2 Ki 17-25/Psalms

Psalms
See my main for the psalm readings.

2 Ki 17-25
17: Tells of the fall of Israel and it's capital Samaria to the Assyrian King. The Assyrians deport all the Israelites far away throughout their kingdom and import people from various cultures to live in Israel. The people who live there want to appease the god of that place (Yahweh) and bring in priests. Essentially they add Yahweh to their pantheon of gods. Most of the chapter is a retelling and indictment of the people of Israel from the time of Jeroboam on.

18-19: King Hezekiah's story begins with his reformation. He tears down (finally) the one thing that so many rulers left, the high places were people would sacrifice to Yahweh or other gods.

He then faced his greatest test. The King of Assyria, Sennacherib, conquerors many towns of Judah. Hezekiah responds by sending tribute, but Sennacherib, perhaps b/c he heard that Hezekiah was seeking an alliance with Egypt, lays siege to Jerusalem.

His messenger makes many threats, upsetting people. Finally, Hezekiah prays before Yahweh, and hears the promise of God through the prophet Isaiah. Sennacherib will flee and in three years time the agricultural cycle will return.

20: Hezekiah is ill. He prays and receives a reprieve of 15 years. But we all die eventually. He shows an envoy from Babylon all his wealth, and is told that is will be taken. His response seems to be rather short sighted - at least there will be peace in my day.

21: Two of the worst kings - Mannasseh, who rebuilt the temples to foreign gods, practiced child sacrifice, used augury and built altars to the "hosts of heaven," (sun, moon, stars) in the temple of Yahweh. Yahweh becomes just one other god among many. Because of these acts God condemns Judah to the same fate as Israel, which is the same fate as the people the Israelites displaced in Joshua and Judges. Exile. His son Amnon was apparently just as bad. He was murdered by his own servants.

22 - 23: Josiah is considered the greatest reformer - greater even than Hezekiah, if only because he rediscovered the books of the law (likely some form of Deuteronomy) and held a great passover, a ritual that had been ignored by the Israelites for many centuries. He tore down all the buildings as well as the institutions of worshiping other gods, though his reforms were larger bloodless in comparison with some other previous rulers. More than any other leader Josiah is given credit for shaping the zealous monotheistic and law oriented Judaism that survives into the Babylonian exile.

Josiah - apparently foolishly - tries to stand in the way of a meeting between Pharaoh and the King of Assyria (who is probably starting to feel the heat from Babylon). Josiah's defeat by Pharaoh allows Pharaoh to receive tribute and put some one more acceptable on the throne.

24: Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (Babylonians are also called Chaldeans), ascends to power. The King of Judah Jehoiakim pays tribute, but then rebels. Jehoiachin follows him. Pharaoh is no help anymore for the Babylonians now rule from the Sinai Peninsula to the Euphrates in modern day Iraq.

Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem, captures it, takes most of the royal family and their wealth and servants in to captivity. Nebuch. then puts Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's uncle, on the throne.

25: Zedekiah doesn't last long. He quickly rebels and incurs wrath of Babylon. They destroy the city, the temple and drag the people away. Even the few that are left flee to Egypt because of the violence of the Babylonians. There is a fairly detailed account of the furniture in the temple, but not a word about the ark of the covenant, which seems to have disappeared from the narrative. This has fueled countless conspiracy theories and at least one block buster.

The final epilogue seems to offer some hope that the people might be preserved.