2 Kings | Elijah, Elisha, and the Fall of Israel

This episode of "God's Whole Story" delves deep into the book of 2 Kings, exploring the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The story follows the prophetic ministries of Elijah and Elisha, as well as the varying faithfulness of Israel and Judah's kings. It emphasizes the importance of understanding historical context when interpreting the prophecies that unfold in later books. The fall of Israel to Assyria and Judah's eventual downfall to Babylon serve as powerful examples of how God’s covenant blessings and curses play out when nations stray from His commands.

Elisha's role as a prophet, notably performing twice the miracles of his predecessor Elijah, is discussed, along with intriguing stories such as Naaman’s healing and the peculiar account of Elisha's interaction with mocking youths. The episode highlights God's concern for all nations, showcasing how He consistently worked outside Israel’s borders, extending His grace and judgment alike. It’s clear that God’s favor was not limited to Israel alone, and this theme recurs throughout 2 Kings.

Judah's fate is closely tied to its leaders, and the episode dives into Hezekiah’s reign, particularly how his final years were marked by selfishness after being granted an extended life by God. His reign serves as a warning about the importance of using God's gifts wisely. The episode also focuses on Josiah, one of the few good kings who tried to bring about reform, though ultimately, these efforts were short-lived and failed to stop Judah’s decline.

The northern kingdom’s exile by Assyria is seen as a fulfillment of God’s covenant curses for unfaithfulness, while the southern kingdom of Judah faces a similar fate later, when Babylon rises as the dominant power. Both nations fall due to their disobedience, and while Judah’s exile is devastating, it is portrayed as a pivotal moment that God allowed as part of His sovereign plan. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is framed as one of the darkest points in Israel’s history.

Overall, 2 Kings is presented as a roadmap for understanding both the historical context and the prophetic books that follow, helping readers to see the bigger picture of God’s work in the world. The episode encourages ongoing exploration of this crucial period of biblical history as a key to understanding later scripture.

#2Kings #ElijahAndElisha #IsraelJudah #BibleStudy #GodsJudgment #BiblicalProphecy #AssyrianExile #BabylonianExile #KingsOfIsrael #GodsWholeSto

Transcript

 2 Kings

2 Kings

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome to God's Whole Story. This year we are doing a journey through Scripture, book by book. Each week you will get a deeper dive into one of the books of Scripture so that you can see God's whole story. If you like the content you're receiving we would love to have you partner with us.

Look in the show notes for a way that you can support us financially so we can continue to provide this content for you. Hope you enjoy this episode. Hey everybody. Welcome back. We are in second Kings. So just to remind you in this period of the Kings, we have seen the kingdom divide with the son of Solomon, Rehoboam, and then Jeroboam splitting into North, North and South Israel and Judah.

We've been largely following Israel's demise. Uh, we're going to continue to see that, but we're going to see a lot of More of Judah in this book But one of the first things we actually see is we actually are focused on the prophets again We saw Elijah in first Kings. Now we see [00:01:00] Elisha and one of the interesting things about Elisha one part of what Elisha asked for was a double portion and It's actually very interesting if you count up the number of miracles that are recorded for Elijah and Elisha.

Guess what?

Has twice as many I guess I just never counted miracles before. Well, you know, there are other things we do in studying scripture besides counting miracles. It's like what you're doing in your quiet time? One, two, three. Uh, Yeah, Elisha to me, he's got some fun stories. I mean, he's, uh, I particularly like the one where he gets a little annoyed at some youth that made fun of his bald head.

Um, fun story, we used to, uh, have a bald headed youth pastor back in the day. And, uh, he just read a, give us a reference one day to go home and read. And it happened to be that one. Backed off calling him old bald head after that because we didn't want any she bears to come down and model [00:02:00] us out of the woods.

That's a really interesting passage because that is another passage that non Christians use to be like, what is going on with this guy that you think is like this God that you think is so wonderful. Like, have you, Do you have an answer to that? I, I, I don't. I, I actually, I don't own that one. Um, yeah, that, that is one of the tougher ones to kind of like say, Well, the big picture of what's going on here.

Yeah, I mean, they were mocking a prophet of God. Not, not wise to do. Not wise, um, but yeah, it's, it is one of those unique stories. Also seems like he was being somewhat brash. Yeah. Chelsea, do you find any interesting things in your research about that one? About that particular bear? Have you researched the she bears?

