A Divided Kingdom: The Books of I

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A Divided KingdomThe Books of I II Kings

• Fall of Judah
• II Kings Chapter 24 and 25

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Announcements
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II Kings
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 Jehus Revolt II Ki 91-1028
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
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Todays Objectives

• Review previous weeks lesson (II Kings 22-23)
• Learn about Jehoiakims reign
• Learn about Jehoiachins reign, exile, and
  subsequent release from a Babylonian prison
• Learn about the Zedekiahs evil reign, how his
  son dies, and his own fate
• Learn about the growing strength of the
  Babylonians
• Review the events after Judah falls until the
  return from captivity
• Next week, start Ezra and Nehemiah

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Last Weeks Class

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

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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.

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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

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Overview of I and II Kings

• 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
• Gods covenant has the contingency of Israels
  faithfulness
• Covenant also promises a return from exile those
  that return to God

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Main Characters of Chapter 24-25

• Pharaoh Necho II leader of Egypt who allied his
  nation with the Assyrians against the Babylonians
  and Medes
• Jehoiakim king of Judah after Jehoahaz
• Jehoiachin Son of Jehoiachim, king of Judah
• Zechariah the last king of Judah before
  captivity in Babylonia
• Nebuchadnezzar Babylonian king who carries
  Judah into exile

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Places of Chapter 24-25

• Jerusalem capital of Judah, or the southern
  kingdom, city of David, location of the temple
• Babylonia near modern day Baghdad, where the
  two rivers are closes (Tigris and Euphrates)

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Geopolitical Situation

• 622 BC Text of Deuteronomy found in the temple
  in Jerusalem
• 612 BC Fall of the Assyrian Empire
• 605 BC First invasion by Babylonians in Judah
  and captivity of key leaders and thousands of
  people
• 600 BC - Zarathustra's religion becomes popular
  in Persia
• 598 BC Second invasion by Babylonians,
  Jehoiachin taken captive after only three months
  in reign
• 597 BC Zedekiahs reign begins
• 588 BC Third Babylonian invasion
• 587 BC - Judah falls completely to the
  Babylonians
• 576 BC - Birth of Cyrus the Great

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Reign of King Jehoiakim(II Kings 241-7)

• Judah becomes a vassal kingdom (241)
• Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon
• For three years, then Jehoiakim rebelled against
  him
• 605 B.C., also again in 597 B.C. and 587 B.C.
• Reign of Jehoiakim (242-4)
• God sends raiding bands of Chaldeans, Syrians,
  Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah
• Fulfilling earlier promises
• Due to the sins of Manasseh, he was the tipping
  point
• At this point, it was too late for Judah

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Reign of King Jehoiakim(II Kings 241-7)

• Jehoiakim passes (245-7)
• 2 Chron 366 says that Nebuchadnezzar intended to
  take Jehoiakim to Babylon bound in bronze fetters
• Jer 2219 states that he was disgracefully buried
  outside of Jerusalem
• Around 598 B.C.
• Jehoiachin, his son, reigns in his place

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Reign of Jehoiachin(II Kings 248-16)

• Brief reign of Jehoiachin (248-9)
• 18 years old when his reign began
• Reigned for three months
• Did evil in the sight of the Lord
• Jehoiachin surrenders (2410-12)
• Nebuchadnezzar lays siege upon Jerusalem
• Jehoiachin is taken prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar
• Eighth year of Nebuchadnezzars reign, 597 B.C.
• Babylonian tablets list supplies going to
  Jehoiachin and his family in 592-569 B.C.

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Reign of Jehoiachin(II Kings 248-16)

• Jerusalem is taken captive (2413-16)
• All treasures from the temple and kings house
  are taken
• Cut into pieces
• All of Jerusalem is carried into captivity
• 10,000 people, only the poorest remain
• March 16, 597 B.C.

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Reign of Zedekiah(II Kings 2417-20)

• Nebuchadnezzar makes Zedekiah king (2417)
• Originally named Mattaniah, also Jehoiachins
  uncle
• Ruled from 597-587 B.C.
• Evil reign of Zedekiah (2418-20)
• 20 years old, reigned 11 years
• Last king of Judah as it existed before the
  captivity
• Did evil in the sight of the Lord
• 2 Chron 3612-14
• Would not listen to Jeremiah, reintroduced
  idolatry to the temple
• Broke an oath to God

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Jerusalem is Conquered(II Kings 251-21)

• Jerusalem under siege (251-3)
• City under siege until the 11 year of Zedekiahs
  reign
• No food for the people in the land
• Zedekiah is captured and executed (254-7)
• Men of war flee at night, Zedekiah leaves with
  them
• Zedekiah is captured by Chaldeans and taken to
  Riblah
• Killed his sons before him, put out his eyes
• Bound him and took him to Babylon
• Jerusalem is destroyed (258-10)
• Nebuzaradan burns the temple and all the houses
  of Jerusalem

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Jerusalem is Conquered(II Kings 251-21)

• Remainder of Jerusalem taken captive (2511-17)
• Nebuzaradan carries away the rest of the people
• To Babylon
• Left the poorest of the land to work vineyards
  and farm
• Rest of the temple pieces were taken away
• Nebuchadnezzar over Judah (2518-21)
• Chief priest along with Zephaniah are taken
• Zedekiahs other officers taken
• All are executed in Babylon

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Jerusalem is Conquered(II Kings 2522-30)

• Gedaliah is made governor (2522-24)
• Gathers the men remaining and asks them to take
  and oath and serve the king of Babylon and all
  will be well
• Assassination of Gedaliah (2525-26)
• Ishamael, of the royal family in Judah, kills
  Gedaliah
• Also killed the Chaldeans who were with him
• All fled for Egypt
• Jehoiachins situation in Babylon (2527-30)
• Babylon king releases Jehoiachin from prison
• 560 B.C., perhaps freed due to Daniels influence

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Review

• Review previous weeks lesson (II Kings 22-23)
• Learned about Jehoiakims reign
• Learned about Jehoiachins reign, exile, and
  subsequent release from a Babylonian prison
• Learned about the Zedekiahs evil reign, how his
  son dies, and his own fate
• Learned about the growing strength of the
  Babylonians
• Reviewed the events after Judah falls until the
  return from captivity
• Next week, start Ezra and Nehemiah