Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 25 is the end. Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem for eighteen months. The city falls. Zedekiah flees and is caught on the plains of Jericho. His sons are killed before his eyes, his eyes are put out, and he is taken to Babylon in chains. The temple is burned. The palace…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 24 is the beginning of the end. After Josiah’s death, four kings rule Judah in rapid succession and none of them are able or willing to stop the trajectory that Manasseh set and Josiah only briefly interrupted. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon becomes the dominant power and Judah becomes his…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 23 is Josiah’s reform, and it is the most comprehensive act of covenant renewal in the entire history of the monarchy. He gathers all the people and reads the Book of the Covenant in their hearing and makes the covenant before the Lord. Then he goes to work. He…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 22 is one of the hinge chapters of the entire Old Testament. Josiah is eight years old when he becomes king and reigns thirty-one years. He does right as David did. In his eighteenth year he orders the repair of the temple. During the repair work, Hilkiah the high…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 21 is one of the darkest chapters in the entire history of the monarchy. Manasseh son of Hezekiah reigns fifty-five years — the longest reign in Judah’s history — and every year is a catastrophe. He rebuilds the high places his father tore down. He erects altars to Baal…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 20 is Hezekiah’s chapter of personal crisis and personal failure, two separate episodes that together reveal both the depth of his faith and the crack in his character. He falls deathly ill and is told to set his house in order, for he will die. He turns his face…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 19 is the answer to chapter 18. Hezekiah receives the Rabshakeh’s letter threatening annihilation, goes to the temple, spreads the letter before the Lord, and prays. Isaiah sends him a word: do not fear. The king of Assyria will hear a rumor and return to his own land and…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 18 is the breath of fresh air the book has been building toward. After the collapse of the north and the long darkness of Ahaz, Hezekiah becomes king of Judah and he is unlike any king who came before or after him. He removes the high places, breaks the…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 17 is the death chapter of the northern kingdom. Hoshea son of Elah is the last king of Israel. He pays tribute to Assyria, then secretly negotiates with Egypt and withholds the tribute. Shalmaneser besieges Samaria for three years. It falls. The people of Israel are carried away to…
Context & Key Themes 2 Kings 16 is the chapter of Ahaz king of Judah, and it is one of the most theologically alarming in the southern kingdom’s history. Ahaz does not merely tolerate idolatry — he personally offers his son as a burnt offering, sacrifices on high places and under every green tree, and…