Survey of the Bible - II Kings
Text: II Kings 17:22-23; 23:27
I. The book of II Kings continues the history presented by I Samuel, II Samuel, and I Kings.
A. Originally it was written as one long work contributed by various prophets and probably edited into a unified whole by Jeremiah.
1. The division in the middle of King Ahaziah is artificial.
2. Jeremiah 52 and II Kings 24:18-25:30 are almost identical
B. Most was written before the Babylonian captivity
1. Mentions of idolatry continuing to this day in the land of Israel - II Kings 17:34, 41
C. The United kingdom lasted 112 years
1. Northern Israel lasted 209 years until the Assyrians conquered it.
2. Southern Judah lasted by itself an additional 136 years before being destroyed by the Babylonians.
D. I Kings covers the division and decline of Israel and Judah. II Kings covers deterioration and destruction of the divided kingdoms.
II. II Kings 1-17 covers 131 years of history; from Ahaziah’s reign in 853 BC to the Assyrian conquest of Israel in 722 BC.
A. Of Israel’s 19 kings, not one is righteous. All but the very first of the 9 dynasties or family lines are founded upon the murder of the prior line.
B. Ahaziah - II Kings 1
1. As we mentioned, Ahaziah’s reign is split between I and II Kings
2. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 2 years
3. He was a son of Ahab and followed his father’s ways
4. He had a nasty fall through a window. He asked whether he would live from worshipers of Baal-zebub.
a. But God sent Elijah to meet the messengers. He told them that Ahaziah would not get up from bed before he died.
b. When Ahaziah sent men to get Elijah with interesting results - II Kings 1:9-15
C. Jehoram (Joram) - II Kings 2-8:24
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 12 years
2. He, too, was a son of Ahab
3. Elijah is taken to heaven and Elisha becomes the next prophet - II Kings 2
a. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind
b. Elisha purifies the water of Jericho
c. Elisha and the taunting youths
4. Mesha rebelled in Moab and Jehoram combined with Judah and Edom to put down the rebellion - II Kings 3
a. This event is historically noteworthy because we found the steele that gives Mesha’s account of the events and they match up.
5. Elisha’s Miracles - II Kings 4-6:7
a. Widow given oil
b. The hospitable Shunammite woman and the raising of her son
c. Curing of a poisonous batch of stew
d. Feeding of 100 people
e. The healing of Naaman the leper
f. The floating axe head
6. The Arameans try to capture Elisha for relaying state secrets - II Kings 6:8-23
7. The siege of Samaria where the king blames Elisha for his woes - II Kings 6:24-7
8. Elisha predicts the death of Ben-hadad in Damascus and Hazael would replace him, much to Israel’s grief - II Kings 8
D. Jehoram (Joram) - II Kings 8:16-23
1. Judah. An evil king. Reigned 8 years
2. He was a son of Jehoshaphat, but had married a daughter of Ahab named Athaliah
a. He followed the ways of Ahab
b. The only reason he was left on the throne was because God had made a promise to David
3. Edom revolted during his reign
E. Ahaziah (Jehoahaz and Azariah) - II Kings 8:24-9:28
1. Judah. An evil king. Reigned 1 year.
2. He also followed the ways of Ahab
3. He became wounded while helping his uncle, Jehoram of Israel fight off Hazael of Damascus
F. Jehu - II Kings 9-10
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 28 years
2. Elisha is sent to Jehu and anoints him as the next king of Israel and tasks him with wiping out Ahab’s house.
3. Jehu then sets off to Jezreel where he murders both Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah and then slays Jezebel as well. He then proceeds to kill off all the descendants of Ahab.
4. He then wiped out the worshipers of Baal.
5. But for all his good, he left Jeroboam’s idols up. God had offered him a long dynasty, but he didn’t follow God and began losing territory.
G. Athaliah - II Kings 11
1. Judah. An evil queen. Reigned 6 years
2. With the death of her son Ahaziah, Athaliah decides to take over and has all her children and grandchildren killed.
3. The high priest, Jehoiada and his wife, Jehosheba, managed to rescue the youngest son, Joash. Jehosheba was Joash’s aunt.
4. Jehoiada stages a rebellion and has Athaliah killed.
H. Joash (Jehoash) - II Kings 12
1. Judah. An evil king. Reigned 40 years
2. Joash started at the age of seven and ruled well while his uncle lived and advised him, but after his death, Joash turned wicked.
a. The fault listed in II Kings is that he took all the restored articles in the temple from the early part of his reign and used them to bribe Hazael to leave him alone.
