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TOM · The Owner's Manual · Old Testament

2 Kings 1

Before you read 2 Kings: who, when, why

BOOK 12 OF 66 · OLD TESTAMENT · HISTORY

Where Things Start To Go Downhill

AUTHOR
The book does not name its author. Jewish tradition in the Talmud says Jeremiah wrote Kings. Many scholars think a writer during the exile put it together from older records the book names, like the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, 8:23.
EVENTS TOOK PLACE
About 290 years, from Ahaziah of Israel, about 852 BC, to King Jehoiachin let out of prison in Babylon, about 560 BC.
DATE
About 852 to 560 BC. Samaria fell to Assyria in 722 BC, and Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 BC.
WRITTEN TO
God's people in exile, to show why they lost their land: they kept turning away from God, even after He warned them again and again.
KEY VERSE
2 Kings 17:13. Yet through all His prophets and seers, Yahweh warned Israel and Judah, saying, Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes.
THE OLDEST COPY OF 2 KINGS

The Oldest Copy of 2 Kings

These pieces of papyrus, a kind of paper made from a tall water plant, come from 6QpapKings, a scroll of Kings found in Cave 6 at Qumran, near the Dead Sea. It was copied about 150 to 75 BC. Its pieces hold bits of 2 Kings 5 to 10, and of 1 Kings 3, 12 and 22. It is the only Dead Sea Scroll with any of 2 Kings, so it is the oldest copy of 2 Kings known. The 1 Kings introduction shows the same scroll. The oldest complete Hebrew copies of Kings are more than a thousand years younger: the Aleppo Codex, about 930 AD, and the Leningrad Codex, 1008 AD. Photo Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority, Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library.

The Setting

2 Kings moves between two capitals: Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the south. Elisha travels from Jericho and Bethel to Shunem, Mount Carmel, Dothan and Damascus. Assyria comes from the far north and east, takes Samaria and carries Israel away to Halah, Gozan and the cities of the Medes. Then Babylon carries Judah away to Babylon.

What Was Going Wrong

  • Only Three Like David. After Solomon, Israel had 19 kings and Judah had 19 kings and one queen. Not one king of Israel followed God. Only three kings of Judah, Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah, followed Him with their whole heart like David did (1 Kings 15:11, 2 Kings 18:3, 22:2). God finally had enough of the idols and child sacrifice (17:7 to 18, 21:10 to 15, 24:3 to 4).
  • Child Sacrifice. The king of Moab burned his oldest son on the city wall (3:27). King Ahaz burned his son (16:3), Israel burned their sons and daughters (17:17), and King Manasseh burned his son (21:6).
  • The Golden Calves Stayed. Even Jehu, who wiped out Baal worship, kept Jeroboam's calves at Bethel and Dan (10:29).
  • A Queen Who Killed Her Grandchildren. Athaliah tried to wipe out David's royal family so she could rule (11:1).
  • Ignoring the Prophets. God sent prophet after prophet, and they would not listen (17:13 to 14).
  • Manasseh. The worst king of all filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and idols in the temple (21:1 to 16).

Where to Find Jesus

  • 2 Kings 2:11. Elijah was taken up into heaven alive. Jesus rose from the dead and was taken up into heaven in front of His followers, Acts 1:9.
  • 2 Kings 4:42 to 44. Elisha fed a hundred men with twenty barley loaves, with some left over. Jesus fed 5,000 with five barley loaves, with twelve baskets left over, John 6:9 to 13.
  • 2 Kings 5:14. Naaman, a foreigner, was healed. Jesus said this showed that God's mercy was for the nations too, Luke 4:27.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

  • 1, 2, 3 And 4 Kings. In old Greek and Latin Bibles, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings were four books of Kingdoms or Kings, because they tell one long story. That makes this the Fourth Book of the Kings, 4 Kingdoms in Greek and 4 Kings in Latin. The King James calls it The Second Book of the Kings, commonly called The Fourth Book of the Kings.
  • Topheth Closed. Josiah ruined Topheth, the place where children were burned, so no one could sacrifice a son or daughter there again, 23:10.

How Did It Turn Out?

Both kingdoms fell, just as God warned. But the book ends with King Jehoiachin, a son of David, let out of prison and eating at the king's table, 25:27 to 30. God's promise to David was still alive, and Jesus came from his line, Matthew 1:12.

Chapter 1 in 30 seconds

King Ahaziah of Israel falls through a lattice and sends messengers to ask a Philistine god if he will get better. Elijah meets them on the road: Is there no God in Israel? The king sends soldiers to arrest Elijah. That goes badly for the first two groups of fifty. The third captain begs for mercy, and he gets to live.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyThe Ekron Inscription · after verse 8

Elijah Denounces Ahaziah// 1 Kings 22:51–53

1After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.

  • 2KI 1:1[NOTE]FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS. 1 and 2 Kings were once one book, so 2 Kings picks up right where 1 Kings stopped, with Ahab's son Ahaziah on Israel's throne.

2Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”

  • 2KI 1:2[DEMONIC]Ahaziah sends to ask Baal zebub, the god of Ekron
  • 2KI 1:2[FIELD NOTES]BAAL ZEBUB means lord of the flies, likely a mocking twist on Baal zebul, prince Baal. Jesus' enemies called the devil Beelzebul, Matthew 12:24. A stone naming the kings of Ekron has been found. See The Ekron Inscription Field Notes page.

3But the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 4Therefore this is what Yahweh says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”

  • 2KI 1:3[MIRACLE]The angel of Yahweh sends Elijah to meet the king's messengers
  • 2KI 1:3[DEMONIC]Elijah rebukes the king for asking the god of Ekron
  • 2KI 1:3[NOTE]THE ANGEL OF YAHWEH. His words print red, like the angel of Yahweh in Judges and 1 Kings 19:7. Some think he was an angel God sent, and others think it was God Himself appearing.

So Elijah departed.

  • 2KI 1:4[PROPHECY]Elijah told Ahaziah he would not get up from his bed but die → 2KI 1:17

5When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”

6They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what Yahweh says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”

7The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”

8“He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.”

“It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.

9Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”

  • 2KI 1:9[MIRACLE]Fire from heaven burns up two captains and their fifty men sent to Elijah

10Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.”

And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.

  • 2KI 1:10[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → LK 9:54
  • 2KI 1:10[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → REV 20:9

11So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’”

12Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.”

And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.

13So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight. 14Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.”

15Then the angel of Yahweh said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.”

So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.

16And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what Yahweh says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”

  • 2KI 1:16[PROPHECY]Elijah told Ahaziah he would not get up from his bed but die → 2KI 1:17
  • 2KI 1:16[DEMONIC]Ahaziah will die for seeking the god of Ekron

Jehoram Succeeds Ahaziah

17So Ahaziah died according to the word of Yahweh that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah.

  • 2KI 1:17[ARCHAEOLOGY]Jehoram of Israel, also called Joram, is most likely named on the Tel Dan Stele, though part of the name is broken, see the note on 8:28
  • 2KI 1:17[FULFILLS]Elijah told Ahaziah he would not get up from his bed but die ← 2KI 1:4, 16

18As for the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

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