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2 Kings 15 The Stability of Judah in Contrast to the Instability of Samaria

The King Uzziah Stricken with Leprosy, by Rembrandt, 1635.

2 Kings 15: 1-7 King Azariah (Uzziah) of Judah

¹ In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel, King Azariah son of Amaziah of Judah began to reign. ² He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. ⁴ Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. ⁵ The Lord struck the king so that he had a defiling skin disease to the day of his death and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the palace, governing the people of the land. ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ Azariah slept with his ancestors; they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Jotham succeeded him.

King Azariah, also known as King Uzziah, has a long and successful reign over Judah. Uzziah and Azariah are used interchangeably in scriptures and even in this chapter and Uzziah was likely the name he assumed as king of Judah. His fifty-two-year reign begins in the middle of the forty-one year reign of Jeroboam II and both kings enjoy a period of military success and national resurgence. Azariah’s long and stable reign contrasts with his two predecessors (Joash and Amaziah) who saw the royal and temple treasuries diminished and in their political or military weakness were ultimately assassinated by those who served them. The stability during the time of Azariah in Judah also contrasts sharply with the instability in Samaria after the death of Jeroboam II.

Although 2 Kings does not spend a lot of time on the reign of Azariah/Uzziah his story is greatly expanded in 2 Chronicles 26. According to 2 Chronicles Azariah/Uzziah is a successful military leader who wins victories over Philistia, Ammon and extends Judah’s trade and military influence over the region. 2 Kings 14:22 gives a small window into the king’s success when it notes, “He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah slept with his ancestors.” This small note indicates a large accomplishment only shared by Solomon, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah. This gave Judah a port on the Mediterranean but also required them to control not only the port but the wilderness between. Alex Israel notes that he controls both major highways between Egypt and Mesopotamia, a lucrative trade route and source of income for the nation. (Israel, 2019, p. 227) 2 Chronicles also notes that King Uzziah strengthened the city walls of Jerusalem and increased the agricultural output of the land by his improvements and built up the army.

2 Kings’ brief account of this king who did what was right in the sight of the LORD ends with the jarring note that the LORD struck the king with ‘a defiling skin disease.’ This skin disease was traditionally rendered leprosy in most translations although we now believe that Hanson’s disease (which is what we call leprosy today) did not exist in the Middle East during this time. Yet, this affliction was normally associated with a judgment from God, and 2 Chronicles tells of the king entering the temple to offer incense, the job of the priests, and being struck with ‘leprosy’ as a punishment. Ultimately in 2 Chronicles the king is punished for overstepping his responsibility, attempting to fulfill both the kingly and the priestly role and ends his life separated from the palace and his responsibilities were assumed by his son Jotham until he died.

It is interesting that 2 Kings does not go into the success and fall of Azariah/Uzziah in the same manner as 2 Chronicles. Perhaps the narrator of 2 Kings doesn’t want to focus on the military success of Azariah in contrast to the lack of success by Joash and Amaziah who are both evaluated as kings who did what was right in the site of the LORD and at the same time does not want to focus on the act that leads to the king’s affliction. Despite the short narration of Azariah’s lengthy reign it is a consequential time as Judah remains stable as Northern Israel becomes chaotic and is one generation from collapse. This is also a time of prophetic voices and Isaiah (first Isaiah), Amos, Hosea, and Micah all give voice to this time in Israel and Judah.

2 Kings 15: 8-12 The Brief Reign of Zechariah King of Israel and the End of the Jehu Dynasty

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of King Azariah of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. ⁹ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ¹⁰ Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down in Ibleam and killed him and reigned in place of him. ¹¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹² This was the promise of the Lord that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it happened.

The message of the LORD to Jehu after the destruction of the Omri dynasty indicated that his line would continue for four generations (2 Kings 10:30) and now after the death of Jeroboam II, the fourth generation, the Jehu dynasty collapses six months later. Jehu’s line ruled in Samaria for ninety-two years and it was enjoying a period of success under Jeroboam II, but the public murder of Zechariah ignites a power for struggle that will be violent and ultimately weaken Northern Israel as the Assyrian empire under Tiglath-Pileser III ascends. Zechariah is the first of a group of inconsequential kings in Samaria whose cumulative impact is very consequential in weakening Israel in a dangerous world.

2 Kings 15: 13-31 A Tumultuous Period in Israel

¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah of Judah; he reigned one month in Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria; he struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; he reigned in place of him. ¹⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, including the conspiracy that he made, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶ At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah, all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on; because they did not open it to him, he sacked it. He ripped open all the pregnant women in it.

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of King Azariah of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi began to reign over Israel; he reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ¹⁹ King Pul of Assyria came against the land; Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that he might help him confirm his hold on the royal power. ²⁰ Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy, fifty shekels of silver from each one, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. ²¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ²² Menahem slept with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah succeeded him.

²³ In the fiftieth year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned two years. ²⁴ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin. ²⁵ Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty of the Gileadites and attacked him in Samaria, in the citadel of the palace along with Argob and Arieh; he killed him and reigned in place of him. ²⁶ Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of King Azariah of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twenty years. ²⁸ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin.
²⁹ In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, attacked him, and killed him; he reigned in place of him, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah. ³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Shallum son of Jabesh, Menahem son of Gadi, Pekahiah son of Menahem and Peka son of Remaliah all struggle for power during the stable reign of Azariah/Uzziah and (during Pekah’s reign in Samaria) the transition to Azariah’s son Jothan. Shallum reigns only for a month before he is overthrown by Menahem. Menahem assumes power in a violent manner and his description of sacking Tiphsah and tearing open the wombs of pregnant women describes him like the worst oppressors of Israel[1] and it is the violent ones who have ascended to power. Menahem may reign for ten years in Samaria but the large tribute payment[2] to Assyria under Tiglath-Pileser III[3] that he extracts from the gibbor hahayil (NRSVue ‘wealthy’)[4] likely means he is ruling with the political and even possibly military support of Assyria. When he dies his son is only to reign for two years. There are likely factions looking to align the nation with Assyria or Egypt as Hosea states:

Ephraim has become like a dove,
silly and without sense;
they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria. (Hosea 7:11)

This is conjecture, but if Peka son of Remaliah ended the alliance with Assyria it would make sense of Tiglath-Pileser III seizing territory as well as dragging the captured people into exile. Records from Assyria indicate that there was a campaign against Israel in 733-732 BC and they took 13,520 people into exile. (Israel, 2019, p. 238) The Assyrian were known for taking exiles and displacing them to where they are totally dependent on Assyria and forced to blend into the larger Assyrian world. (Cogan, 1988, p. 177) The enemy has been within Samaria with this string of strongmen seizing power but now they face a much larger threat which is penetrating their borders and capturing the people and Israel appears powerless to resist.

2 Kings 15: 32-38 King Jothan of Judah

³² In the second year of King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel, King Jotham son of Uzziah of Judah began to reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵ Nevertheless, the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. ³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ Jotham slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David, his ancestor; his son Ahaz succeeded him.

In contrast to the bloody and dangerous instability of Samaria, Judah continues to function under another king of the Davidic line who does what is right in the sight of the LORD. 2 Chronicles 27 indicates that Jothan continues to build up the walls and defenses of Judah, and the king is likely aware of the growing threat to the north in Assyria. Again, 2 Chronicles portrays Jothan as a militarily successful king and in 2 Kings we have indication of both Aram and Samaria/Northern Israel attacking Judah (possibly as agents of Assyria) yet we do not have any indication that Judah is losing territory. Resin and Pekah may be attempting to raid for resources in their own struggles against the rising might of Assyria, but for the moment the threat to stable Judah is significantly less than it appears to be for Northern Israel.

[1] See for example Elisha’s description of what Hazael will do in 2 Kings 8:12, the accusations against Edom in Amos 1:13, or the judgement oracle of Hosea 13:16.

[2] Roughly seventy five thousand pounds of silver.

[3] King Pul is a nickname in late sources for Tiglath-Pileser III, and the use of this title in 2 Kings indicated the familiarity of the narrator with this leader of Assyria. (Israel, 2019, p. 238)

[4] Gibbor hahayil is often rendered mighty ones and often this was assumed to have military connotations. This term is common in the book of Judges, but it also can refer to landowners like Boaz in the book of Ruth. Wealthy may be the proper translation, but with Menahem being a warrior leader, it may also indicate something like warlords who are maintaining power beneath him.

2 Kings 13 The Death of Elisha, The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash of Israel, and the Conflict with Aram

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The miracle at the grave of Elisha. (Jan Nagel, 1596)

2 Kings 13:1-13 The Reign of Jehoahaz and Jehoash (Joash) of Israel

¹ In the twenty-third year of King Joash son of Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned seventeen years. ² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. ³ The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, so he gave them repeatedly into the hand of King Hazael of Aram, then into the hand of Ben-hadad son of Hazael. ⁴ But Jehoahaz entreated the LORD, and the LORD heeded him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. ⁵ Therefore the LORD gave Israel a savior, so they escaped from the hand of the Arameans, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly. ⁶ Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam that he caused Israel to sin but walked in them; the sacred pole also remained in Samaria. ⁷ So Jehoahaz was left with an army of not more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, including his might, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ⁹ So Jehoahaz slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria; then his son Joash succeeded him.
¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of King Joash of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned sixteen years. ¹¹ He also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin, but he walked in them. ¹² Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, as well as the might with which he fought against King Amaziah of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? ¹³ So Joash slept with his ancestors, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne; Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

One of the struggles many readers of 2 Kings have in this, and the surrounding chapters is that the names are often reused by different leaders. In this chapter alone we have a King Jehoash/Joash of both Judah and Israel as well as King Hazael naming his son Ben-hadad, the name of the king he murdered in Aram. It is also worth noting briefly that the math for the time period of the reigns of these two kings in Samaria do not add up: If Jehoahaz begins his reign in the twenty-third year of King Joash of Judah and his son King Jehoash begins his reign in the thirty-seventh year of King Joash of Judah he would reign fourteen years, not seventeen as indicated by 2 Kings. There can be reasons, like a co-regency for three years, that can cause the math to work out. I’m not going to dwell on this because it is ultimately not the focus of the narrative, but it is worth noting.

