A Divided Kingdom:The Books of I & II Kings

Judah after the fall of Israel

Part 3

II Kings Chapter 22-23

Announcements

Week Date Topic

1 05 Dec 12 The Bible before 2nd Kings – A Summary

2 12 Dec 12 Allies and Enemies: The World of the Israelites

3 19 Dec 12 Judgment on Ahaziah: II Ki 1

4 26 Dec 12 Elijah, Moab, and Naaman: II Ki 2-4

5 02 Jan 13 Elisha the Prophet: II Ki 5-8

6 09 Jan 13 Jehu’s Revolt: II Ki 9:1-10:28

7 16 Jan 13 After Jehu until the Fall of Samaria, Pt 1: II Ki 11-14

8 23 Jan 13 After Jehu until the Fall of Samaria, Pt 2: II Ki 15-17

9 30 Jan 13 Judah after the Fall of Israel, Pt 1: II Ki 18-19

10 06 Feb 13 Judah after the Fall of Israel, Pt 2: II Ki 20-21

11 13 Feb 13 Judah after the Fall of Israel, Pt 3: II Ki 22-23

12 20 Feb 13 Judah after the Fall of Isreal, Pt 4: II Ki 24-25

13 27 Feb 13 Summary of Kings

II Kings

Today’s Objectives• Review previous weeks lesson (II Kings 20-21)

• Learn about the reign of Josiah

• Learn about the significant impact of the geopolitical circumstances

• Learn about Josiah’s discovery of the law and his vast religious reforms

• Learn how future religious reformations often cited Josiah as an example

• Learn about the fall of the Assyrian empire and the rise of the Babylonian empire

• See how Josiah dies and learn about his successors

Last Week’s Class• Reviewed previous weeks lesson (II Kings 17-19)

• Learned about the reign of Hezekiah

• Learned how and why God extends Hezekiah’s life

• Saw the pride that developed in Hezekiah and how it caused the eventual downfall of Judah

• Learned about two evil kings of Judah that followed Hezekiah: Manasseh and Amon

• Introduced to the one of the greatest kings of Judah

Overview of I and II Kings• Originally one book

– Early Greek manuscripts of the OT combined the books of Samuel and Kings under the title of "kingdoms," or "reigns"

– Kings was broken into two books for convenience sake because of its length (Greek translation)

• Authorship– Some portions of the book identical to the book of Jeremiah

– Jeremiah would have personal knowledge of some contents

– Evidence that Ezra was the author after the Babylonian captivity

• Timeline– Approximately 400 years, written between 560 B.C. and 538 B.C.

– Start: Death of David in 971 B.C.

– End: Jehoiachin's release from a Babylonian prison in 562 B.C.

Overview of I and II Kings• Books of Samuel and Kings cover Israel's period as

a nation under a king:– I Samuel: Life of Saul– II Samuel: Life of David– I Kings: Solomon and the divided kingdom– II Kings: The fall of the divided kingdoms of Israel and

Judah

• Content of I and II Kings– 47 chapters (I Ki – 22 chapters, II Ki – 25 chapters)– History of the Jewish commonwealth– Death of David to subjugation to Babylonians

• Purpose– Imparting of great moral lessons backed up by well-

known illustrations– Religious history – Focused upon kings rather than prophets

• Key Lesson– God does not fail His people; His people, led by their

kings, have failed God– God’s covenant has the contingency of Israel’s

faithfulness– Covenant also promises a return from exile those that

return to God

Overview of I and II Kings

Main Characters of Chapter 18-19• Josiah – son of Amon, one of the greatest kings of

Israel, reigned 31 years (around 640-609)

• Hilkiah – the high priest of the temple in Jerusalem

• Pharaoh Necho II – leader of Egypt who allied his nation with the Assyrians against the Babylonians and Medes

• Jehoahaz - the son of Josiah who succeeded him as king in Judah

Places of Chapter 22-23• Jerusalem – capital of Judah, or the southern

kingdom, “city of David”, location of the temple

• Assyria – east of Israel near modern day northern Iraq

• Nineveh – capital of Assyria, near modern day Mosul in northern Iraq

• Babylonia – near modern day Baghdad, where the two rivers are closes (Tigris and Euphrates)

• Megiddo – Place where Josiah is killed delaying the Egyptian link-up with the Assyrians