No, um, I think it's interesting that they are she bears though. Like, that's an interesting detail. It is an interesting detail. It's the most vicious version of the bears. I know, it's like It's mama bear! I wouldn't watch a documentary about that, I'd probably be scared. Um I, yeah. Are you going to talk [00:03:00] about Neiman being healed of leprosy?

Because, because I think you want to. Because I have anything good to say about the she bears. I have nothing good to say about that. You have nothing good to say about not the she bears. Okay. No, not the sheep areas, but Brian's laughing at me because I'm just like, are we gonna talk about this? Um, no, I mean, I just, I just want to hear, I just want to hear what you're going to say about it, but why don't you lead us in?

Okay. Um, I just, I think it's interesting whenever someone outside of Israel has an encounter with the Lord. I just, I just, I love those stories. It just shows God's heart for the nations and shows that He cares about individual people. That's all I was gonna, that's all I have about it. I just like hearing about Naaman.

It, it is, it's actually quite significant because like, I've been trying to highlight pushbacks against the story of scripture and pushbacks that people have against Um, if you carefully look at the stories of people outside of the people of faith, that's that [00:04:00] Israel, basically, um, God consistently is moving and working in significant ways in people's lives outside of Israel.

And it's really important for us to understand that because it shows that God is concerned about faithfulness not nationality or people group because kind of the the the stereotypical thing is like well Israel's God's chosen people and you can Accidentally believe that God was only moving and working there and scripture actually proves It's it's very obvious and explicit actually that God was not only moving and working there In fact, he's working outside the people of Israel over and over and over again So it is worth highlighting and it is actually a very significant story Yeah, God's heart from the nations is so clear throughout the entirety of scripture.

Um, maybe one of the things that might surprise people as they go through. So, uh, that is very cool. So we, we have a lot of kind of interaction and interchange going on between Kings, the Kings of the Northern kingdom, the Kings of the Southern kingdom. And [00:05:00] also there is a lot of interaction with prophets, some of which happens in first Kings, but, and second Kings, but one of the interesting things about the book of Kings Kings is a little bit of a book that as you continue your journey in scripture, especially when you get to the prophetic books, you're going to need to go back to first and second Kings to kind of place some of the various prophecies that the prophets give, um, Kings in many ways is Becomes a road map for the prophets that when we get to all the prophetic books almost every prophet not everyone But many of them start off and it says in the days of King Blankety blank of Judah and in this of Israel and so you can go back to these Kings You can find out what was going on in in Israel or Judah during that time You can get an understanding why the prophets said what they said.

So there's a lot of Just connection here that Kings is kind of giving us the historical overview And then we see a, a insight into the spiritual condition of the, of the country during these [00:06:00] various prophets. Uh, much like the book of Acts in the new Testament gives us a lot of the roadmap for the epistles and the letters that Paul writes on his various missionary journeys.

Kings is a little bit of the roadmap for the prophetic books. So we're going to be, we've referred back to Deuteronomy a lot. We will keep doing that. Kings first and second Kings will be a book that we. discuss often throughout this podcast, uh, because so much of what is being predicted by the profits is leading towards some of the eventual judgments.

So we have to cover just a little bit of the history here. Um, that happened, some significant events that we are going to see referenced again and again throughout Scripture. I've already mentioned that we're in a divided kingdom. Northern kingdom of Israel, ten tribes, and the southern kingdom of Judah, two tribes.

Well, the one that, uh, is exiled or judged first is the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and that actually happens in Chapter 17, kind of doing an overview here, uh, [00:07:00] that when the Northern Kingdom finally goes into exile, they are taken captive by the ruling nation of the day, the Empire of Assyria. And they are carried off to their capital city of Nineveh.

Uh, and they really, the 10 tribes are scattered. Now, one of the, the tools of warfare that the Assyrians use was, was assimilation that they took all the people of Israel. They scattered them throughout the empire and basically tried to make them become Assyrian. So the 10 tribes essentially, Disappear.

They not are never really ever heard from again as a whole as a northern kingdom, uh, and Syria does that the year of that is pretty set that that's around 722. Uh, that's the northern kingdom goes into. So when that happens in the second Kings chapter 17, there is only Judah left. Um, do you guys know much about the Assyrians?

Have you heard much about that empire or? Brutal, brutal people. They were extremely brutal. Which, the Jonah [00:08:00] story comes into play there. Yeah, so Jonah is one of those prophets that set in this time that this is why he didn't want God to forgive Nineveh, which was the capital city of Assyria, because they were the, the, Arch enemies of Israel.