Jehoahaz and Jehoash of Samaria are descendants of Jehu who in his bloody revolution wiped out the worship of Baal in Samaria but, in the view of 2 Kings, Jehu and his descendants did not go far enough to return Northern Israel to the right worship of God. The sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat are the golden calves which the first king of Northern Israel placed in shrines at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12: 25-33) to represent the God of Israel and to prevent the people of Northern Israel from returning to Jerusalem to worship in Solomon’s temple. There is also an Asherah (NRSVue sacred pole) in Samaria. The term refers both to the goddess Asherah and the sacred pole utilized in her worship. These worship sites and practices anger the God of Israel and are a cause for the continued victories of Aram over the kings of Israel in the view of the narrator.

Hazael and later his son Ben-hadad of Aram continue to gain territory from Israel and to humiliate the kings of Israel militarily. King Jehoahaz being left with an army of fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footman points to an army whose maneuver units (horsemen and chariots) have been decimated. Ten thousand footmen is a significant force, but they are vulnerable to the much faster moving horse mounted or pulled forces. Likely this transformed the army of Jehoahaz into a defensive force rather than one that has the speed and maneuverability to be an effective raiding and attacking force. Yet, Israel was never to be a military power and Jehoahaz finally appeals to the LORD from the oppression of the people and the LORD hears.

The narration of this flow where the kings did what was evil in the sight of the LORD causing the LORD to be angry with the people but then crying out to the LORD and the LORD providing deliverance is the basic pattern of the book of Judges. Here King Jehoahaz entreats the LORD, the LORD sees the oppression of the people and sends a deliverer/savior. Yet, this narration is unusual because it never identifies the deliverer. As Choon-Leong Seow can state:

Whereas the “savior” is typically named in the analogous depictions from Israel’s early history (it was typically the next ruler), however, he is not explicitly identified here (v.5). Scholars have variously suggested that the allusion is to a third-party aggressor whose pressure on the Arameans brought a reprieve for Israel (such as the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III or even Zakkur of Hamath), another Israelite king like Joash or Jeroboam (II), or Elisha. (NIB III: 236)

Although there are geopolitical events, like the rise of Assyria, which weaken the Arameans I do think that the likely candidates for the text are King Jehoash or the Prophet Elisha (see below) since Jehoash will recapture the land lost to the Arameans after his meeting with the dying Elisha.

2 Kings 13: 14-20 The Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, King Joash of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵ Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows,” so he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷ Then he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. Then he said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram! For you shall fight the Arameans in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” ¹⁸ He continued, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them”; he struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹ Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Aram only three times.”
²⁰ So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹ As a man was being buried, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha; as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood on his feet.

Elisha’s approximately fifty-year ministry comes to an end as he nears his death, yet the text records two final miraculous actions to the prophet. The first involves the deliverance of Israel from its oppression under the Arameans. King Joash/Jehoash of Israel comes to the prophet’s deathbed mourning. It is conceivable that the king has come to seek the prophet’s guidance as he marches to war with Aram. As Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor note,

Prophets were regularly consulted prior to the departure of the army to battle (cf. e.g. 1 Kgs 22); Elisha even accompanied Jehoram on the Moabite campaign (see above 3:11) Might not Joash have sought the advice of the dying Elisha, just as Israel was setting off to attack Aram? (Cogan, 1988, p. 150)

It is also worth noting that Elisha has been a thorn in the Aramean side before by informing the king of Israel where the Aramean forces would be. (2 Kings 6: 8-23) For the narrator of 2 Kings prophets often have more power than kings to deliver the people.

The phrase, “The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” first appeared at the ascension of Elijah into heaven and its presence here may link Elisha with his famous predecessor. It appears visually in 2 Kings 6: 8-23 when the eyes of the servant of Elisha is opened to see the horses and chariots of fire which surrounded and protected Elisha and the sons of the prophets. Yet here it may also allude to the reality that Israel no longer has horsemen and chariots after their humiliation by the Arameans. Elisha’s presence may be the necessary replacement for the military inadequacy of King Joash/Jehoash of Israel’s forces and now the prophet is on his deathbed.

Elisha does two sign acts with a bow and arrow.[1] First an arrow is drawn and shot out the east facing window which becomes the LORD’s arrow of victory over Aram. Then the king is instructed to take the arrows and strike the ground with them. The prophet is angered that the king only strikes the ground three times which portends three victories over Aram rather than five or six which would have eliminated Aram as a threat, yet in the text the instructions of the prophet do not indicate the expectation of striking the ground multiple times. Yet, the ways of prophets are often inscrutable to those who seek their counsel and the words of the prophet give immediate hope to a beleaguered people and their king.

After Elisha dies and is buried we hear of another conflict involving the Moabites. This may be a story from a later time, but it also may occur in the continued conflict between Aram and Israel where Moabites take advantage of the instability to raid. Ultimately the conflict is not the primary point of the narrative. Rather, the continuing power of the prophet Elisha is whose bones are enough to bring a dead man back to life are the focal point of the story. Elisha had once brought the son of the Shunammite woman back to life and now even in death his bones continue to bring life in a time of death.

2 Kings 13: 22-25 The Conflict Between Israel and Aram

²² Now King Hazael of Aram oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³ But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them; he turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and would not destroy them, nor has he banished them from his presence until now.
²⁴ When King Hazael of Aram died, his son Ben-hadad succeeded him. ²⁵ Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the towns that he had taken from his father Jehoahaz in war. Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.

The narrator of 2 Kings views the occurrences in the story of Israel and Judah through a theological lens where the LORD the God of Israel is responsible for both the good and the bad that occurs to the people. Even with the actions of Israel that cause the LORD to be angry the LORD still responds to their entreaties in a gracious manner because of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The combination of the story of Elisha’s action with the defeat of Aram by Jehoash son of Jehoahaz illustrate the faithfulness and patience of God with the people. Yet, the narrator of 2 Kings knows that this patience of God will not last forever, and the story is told from the perspective of the exile of Northern Israel by Assyria and Judah by Babylon, hence the ominous “until now” in verse 23.

From a historical perspective this is a time where the Aramean threat is tempered by the rise of Assyria. Northern Israel is still a militarily vulnerable kingdom whose practices continue to, from the perspective of 2 Kings, anger the LORD their God. The prophet Elisha who had been a deliverer of the people in many times is now dead and the promised four generations of Jehu on the throne in Samaria has now halfway to its completion. There are storms brewing to the north of Israel and within the kingdom of Samaria that will break forth in the coming years and chapters.

[1] In Ezekiel 21:21 shaking arrows is used by the Babylonians as a means of divination, but with the prophets of Israel and Judah these are sign acts which enhance the prophet’s words.

2 Kings 11 The Overthrow of Athaliah in Judah and the Beginning of the Reign of King Joash

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2 Kings 11

¹ Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family. ² But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter, Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s children who were about to be killed; she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus she hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not killed; ³ he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

⁴ But in the seventh year Jehoiada summoned the captains of the Carites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of the LORD. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of the LORD; then he showed them the king’s son. ⁵ He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: one-third of you, those who go off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house ⁶ (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards), shall guard the palace, ⁷ and your two divisions that come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the LORD ⁸ shall surround the king, each with weapons in hand, and whoever approaches the ranks is to be killed. Be with the king in his comings and goings.”
⁹ The captains did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to the priest Jehoiada. ¹⁰ The priest delivered to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD; ¹¹ the guards stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house, to guard the king on every side. ¹² Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king and anointed him; they clapped their hands and shouted, “Long live the king!”

¹³ When Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she went into the house of the Lord to the people; ¹⁴ when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to custom, with the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” ¹⁵ Then the priest Jehoiada commanded the captains who were set over the army, “Bring her out between the ranks and kill with the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest said, “Let her not be killed in the house of the Lord.” ¹⁶ So they laid hands on her; she went through the horses’ entrance to the king’s house, and there she was put to death.
¹⁷ Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD’s people; also between the king and the people. ¹⁸ Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. The priest posted guards over the house of the LORD. ¹⁹ He took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land; then they brought the king down from the house of the LORD, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. He took his seat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰ So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword at the king’s house.
²¹ Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign.

The final remaining figure of the Omri dynasty is not in Israel but in Judah. Jehu’s bloody revolt in Israel has eliminated both the ruling line in Samaria as well as Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who was linked to the line of Ahab by his mother Athaliah. Jehoram, son of king Jehoshaphat, the father of the recently murdered King Ahaziah was married to Athaliah the daughter of Ahab. Athaliah who holds power in Judah for seven years is not listed in the line of Davidic kings because she is not of the Davidic line. Aside from her violent actions the problem with Ahaziah is not primarily that she is a woman but instead that she is of the line of King Ahab and Jezebel and apparently brings the religious and moral practices of Tyre into Jerusalem.

Athaliah seizes power in the aftermath of her sons death attempting to wipe out any other claimants to the throne. As a person with a tenuous grip on power the elimination of potential claimants to the throne is coldly logical in a world where political power is seized in often bloody manners. To use the logic of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones “when you play the game of thrones (power) you either win or you die.” Although Athaliah is not viewed favorably in either 2 Kings or the parallel telling of this story in 2 Chronicles 22, her seizure of power is likely less bloody than Jehu’s in Samaria. Yet, unlike Jehu her seven years on the throne in Jerusalem pull the people further from the worship of the LORD the God of Israel and she ends up being the only woman in the bible, “to be awarded the moniker: “the Wicked”” in 2 Chronicles 24:7. (Israel, 2019, p. 178) And as Choon-Leong Seow states accurately, “Athaliah is to Judah what Jezebel was to Israel…Like the ruthless Jezebel, Athaliah is willing to commit murder in order to have her way.” (NIB III: 228) She is a mother who seizes power by killing the royal family which likely contains her own children and grandchildren.[1]

Yet, Athaliah’s plot to wipe out the line of David is thwarted by her sister Jehosheba who hides young Joash. 2 Chronicles 22: 10-12 states that Jehosheba is the wife of Jehoida the priest that will play a dominant role in the protection of Joash and the elimination of Athaliah. Yet, 2 Kings does not give us Jehosheba’s motive in saving this child, but she like many of the women in Exodus,[2] are responsible for thwarting the murderous intentions of a ruler. Joash will be hidden and raised in the house of the LORD.

