Summary: Context Of The Book Of Two Kings

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Sydney Gougeon 13 May, 2015 Old Testament Context of the Book of 2 kings Historical Setting As a historical book, 2 Kings narrates the story of the kingdoms to their captivities, documenting the reigns of the wicked and righteous kings in Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The book includes the translation of Elijah and the ministry of Elisha. Also during this period, Amos and Hosea prophesied in Israel. Among the prophets in Judah were Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah. Covering a span of about 300 years, 2 Kings narrates from the reign of Ahaziah (around 853 B.C.,), includes the fall of Israel to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., the fall of Jerusalem, the exile of the Jews to Babylon in 586 B.C., and…show more content…
What is most likely, considering 2 Kings’ emphasis on the ministry of prophets, is that the author was an unnamed prophet of the Lord - probably one who lived in exile with the rest of the Israelites in Babylon. On a side note, Jewish tradition proposed that Jeremiah wrote Kings, though this is not likely: because the final event recorded in the book (see 2 Kin. 25:27–30) occurred in Babylon in 561 B.C. Jeremiah never went to Babylon, but to Egypt (Jer. 43:1–7), and would have been at least 86 years old by 561 B.C. Kings was written as between 561–538 B.C. Since the last narrated event (2 Kin. 25:27–30) sets the earliest possible date of completion and because there is no record of the end of the Babylonian captivity in Kings, the release from exile (538 B.C.) identifies the latest possible writing…show more content…
2 Timothy 3:15-17 tells us that the Bible is God’s message to us. Like Josiah, we need to read God’s message. We also need to discover what it means. Then we must obey what God tells us to do in it. Like Josiah, we too live in an age when God’s punishment is certain (2 Peter 3:10-11). God will not allow evil governments to rule this world always. He will end their power. That is certain and nothing can prevent it. (See Revelation chapter 18.) God would not be a fair judge if he did not act to punish sin. But although God’s punishment is certain, we do not have to suffer that punishment. Like Josiah, we can be humble in front of God. We can repent and we can choose to trust God. Jesus himself suffered the punishment on behalf of those people who will trust him. And in the end, the people who trust God will live in his new heaven and new earth (2 Peter

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