They were incredibly brutal people. There's a lot of historical, uh, evidence in various museums, even today for the Syrian empire and their brutality. Uh, you can find some of the things that are referenced in Kings and in the prophets in the British museum and other places. So it's very. Architecturally, not architect, archaeologically, architecturally, architecturally, I'm sure the museums are actually architecturally very, they're very sound, some really beautiful buildings, but yes, yes, the archaeology in them is also very sound.

I think an important thing to highlight about that piece, I mean, like we are talking about the 10 tribes just disappearing and again, you can have this idea. That God only favors this certain group of people. And in fact, [00:09:00] God actually punishes those people in a very brutal fashion. And it is, we've talked several times about like the blessings and curses.

Like if you, if you follow God, he will bless you. Um, and if you don't, he will curse you. One of the more compelling ways I've heard it explained is actually like When he's blessing you, his hand is on you and you're experiencing things that you would not normally experience. And when he curses you, he actually just takes, he just removes his hand and you experiencing, you experience all the things that you would experience without God, a pagan nation overtakes you.

Yes. And so they, they refuse to follow God and they come under judgment and they disappear. So, you know, God is very consistent, I would say, in how he handles people, whether they are, um, Israelites or non Israelites. Because you'll see, I think even throughout, uh, Well, actually, yeah, we just, we highlighted Naaman, but you'll see that he is blessing people who are not Israelites [00:10:00] and he is punishing people who are Israelites.

So if anything, God is very consistent throughout scripture and he's not playing these favoritism games that is. He's often accused of if I can defend him well and also going again back to Deuteronomy Exile was one of the covenant verses that was predicted like it was predicted that if you stray from me if you worship other gods a Nation that will come from outside and will take you captive will take you into exile will carry you away to a land You do not know There is literally thousands of years of warnings Against this, uh, and the people are still not being faithful.

Also, I believe like, even when they're carried into exile, they don't necessarily just like turn and repent, like they continue to resent God and what God has done. Yeah. Now you would think that the two remaining tribes. Of judah having just seen what happened to their brothers their their [00:11:00] family distant family different tribes but And that there would be a radical revival in judah and there are there is a few Some highlights there are I mean, this is really where we get kind of the smattering of good kings Uh that we do have some decent kings in judah that bring some reform.

Uh, hezekiah comes to mind. Josiah comes to mind But generally these reforms are pretty short lived Actually, Hezekiah, the same enemy that conquered Israel, comes up to the gates of Jerusalem and is prepared to conquer him. And this is, there's just a really cool interaction, uh, with Hezekiah and God. And he repents, and there's a supernatural move of God that spares Jerusalem, and they have a few good years here.

But the reforms are pretty short lived, that even though we do have some good kings, We never had any in Israel. There's a couple of good ones in Judah, but it doesn't bring lasting change. Let's talk about, uh, Hezekiah for a second. He's another dude that I think did not actually finish [00:12:00] very well. True. Is he the foot pain guy?

Or is that someone else? Foot pain. Remember there was someone that like had a problem with their foot and There's a few of them that actually have some issues with their feet. But, uh, I don't know if it's Hezekiah or not. Anyway, keep going. The story of Hezekiah is so interesting because he's supposed to have died and he begs God for longer life and God gives him longer life.

But the way that he chooses to use that longer life is, is not great. And actually his response is not great. So you can, you can see the story in a second Kings 20. Um, and essentially Isaiah is explaining to him what's going on. And where's, um, it's verse, uh, I'll start in verse 16. Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that which your fathers have stored up to this day, she'll be carried to Babylon. So this is the Southern kingdom, right? Being carried away. Is that fair? Um, yes. Yeah. So, so, like, kind of switching audiences. Um, nothing shall be left says the Lord and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away [00:13:00] and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for he thought, why not? If there will be peace and security in my days. It's all about him. It's such a selfish way of thinking. So it's, it's a little bit of you, like Hezekiah, you. did many reforms. Um, but there, there is a, I've heard some pretty compelling conversation about like, was it good that he lived longer or not?

And like God gifted him this longer life and he like fumbled it basically with extreme selfishness. It's so interesting. Yeah. And, uh, Josiah is probably the best king. I mean, he is the one that brings some of the most reforms. He, he is, seems like he's pretty good his whole life, but it, those certainly don't last.

Uh, and I think this, it's another reminder that like, just because you have a good leader is not a guarantee that people will be faithful. Like, um, good leaders are better than bad leaders and we always want good [00:14:00] leaders. A hundred percent. But it's not a guarantee. And again, we have to put our faith in God, not in a leader.