The plot to place Joash on the throne begins in the seventh year of Athaliah’s occupying the throne in Jerusalem. The priest Jehoida summons summons the Carites, which may be the Cherethites mentioned elsewhere as body guards and soldiers of David or a different armed group, and the guards to both swear loyalty to the new king and to act as protection for the moment of the revelation of the king to the people. The exact details of the deployment of these troops may be a challenge for translators to render in an exact format but the overall intent is clear. The full complement of soldiers will be armed and ready in key positions on the day when young Joash is anointed publicly and acclaimed as king.

The king is crowned, anointed and either given an insignia or a covenant document. As Walter Brueggemann states of the term that can be rendered emblem/insignia or covenant,

The term here is not very clear. It may refer to insignia of office. Or it might more precisely refer to a scroll, a written charter delineating both the prerogatives and requirements of power, a document that situates royal power in something like a constitutional frame of reference that precludes royal arbitrariness. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 409)

If it is a covenant, it probably reflects an understanding of the expectations of a king similar to Deuteronomy 17: 14-20.

¹⁴ “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community. ¹⁶ Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You must never return that way again.’ ¹⁷ And he must not acquire many wives for himself or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself. ¹⁸ When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ It shall remain with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰ neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.

This anointed and crowned king now receives the vocal acclamation from the guards and priests, “Long live the king.”

Athaliah hears the commotion and discovers the plot underway. The young king is standing by the pillar, perhaps the pillars at the front of the temple or in the position where Ezekiel envisions the king supervising the offerings. (Ezekiel 48: 2-8)[3] Athaliah echoes the words of Joram, “Treason! Treason!”[4] but like Joram her realization of the plot afoot is too late to save her life. She is brought out of the temple and killed with the sword. Then the covenant is renewed between the LORD, the king, and the people. The people then destroy the house of Baal, possibly built under Athaliah’s instructions, and Mattan the priest of Baal is also killed. The verbs in 2 Kings on the destruction of the temple of Baal echo the instructions of Deuteronomy 12: 2-3:

² “You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. ³ Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles with fire, and cut down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places.

In contrast to Jehu’s revolution, the coup enacted by the priest Jehoida is much less violent. Only Athaliah and Mattan are killed and then the city was quiet. As Brueggemann notes about the final phrase about the city being quiet,

The assertion that the “city was quiet” is more important than the simple phrasing might suggest (11:20). The term “quiet” (shaqath) is the same term used in the book of Judges in the recurring phrase “the land had rest” (Judg 3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28) (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 413)

Joash, or Jehoash, begins his long reign at the age of seven. He is under the influence of Jehoida and yet his reign will be one of the times that 2 Kings views favorably. The covenant between God, the king, and the people is restored, the land has rest, and there is a chance for renewal in Judah after the decline of the house of David over the past two kings.

[1] There were probably other children of Jehoram by wives other than Athaliah as well as others in the line of David.

[2] Exodus 1: 15-2:10

[3] Ezekiel’s words come in the time immediately after the time of the kings and the temple, but his visions are likely informed by his familiarity with the temple practices before its destruction.

[4] 2 Kings 9:23.

2 Kings 9 The Violent End of the Omri Dynasty Begins

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John Liston Byram Shaw, Jezebel. Museum: Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, UK

2 Kings 9: 1-13 The Anointing of Jehu

¹ Then the prophet Elisha called a member of the company of prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins; take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. ² When you arrive, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi; go in and get him to leave his companions, and take him into an inner chamber. ³ Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”
⁴ So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵ He arrived while the commanders of the army were in council, and he announced, “I have a message for you, commander.” “For which one of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander.” ⁶ So Jehu got up and went inside; the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the LORD the God of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. ⁷ You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. ⁸ For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. ⁹ I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. ¹⁰ The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.
¹¹ When Jehu came back to his master’s officers, they said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?” He answered them, “You know the sort and how they babble.” ¹² They said, “Liar! Come on, tell us!” So he said, “This is just what he said to me: ‘Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.’ ” ¹³ Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

In the previous chapter the long-delayed mission given to Elijah in 1 Kings 19: 15-18 to bring about the end of the Omri dynasty begins in earnest with the prophet Elisha acting as a catalyst in the rise of Hazael “son of nobody” to kill his master Ben-hadad and become the king of Aram. Now Elisha sets in motion God’s second instrument in the destruction of the Omri dynasty, Jehu. The prophet sends another member of the sons of the prophets (NRSVue company of prophets) to carry out this task of anointing Jehu, one of the commanders of the army, as the new king of Israel. Elisha may have been too well known to enter into the camp at Ramoth-gilead without creating whispers, but this young prophet goes in his stead to set Jehu in motion.

Choon Leong-Seow makes an educated assumption that these officers may be already plotting a coup based on how quickly they fall in line behind Jehu. (NIB III:217) Ultimately the narrative of 2 Kings does not give us any indication of this as the young prophet approaches, but a wounded and beaten leader recovering away from his military leaders is often viewed as vulnerable. It is also possible that some of these leaders may have viewed Elijah and Elisha favorably, and Jehu in particular is very aware of the words of Elijah and may even have a relationship with the sons of the prophets. This is all speculative, but it makes Jehu’s quick following of the young prophet to a place where he is anointed plausible.

The commissioning of Jehu as king is instrumental in his fulfilling of Elijah’s earlier condemnation of King Ahab’s line and Jezebel in the aftermath of the murder of Naboth in Jezreel to allow the king to take possession of his vineyard. (1 Kings 21) Jehu is named as the son of Jehoshaphat and the grandson of Nimshi, and while the inclusion of the grandfather in the patronym is unusual and may indicate the grandfather’s greater stature in the memory of the people than the father, it is likely that the inclusion of the grandfather’s name is to differentiate his line from Jehoshaphat son of Asa, the former king of Judah. Jehu is not coming from a royal bloodline, yet he is not a nobody. He is a commander of the army who the other commanders quickly acknowledge publicly as their leader.

In the aftermath of the prophet’s dangerous action and rapid departure, Jehu is questioned by his fellow officers about the message of ‘that madman.’ Prophets may have been viewed as mad because they were known to have ecstatic experiences, but they also were frequently (during the Omri dynasty) people who challenged the royal power. The anointing of Jehu is a dangerous action for Jehu if his colleagues view him as a traitor and he initially downplays the prophet’s purpose and message. After being convinced by his fellow officers to speak, these fellow officers join in this public act of declaring Jehu king. This act echoes the coming together of religious leaders and military leaders who anoint and blow the trumpet to declare Solomon king at the instructions of David. (1 Kings 1: 32-40) Jehu anointed by both the prophets and the military leaders moves quickly to become God’s instrument (in the view of 2 Kings) to remove the descendants of Ahab and his former wife Jezebel from their positions of power in Israel.

2 Kings 9: 14-29 Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

¹⁴ Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against King Hazael of Aram, ¹⁵ but King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against King Hazael of Aram. So Jehu said, “If this is your wish, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel.” ¹⁶ Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, where Joram was lying ill. King Ahaziah of Judah had come down to visit Joram.
¹⁷ In Jezreel, the sentinel standing on the tower spied the company of Jehu arriving and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman; send him to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ” ¹⁸ So the horseman went to meet him; he said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Jehu responded, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” The sentinel reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.” ¹⁹ Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” Jehu answered, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” ²⁰ Again the sentinel reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. It looks like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives like a maniac.”
²¹ Joram said, “Get ready.” And they got his chariot ready. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu; they met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²² When Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the many prostitutions and sorceries of your mother Jezebel continue?” ²³ Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treason, Ahaziah!” ²⁴ Jehu drew his bow with all his strength and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot. ²⁵ Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, “Lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember when you and I rode side by side behind his father Ahab how the Lord uttered this oracle against him: ²⁶ ‘For the blood of Naboth and for the blood of his children that I saw yesterday, says the LORD, I swear I will repay you on this very plot of ground.’ Now, therefore, lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of the LORD.”

²⁷ When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, saying, “Shoot him also!” And they shot him in the chariot at the ascent to Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo and died there. ²⁸ His officers carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David.
²⁹ In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.

Both King Joram of Samaria and King Ahaziah of Judah are at Jezreel and Joram lies ill after the battle with the Arameans. With the rest of the military remaining at Ramoth-gilead, Jehu acts quickly with his co-conspirators, preventing word from reaching Jezreel in advance of Jehu’s plot. Jehu mounts his chariot and heads west from Ramoth-gilead, across the Jordan river to Jezreel. Jehu is not traveling alone and is, in the later words of the sentinel driving his company like a madman[1] which is something Jehu is apparently known for. The sentinel dispatches a first horsemen who asks on behalf of the king, “Is it shalom (peace)” to which Jehu responds “What have you to do with shalom? Fall in behind me.” The first and later the second horseman, which echoes these words, obediently fall in behind Jehu rather than return to their post in Jezreel. Jehu is apparently a commander who the men respect and follow even in the violation of their king’s orders.

Finally, both Kings Joram and Ahaziah each mount up in their chariots to meet this approaching company under Jehu, and they meet at the property that once belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. King Joram once again asks Jehu, ”Is it shalom?” Jehu’s response leaves no doubt his intentions are not peaceful, and King Joram is able to cry to Ahaziah “treason” before he is shot with a single arrow, similar to his father Ahab’s death in 1 Kings 22: 34. Unlike his father he is likely shot in the back while fleeing (the shot is literally between the arms so technically could be from the front but it is less likely to pierce the heart if the king is wearing a breastplate) and unlike his father who receives a royal burial in Samaria he is cast in the field taken from the murdered Naboth.

King Ahaziah of Judah also married into the family of King Ahab, and we learned that he was practicing the ways of the Omri dynasty as well. He is also mortally wounded in the conflagration, but he is taken to Jerusalem for a royal burial. In this moment of treachery, in the view of Joram and Ahaziah, or judgment, in the view of Jehu and Elisha, the leaders of both Samaria and Jerusalem are gone. Now Jehu turns his attention Jezebel who the texts views as the force behind the corruption of the leaders in both Israel and Judah.