• 640 B.C. — Josiah becomes king• 633 B.C. — Death of Ashur-banipal (Assyria),

succeeded by Assur-etel-ilani• 629 B.C. — Assur-etel-ilani dies, succeeded by Sin-

sum-lisir, who dies the same year• 626 BC — Nabopolassar revolts against Assyria,

founds the Neo-Babylonian Empire• 625 BC — Medes and Babylonians assert their

independence from Assyria and attack Nineveh• 623 BC — Sin-shar-ishkun succeeds his brother Assur-

etel-ilani as king of Assyria • 622 BC — Text of Deuteronomy found in the temple

in Jerusalem• 612 BC — Fall of the Assyrian Empire

Geopolitical Situation

http://www.bible-history.com/maps/assyrian_expansion.html

Beginning of Josiah’s Reforms (II Kings 22:1-10)

• Josiah begins his reforms (22:1-2)– Began his reign at eight years old– Did right in the sight of the Lord– Walked in the ways of David

• Josiah tells Hilkiah to repair the temple (22:3-7)– 18th year of Josiah, or 622 B.C., or 26 years old– Follows a purification of religious practices in Judah (2

Chron 34-35)

• The Book of the Law is found and read (22:8-10)– The scribe reads the book found in the temple

Book of the Law

• Deut 17:18-20 tells us that each king was to have a personal copy of the law, and he was to read it.

• Deut 29:21, “And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:

• Deut 31:9-13 tells us that the entire law was to be read to an assembly of the nation once every 7 years at the Feast of Tabernacles to keep the law before the people.

• First public reading of the law in Josh 8:30, also Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron 17:7

King Josiah and the Book of the Law(II Kings 22:11-20)

• King Josiah and the Book of the Law (22:11)– Tears his clothes– Spiritual awakening

• King Josiah seeks the Lord (22:12-13)– Commands the priest to go inquire of the Lord– Concerning the words of the book that was found

• God’s word to Judah– The priest inquires of Huldah the prophetess– Judgment is coming– Because the forsook God and served other gods

• God’s word to King Josiah (22:18-20)– Judgment would not come in Josiah’s time– Because Josiah revered God and humbled himself

before Him

King Josiah and the Book of the Law(II Kings 22:11-20)

Covenant of King Josiah(II Kings 23:1-3)

• Covenant is renewed– Gathers all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem– All the inhabitants of Jerusalem– To the temple– Josiah reads the Book of the Covenant which had been

found in the house of the Lord– Josiah then makes a covenant with the Lord

• Follow the Lord

• Keep His commandments, His testimonies, His statutes

• With all of his hear and his soul

• Perform the words of the covenant written in the book

• All the people took a stand for the covenant

Josiah’s Reformations(II Kings 23:4-27)

• Extent of the reformations (23:4-14)– Purged the temple of all articles made for Baal, Sherah,

all the other gods– Burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron– Ashes carried to Bethel– Removed all idolatrous priests

• Josiah extends his reformation (23:15-20)– Totally destroyed the high places at Bethel and Dan– Executed all the priests of the high places who were

there– Prophesied in 1 Kings 13:1-2

Kidron Valley (1925)

• Josiah keeps the Passover (23:21-23)– As it is written in the Book of the Covenant– A compliant Passover had not been held since the days

of the Judges

• Vast extent of Josiah’s reforms (23:24-25)– Put away all those who consulted mediums/spiritists– No king like Josiah before or after him (under the Old

Covenant)

• God’s promise of judgment (23:26-27)– Judah will be removed from God’s sight– Will be similar to the fate of Israel

Josiah’s Reformations(II Kings 23:4-27)

• Josiah dies in battle against Egypt (23:28-30)– Pharaoh Necho went to the aid of Assyria, who was

fighting the Babylonians– Josiah blocked his movement and was killed at Megiddo

• Evil reign of Jehoahaz (23:31-34)– 23 years old, reigned three months, evil king– Imprisoned by Pharaoh Necho at Riblah, dies in Egypt– Eliakim became king (renamed Jehoiakim)

• Reign of Jehoiakim (23:35-37)– 25 years old, reigned 11 years, evil king– Jeremiah describes Jehoiakim (36:22-24, 29-30)– Heavily taxed the land to pay tribute to Necho

Josiah’s End and His Successors(II Kings 23:28-37)

Megiddo

Review• Review previous weeks lesson (II Kings 20-21)

• Josiah’s was a great, reforming king of Judah

• The region was in tremendous upheaval

• Josiah led a great religious reformation after the law had been found during the rebuilding of the temple

• Early church reformers often cite Josiah as an example

• The Assyrian empire falls to a coalition of Babylonian and Mede armies along with others

• Josiah dies while impeding an Egyptian attempt to link up with Assyria, his son succeeds him