I'll tell you what, what seems even more of a guarantee is that if you have an evil leader, it's very not good for the people that may be the most profound thing you said, all episode. I'm convinced. It just seems like they, they have evil leaders and they're constantly misled to serve other gods. And it just, Continues this decline and obviously like the good leaders are bright spots and it is a great example for us to follow to desire good godly leaders Um because it generally is a good thing for a nation to have a godly leader better than bad leaders.

Absolutely. Yes Any other Kings or stories you guys are hoping to talk about, uh, before we see the unfortunate demise of Judah as well? I don't have anything specific. It's just always interesting to me to see like some Kings, like I think Josiah, maybe Joash, I think it was his name, were like, and they were seven years old when they became [00:15:00] King.

And it's just like, I, my seven year old, my eight year old, my nine year old. They can't do a thing. Like, Why are there nine year old kings running around? That's all. That's all. That's my contribution. That's all I got. It is wild. It is. Unless I'm mistaken and Ryan, your children are fully capable of running a country.

I think they could. Yeah, I would support that. I would live in a country where Joshua was king. Isn't a key to a lot of those stories is actually they have godly advisors. Yes. I think. Yeah. And, you know, obviously if you have a, you know, seven year old. I mean, we don't really have kings anymore. Right. Um, I guess there are some.

It's not in America. Lots of other countries have kings, though. But the, the, the power obviously is the, the advisors, um, because these child kings. Because that young king actually had a really amazing priest. Yes. Yes. He's actually one of the unsung heroes in the Book of Kings. Uh, Jehovah, I think is how you say his name.

Yeah. He's a, he's a, Check out Jehoda. He'd be worth your time there. So we [00:16:00] continue to follow a bunch of these kings, uh, and we eventually do get to the point where Judah as well is going to be taken into exile. That happens around the year 586. It's actually kind of a series of several invasions and several deportations.

Uh, there's some big names that are taken in that. Uh, Ezekiel is taken in one, Daniel is taken in the other, and so we, we kind of have a lot of the, uh, Later prophetic books that are written around that time of the end of Judah. Uh, but that happens about 586 and this when Jerusalem is destroyed. Uh, and that is by Babylon.

Babylon has now become the world power of the day. They defeated Assyria and it's King Nebuchadnezzar and his generals that attack Judah and overthrow Jerusalem. And if we kind of zoom out again from where we started first Kings last week, several hundred year journey through this divided kingdom. To the point that Judah and all of God's people now are in a foreign nation, Judah and Babylon.

A lot of things have changed over this last hundred years. [00:17:00] Uh, we no longer have a unified King kingdom. We have Judah and Israel divided, and then they're both in exile. Judah does continue on. Israel ceases to exist. Uh, the wealth and the peace and stability of Jerusalem has been destroyed. Jerusalem's in.

Taken over, destroyed, plundered by the Babylonians. The temple is destroyed as a part of that. There is no peace. There's only devastation and we finish with both nations, Israel and Judah. No kings are walking with the Lord and now the nations are Kind of ruling and reigning God does eventually go with his people to Babylon and bring eventually brings them back.

But this is, this is a, this is one of the days on the calendars that would be the saddest day in the history of Israel. It's going to be referred to again and again for really the rest of history. This is a day when. The pagans took over God's nation, God's city, destroyed the temple, ransacked it. And it was as if [00:18:00] God had lost.

They are also identified. Like those pagan Kings are identified as tools of God's mess. So not only do the, the. Pagan nations take over God's people, it is at God's direction and with God's assistance. God raises up them to be his tool, uh, to give the people the consequences of their actions. One of the things that is, I think, really compelling, it's like a side study, but like the, the incredible sovereignty of God through all these stories and how he's, he's obviously at work in Assyria.

He's obviously at work in Babylon. The way that things are put in place to accomplish the things that he has promised, the things that he has warned. It's pretty incredible when you get eyes on how God is moving and working through these stories. And we're going to get to see this several times again, what Kings does, what, what some of the next couple of books do as well as they're kind of giving us a historical overview.

We're actually going to [00:19:00] continue with some of the historical books for a while, but then when we get to the profits, we're going to come back and zero in on certain periods of time, certain elements of happening. So. We're getting, you're getting the 30, 000 foot view right now. You're going to get the, some of the detailed ones when we get to the later prophetic books.

So, uh, Kings is a roadmap that we're going to keep coming back to again and again. So thanks for joining us this week. Check out our daily podcast for some exploration into the individual Kings and some of the unique, amazing stories with Elijah and Elisha in these various books, and we'll see you next week.

Have a good one.