2 Kings 9: 30-37 The Death of Jezebel

³⁰ When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window. ³¹ As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?” ³² He looked up to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. ³³ He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down; some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her. ³⁴ Then he went in and ate and drank; he said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.” ³⁵ But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; ³⁷ the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, ‘This is Jezebel.’ ”

Jezebel is viewed by 1&2 Kings as a corrupting influence on Israel and recently Judah through the marriage of her daughter Athaliah to Jehoram, who is the mother of the current king Ahaziah. Jezebel had brought the practices of royalty in Tyre to Samaria. Yet, in the midst of Jehu’s uprising she puts on makeup and dresses in a way that denotes her position as the queen mother. Most modern readers discount Jehu’s accusation of Jezebel’s prostitutions and sorceries (v. 22) as reflecting her worship of other gods and practices outside the laws and statues of Israel, but it is entirely possible that Jehu believes that she practices magic of some type. She mocks Jehu from her tower with the memory of Zimri (1 Kings 16: 9-16) another army officer who reigned briefly after striking down his king. Ironically Zimri was defeated by an army led by Omri, the father of Ahab-Jezebel’s late husband.

Two or three eunuchs throw Jezebel from her tower which in a moment, “transformed the narcissistic queen to a piece of rubbish in the streets.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 388) Jehu is unbothered by this gory site and enters the tower to eat and drink after his chariot ride and bloody work. He sends men to see to her body, although his remark that she is a king’s daughter may be ironic since he has already cast a king’s son out on the land of Naboth. Ultimately, there is not enough of Jezebel to bury which fulfills Elijah’s words in 1 Kings 21:23. The assassination of Jezebel does end a half-century alliance between Samaria and Tyre (Cogan, 1988, p. 120) but the writer of 2 Kings ultimately views this as a positive. The prophet Hosea would later criticize Jehu (Hosea 1:4) but the author of 2 Kings views his actions in this time as a necessary violence to bring about the needed end of the Omri dynasty which had corrupted northern Israel as well as Judah.

[1] This is the same Hebrew word, shuggah, used to refer to the young prophet in the previous section.

2 Kings 6:24-7:20 The Siege and Deliverance of Samaria

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Hills Near the Ruins of Samaria By Daniel Ventura – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32449397

2 Kings 6:24-7:2

²⁴ Some time later King Ben-hadad of Aram mustered his entire army; he marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. ²⁵ As the siege continued, famine in Samaria became so great that a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver and one-fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ Now as the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king!” ²⁷ He said, “If the LORD does not help you, where would my help come from? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” ²⁸ But then the king asked her, “What is your complaint?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son; we will eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ²⁹ So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ When the king heard the words of the woman he tore his clothes—now since he was walking on the city wall, the people could see that he had sackcloth on his body underneath ³¹ and he said, “So may God do to me and more, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on his shoulders today.” ³² So he dispatched a man from his presence.
Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Are you aware that this murderer has sent someone to take off my head? When the messenger comes, see that you shut the door and hold it closed against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” ³³ While he was still speaking with them, the king came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the LORD! Why should I hope in the LORD any longer?”

7¹ But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of choice meal shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” ² Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, “Even if the LORD were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.”

The final seven verses of chapter six are connected to the story that continues through the seventh chapter of 2 Kings. The verses and chapters were added at a later point, and the chapter division highlights the prophecy of Elisha by bookending the seventh chapter, but the narrative which evokes the word of the LORD begins at verse twenty-four. One of the Aramean kings named Ben-hadad[1] lays siege to Samaria creating the severe crisis of the story.

Siege warfare works by denying the encircled city the resources it needs to survive while the surrounding army has access to food from the land and if necessary, brought in from the besieging country. The first to feel the impact of the food shortages are the poor and the vulnerable as the cost of the food necessary to survive climbs as the supply dwindles. In our story the cost of once unpalatable foods has reached a point unreachable to all but the wealthiest households. The ‘dove’s dung’ has a couple possible interpretations. It may be the droppings from birds who are able to eat from the grain fields that the population no longer has access to, and this may form a disgusting but necessary source of nutrition for the captured population. Some translations like the NEB and NJPS follow a linguistic trail to translate this as the “seeds of the (false) carob” which is a plant of limited nutritional value. However one translates the ‘dove’s dung,’ the situation in the city has become desperate to the point where hunger is creating an inhumane situation.

The woman at the wall who calls upon the king of Israel for help is met with a pious sounding answer, “If the LORD does not help you, where would my help come from.” To me this resonates like the empty ‘thoughts and prayers’ of a politician who has no interest in resolving the crisis of the individual who comes to them for help. Yet, in Israel there is a tradition of people coming to their kings to judge difficult and life changing matters and the kings of Israel are supposed to be guardians of the vulnerable. This story resonates with Solomon’s judging between the two women fighting over a child in 1 Kings 3: 16-28, but in this story of famine now the women are fighting over children to be eaten in their starvation. The situation echoes the darkest warnings against disobedience in Deuteronomy 28: 52-57:

⁵² It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout your land; it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you. ⁵³ In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you. ⁵⁴ Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children, ⁵⁵ giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns. ⁵⁶ She who is the most refined and gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter, ⁵⁷ begrudging even the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns.

The woman’s situation in this siege echoes the narration of the later siege of Jerusalem by Babylon in Ezekiel 5:10 and Lamentations 2:20 and 4:10. It is a world where the bond between mother and child has been broken by hunger and people lose their humanity in the horror of the siege. The king who has been sheltered from the worst aspects of the deprivation of the siege is horrified by the woman’s situation and yet still claims no power to alleviate her condition. The stores of grain and wine even for the king are likely depleted and we learn that he is wearing sackcloth, a sign of mourning and repentance, under his clothes which he tears on hearing the woman’s story. In response he rashly declares that he will kill Elisha.

Elisha may be the target of the king’s rage as the representative of the LORD who the king of Israel blames for this unbroken siege, or he may simply be a scapegoat in the king’s powerlessness. Elisha did in the previous chapter deliver into Samaria an Aramean army who he instructed the king to feed and allow them to depart in peace. The peace which Elisha brokered did not endure and the king of Israel may blame the prophet for the situation. It is also possible that the king feels that the prophet, who has provided food miraculously, has not performed a miracle to provide food for the suffering city. If this unnamed king of Israel is Jehoram, as the order of the stories implies, there is a long animosity between the Omri dynasty that Jehoram is a member of and Elijah as well as Elisha. It is possible that the king has never approached the prophet until this point in the siege although it is worth noting that the elders are with the prophet during this scene.

The story becomes a bit confused in verses 32-33 where a messenger arrives and later the king. Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor point to Josephus’ reconstruction of the events as being as sensible as any:

“But you,” (Elisha) said, “when the man arrives who has been given this order be on guard as he is about to enter, and press him back against the door and hold him there, for the king will follow him and come to me, having changed his mind.” So, when the man came who had been sent by the king to make away with Elisha, they did as he had ordered. But Joram, repenting of his wrath against the prophet and fearing that the man who had been ordered to kill him might already be doing so, hastened to prevent the murder and even save the prophet. Antiquities ix, 69-70. (Cogan, 1988, pp. 80-81)

Despite the king’s earlier murderous words, the king, the prophet, and the elders all share in hearing the word of the LORD that Elisha receives declaring that the crisis will end suddenly in roughly twenty-four hours. The immediate availability of cheap food prophesied is unbelievable to the captain of the king, and Elisha adds a final note that this captain will see the prophecy fulfilled but be unable to partake in it.

2 Kings 7:3-20

³ Now there were four men with a defiling skin disease outside the city gate who said to one another, “Why should we sit here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there, but if we sit here, we shall also die. Therefore, let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die.” ⁵ So they arose at twilight to go to the Aramean camp, but when they came to the edge of the Aramean camp there was no one there at all. ⁶ For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to fight against us.” ⁷ So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp just as it was, and fled for their lives. ⁸ When these diseased men had come to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent, ate and drank, carried off silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they came back, entered another tent, carried off things from it and went and hid them.
⁹ Then they said to one another, “What we are doing is wrong. This is a day of good news; if we are silent and wait until the morning light, we will be found guilty; therefore let us go and tell the king’s household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp, but there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied, the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.” ¹¹ Then the gatekeepers called out and proclaimed it to the king’s household. ¹² The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Arameans have prepared against us. They know that we are starving, so they left the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’ ” ¹³ One of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, since those left here will suffer the fate of the whole multitude of Israel that have perished already; let us send and find out.” ¹⁴ So they took two mounted men, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and find out.” ¹⁵ So they went after them as far as the Jordan; the whole way was littered with garments and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king.
¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a measure of choice meal was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD. ¹⁷ Now the king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate; the people trampled him to death in the gate, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two measures of barley shall be sold for a shekel and a measure of choice meal for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” ¹⁹ the captain had answered the man of God, “Even if the LORD were to make windows in the sky, could such a thing happen?” And he had answered, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat from it.” ²⁰ It did indeed happen to him; the people trampled him to death in the gate.

The resolution to the crisis begins in the desperation of four men who are unclean and left outside the city. As mentioned above it is the vulnerable, and these four men with an affliction traditionally translated as leprosy would be vulnerable as they are excluded outside the city’s protective walls. In a situation where staying where they are would lead to death and entering the city would lead to death, they make the choice to surrender to the Arameans because the worst they can do is kill them. This decision to give up to the besieging forces sets in motion the deliverance of Samaria.

I have mixed feelings about the NRSVue decision throughout these texts to translate what is traditionally rendered ‘leprosy’ as a ‘defiling skin disease’ or ‘skin disease.’ On the one hand, what we now categorize as leprosy or Hansen’s disease is probably not what is referred to throughout the bible. But I wonder if the more generic skin disease disconnects the average reader from the severity of this diagnosis in the ancient world of Judaism. It is telling that Leviticus thirteen and fourteen are dedicated to the identification, the exclusion of the infected individuals from the community, and the necessary examination to allow their re-inclusion if the skin disorder clears up. These lepers are ‘unclean’ and unable to participate in the life of the community. Yet these outsiders will provide deliverance for the people trapped inside the city.

