Introduction to 2 Kings

Transition can be a good thing or a bad thing but it is always a little bit scary.  The book of 2 Kings recounts the story of several transitions that take place in the history of the nation of Israel.  We see God transition from one prophet to another and then we see the nations of Israel and Judah transitioning from liberty to captivity due to their rebellion against God.  There is a strong contrast between the first part of the book where God demonstrates His power through the ministry of Elisha and the second part of the book where God demonstrates His wrath against the rebellion of the idolatrous kings of Israel.  People often talk about a life of sin as being liberating; nothing could be further from the truth.  It is very clear that sinfulness leads to captivity and that true liberty can only be found in obedience to the Lord.  God is the only truly free Being in the universe and He longs to share that freedom with us. Satan is a slave to sin and wants to leave us enslaved just as he is.  This truth is on full display as we see the nations of Israel and Judah walking down the path of idolatry right into captivity.

PROPHETS TRANSITION FROM ELIJAH TO ELISHA: Elijah is clearly at the end of his ministry and God has revealed to him that he will soon be taken off of this earth.  Elisha has been chosen to be his successor and stays close to him in order to be a part of whatever God might do in this situation.  Elijah is taken up into heaven without having to face death.  It must have been a glorious sight to see the heavens open up and a chariot of fire swoop down and take Elijah away.  God had done something similar with Enoch way back in Genesis and He will do this again in a massive way when He raptures the church.  Elisha witnesses the entire event and begins a ministry that clearly demonstrates the power of God as well as His control over the events of the world.  Elisha, like Elijah was used to grant a barren woman a son, multiply food in order to meet the needs of a poor family, raise the dead, heal the sick, reveal God’s will to the nation, confront idolatry and perform multiple other miracles.  It is a blessing to know that we serve a powerful God who is able to do much more than we can even imagine.  God’s power is on full display in Elisha’s life and it provides a stark contrast to the impotence of the idols who the majority of the leaders in Israel were serving.  They are constantly under attack from neighboring nations.  The people are starving to the point of eating their own children and yet they refuse to submit to the Lord.  It is a comfort to know that we serve a powerful God who is in control of all of the circumstances of our lives and is able to deliver us according to His will.

ISRAEL’S TRANSITION FROM IDOLATRY TO INVASION: The story of the kings of Israel is one of idolatry and disobedience with very few exceptions.  It hard to imagine how the nation and its leaders could have been so blind to the consequences of their rebellion.  Time and time again they were warned and came under attack and were even delivered by the Lord only to stray right back into their old habits of idolatry and rebellion.  It is hard to imagine the kind of suffering and hunger the people were facing, but when the Syrian army established a blockade of Samaria the famine in the city became unbearable.  Things were so bad that women were fighting because they had agreed to eat one of their children earlier and the other’s child later.  The first woman sacrificed her child to satisfy their hunger but now the second woman was not willing to offer her child for their next meal.  I cannot imagine hunger in this proportion or this kind of selfishness.  What is even more unsettling is that the king in this situation does not turn to the Lord in repentance; instead he tries to kill Elisha as if the situation were his fault.  Sinfulness truly is blinding and we must be very careful to examine our own blindness to sin.  Elisha predicts immediate relief from the famine and God provides this by scaring the Syrian army in the night to the point that they fled for their lives leaving all of their supplies behind.  Four lepers decide that it would be better to take a chance at survival at the hands of the Syrians than to starve to death so they head off to the camp only to find it abandoned.  They eat and drink to their fill and start hoarding the bounty when they realize that they must share this great news with the city.  This is a wonderful picture of the desperation of sin, the plentiful provision of Christ and our responsibility to share this Good News with those who are still lost in their sin.  Even after such a demonstration of God’s power and deliverance the nation continued its path in idolatry and eventually ended up being taken captive by the Assyrians and really never regained their freedom.  Sin certainly has grave consequences and we would all do well to examine our hearts and lives for areas of spiritual blindness that lead us down a path of sinfulness and the terrible consequences.

JUDAH’S TRANSITION FROM DISOBEDIENCE TO DEPORTATION: The kings of Judah seem to be much more submissive and sensitive to the Lord than the kings of Israel.  This statement reflects our tendency to compare one person to another or even ourselves with others.  Comparison is rarely a good thing because it tends to produce arrogance, complacency or discouragement.  None of which are pleasing to the Lord.  However, with the exception of a few kings there is a clear distinction between the level of commitment to the Lord between the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel.  Unfortunately, even with the godly kings we see an all too familiar pattern of Kings who started well but did not finish well. Joash came from a very ungodly family and was spared from the killing spree of his own grandmother by a valiant priest named Jehoiadah.  Joash was established as king at a very young age and followed the instruction of his adopted father who was a godly priest.  He removed idols and did a massive reconstruction of the temple.  However, once the priest died he strayed from the Lord and ended up killing his adopted brother when confronted by him for his idolatry.  Hezekiah was another godly king who did great things in the nation and served the Lord faithfully and cried out to the Lord in times of need until after he was cured from an illness and granted by God an extra 15 years of life.  He ended up becoming proud and when informed that his disobedience would cause his sons and grandsons to suffer he was simply happy that he would not suffer.  In light of eternity, it would have been better for him to have died 15 years sooner.  Manasseh was one of the most evil kings in either Israel or Judah.  He practiced and promoted idolatry in unprecedented ways.  However he was an exception to the pattern of starting well and finishing poorly.  His disobedience led to God taking him into exile where he truly repented and was re-established as king and ended up finishing well to the point that his son turned out to be the best king in the history of the nation.  Josiah was that son and was a very godly king who followed the Lord with all of his heart, removed idolatry and brought spiritual revival to a land that desperately needed it.  Something that is very revealing about the state of the nation was that after years of reigning the copy of the Law of God was found and read to Josiah.  This reading brought great repentance and revival.  However, it is a sad commentary on the history of the nation that the king who was supposed to write out a copy of the Law upon taking office had never even been exposed to the Law prior to this time.  When nations or individuals ignore the Word of Good they will inevitably fall into sin and corruption which lead to destruction.  Judah, like Israel before her followed the path of disobedience until they were deported by the Babylonians into captivity.  No matter how many people may say otherwise; sinfulness never results in liberty but will always end in bondage