In the first five books of the Old Testament, a nation arises out of the descendants of Jacob. That nation, Israel, then moves into the land of Canaan and for centuries is loosely ruled by judges. Eventually the tribes anoint a king, Saul, who is followed by the charismatic and powerful king David. The scroll of Samuel describes the reigns of these two kings. David unites the twelve tribes and builds a capital in Jerusalem. The scroll of 1 & 2 Kings begins with the glorious characteristics of the kingdom of Israel in 970 BC, at the beginning of the reign of the third king, Solomon,and ends with the captivity in Babylon, in 586 BC. The final verses describe the existence of a deposed Judean king now residing in Babylon, c. 550 BC. (This Wikipedia page on the Kings of Israel and Judah is useful for keeping the kings organized, along with providing tentative dates for their reigns.)
The scroll of Kings was long ago divided into two pieces. The first half, 1 Kings, covers the period from 970 BC until about 850 BC, as Solomon's kingdom breaks in two, with the rebellious northern kingdom undergoing several dynasties. The second half, 2 Kings, covers three centuries, from about 850 BC to about 560 BC, at which point neither kingdom exists anymore.
Outline
Commentator's Patterson and Austel organize 1 & 2 Kings in terms of the dynasties of the northern kingdom, Israel. The southern kingdom, Judah, continues the line of David but the northern kingdom, which began in civil war, continues with dynasties being overthrown by a new one. The Omri dynasty includes first Omri and then his son Ahab. Although Omri's reign is recorded externally by the Moabites, the cruel monarchy of Ahab, and his wife Jezebel, receives the Old Testament attention. Ahab is confronted by the prophet Elijah and the actions of Ahab and his contemporaries finish of 1 Kings. The reign of Ahab's son, Jehoram and the ministry of Elijah's disciple, Elisha, carry us through chapter 9 of 2 Kings. About 842 BC Jehu kills Jehoram and starts a new dynasty in the northern kingdom. That dynasty lasted for 90 years, through five kings. After that, in a span of 30 years, five kings rise and quickly fall in Israel/Samaria and then Assyria moves in and finishes off the kingdom.
Here is a simple outline:
- 2 Kings 1: 1 – 17, The death of Ahaziah (c. 850 BC.)
- 2 Kings 2: 1 – 9: 37, Elisha, Jehoram, and contemporaries (c. 850 – 840 BC)
- 2 Kings 10 :1 – 15: 12, House of Jehu (c. 840 – 750 BC)
- 2 Kings 15: 13 – 17: 41, Downfall of the Northern Kingdom (c. 750 – 722 BC)
- 2 Kings 18: 1 – 25: 21, The Downfall of the Sourthern Kingdom (722 – 586 BC)
- 2 Kings 25: 22 – 30, Final Remarks on the Exile (c. 586 – 561 BC)
Author
The last event in the scroll of Kings is the release of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 25: 27-30.) That event occurs about 561 BC. The scroll emphasizes the punishment of Israel and Judah due to their persistent denial of the covenantal agreement with YHWH, as described in Deuteronomy yet the scroll does not cover the return of exiles to Judah in 538 BC and so scholars believe that 1 & 2 Kings was completed sometime between 561 BC and 538 BC. (Hubbard suggests 550 BC.)
The scroll not only emphasizes devotion to YHWH, as required in Deuteronomy, but also emphasizes the roll of prophets in confronting the kings. Rabbinical tradition gives the author as the prophet Jeremiah. Indeed, at one point (2 Kings 10: 15-16) the author briefly mentions, without explanation, Jehonadab, a son of Rekab and then the story moves on. Jehonadab does not show up again. The descendants of Rekab return to the Old Testament in Jeremiah 35, when Jeremiah addresses the descendants in Jerusalem. Does Jehonadab briefly show up in 2 Kings because the author is Jeremiah, who records there the early involvement of the Rechabites?
There are good arguments for identifying Jeremiah as the author of 1 & 2 Kings. His knowledge of the various kingdoms, along with prophesies against idolatry, are consistent with the book of Jeremiah itself, which also includes some historical information. Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. dates the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry to 627 BC and so suggests that Jeremiah wrote most of 1 & 2 Kings but the last few events, occurring 90 years later, may have been recorded by an editor, preparing the scroll for the exiles in Babylon.
Questions about Dates
The events of 1 & 2 Kings are close enough to known external events of the ancient Near East, events in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, that we can provide rough dates to the events in Kings. In addition, the scroll of Kings itself provides quite a number of internal dates. The scroll covers the division of Israel into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The accession of a king in one kingdom is dated by the year of reign of the king in the other kingdom. However, with these internal dates, certain questions arise.
If one king reigns 20 years and his son reigns 30 years, what are the total years of their reigns?
This simple question may have a number of different answers, depending on how accession is recorded and whether or not there is a coregency, a time in which the son reigned while the father was still alive. There were two different practices in the ancient Middle East and both were apparently used at one time or another during this period in Israel. In one case, if a king took power during the middle of a year, that year counted as Year #1 in his reign. In other cases, that year did not count and Year #1 was the first full year of reign. This means that the a reign of 20 years followed by a reign of 30 years might duplicate a year common to both monarchs or exclude a year in the count, leading to totalities of 49 or 51 years between the two kings. And if there was a coregency of 5 years, we might need to subtract 5 years from the total. Add in the fact that traditionally the year began in the spring but apparently, under the influence of outsiders, the year began in the fall, and we then have a fair amount of confusion about the internal dating. Without an awareness of these issues, the internal dating is inconsistent (say commentators) and this inconsistency does not seem to bother the author. There are some commentators who are very concerned about these issues but I have ignored the issues in my own reading.
Resources and References
My practice is to read through the text from the New International Version (NIV), copied into the blog and italicized in blue. At the head of each blue paragraph of text I place a short title; after the text I place my thoughts or comments in black. I begin this process with my own reactions and thoughts and then supplement these comments with gleanings from a commentary or two.
- Robert L. Hubbard, Jr.. has a commentary First & Second Kings, in the Everyman's Bible Commentary Series, from Moody Press.
- I have also used a commentary by R. D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel found in the fourth volume of the Expositor's Bible Commentary.
- Amongst the online commentaries provided by EasyEnglishBible, is an online commentary on 2 Kings. (The Easy English Bible commentaries are easy to read, with deliberately simple language intended for those for whom English is a second language. The Old Testament text is included in the commentary.)
- The Gospel Coalition now has a set of online commentaries. Here is their commentary on 2 Kings.
- I have also used A Synoptic Harmony of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles: With Related Passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezra, edited by James Newsome. Another harmony of those books is available as an online pdf here.
- A Bible Project video on 1 & 2 Kings is here.
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