Before the four men approach the camp, the Arameans flee in panic because they hear the sound of horses and chariots approaching and fear that the king of Israel has paid Egypt and the Hittites to come and break the siege for them. The horses and chariots echo the appearance of the ‘horses and chariots of Israel’ in the previous story (2 Kings 6:15) and now instead of opening the eyes of the servant the LORD in a different manner opens the ears of the Arameans. The panic of the Arameans in the story is enough that they abandon not only their encampment but also their horses and donkey and leave a trail of discarded items in the path of their retreat. There are resources and wealth to feed and equip an army surrounding the city, much of the food likely taken from Israel’s fields, and there waiting to be discovered by the starving city.

The Jewish sages identified the four men with Gehazi and his sons (Israel, 2019, p. 129) which makes sense with this story being between Gehazi having Naaman’s leprosy cling to him and his family (2 Kings 5:27) and Gehazi’s reemergence talking with the king in the upcoming chapter (2 Kings 8: 4-5). This identification while interesting is not necessary for the story as these four men proceed to the camp, find it empty, ate and drank, pillaged some of the wealth they found, and eventually notify the gatekeepers of the situation. These men excluded as outsiders because of their skin condition still consider themselves a part of the people and have an obligation to those suffering inside the city. They appeal through the gatekeeper to the king’s household.

The king initially views this report from the four men as a trap set by the Aramean army to draw him out, but eventually one of his servants convinces the king to send out scouts with horses to examine the situation, lest the remaining horses perish with the people inside the city. Once the messengers return to the king it sets in motion the availability of food promised by the prophecy of Elisha as well as the death of the captain of the king. As mentioned in the previous section, the current chapter divisions highlight the words of Elisha at the beginning and ending of the chapter to demonstrate their fulfillment. A siege which reduced men and women to inhuman actions is now ended by four men whose humanity is compromised by the unclean disease carried on their skin. The God of Israel’s unseen host is now heard by the Aramean causing them to abandon their siege and to provide the food the city needs. The prophet once blamed by the king for the situation inside the city has now accurately predicted the cities deliverance by the LORD the God of Israel.

[1] Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor note there are at least two and possibly three kings name Ben-Hadad, whose name means the son of (the God) Hadad, “At least two, if not three persons by this name are known: Ben-hadad, contemporary of Baasha (1 Kgs 15:18); Ben-hadad, foe of Abab (1 Kgs 20: 1; he is identical with ^mAdad-idri of Assyrian inscriptions…and Ben-hadad, son of Hazael (2 Kgs 13:3).” (Cogan, 1988, p. 78)

2 Kings 4 A Series of Miracles Performed by Elisha

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Carmelite chapel – “Elisha resurrecting the son of the Shunammitee” by Jean-Baptiste Despax (1710-1773)

2 Kings 4:1-7

¹ Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” ² Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” ³ He said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels—and not just a few. ⁴ Then go in, shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.” ⁵ So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. ⁶ When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing. ⁷ She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.”

The fourth chapter of 2 Kings again departs from the normal royal time that structures the book. Throughout these four stories of miracles that Elisha performs the kings of Israel and Judah are never mentioned. The four stories all have thematic connections with the miracles of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17: 8-24 and the four miracle stories where Elijah has two may thematically model the doubling of Elijah’s spirit that Elisha received as his prophetic heir. The stories can be viewed within the chapter as two stories related women and their children and two stories of providing food, of as two stories of miraculous provision which surround two stories of rescue from death. Ultimately all four stories weave together in a tapestry of stories about the man of God who leads the company of prophets.[1]

The kings of Israel and Judah are not ever mentioned in these stories, but in their absence we get in this first story a window into the world at the time of Elisha and the view is not flattering. The story provides, “a disturbing glance of the cruel socioeconomic reality of ancient Israel.” (Israel, 2019, p. 65) A world that is strikingly different from the world imagined in the law. A world in which widows, one of the vulnerable groups in the ancient world, and their children stand vulnerable to creditors. In Exodus widows, along with resident aliens and orphans, are mentioned as recipients of God’s special protection.

You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and orphans. Exodus 22: 22-24

This entire story responds to this small portion of Exodus 22 when the oppressor in the story turns out to be a creditor/moneylender (Hebrew nosheh) which is mentioned in the verses immediately following Exodus’ warning not to abuse widows and orphans.

If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor (nosheh); you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate. Exodus 22: 25-27

The company of prophets throughout these stories seem to operate from a place of poverty, and there is no economic ability within the community to pay off the creditor without the miracle. This is a story of provision that comes from God acting through the man of God.[2] Interestingly throughout these stories Elisha rarely mentions God and assumes that God will act upon his words.

The action that Elisha narrates for the woman does involve both participation from herself and her children, the community of people around them, and most importantly God. The woman and her children are to collect vessels from the surrounding community. Although the text does not specifically indicate that she does this[3] there are an unknown number of vessels available for her and her children to fill behind closed doors.[4] The oil in the house fills all the available vessels and provides a means to paying off the creditors, providing a source of income for the widow and her children, and providing protection in an world that would enslave the children for their father’s debts.

2 Kings 4: 8-37

⁸ One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. ⁹ She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. ¹⁰ Let us make a small roof chamber with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
¹¹ One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there. ¹² He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³ He said to him, “Say to her: Since you have taken all this trouble for us, what may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?” She answered, “I live among my own people.” ¹⁴ He said, “What then may be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” ¹⁵ He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood at the door. ¹⁶ He said, “At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son.” She replied, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant.”
¹⁷ The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her.
¹⁸ When the child was older, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. ¹⁹ He complained to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ He carried him and brought him to his mother; the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died. ²¹ She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed the door on him, and left. ²² Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.” ²³ He said, “Why go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “It will be all right.” ²⁴ Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not hold back for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman; ²⁶ run at once to meet her and say to her: Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?” She answered, “It is all right.” ²⁷ When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away, but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” ²⁸ Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not mislead me?’ ” ²⁹ He said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer, and lay my staff on the face of the child.” ³⁰ Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave without you.” So he rose up and followed her. ³¹ Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. He came back to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
³² When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. ³³ So he went in and closed the door on the two of them and prayed to the LORD. ³⁴ Then he got up on the bed and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵ He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶ Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her. When she came to him, he said, “Take your son.” ³⁷ She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took her son and left.

Elisha, traveling through the country of Israel, becomes a regular guest of a well-off woman and her husband. This woman shows hospitality to the man of God by providing both a meal and eventually building a room for the prophet and his companions. Elisha seeks to reward the hospitality of the woman and her husband by speaking to the political and military powers in the region, but she has no need to have the prophet speak on her behalf. This woman seems to be a formidable individual even though she is childless. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, suggests that she is childless and her husband is old, so Elisha promises her in due time she will bear a son.

This story bears a strong resonance with the story of Sarah being promised Isaac in Genesis 18. God promises to return in due season and Sarah will have a child. Sarah challenges God by saying, “I did not laugh,” while this wealthy woman pushes back to the prophet, “do not deceive your servant.” In both stories both age and barrenness are a factor. Yet, in both cases in due season a child comes to a previously childless mother and an aged father.

Yet, after this incredible birth comes an unimaginable tragedy. The promised son mysteriously experiences pain in his head at a time when he is old enough to visit his father in the fields. He dies tragically on his mother’s lap; she lays him on the prophet’s bed and moves into action. This woman gives commands to her husband to provide both a donkey and a servant for her journey to the prophet[5] and this woman sets out do demand the man of God’s presence in this time. Like the story in 1 Kings 17, where the widow goes to Elijah on behalf of her son, it is the woman who impels the man of God to act.

Behind the woman’s response and the prophet’s questions of things being all right is the Hebrew term shalom. When she speaks to her husband she tells him, “It will be shalom.” Elisha’s questions to her (spoken through Gehazi), “Is it shalom to you? Is it shalom to your husband? Is it shalom to your son?” She answers, “It is shalom.” This indomitable woman will not settle for Gehazi as a substitute for the man of God, she clings to his feet and echoes back to him her initial challenge, “Did I not say, ’Do not mislead me.’” Even though Gehazi is dispatched with the staff of Elisha, this woman will not be satisfied without the prophet’s presence and so they both return to the Shunammite woman’s house. Gehazi proves unable to revive the child and so Elisha comes into the house and closes the door.

Elisha attempts to resuscitate the child but is only able to warm the child’s skin. The two of them, presumably Elisha and Gehazi, pray and Elisha walks to and fro in the room before bending over the child one additional time when the child sneezes seven times and revives. Elisha has Gehazi summon the Shunammite woman and restores her son to her. This woman, who like the later Syrophoenician woman in Mark or the Canaanite woman in Matthew, refused to be denied the man of God’s action has their child restored.

2 Kings 4: 38-44

³⁸ When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the company of prophets was sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Put the large pot on, and make some stew for the company of prophets.” ³⁹ One of them went out into the field to gather herbs; he found a wild vine and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. ⁴⁰ They served some for the men to eat. But while they were eating the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” They could not eat it. ⁴¹ He said, “Then bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve the people and let them eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

⁴² A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” ⁴³ But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD: They shall eat and have some left.” ⁴⁴ He set it before them; they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

As mentioned above, the company of prophets throughout this chapter live in a vulnerable position when there is famine in the land. Through both stories God provides for these prophets through the actions of Elisha. The first story is a story of making a poisonous stew palatable. Elisha returns to the company of prophets at Gilgal and has them put a large pot on. One member of the company finds some wild gourds, possibly citrullus colcynthus a small yellow melon known as the “Apple of Sodom” which “is a strong purgative and has been known to be fatal.” (Cogan, 1988, p. 58) Elisha makes the poisonous stew palatable by adding flour and serving it to the company.

The second miracle of provision takes twenty loaves and fresh grain providing more than enough for the hundred people present at Gilgal. A man comes bringing an offering to God to the man of God. This man from Baal-shalishah comes to the man of God instead of the royal shrine at Bethel and the prophet takes on the position as the mediator between the people and God. Elisha’s servant, likely Gehazi from the previous and following story, wonders how it can be enough for such a large group. Elisha declares that the LORD says they will all eat and have some left. Like Elijah with the widow of Zarephath’s meal and oil or the loaves and fishes in the hands of Jesus, the loaves of brought to Elisha are more than enough in the provision of God.