3. He was assassinated by his servants
I. Jehoahaz - II Kings 13:1-9
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 17 years
2. Suffered under constant war with Hazael and his son Ben-hadad.
3. His army was wiped out to almost nothing - II Kings 13:7
J. Jehoash (Joash) - II Kings 13:10-14:16
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 16 years.
2. While continuing the sins of Jeroboam, it is noted that he respected Elisha and came to him on at his death.
a. He was offered victory over Aram and Damascus
b. But he timidly followed the Elisha’s instructions and as a result was only given three victories.
K. Amaziah - II Kings 14:1-20
1. Judah. A good king, but not whole hearted. Reigned 29 years.
2. He retook Edom following God’s instructions, but then turned against God when Israel attacked his territory
3. He lost a war with Israel and Jerusalem was plundered
4. He was assassinated as a result by his own people.
L. Jeroboam - II Kings 14:23-29
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 41 years.
2. Though evil, God allowed him to restore Israel’s borders.
M. Uzziah (Azariah) - II Kings 14:21-22; 15:1-7
1. Judah. A good king. Reigned 52 years
2. He is remembered for becoming a leper when he thought he could offer incense to God.
N. Zechariah - II Kings 15:8-12
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 6 months
2. Killed as God prophesied to Jehu that four generations after him would reign.
O. Shallum - II Kings 15:13-15
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 1 month
2. He was assassinated right after he killed Zechariah.
P. Menahem - II Kings 15:16-22
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 10 years
2. Noted for killing all the pregnant women in Tiphsah
3. Also bribed the king of Assyria to keep him out of Israel and then taxed his own people to pay the huge sum.
Q. Pekahiah - II Kings 15:23-26
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 2 years.
2. Assassinated.
R. Pekah - II Kings 15:27-31; 16:1-5
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 20 years.
2. Assyria began taking his territory and carrying people off.
3. He was assassinated.
S. Jotham - II Kings 15:32-38
1. Judah. A good king. Reigned 16 years.
T. Ahaz - II Kings 16:1-20
1. Judah. An evil king. Reigned 16 years.
2. Followed after the kings of Israel’s idolatry.
3. Lost territory that his grandfather had gained.
4. Bribed Assyria to help. A silly thing because Assyria was moving in anyway.
U. Hoshea - II Kings 17
1. Israel. An evil king. Reigned 9 years.
2. It was during his reigned that Israel was wiped out by Assyria and carted off into captivity.
3. Reason - II Kings 17:7-23. Verses 21-23 is the summary.
III. II Kings 18-25 covers 155 years of history; from Hezekiah’s reign in 715 BC to Jehoiachin’s release in Babylon in 560 BC.
A. Judah only had one dynasty, a continuation of the line of David. Eight of its 20 rulers do what is right before God.
B. This second half is a bit easier to follow since we are not jumping back and forth between the two kingdoms.
C. Hezekiah - II Kings 18-20
1. Good king. Reigned 29 years
2. He was known for his trust in God - II Kings 18:3-6
3. He pushed back the Philistines.
4. He rebelled against Assyria and when the Assyrians came to punish him, Hezekiah gave them the remaining wealth of the temple to back off.
a. They didn’t. And God wiped out their army - II Kings 19:35
5. Hezekiah became ill. He was told to prepare for death, but after pleading was granted 15 more years.
a. Sadly, he didn’t use those years well.
b. He showed off his wealth to representatives of Babylon and was told that as a result Babylon would be back to wipe Judah out - II Kings 20:16-19
D. Manasseh - II Kings 21:1-18
1. Evil king. Reigned 55 years
2. Restored idolatry and even sacrificed his own sons to idols - II Kings 21:2-9
3. Basically, he out did Ahab in evil and all the countries God destroyed for being evil. His was a reign of terror - II Kings 21:16
E. Amon - II Kings 21:19-26
1. Evil king. Reigned 2 years.
2. Just like his father.
3. Assassinated by his servants.
F. Josiah - II Kings 22-23:30
1. Good Kings. Reigned 31 years
2. He restored the temple. Found the books of law that had been lost since Manasseh’ days and started following them.
3. His dedication bought Judah a reprieve from destruction - II Kings 22:18-20
4. He was given high praise - II Kings 23:25
5. He was killed in battle against Egypt
G. Jehoahaz (Shallum) - II Kings 23:31-34
1. Evil king. Reigned 3 months.
2. Was captured by Pharaoh Neco and died in Egypt
H. Jehoiakim (Eliakim) - II Kings 23:34-24:6
1. Evil king. Reigned 11 years
2. Puppet of Pharaoh, ruling in his brother’s place.
3. Babylon attacked and Jehoiakim surrendered for 3 years, but he rebelled and Judah suffered its first devastating blow by Nebuchadnezzar
4. Many of the upper class was carried into captivity.
I. Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah) - II Kings 24:6-16; 25:27-30
1. Evil king. Reigned 3 months
2. Was carted away in the second attack by Nebuchadnezzar along with the middle class and the remainder of the upper class.
