Day 11

I had a lot of emotions with this book. What came to mind when I was reading this was: “This is like reading biblical tabloids.” And it really is. You’ve got Elijah comin’ on down with miracles followed by Elisha, all of these other gods creeping into Israel and Judah, a !@#$load of terrible kings that just keep making things worse for Israel, a tragic end to a tragic character, exile to Babylon…and that’s just the major highlights.

The entire time, the writer of Second Kings (probably the same one for First Kings, or same group) has the same sass when they get tired of recounting the exploits of this or that monarch. “Is it not written somewhere else? Go read it for yourself.”

This isn’t to say I didn’t like reading First and Second Kings. It was just a little tiring, not because it was boring, but because it was pretty much non-stop murder, conniving, war, religious upheaval, and chariots on fire. Maybe it’s too familiar to the here and now for me.

Tucked in the back of my mind is the knowledge that this is all going to repeat with First and Second Chronicles. I’ll probably get new snippets of info, but the major players will be there in all their tabloid glory.

One Word for Second Kings: Exile

Parts of the Story That Stayed With Me

1. 2 Kgs 2, Fire and Angry Bears. You can’t make this stuff up. Elijah has a brief ministry where he performs some great miracles and then is whisked away to heaven in a chariot of fire. Meanwhile, his successor, Elisha, summons bears to maul children who mocked him outside of Bethel. Great guy.
2. 2 Kgs 4, Elisha and His Miracles. So yeah, he was a great guy, besides the bear thing. He raised the dead and performed elaborate miracles. It reminded me of stories of Jesus of Nazareth. What baffles me is that when Elisha dies in Chapter 13, it’s so ordinary. Elijah got the chariot, but Elisha simply dies.
3. 2 Kgs 22, Josiah and the Book of the Law. Josiah was a good king. (So was Hezekiah before him). And when the book of the law (Deuteronomy) was rediscovered, Josiah meticulously implemented its precepts. It was met with resistance (as it was with Hezekiah), but he was successful. Second Kings goes so far as to say that Josiah was the most successful and the last successful King as far as religious reforms.
4. 2 Kgs 24-25, Exile in Babylon. Here we see the temple destroyed, Israel and Judah exiled to Babylon. As it was foretold.

This post is part of a lager series where I read the entirety of Hebrew & Christian scriptures in 45 days. Take a look a the original post for more info, as well as links to other reflections on this journey.