[1] Literally the sons of the prophets, the Benei HaNavi’im in Hebrew.

[2] Throughout the chapter Elisha is mainly referred to by his title ‘the man of God’ rather than his name. This may be due to the honor paid as the leader of the company of prophets and as the heir to Elijah.

[3] Some take this absence as a comment on the woman’s faith and limits the benefit she receives. For me this is reading too much into the story.

[4] In both this and the following miracle the action takes place behind closed doors and out of the public view.

[5] It is possible in the narrative that the father is unaware of his son’s death.

2 Kings 3 A Strange Story of Kings, Elisha, and Conflict

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The ‘Mesha Stele’ also known as the Moabite Stone discovered in 1868 which tells of the revolt of Mesha. By Unknown artist – Mbzt 2012, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22090379

2 Kings 3

¹ In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, Jehoram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twelve years. ² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³ Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to commit; he did not depart from it.
⁴ Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder who used to deliver to the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams. ⁵ But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶ So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷ As he went he sent word to King Jehoshaphat of Judah, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me to battle against Moab?” He answered, “I will; I am as you are; my people are your people; my horses are your horses.” ⁸ Then he asked, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”
⁹ So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and when they had made a roundabout march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that were with them. ¹⁰ Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! The Lord has summoned these three kings to hand them over to Moab.” ¹¹ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat, who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah, is here.” ¹² Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
¹³ Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to your father’s prophets or to your mother’s.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lord who has summoned these three kings to hand them over to Moab.” ¹⁴ Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, whom I serve, were it not that I have regard for King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I would give you neither a look nor a glance. ¹⁵ But get me a musician.” And then, while the musician was playing, the hand of the Lord came on him. ¹⁶ And he said, “Thus says the Lord: I will make this wadi full of pools. ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord: You shall see neither wind nor rain, but the wadi shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your army, and your animals. ¹⁸ This is only a trifle in the sight of the Lord, for he will also hand Moab over to you. ¹⁹ You shall conquer every fortified city and every choice city; every good tree you shall fell, all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good piece of land you shall ruin with stones.” ²⁰ The next day, about the time of the morning offering, suddenly water began to flow from the direction of Edom until the country was filled with water.
²¹ When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the frontier. ²² When they rose early in the morning and the sun shone upon the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³ They said, “This is blood; the kings must have fought together and killed one another. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴ But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites, who fled before them; as they entered Moab, they continued the attack. ²⁵ The cities they overturned, and on every good piece of land everyone threw a stone until it was covered; every spring of water they stopped up, and every good tree they felled. Only at Kir-hareseth did the stone walls remain until the slingers surrounded and attacked it. ²⁶ When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷ Then he took his firstborn son who was to succeed him and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. And great wrath came upon Israel, so they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

This is a strange story for several reasons. On the one hand it is a story of a bad, but not as bad as his predecessors, king of Israel who calls on an alliance with the kings of Judah and Edom. The king of Israel is not portrayed in a favorable light and Elisha has no regard for him. The act of prophesy by Elisha is also linked to a performance of a musician which sets the mood for a prophetic state. The prophetic command is also strange since it contradicts the rules for war outlined in Deuteronomy. Finally, the strangest note is at the end when the king of Moab’s sacrifice of his firstborn son turns the tide and Israel withdraws. Yet, this is also an interesting passage for historians who have the ‘Mesha Stele’ which provides an independent witness to this time-period from the perspective of Moab.

From a historical perspective the discovery of the ‘Mesha Stele’ confirms several points of the 2 Kings narrative. King Mesha of Moab was ‘oppressed’ by the Omri dynasty, likely paying tribute to the king. In the view of King Mesha this situation is due to Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, being displeased with his people. Finally, it confirms an uprising of Mesha against a son of Omri, presumably Jehoram, in which King Mesha accomplishes some victories. The precipitating events which cause the king of Israel to reach out to his allies and begin to take military action against Moab are given an independent witness by this discovery. This also makes sense within the previous narrative where King Ahab dies and Moab rebels in 2 Kings 1:1. Ahaziah’s brief reign, cut short by his fall and then sending messengers to Ekron seeking insight from Baal-zebub, made him too weak of a leader to respond to this rebellion.

There are numerous similarities between this narrative and the conflict between Aram and the Israel and Judah mentioned in 1 Kings 22. In both narratives King Jehoshaphat of Judah replies both as and ally, but also the weaker party in the relationship, willingly committing his forces to the king of Israel’s conflict. In both stories it is the king of Judah who requests that they seek out the opinion of a prophet of the LORD that is not tied to the royal apparatus of the king of Israel. Unlike the previous story the outcome is mostly favorable for both the king of Israel and the king of Judah.

King Mesha is noted as a sheep-breeder, and his tribute is an excessive quantity of both lambs and wool. There is no time-period for the tribute so it may be an annual tribute, or it may be the tribute over the time of subservience. Although King Mesha may simply preside, “over a semi-nomadic economy in Moab. The principle industry is sheep and the principle products are wool and lamb.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 306) It is also worth noting that throughout scripture kings are often portrayed metaphorically as shepherds. The king may be directly involved in sheep-breeding, but it is equally likely that he is the ‘shepherd’ of a people whose primary livelihood revolves around sheep.

The king of Israel moves his army through Judah and through Edom to attack Moab from the south. This move is likely to approach Moab from a direction they do not expect and to utilize the element of surprise, but any advantage quickly dissipates when the army runs out of water. It is possible that springs or waters they expected to utilize had dried up or that they simply failed to adequately plan and scout the route, but the situation results in an army foundering in the wilderness and vulnerable to the king of Moab’s attack. Jehoram interprets this as a sign of the LORD’s displeasure, but Jehoshaphat suggests they inquire of a prophet of the LORD. Apparently, Elisha has either been traveling in proximity of the company or has at some earlier point moved to the wilderness of Edom to be available at this moment of the kings’ peril.

According to the evaluation of 2 Kings, Jehoram is still a bad king but not as bad as his predecessors. Sometime in his reign he is reported to have removed the pillar of Baal (likely after the LORD’s deliverance in this narrative) and according to the narrative of 2 Kings, he believes that the LORD the God of Israel has called the three kings together in this mission and is also punishing them. Even though it is King Jehoshaphat of Judah who asks to consult a prophet of the LORD, King Jehoram does not seem to resist the kings going to consult with Elisha nor does he push back against Elisha’s harsh words. Elisha, like his predecessor Elijah, has little use for the kings of the Omri dynasty but he does respect the king of Judah.

Elisha requests a musician and then has a moment when the hand of the LORD comes upon him. The hand of the LORD coming upon Elisha was likely viewed by the observers as an ecstatic experience and there is an expectation of prophets being overtaken by an experience they cannot control.[1] Elisha’s message brings an answer not only to the immediate problem of water, but it also foretells victory over their Moabite opponents. Yet, strangely, the prophet’s commands violate the expectations of conflict outlined in Deuteronomy which prohibits the chopping down of trees.[2] There is a biblical desire to preserve the land. In ancient warfare it is common attempt to deny your enemy the fruitfulness of the land, which is what the prophet’s guidance indicates, but the tension between the law in Deuteronomy and the prophet’s guidance is one additional strange element to this strange story.

The Hebrew storytellers love wordplay and allusion to other narratives, and in the Moabites response to these kings in the wilderness. The waters being red as blood recalls on of God’s first major actions to bring the people out of Egypt by turning the waters of the Nile to blood.[3] But the scene also plays on the origin story of Edom in Genesis being Esau, Jacob/Israel’s brother, whose name means ‘red’ and is famous for selling his birthright for ‘red stuff.’[4] We don’t know why the Moabites interpret the red looking water as blood, but it causes them to camp of Israel in a less cautious manner.

The overall progression of the battle is portrayed as a rout where Israel and its allies overwhelm the Moabite advance on their camp and then proceed to follow Elisha’s guidance against the land and the cities. Only Kir-hareseth’s[5] stone wall briefly stops the advance before slingers attack it. The victories of Israel are not strange in this narrative, but the halting of the success is.

The final verse of this chapter has provoked the greatest debate among interpreters as they wrestle with how to deal with the implications of wrath coming upon Israel as a result of the King of Moab’s sacrifice. The bible shares with the rest of the ancient world the belief that there is power in blood and there is in many ancient belief systems an idea that appears in many fantasy worlds that connects blood, particularly the shedding of blood, in the practice of magic or appeasing deities or demons. The most literal interpretation of the words is that King Mesha sacrifices his first-born heir to Chemosh on the wall and this awakens Chemosh who grants the Moabites power against their foes. The Hebrew scriptures are insistent that the LORD is above all other gods, but it also assumes a world where these other gods of the nations do have power. The offense of this interpretation is that Chemosh successfully resists the LORD and halts the prophesied conquest over Moab. Rabbinic exegetes give an explanation that the son sacrificed is the son of the king of Edom, the ally of Israel and Judah, and this sacrifice causes Edom to turn against his allies. (Cogan, 1988, p. 48) Brueggemann speaks for a lot of modern readers when he states, “The most remarkable fact about the narrative is that everything we would most like to know is left unsaid.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 315) It is a strange ending to a strange story. It is unusual that a story where another god may have prevented the outcome the LORD’s prophet indicated to be completed. Yet, the story does not give any reason for the King Mesha of Moab being able to finally resist the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom as well as the LORD who stands behind them.

[1] 1 Samuel 10: 9-13; 19: 23-24.

[2] Deuteronomy 20:19.

[3] Exodus 7: 14-25.

[4] Genesis 25: 25, 30.

