Introduction to 2
Kings: The
original scrolls of what we call 1 and 2 Kings did not make any division.
Together, they tell the story of the kingdom’s division after Solomon’s death,
around 931 BC, and the series of kings who ruled over the northern kingdom
(Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah). 2 Kings picks up the story around
853 BC with the rule of Ahaziah in the north and the continued rule of
Jehoshaphat in the south. It will take us to the final conquest of Judah by the
Neo-Babylonians (or Chaldeans) in 586 BC.
2 Kings 1 – Moab
rebels against the northern kingdom of Israel. Moab was directly east of the
Dead Sea in what is now Jordan. The people of Moab were polytheistic, and
Chemosh was their main god. Apparently Solomon [builder of the Jerusalem Temple
and gifted with great wisdom] had constructed a “high place” near Jerusalem in
honor of Chemosh – probably to satisfy one of his many [estimate 700] wives. Associated
with Chemosh was the consort goddess Ashtar. Human sacrifice was part of the
religion.
Ahab’s son
Ahaziah is now king of the northern kingdom. He is injured in a
fall from the balcony of his palace’s roof, and he wants his men to consult
Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, a Philistine town just west of Jerusalem, if he
will recover or not.
An angel comes to Elijah and tells him he should go and meet the men
and ask them “Is there no God is Israel that you are going to inquire of
Baal-zebub. . .?” (1:3) and to tell Ahaziah that he will NOT recover. They go back and tell him. Ahaziah
knows it’s Elijah when they describe him.
He sends men out to talk to him, but the first two contingents end up
consumed by fire called down on them.
The third contingent of fifty begs for Elijah’s favor and Elijah finally
goes back with them to see the king.
He tells him he will not recover and he dies. Ahaziah’s brother Joram [also called Jehoram] succeeds as king
because Ahaziah has no son.
Luke 5 - Simon, James and
John (the sons of Zebedee) are cleaning their nets after having been out
fishing most of the night. It has
been a poor outing and they have little to show for their work. But Jesus
tells them to put out again and go to a certain place. There they find the fish and haul in
several loads, almost enough to swamp their boats. Jesus does this as a way of demonstrating to them that he
will make the harvest of men plentiful. He asks them to follow him and become fishers of men and
they go without looking back.
This account expands somewhat what Mark tells us in 1:16 of his
gospel. Jesus demonstrates here with fish what he knows will happen when he
sends his disciples out to catch people in the net of faith. Another difference is that before Peter
follows him here, we hear him confess his unworthiness in the manner of Isaiah.
Jesus
continues his ministry to the unclean and the sick by his cleansing of the
leper. This too is taken from Mark (1:40). In both
accounts the healed man is told not to tell, but here it is not recounted that
he disobeys.
In Luke’s account of
the man brought down through the roof, Luke makes sure to place Pharisees and
teachers in the house where Jesus is; they just appear in Mark. They have come
from everywhere. The entire story
is repeated here much as it is in Mark. The interesting thing to me is the fact that Jesus seems to
equate the healing of disease with the forgiveness of sins. We are kept in our blindness and our
deafness and lameness by our sins. This is the ultimate disability Jesus
came to deal with.
Then
comes the call of Levi, the tax collector, and the banquet in Levi’s home where
Jesus mixes with the crowd of tax collectors, those in need of the physician
God has sent, and the comment on fasting—that the guests will not fast until
the bridegroom is taken away from them. Then follows the parable of the new
wine in old wineskins, just as in Mark.
What is happening with Jesus’ ministry is a new thing. It cannot be made to fit the old “pair
of pants” or the “old wine.” The
creation of something new requires the introduction of things, which are
totally new to contain them.
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