An Overview of 2 Kings

A review of 2 Kings

Title

Refers very directly to the Kings of the Divided Kingdom period (both Israel and Judah)

Authorship

The author of Second Kings is not known with certainty but Jewish tradition says Jeremiah the prophet.

Date

The work was likely written after the Babylonian exile. It records the final 130 years of the Northern Kingdom and the final 130 years of the Southern Kingdom.

Plot

Initially Second Kings traces the history of both the Northern (Israel) and Southern (Judah) Kingdoms during the divided kingdom period. The content of this first section in Second Kings switches back and forth between the two. (Chapters 1-17)

In Second Kings 17. the northern tribes are conquered and exiled by the Assyrians but the Southern Kingdom carries on because of a few good kings whom God blesses. Second Kings 18-25 records this history of the surviving little nation of Judah after the north has been exiled.

Eventually, of course, disobedience and idolatry in Judah also go beyond God's willingness to show mercy and they too are exiled but now it is the Babylonians who do the job.

Second Kings is a selective history written to emphasize the people and events that are morally and spiritually significant.

The book shows that the decline of the two kingdoms occurred because the kings and the people failed to heed God's will for them. The prophets pay a prominent role in that God uses them to remind the kings of their covenant responsibilities.

They are continually calling the kings and the nation back to Covenant Living (Mosaic)

In Second Kings the ministry of Elijah is turned over to Elisha and he is the most prominent prophet in the book. Many writing prophets however also appear from time to time.

Major Characters

Elijah, Elisha, King Ahab, King Jehu, King Uzziah, King Hezekiah, King Manasseh, King Josiah

Major Events

Elisha's minstry

The fall of Israel

The sins of Manasseh

The reign of Hezekiah

The destruction of Jerusalem

Purpose and Message

To show that the spiritual climate of Israel and Judah determined its political and economical outcome.

To show that obedience causes blessing and disobedience causes discipline and judgment.

To show that the Word of God (through the prophets) is true, binding and certain.

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