[5] Brueggemann notes on Kir-hareseth, “Nothing is known of this city, the site of Israel’s last success in this military campaign. However, the mention of the city in Isa 16;7, Jer 48:31, 36 as a poetic parallel for “Moab” suggest that it was a major site, certainly a freighted item in the prophet’s imagination. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 313)

2 Kings 2 Elijah’s Departure and Elisha’s Ministry Begins

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Elijah the Prophet By Nicholas Roerich – Estonian Roerich Society, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5066171

2 Kings 2: 1-18 A Prophetic Transition

¹ Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. ² Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. ³ The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”
⁴ Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. ⁵ The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent.”
⁶ Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. ⁷ Fifty men of the company of prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. ⁸ Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and the two of them crossed on dry ground.
⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” ¹⁰ He responded, “You have asked a hard thing, yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” ¹¹ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
¹³ He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water. He said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Where is he?” He struck the water again, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha crossed over.
¹⁵ When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶ They said to him, “See now, we have fifty strong men among your servants; please let them go and seek your master; it may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and thrown him down on some mountain or into some valley.” He responded, “No, do not send them.” ¹⁷ But when they urged him to the point of embarrassment, he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men who searched for three days but did not find him. ¹⁸ When they came back to him (he had remained at Jericho), he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

The well-known imagery of the chariot of fire and the ascension of Elijah into heaven in the whirlwind serves as a transition between the prophetic ministry of Elijah and Elisha. The story is told outside of the framing of time in the succession of kings, likely to enhance the special nature of this moment. As Walter Brueggemann states, “the remarkable moment of prophetic transition is so odd and so exceptional that it cannot be held in royal time or understood in royal rationality.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 293) In this moment Elisha beholds that God’s power and might are at work in the world in a way that both reflects the imagery of the kingly power of the day (chariots and horses as the primary military technology of the time) but also transcends it. In addition to the transition between the ministries of Elijah and Elisha it also reminds the readers that God’s work in the world, often unseen, continues and occasionally the faithful servants of God have their eyes opened to see God’s power and presence in surprising ways.

Throughout this journey from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho and then to the Jordan, a journey of at least twenty-four miles, Elijah tells Elisha three times to “Stay here” and Elisha answers, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” The story has some resonance with the refusal of Ruth to abandon her mother-in-law Naomi in Ruth 1: 15-17, and there are familial overtones to the Elijah and Elisha narrative as well. Both Ruth and Elisha are not related to the person they are clinging to by blood, but both claim the bond and responsibility of primary relations. This is heightened when one realizes that the word “leave” has the connotation of “abandon” in Hebrew. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 294) Elisha’s ask of a ‘double share’ of Elijah’s spirit also connects with the ‘double share’ that a first-born heir is to receive according to Deuteronomy 21: 15-17. Elisha is probably not asking to receive twice the spirit endowed charisma as Elijah but instead to be recognized by Elisha and ultimately God as the proper heir to the prophetic ministry of Elijah.

Elisha is aware throughout the narrative of Elijah’s impending departure, a knowledge reinforced by the message of the sons of prophets at each location of their journey. Finally, as Elijah approaches the Jordan River, he utilizes his mantle and causes the waters of the river to be divided. Elijah’s mantle functions in a similar manner to Moses’ staff and Elijah’s authority is the authority promised in Deuteronomy 18:18 of a prophet like Moses. After Elijah’s ascension the same mantle in the hands of Elisha demonstrates that this heir to the prophetic ministry of Elijah is also a prophet with the authority and power that God entrusted to both Elijah and Elisha.

Most religious art depicting the ascension of Elijah pictures the prophet riding in the chariot, but that is not explicit in the text. The chariot of fire and the horses[1] separate Elijah from Elisha. Elisha sees a multitude of chariots, a sight he will later share with his servant in 2 Kings 6:17. Elijah, and presumably the chariots as well, ascend in the whirlwind. The company of prophets who observed this from a distance presumably saw something like the whirlwind but not the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.[2] In their limited vision they press Elisha to allow fifty strong men from their company to seek Elijah’s body to give it a proper burial. Elisha says not to send them but eventually is pressed enough that in embarrassment he allows the fifty to seek Elijah.

Elijah’s influence will continue long beyond his death even though he will only be mentioned one additional time in the Hebrew Bible. Elijah is the forerunner of the day of LORD in Malachi 4: 5-6:

See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.

Elijah continues to have a role in the practice of both Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism the role of Elijah would be tied to the coming of the messiah and he continues to have a seat at the practice of circumcision, during the Sedar meal, and the prayer at the end of the Sabbath calls for Elijah to come in the coming week. Elijah’s role in Christianity would rest upon John the Baptist and the one who preceded the coming of Jesus and Elijah along with Moses would appear at the transfiguration. Only Elijah and Enoch would not experience death in their stories in the bible, and this allowed both figures to become popular in the stories and hope of later generations.

2 Kings 2: 19-25 A Prophet of Blessing and Curse

¹⁹ Now the people of the city said to Elisha, “The location of this city is good, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” ²⁰ He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. ²¹ Then he went to the spring of water and threw the salt into it and said, “Thus says the Lord: I have made this water wholesome; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” ²² So the water has been wholesome to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.
²³ He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!” ²⁴ When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ From there he went on to Mount Carmel and then returned to Samaria.

The ministry of Elisha as the main prophetic figure of the time begins with two stories that intentionally bring together the potential for blessing and curse in a figure whose life and ministry are closely tied to God. The first story now links Elisha to Moses with a story with multiple parallels to Moses’ making the bitter waters of Marah sweet. Alex Israel identifies the similarities between the two stories:

Marah follows the splitting of the Reed Sea. Our Jericho story follows the miraculous parting of the Jordan River.
Three Days: Marah followed the crossing of the Reed Sea by three days. Similarly, the events at Jericho transpire three days after the splitting of the Jordan (II Kings 2: 17-18).
In both instances, the water is undrinkable. The people voice the problem to the prophet.
The water is made drinkable by casting into it (vayashleh) a substance that would seem unrelated to the treatment of water (tree/salt).
The proclamation made in God’s name identifies God as their “healer”: At Marah, “I am the Lord, your healer.” (Ex. 15:26) At Jericho, “Thus says the Lord: I have healed this water.” (II Kings 2:21) (Israel, 2019, p. 31)

One could argue, a Choon-Leong Seow does, that Elisha even surpasses the work of Moses by ‘healing’ the waters where Moses only ‘sweetens’ the bitter waters. (NIB III:178) This ministry of blessing in Jericho is now set alongside a curse on the prophet’s journey to Bethel towards the disrespectful small boys.

The second half of these stories cause a fair amount of discomfort for modern readers who view the prophet’s curse and the resulting mauling of the boys as an overreaction to their taunting of the prophet as ‘baldy’ or ‘baldhead.’ Forty-two may be a figure to explain a large number[3] but our modern embarrassment at the mauling of these boys in my view misses the point of the narrative. Elisha, as the prophet of God and speaker of the words of God, is closely tied both to this ministry of Moses and Elijah but more critically to the God of Israel. To disrespect Elisha, for the narrative, is to disrespect God. When the people of entreat Elijah with respect he brings them blessing, when these boys treat the emissary of God with disrespect it brings a curse. A true bearer of God’s message of blessing and curse is a fearful and wonderful thing.

Elisha’s ministry begins by retracing the steps of Elijah from the Jordan to Jericho, from Jericho to Bethel, and finally returning to Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel, as Alex Israel reminds us, is the site of “Elijah’s pièce de resistance” (Israel, 2019, p. 22) where the God of Israel demonstrated victory over the 500 prophets of Baal. (1 Kings 18: 20-40) Now Elisha begins his career by ascending both physically and metaphorically to the zenith of Elijah’s ministry.

[1] The Hebrew word rekeb may refer to a group of chariots (NIB III:176).

[2] This phrase will reappear at the end of Elisha’s ministry in 2 Kings 13: 14-19.

[3] This is also the number of victims slain by Jehu in 2 Kings 10:14

2 Kings 1: The Foolish King Ahaziah Confronted By God Through Elijah

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Gustave Dore, *Fire Consumes the Soldiers of Ahaziah* from *the Illustrated Bible.* 19th Century Engraving. Cropped Image

2 Kings 1

¹ After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. ² Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay injured; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.” ³ But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Now therefore thus says the LORD, ‘You shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.'” So Elijah went.

⁵ The messengers returned to the king, who said to them, “Why have you returned?” ⁶ They answered him, “There came a man to meet us, who said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him: Thus says the LORD: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but shall surely die.'” ⁷ He said to them, “What sort of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” ⁸ They answered him, “A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹ Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.'” ¹⁰ But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

¹¹ Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. He went up and said to him, “O man of God, this is the king’s order: Come down quickly!” ¹² But Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

¹³ Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. So the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. ¹⁴ Look, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.” ¹⁵ Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he set out and went down with him to the king, ¹⁶ and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron,– is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?– therefore you shall not leave the bed to which you have gone, but you shall surely die.”

¹⁷ So he died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. His brother, Jehoram succeeded him as king in the second year of King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?

This final prophetic episode in the Elijah cycle prior to the ascension of Elijah in the following chapter occurs during the year long reign of Ahaziah.[1] The division between 1 Kings and 2 Kings splits the comments on the brief reign of Ahaziah between the final three verses of 1 Kings and the initial chapter of 2 Kings. Ahaziah’s insignificant reign cut short by his injury and offense against God are contrasted with the significant prophet Elijah’s final action. The Book of Kings could easily have been the Book of Prophets, since for most of the book the kings are often secondary characters to the prophets.

Ahaziah fell from his upper chamber to the lower floor and is injured by the fall and confined to his bed. Yet, Ahaziah’s response to his injury is what dominates his portion of the story. Instead of appealing to the LORD, whether through a prophet or through the temple in Jerusalem he sends messengers to Ekron to appeal to the priests of prophets of Baal-zebub. There has been an ongoing animosity between the leaders in Samaria and Jerusalem, and the Omri dynasty has also been hostile to Elijah and other prophets of the LORD so on the one hand the action of Ahaziah to appeal to a foreign god, even a god of the once hostile Philistines, is not out of character for the Omri dynasty. Yet it is an audacious slight of the LORD the God of Israel, one that will have fatal consequences for this insignificant king.