3. Lived in exile, but died in Babylon.
J. Zedekiah (Mattaniah) - II Kings 24:17-25:21
1. Evil king. Reigned 11 years
2. Jehoiachin’s uncle, puppet of Nebuchadnezzar
3. Eventually rebelled and the third wave destroyed what was left of Judah.
4. His sons were killed before him and then he was blinded and carted off to Babylon.
K. Gedaliah - II Kings 25:22-25
1. Note of David’s lineage, so only a governor
2. Tried to get people to live under Babylonian rule but was killed.
IV. The books from I Samuel to II Kings were written to record the rise and fall of Israel.
A. It is not an exhaustive history, but it is a thorough account showing how the failures of successive kings led Israel further from God and to its eventual destruction.
B. Israel’s kings and people failed to heed the warnings sent by God’s prophets.
C. God did bless the nation when good kings reigned, but He brought judgment consistently when evil kings reigned and these were more frequent than the good kings.
Judah | Israel | Prophets |
Jehoshaphat (continued) | Ahaziah (Evil) 2 years Started 17th year of Jehoshaphat II Kings 1 | Elijah II Kings 1-2:11 |
Jehoram (Joram) (Evil) 12 years Started 18th year of Jehoshaphat II Kings 3-8 | Elisha II Kings 2-13 | |
Jehoram (Joram) (Evil) 8 years Started the 5th year of Jehoram II Kings 8:16-23 | ||
Ahaziah (Jehoahaz, Azariah) (Evil) 1 year Started the 12th year of Jehoram II Kings 8:24-9:28 | ||
Athaliah (Evil) 6 years II Kings 11:1-20 | Jehu (Evil) 28 years II Kings 9:1-10:36 | |
Joash (Jehoash) (Evil) 40 years Started the 7th year of Jehu II Kings 11:21-12:21 | ||
Jehoahaz (Evil) 17 years Started the 23rd year of Joash II Kings 13:1-9 | ||
Amaziah (Good) 29 years Started the 2nd year of Joash II Kings 14:1-20 | Joash (Jehoash) (Evil) 16 years Started the 37th year of Joash II Kings 13:10-14:16 | |
Jereboam (Evil) 41 years Started the 15th year of Amaziah II Kings 14:23-29 |
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Uzziah (Azariah) (Good) 52 years Started 27th year of Jereboam II Kings 14:21-22; 15:1-7 | ||
Zechariah (Evil) 6 months Started the 38th year of Uzziah II Kings 15:8-12 |
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Shallum (Evil) 1 month Started the 39th year of Uzziah II Kings 15:13-15 |
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Menahem (Evil) 10 years Started the 39th year of Uzziah II Kings 15:16-22 |
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Pekahiah (Evil) 2 years Started the 50th year of Uzziah |
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Jotham (Good) 16 years Started the 2nd year of Pekah II Kings 15:32-38 | Pekah (Evil) 20 years Started the 52nd year of Uzziah II Kings 15:25-37 |
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Ahaz (Evil) 16 years Started the 17th year of Pekah II Kings 16:1-20 | Hoshea (Evil) 9 years Started the 12th year of Ahaz II Kings 17 |
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Hezekiah (Good) 29 years Started the 3rd year of Hoshea II Kings 18:1-20:21 |
| Isaiah II Kings 19-20 |
Manasseh (Evil) 55 years II Kings 21:1-18 |
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Amon (Evil) 2 years II Kings 21:18-26 |
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Josiah (Good) 31 years II Kings 22:1-23:30 |
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Jehoahaz (Shallum) (Evil) 3 months II Kings 23:31-34 |
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Jehoiakim (Eliakim) (Evil) 11 years II Kings 23:34-24:6 |
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Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah) (Evil) 3 months II Kings 24:6-16; 25:27-30 |
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Zedekiah (Mattaniah) (Evil) 11 years II Kings 24:17-25:7 |
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Captivity Gedaliah appointed governor II Kings 24:20-25:26 |
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