II Kings Introduction

Introduction

Second Kings continues the history of the Hebrew people. First Kings began around 970 BC with the death of David and progressed thru the "golden years" of the Hebrew Nation. It recorded Solomon's glorious reign and ended in 850 BC with an evil and disobedient people. The Nation of Israel than became divided into 2 kingdoms, Judah, in the south, and Israel, in the north. First Kings covered a period of about 120 years. It ended with the mighty works of the Prophet Elijah.

With the death of Solomon, nineteen consecutive evil kings ruled over the Northern Kingdom of Israel leading ultimately to the capture and dispersion of the people by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The picture was somewhat brighter in the Southern Kingdom of Judah where, after the death of Solomon, 20 consecutive kings reigned with an occasional godly king that brought brief periods of reform, but ultimately, Judah fell to the Babylonians and Jerusalem was destroyed about 586 BC.

Second Kings continues the history of the divided kingdoms, describes the moral and economic decay of then both and lists the 19 consecutive evil kings that ruled Israel and the 20 consecutive kings, most of which were evil also, of the Kingdom of Judah. Second Kings records the mighty works of the Prophet Elisha. As with First Kings, many sources were used in compiling it. We will see the Prophets becoming God's mediators, and the Kings, for the most part, becoming servants of Satan.

We will divide the book into three Parts:

1. Part 1, The Introduction.
2. Part 2, The Histories of the Divided Kingdom, chapters 1 thru 17.
3. Part 3, The History of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, chapters 18 through 25.

Our story begins in 853 BC, A-haz-iah was the 8th. King of Israel sense Solomon and Jehospaphat was the 4th King of Judah.

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