Baal-zebub, the title for the god of Ekron would be the lord of the flies, and this is likely an intended insult of Baal-zebul the lord of the house. This is reflected title Beelzebul in the New Testament when Jesus is accused of being in lead with the lord of demons.[2] This minor spelling change turns the master of the house into the master of something considered a pest and nuisance in the ancient world. It is possible that ‘zebub’ is a local ‘baal’[3] and there is some debate over the rendering of ‘zebub’ as ‘fly’, but the Bible does frequently use insults for the other ‘gods’ that the people of Israel and the surrounding country follow.

Hebrew loves wordplay and it helps to know that the word for messenger (malakh) and angel (malakim) are closely related. Ahaziah sends messengers and the messenger of the LORD comes to Elijah to intercept these messengers of the king. Elijah’s message from the messenger (angel) of God speaks directly to the king’s messengers, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you (plural) are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?” But when the king’s messengers return to the king they now point the blame on the king, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you (singular) are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?” The sentence declared on the king is terminal by the LORD. As Brueggemann states:

The particular phrase, “surely die,” is repeated three times by the prophet (1:4, 6, 16). While the phrase looks commonplace in the English translation, it is in fact a quite severe, absolute, and formal pronouncement of a death penalty from which there is no escape or reprieve. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 284)

From the description of the man who intercepted the prophets, a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist, the king realizes that it is the longtime foe of the Omri dynasty, the prophet Elijah. Elijah’s successor Elisha we will learn in 2:23 is bald and so there is a drastic difference in the appearance of the hairy man and the man ridiculed for being bald. The description of Elijah will also be paralleled, although in an inexact manner, by the appearance of John the Baptist at the beginning of the gospels.[4] Elijah and Elisha will be different in appearance and as we transition to the Elisha cycle it will be worthwhile to compare the ministries of these two prophets.

The king views Elijah as a threat and sends three separate leaders and soldiers to bring Elijah down from the mountain.[5] The king desires to bring Elijah down by force but only manages to cause Elijah to bring down the fire of God upon his forces.[6] The first commander of fifty goes up the mountain to approach Elijah and orders the man of God to come down, yet Elijah demonstrates that the forces of the king are no match for the power of God as the first group of fifty is consumed. The second leader goes up to Elijah, but he may not go up the mountain. There may be some hint in the story that this second commander keeps his distance, but his words indicate that now the king orders Elijah to come down. The second group of fifty meets the same fate as the first. The final commander comes and kneels before the prophet and asks the prophet to show grace[7] for his life and the lives of his men. This final commander also indicates that he is Elijah’s servant instead of the king’s. The messenger (angel) of the LORD lets Elijah know it is safe to go with this commander to deliver the message directly to the king.

For the narrative of 2 Kings, King Ahaziah dies because of the declaration of the LORD not the injuries the king receives falling through the lattice. Throughout the Elijah cycle the people under the Omri dynasty have had divided loyalties. Elijah is an uncompromising in his zeal for the LORD the God of Israel and although the Omri will continue beyond the time of Elijah, it is quickly coming to end. Ahaziah in the narrative of the Book of Kings will be one more king whose brief reign in Samaria will be defined by his disobedience to the LORD the God of Israel.

[1] 1 Kings 22:51 notes that Ahaziah ruled for two years. He came to power in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat of Judah and died in his eighteenth year, but his total reign was less than twelve months long. (Cogan, 1988, p. 21)

[2] Matthew 10:25; 12: 24,27; Mark 3:22; Luke: 11: 15, 18, 19.

[3] Baal is a general title for lord, and there were multiple ‘Baals’ worshipped regionally throughout Canaan.

[4] John is wearing camel’s hair as clothing rather than being described as hairy, although he does have the leather belt around his waist.

[5] Choon-Leong Seow notes that the same word har is used here as a Mount Carmel and the NIV and NRSV translation of this as ‘hill’ obscures the linkage to the previous story (1 Kings 18). (NIB III:173)

[6] Once again there is a Hebrew wordplay between the word for ‘man’ (‘is) and the word for fire (‘es). NIB III: 173.

[7] NRSV entreat. The Hebrew hanan means “to show grace’. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 286)

Introduction to 2 Kings

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Cry Of Prophet Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem by Ilya Repin 1870

1&2 Kings together form a narrative that runs from the pinnacle of the nation of Israel under Solomon to its nadir at the beginning of the Babylonian exile. First and Second Kings were initially a common book, the book of Kings, which was later divided into two books in the biblical canon.[1] I worked through 1 Kings in 2022-2023, and now it is time to walk through the remainder of this story of the northern kingdom’s destruction by the Assyrian empire in 721 BCE and the Babylonian empire’s conquering of Judah in roughly 587 BCE. 1 Kings ends during of the ministry of Elijah and Elisha the prophets in northern Israel.

In the Jewish division of the Hebrew Scriptures the Deuteronomic History (Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, and 1&2 Kings) are all grouped with the prophets. They are history viewed through a theological lens and with the intention of looking backwards to understand the situation of the people in exile. There is a tradition of associating these books with Jeremiah, and they do share a common worldview. This association is heightened by the reality that 2 Kings and Jeremiah end with a narration that is almost identical.

2 Kings narrates the collapse of the land of Israel and the monarchy of both Israel (Samaria) and Judah. The kings throughout the book of Kings are evaluated by the theological perspective of Deuteronomy and with a few notable exceptions most of these kings can be summarized by the phrase, “He committed all the sins that his father did before him; his heart was not true to the LORD his God like the heart of his father David.” (1 Kings 15:3 referring to Abijam, son of Rehoboam, son of Solomon but similar language is used for all the ‘bad’ kings).

If you spend much time working in the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament, the impact of the Babylonian exile is unavoidable. It is a central defining crisis for the people of Judah. The books of Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel are all centered around this time-period and 2 Kings’ historical narrative ends at the exile. 2 Kings has some stories that are utilized in the life of the church, but as a book the stories of 2 Kings are probably less familiar than the stories of 1 Kings. My journey through 1 Kings provided me a much fuller appreciation of this portion of the story of God’s people, and I look forward to discovering the conclusion of this portion of the story of Israel in a richer way.

Resources Used For This Journey

Brueggemann, Walter. 1 & 2 Kings. Macon, GA: Smith & Helwys Publishing Incorporated. 2000

Walter Brueggemann is one of the most prolific Christian writers on the Hebrew Scriptures and brings a wide breadth of knowledge on both the collection of scripture as whole. His writing is consistently readable and insightful and tends to explore challenging perspectives. The Smith & Helwys Bible Commentary series is a very attractive resource bringing together commentary and discussion with artwork, maps, and other visual resources. This resource is closer to the blogging format which I write in than many books. More of a thematic commentary which is useful for preaching and teaching. I also utilized this volume during my reflections on 1 Kings.

Cogan, Mordechai and Hayim Takmor, II Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (The Anchor Bible). New York City: Doubleday & Company, Inc. 1988

The Anchor Bible, Now the Anchor Yale Bible, is a detailed textual commentary. I utilized Mordechai Cogan’s first volume in my work on 1 Kings. This is the longest and most detailed of the works I used for this journey through 2 Kings. This is a volume more directed to the specialist rather than the preacher or teacher and some knowledge of Hebrew is helpful in using this resource.

Israel, Alex. II Kings: In A Whirlwind. (Maggid Studies in the Tanakh). Jerusalem: Maggid Books, 2019.

I utilized Rabbi Alex Israel’s first volume in my reflections on 1 Kings. When looking at a Hebrew Scripture text I like to have a Jewish voice and the Maggid Studies are an approachable resource. Rabbi Israel’s skill as a teacher is on display in this volume as he writes an approachable text which brings 2 Kings into dialogue with the historical context and rabbinic interpretation. A clear and insightful perspective on the people and events of 2 Kings.

Seow, Choon-Leong. “The Books of 1 and 2 Kings.” In New Interpreter’s Bible III: 1-295.12 Vols. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1999.

The NIB (New Interpreter’s Bible) is a solid resource as a resource for preaching and teaching that covers the entire bible and goes into some textual issues, but it primarily is focused on giving a fuller context to the story. Choon-Leon Seow’s contribution on the 1 and 2 Kings goes into a little more depth on translational issues than some other portions of this commentary set I’ve utilized, and this was a positive since it identified some interesting things to explore in the Hebrew text. This was another solid portion of the NIB and it is a resource worth having on the shelf for a pastor.

[1] The division initially occurred in the translation of the Hebrew Text into Greek (the Septuagint).

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular

Tag Archives: Old Testament

2 Kings 15 The Stability of Judah in Contrast to the Instability of Samaria

2 Kings 15: 1-7 King Azariah (Uzziah) of Judah

2 Kings 15: 8-12 The Brief Reign of Zechariah King of Israel and the End of the Jehu Dynasty

2 Kings 15: 13-31 A Tumultuous Period in Israel

2 Kings 15: 32-38 King Jothan of Judah

2 Kings 13 The Death of Elisha, The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash of Israel, and the Conflict with Aram

2 Kings 13:1-13 The Reign of Jehoahaz and Jehoash (Joash) of Israel

2 Kings 13: 14-20 The Death of Elisha

2 Kings 13: 22-25 The Conflict Between Israel and Aram

2 Kings 11 The Overthrow of Athaliah in Judah and the Beginning of the Reign of King Joash

2 Kings 11

2 Kings 9 The Violent End of the Omri Dynasty Begins

2 Kings 9: 1-13 The Anointing of Jehu

2 Kings 9: 14-29 Jehu Kills Joram and Ahaziah

2 Kings 9: 30-37 The Death of Jezebel

2 Kings 6:24-7:20 The Siege and Deliverance of Samaria

2 Kings 6:24-7:2

2 Kings 7:3-20

2 Kings 4 A Series of Miracles Performed by Elisha

2 Kings 4:1-7

2 Kings 4: 8-37

2 Kings 4: 38-44

2 Kings 3 A Strange Story of Kings, Elisha, and Conflict

2 Kings 3

2 Kings 2 Elijah’s Departure and Elisha’s Ministry Begins

2 Kings 2: 1-18 A Prophetic Transition

2 Kings 2: 19-25 A Prophet of Blessing and Curse

2 Kings 1: The Foolish King Ahaziah Confronted By God Through Elijah

2 Kings 1

Introduction to 2 Kings

Resources Used For This Journey