True & Beautiful Things About the Bible--Old Testamentනියැදිය

2 Kings: Stories of Prophets and Kings

The roughly 350 years covered by the two books of Kings feels like the wild, wild west. One crooked “sheriff” in town is replaced by another and mayhem follows every generation.

You can easily tell the bad guys as those who, “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.’’ Just look at who they were worshipping. Did they allow idolatry? In this whole 350-year season, none of the northern kings were faithful to God and 12 out of 20 in the south served other gods.

But as always, in every generation, God had a few faithful, godly leaders. Here are the ones from 2 Kings:

Elisha continued Elijah's work and performed double the miracles. His approach was quieter than Elijah’s, but perhaps more powerful. Where Elijah called down fire, Elisha showed mercy. His 14 miracles were a shadow of Jesus’ miracles still to come and helped people turn from their culture’s bent towards idols to the one, true God.

If you ever wondered whatever happened to wicked Queen Jezabel, King Jehu took care of her (2 Kings 9–10). He also destroyed Baal temples and like Elijah, killed the Baal priests. His other tactics were questionable, but God still used him.

The fact that Joash, the only living person in the line of David, survived his family’s assassination was clearly by God’s hand. Crowned king at seven years old, Joash reigned 40 years. He destroyed all Baal altars and repaired and worshipped in the temple (2 Kings 11–12).

Hezekiah (2 Kings 18–20), was one of the really good guys. He put God first in everything he did, and God blessed him. “For he held fast to the Lord and kept following Him . . . And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered.” (2 Kings 18:6–7). He destroyed the pagan worship places, smashed sacred stones, and cut down idols. He trusted the Lord more than any king of Judah before or after.

In one of the best stories in this dark time, King Josiah (2 Kings 22–23) took the throne at eight years old and called the people back to God. When the books of Moses were discovered in a junk closet in the neglected temple, Josiah read it, believed it, and preached it, turning people’s hearts back to God in a deep and powerful revival.

Yet in spite of these bright lights in Judah, the stories of these kings closes with the heartbreaking fall of the northern kingdom to Assyria and then 150 years later, the fall of the southern kingdom to Babylon.

Israel, as a nation in God’s land, was no more.

Next: A different perspective on a familiar story