2 nd KINGS Week 1, chapter 1 The 2 books of Kings (1 st and 2 nd Kings) were originally 1 book that recorded the history of Israel’s monarchy from the last few days of King David’s life, through the civil war that split the unified Kingdom of Israel into…

2 ND KINGS Lesson 2, chapters 1 and 2 As we left off in 2 nd Kings chapter 1 last week, the greatest prophet of the Bible, Elijah, has resurfaced and of course it is to bring a message of warning and doom to the latest king of the northern…

2 ND KINGS Week 3, chapter 2 Last week’s lesson in 2 nd Kings chapter 2 led us up to the famous and mysterious account of Elijah’s translation into heaven. And we’ll look at that event closely today. But much more is going on in this chapter than only that.…

2 ND KINGS Week 4, chapter 3 Beginning in 2 nd Kings Chapter 2, the beginning of the end of the Prophet Elijah’s reign as the highest and chief prophet among the many prophets of Israel and Judah was commenced. Eliyahu (Elijah), Elisha’s former master, who had been mysteriously removed…

2 ND KINGS Week 5, chapter 4 As we continue in the Book of 2 nd Kings, Elisha is now firmly entrenched as the most spirit- filled and honored prophet in Israel. Even in the story in chapter 3 of Moab rebelling against Israel, and the subsequent attempt by Y’horam…

2 ND KINGS Week 6, Chapters 4 and 5 We stopped our last lesson in the middle of 2 nd Kings Chapter 4, with the story of the wealthy woman of Shunem having rushed to Mt. Carmel to urge Elisha to come back with her to try and revivify her…

2 ND KINGS Week 7, chapter 5 As we continue in 2 nd Kings Chapter 5 it absolutely glows with Biblical principles that we also find in the New Testament, and especially those associated with the life and works of Yeshua HaMashiach. The main figure in this narrative is a…

2 ND KINGS Week 8, chapter 6 Last week’s lesson in 2 nd Kings 5 revolved around the gentile Syrian army commander Na’aman, who gave us a surprising look at the most foundational principles of the Gospel. I say surprising because most Believers (even seekers) expect to find such principles…

2 nd KINGS Week 9, chapters 6 and 7 We ended our last lesson on a decidedly down note, as we read in 2 nd Kings 6 of a siege by Syria upon the northern Israelite capital city of Samaria. And because of the nature of siege warfare whose goal…

2 ND KINGS Week 10, chapter 8 We’ll study 2 nd Kings 8 today, but before we do I want to explain the nature of what it is that we’ll be looking at because otherwise it can be a bit confusing, and also because we’ll see this same literary style…

2 ND KINGS Week 11, Chapter 8 continued We continue today in 2 nd Kings Chapter 8 and the ongoing saga of Israel’s history during an era when Elijah and Elisha were raised up by God to bring His justice to the kingdoms of Ephraim/Israel and Judah. Elijah operated almost…

2 nd KINGS Week 12, chapter 9 As a boulder gathers speed as it rolls down a steep hillside, so we see Israel and Judah tumbling out of control down their own slippery slope towards God’s wrath by means of their idolatry and apostasy. And just as the physics of…

2 ND KINGS Week 13, Chapters 9 and 10 It’s about 840 B.C. Yehu has just been anointed King of Israel by an anonymous guild prophet who was sent under the authority of Elisha to the Trans-Jordanian fortress city of Ramot- Gilead for just that purpose. This anointing […]

2 ND KINGS Week 14, chapters 10 and 11 The Book of 2 nd Kings spends quite a lot of time recording the deeds of Yehu (Jehu), and then the 3 kings who come after him that forms his 4 generation dynasty. And the reason for this […]

2 ND KINGS Week 15, chapter 11 As we continue our study of 2 nd Kings 11 today, we’re going to paint with a few very broad brush stokes and also some very fine detail. And we begin by finding that Athaliah, the equally wicked daughter of the recently […]

2 ND KINGS Week 16, chapter 12 We’ll study 2 nd Kings 12 this week, which continues the story of Joash, the latest King of Judah who was publically coronated at the tender age of only 7 years. Our previous lesson in chapter 11 told us why it was […]

2 ND KINGS Week 17, chapter 13 It’s time to step back again and get the bigger picture of what is happening in the Book of 2 nd Kings. We need to do that because in the next few chapters some seismic shifts in Israel’s political, social and religious fabric…

2 ND KINGS Week 18, Chapters 13 and 14 In 2 nd Kings 13, the subject is the northern kingdom of Israel and their accelerating decline towards God’s judgment upon them. As the name of the Bible book implies, the story is told in the context of the succession […]

2 ND KINGS Week 19, chapter 14 We had just opened the divine door of Holy Scripture into 2 nd Kings 14 last week when we ran out of time, so we’ll continue with that this week, and we’ll even have to take some time next week to finish […]

2 ND KINGS Week 20, Chapters 14 and 15 As we ended our lesson last week in 2 nd Kings 14 yet another Hebrew king looted the Holy Temple in Jerusalem for the sake of its valuable silver and gold articles. This time it was Joash, King of Israel, […]

