Millard, Alan. 1 Kings-2 Chronicles. Ft. Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1985.

Vos, Howard F. 1, 2 Kings. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.