2 ND KINGS Week 21, Chapter 15 It might surprise you to know that 2 nd Kings 14 and 15 are some of the most extensively covered and minutely dissected chapters of the 2 Books of Kings by Bible scholars and by historians. There is more here to know and…

2 ND KINGS Week 22, chapter 15 continued As we continue in 2 nd Kings 15, let’s briefly review. First recall that while 2 nd Kings has relatively few details regarding some of the Hebrew kings, the Book of Chronicles adds more. Thus in order to properly apprehend the deteriorating…

2 ND KINGS Week 23, chapter 16 As we begin our study of 2 nd Kings chapter 16 today that will take a couple of weeks to complete, I’ll reiterate that in order to properly understand the times and to better understand certain events that are being depicted, we […]

2 ND KINGS Week 24, chapter 16 cont. We’re in 2 nd Kings Chapter 16, and we only got a little way into it last week. Keep in mind that we are witnessing the last days of the existence of the northern kingdom of Israel. As of this chapter, some…

2 ND KINGS Week 25, Chapter 17 As we begin 2 nd Kings 17 today, we will read of the end of the northern kingdom of Israel, and thus the beginning of the legend of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. At the conclusion of chapter 16 the subject was…

2 ND KINGS Week 26, Chapters 17 and 18 As we resume our study of 2 nd Kings, let’s review. We are in chapter 17, at the time when the northern kingdom called itself Israel, and alternately Ephraim; the kingdom that was begun by Jeroboam after Solomon’s death, had just…

2 ND KINGS Week 27, chapter 18 Momentarily we’re going to re-read a goodly portion of 2 nd Kings 18, so rich is it not only in Israel’s history but in great and timeless spiritual lessons that seem to be regularly forgotten not only by Believers but by the Jews…

2ND KINGS Week 28, chapters 18 and 19 We’re in 2nd Kings 18, which is the story of righteous King Hezekiah, King of Judah, who is perhaps best known in modern times as the king that ordered that a water tunnel to be built to protect the water supply of…

2 ND KINGS Week 29, chapter 19 We closed out our last lesson in 2 nd Kings by reading Ezekiel 38 because it is closely connected with 2 nd Kings 18 and 19. If you missed that lesson I suggest you obtain it as we’ll not be […]

2 ND KINGS Week 30, chapter 20 Be aware that we’re going to take a couple of detours today in order to give you some information that ought to be helpful for your general understanding of the Bible. For several weeks, now, we’ve been following the see-saw progress of Judah,…

2 ND KINGS Week 31, Chapters 20 and 21 In our day in the modern Western culture and body politic, human history and spirituality are considered as mutually exclusive subjects and realms. Thus in the United States we have this constant tension between the borderlines of Church and State. However…

2 ND KINGS Week 32, Chapter 21 Open your Bibles to 2 nd Kings Chapter 21. We’ll be doing quite a bit of reading and referencing today from this chapter as well as it’s parallel in 2 nd Chronicles 33. Manasseh is the current King of Judah, having replaced his…

2 ND KINGS Week 33, Chapter 22 Last time we concluded 2 nd Kings 21 with the notice that a new king of Judah was now on the throne, a fellow named Yoshiyahu (Josiah). Josiah was the son of Amon and grandson of Manasseh. It is the year 641 B.C.…

2 ND KINGS Week 34, Chapters 22 continued The clock is ticking. Closer and closer we get to the moment when Judah will join their Israelite brethren in exile, and the people of Judah are oblivious to it. They are reveling in the good times as the economy was looking…

2 ND KINGS Week 35, chapters 22 and 23 We’ll open this week in verse 14 of 2 nd Kings 22. It is here that we learn of a female prophet named Hulda , and of King Josiah sending an embassy to her consisting of his royal court plus the…

2 ND KINGS Week 36, chapter 23 2 nd Kings Chapter 23 is one of those chapters in the bible that is so chocked full of historical information and divine principles and applications that it takes awhile to untangle it and address it all. I think the time we spend…

2ND KINGS Week 37, Chapter 23 conclusion I hope you are ready for a considerable bible history lesson today, because the last couple of chapters of 2nd Kings contains one of the most studied periods of Israelite history, and certainly one of the most pertinent and fascinating for modern Christians…

2ND KINGS Week 38, Chapter 24 Although we’re going to start a new chapter today in 2nd Kings, chapter 24, we’re going to continue in what amounts to a heavy-duty bible history lesson, along with an equally heavy dose of application. Last time we ended with the death of righteous…

2 ND KINGS Week 39, Chapters 24 and 25 We’re entering the home stretch in our study of 2 nd Kings. This week and next should finish up the book. But what finishing up the book means, is that Judah will then be officially exiled from the Promised Land. At…

2 ND KINGS Week 40, Chapter 25 END OF BOOK Today concludes our nearly one-year study of the Book of 2 nd Kings. It ends with the inevitable exile of Judah to Babylon. I say inevitable because the downward spiritual death-spiral that first enveloped the northern kingdom of Ephraim/Israel also…